08 Nov Global Ministries Logo
The Global Ministries website has been updated to incorporate the new logo throughout the site. Take a look.
05 Nov Flooding in Honduras
Marilyn Reeck, UB endorsed missionary serving in Honduras, sent this report about the recent flooding:
“Ten days ago, extremely heavy rains began ravaging the Honduran coastline. One area heavily hit was the area around Balfate where our daughter Chrysti (right, with her husband and children) lives. Their house is above town and was not damaged. As the Balfate river became swollen, the waters flooded sections of the town and people had to be rescued from their houses.
“There are two rivers, which must be crossed, to get to Balfate. Sections of the two bridges gave way. At least five people from that area drowned.
“One of the ladies was in a canoe as her family tried to get to safety and fell overboard. Her body was found three days later. Our son-in-law, Rigo, was part of a group of men who walked through the two rivers and many miles down to the beach and then carried the body back the same way.
“The raging rivers swept away many houses near the river’s edge and these families lost everything.
“Chrysti and Rigo have been and still are involved in the relief efforts. Up until now that has meant carrying supplies across the rivers. The bridges are now being worked on and hopefully will be ready to use soon. The rains still continue but not with the same intensity.”
03 Nov Honduras Blog
Abby Waterbury, a UB endorsed missionary in Honduras, has a blog. You can keep up on what she’s doing at Ebenezer Academy.
03 Nov Beds–and Much More–for Mattru Hospital
We have some exciting news for Mattru Hospital in Sierra Leone!
We’ve been studying how to make Mattru Hospital in Sierra Leone stable, healthy, and financially viable. One great need is equipment.
We put together a list of 150 items for the hospital to accommodate medical teams and do surgery, plus some real basic hospital supplies. One item was more beds. Ron Baker told that the beds at Mattru have never had mattresses. Part of it was more of a wish list. We began circulating this list to various organizations, including International Aid, Medical World Mission (the medical side of Samaritan’s Purse), and Brother’s Brother.
The first to respond was Brother’s Brother. A hospital had just given them 400 crank-type beds which were only three years old. They said we could have 53 of them, which would fill one shipping container. We would get the beds nicely packed in a shipping container, ready to go. We just had to get the container to Sierra Leone. That’s expensive–up to $13,000 for one container.
(more…)
30 Oct UB Pastors’ Seminar in Mexico
Gary Brooks, a former UB missionary in Honduras who now lives in Ruskin, Fla., has done a lot of work with our churches in Mexico. He sent this report on October 29.
On October 22, I flew to Mexico and was met at the airport by Rev. Denis Casco, bishop of the Mexico National Conference. The next day we took a bus to Zacapu, Michoacan, where we taught a three-day pastors’ seminar
- The seminar emphasized doctrinal lessons on morality in church leadership.
- Sessions were held Thursday evening, Friday morning, afternoon, and evening, as well as Saturday morning.
- The average attendance at these sessions varied from 22-25 persons.
- One new congregation was accepted into the fellowship of the Mexican Conference during the seminar.
Saturday afternoon, Denis and I travelled to Valle de Santiago, Guanajuato, and our Centro Familiar Cristiano Church (Christian Family Center Church), pastored by Ramiro Negrete. Denis spoke Sunday morning, and I was the guest speaker for the 11th anniversary celebration of the church that afternoon. Some 250 people attended that afternoon service.
On Monday, we returned to Mexico City by bus. While there, Denis met with leaders of an emerging independent congregation regarding the possibility of that group joining the fellowship of other United Brethren in the Mexican Conference. Hopefully, we will soon have our first United Brethren congregation in what is said to be the second largest city in the world. Mexico City has a population of over 22 million people, the majority of whom have little or no knowledge of the Gospel.
Rev. Casco continues to labor on for the glory of the Lord in spite of needed funding. God has provided for the continuation of this ministry, but as the work expands, more support funds are needed. Keep praying for the work being done in the Mexican Conference.
28 Oct Flooding in Honduras
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, and Donna Hollopeter, Associate Director, are in Honduras right now taking a tour of the churches. Or trying to. Heavy flood damage is preventing them from reaching various churches on their itinerary.
Honduras is experiencing heavy flooding. Jeff Bleijerveld and Donna Hollopeter are both in Honduras right now. They report a lot of flooding and major damage, making it impossible to get to some of the churches they had planned to visit.
Marilyn Reeck, one of our endorsed missionaries living in Honduras, sent this report:
“We have had several days of heavy rains, but since [Monday] it is even heavier.
“My daughter Chrysti called requesting prayer. The town where they live (one hour away) is located on the mouth of the river. The river has flooded, probrably the dam broke loose, and the town is flooded. Two people have already drowned. Her husband, Rigo, is helping rescue people and they have over 50 extra people in their house seeking shelter.
“This week is the 10th year anniversay of Hurricane Mitch. Roger is in Brazil and will return to Honduras on November 10. Please pray for this situation.”
28 Oct A New Logo for Global Ministries
As far as I know, Global Ministries has never had its own official logo– something that signifies who we are, what our values are, and gives Global Ministries its own identity.
The national office went through a branding process during the past year which resulted in the name Healthy Ministry Resources, with its own logo and this website. Now the national office has its own identity underneath the United Brethren umbrella.
Global Ministries needed something similar. And so, we worked with a design firm, and the result is the logo above.
The logo emphasizes partnership, which portrays much of the work of Global Ministries.
- We partner with local churches to support UB mission work.
- We partner with other mission agencies.
- We partner with our international fields.
- We encourage partnerships between local churches and missionaries.
The logo is based on Ecclesiastes 4:12, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” There is strength in working together.
You’ll be seeing this logo on our various materials. Stationery is being printed, and in the months ahead, we plan to redesign the UBMissions.com website.
22 Oct Lots of Students at Jamaica Bible College
Dalton Jenkins, pastor of Bethel Temple of Praise in Yonkers, NY, speaking at the Jamaica Bible College chapel.
Owen Gordon, president of Jamaica Bible College and one of our endorsed UB missionaries, sent this good report.
“Our Chapel at Jamaica Bible College is full, our canteen is congested, and our classrooms are bursting at the seems.
“We are struggling with providing the necessary tools, because thieves on the one hand and a lightening storm on the other left us with just a few working computers.
“Our new influx of students have come from a partnership with the Ministry of Education, including 110 students from the GNAT program. We will have a total of 206 students. To put it in prospective, last year we had 86 total.
“Please keep us in your prayers as we endeavour by the grace of God to make a significant spiritual difference in the lives of these persons.”
09 Oct Global Ministries Meeting Today
The Global Ministries team gathers around Miriam Prabhakar to pray for her at the conclusion of her report.
The Global Ministries Leadership Team meets twice a year, and they’re meeting right now. The always follow the same format: the Finance Committee meets Wednesday night, then the full team meets all day Thursday and Friday.
Thus far today:
- They heard reports from Jeff Bleijerveld and Donna Hollopeter.
- Looked at a possible new logo for Global Ministries.
- Looked at Finances. Things are pretty good.
- Spent an hour hearing from Miriam Prabhakar about her work.
- Looked at a set of guiding principles for Global Ministries.
- Reviewed new missionaries in the pipeline. Several people are at various stages, from ready to go, to just considering possibilities.
- Discussed policies regarding Global Ministries personnel and UB membership. (For instance: can we allow dual membership, so that a missionary can be a member of the church he attends on the field, rather than only being a member of a church in the States that he no longer attends, but needs to stay qualified to be a Global Ministries missionary?)
07 Oct Jennifer Blandin – Preaching
Here is an excerpt from Jennifer Blandin’s latest newsletter from Macau, where she serves.
“Since my return to Macau I have been preaching once or twice a month at Living Stone Church. I have been learning a lot! While there are a lot of things I enjoy about the preparation, I must admit there are few things that I really wish were not part of the prep time.
“One thing is the need to wait and process what I have been studying. Some weeks the waiting is a short period of time, other weeks I wonder if my ‘processor’ is in need of an upgrade so it will process faster. 🙂 Nevertheless, by the end of the preparation I am grateful for what God has shown me through the time of waiting.
“The other thing that is difficult for me is how to narrow down the topic so that the message is clear and (hopefully) easier to communicate! I know there are a number of good reasons to prune the message, but there have been times when I have learned a lot of great things and just want to share it all. Yet, if I shared everything, the intended focus would be lost in the midst of other stuff. ‘Keep It Simple’ is a new motto of mine!”