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Gary Gates (right) will undergo at least a three-bypass heart surgery on Wednesday morning, April 23. Please keep Gary and his wife, Rebecca, in your prayers.
Gary is pastor of South Scipio UB church in Harlan, Ind., and also works part-time as the UB Director of Ministerial Licensing.
The surgery will occur in Fort Wayne, Ind. They do not want visitors. However, you can send cards to:
Gary Gates
24990 Antwerp Road
Harlan, IN 46743
Here’s a video to add to the previous report from Mongul UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.). On Saturday, April 19, their Easter Eggs-travaganza attracted 563 adults and children. Volunteers had filled nearly 13,000 eggs.
Scott Graham, senior pastor, Good Shepherd UB church (Greenfield, Ohio).
The folks at Good Shepherd, recognizing the Easter season as an opportunity to reach people when they are the most receptive, provided multiple opportunities to experience the reality of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection.
The week started with Good Shepherd hosting the community’s annual Palm Sunday service with many local churches participating.
For the first time, Good Shepherd held a Maundy Thursday service that was called “Passion Night.” The event celebrated and remembered the Last Supper as well as the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion. The candlelight service was experiential, interactive, and very moving as participants handled a scourge and crown of thorns, and pounded a large nail into a cross.
Easter Sunday was the culmination of a great Holy Week. Good Shepherd tripled its average attendance with 321, and 20 people accepted Christ!
Then more than 80 children collected over 4,000 candy and prize-filled eggs in the three Easter Egg hunts! Every child received at least one of the hundreds of large and small prizes, including bikes, scooters, electronics, sporting equipment, and an American Girl doll that were donated from folks in the congregation.
Anthony Kuhns, Olive Branch UB church (Lakeville, Ind.).
Easter at Olive Branch was standing room Only. God has been blessing us with tremendous growth!
The Easter season is always a great time of the year for United Brethren churches. There are Lenten emphases, special services (Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter), outreach events, and often record attendances.
While the Easter season is still fresh in your mind, please write up a little description about any special ministries, programs, events, services, activities, etc. at your church. We’ll get it posted on UBCentral.org. Other United Brethren will enjoy hearing about it.
Mark Smith, Morocco UB church (Temperance, Mich.)
Again this year, Morocco UB church served an Easter breakfast to over 70 people. We opened the morning service with a choir of over 16 people. Our Attendance for the morning worship service was 88. The sanctuary looked wonderful with over 38 spring plants that we purchased in honor or memory or someone.
Pastor Todd Greenman brought a challenging sermon as we finish our series “Would you Believe.” Following the service we had our annual Easter egg hunt. We Praise God for what he has done and is doing here at Morocco Church
Holly Lundberg, McGuire Bend UB church (Dayton, Iowa)
On Good Friday, we were blessed to have with us Jeff Bleijerveld, the Director of Global Ministries. After enjoying a potluck supper, Jeff shared with us the work and goals of Global Ministries. We traveled through the different countries and learned of the mission work going on in each one. It is such a big world with an even bigger God!
On Easter Sunday, Dan Carrow was our lay speaker. He spoke about how Jesus conquered death.
Annette Haines, Eden UB (Mason, Mich.)
Eden UB church hosted an Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday morning before Easter. This has grown from about 30 kids to about 300 kids. One reason for this is that we have the Upward Basketball program through February and March and are able to contact a lot of families that way.
On Saturday morning, the children started in the sanctuary with an object lesson on Jesus being the only way to get to Heaven. Then they swarmed onto our ball field and collected over 8000 eggs. Most contained wrapped candy, but some held tickets which could be turned in for a small prize. The church provided a pancake and sausage breakfast at no charge to the visitors.
We also had drawings for door prizes (large Easter baskets), and we were able to get contact information from the slips turned in. One family that I know of has started attending our church because of last year’s Easter Egg Hunt. Yesterday, we talked to a couple of moms who are interested in coming, and one will bring her daughter to our Upward Soccer program this summer.
Mandy Miller, Atlantic Avenue UB (Franklin, Pa.)
On April 12, the Atlantic Avenue church had an event for families that involved a walk through 5 stations that depicted Jesus’ walk–Palm Sunday, The Last Supper, Garden of Gethsemane, The Crucifixion, and The Empty Tomb. About 40 families participated.
We had a Maundy Thursday Communion Service with about 150 in attendance. We had 825 in attendance for our three services on Easter.
Roxton Spear (right), senior pastor, Mongul UB Church (Shippensburg, Pa.)
Saturday, April 19, Mongul Church held its 5th Annual Easter Eggs-travaganza at a local park in Shippensburg. Volunteers filled close to 13,000 eggs. This provided an exciting time for hundreds of children. Altogether, 563 adults and children registered for the event.
Kristi Davis, our Children’s Director, did a fantastic job of organizing the event and Mongul’s volunteers were superb.
Easter Sunday was well-attended and, once again, our volunteers served Christ and the church with excellence.
