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22 Oct

October 22, 2013 |
The three North Americans with the Nicaraguans who participated in five days of small business training.

The three North Americans with the Nicaraguans who participated in five days of small business training.

Nicaraguan participants in the training.

Nicaraguan participants in the training.

Victor Mojica leading a training session in Nicaragua.

Victor Mojica leading a training session in Nicaragua.

Jeff Bleijerveld (right), Director of Global Ministries

Exponential growth of the Church is occurring in many non-Western countries. Three factors seem to be consistently present:

  1. The rapid multiplication of disciples who make disciples.
  2. Church structures that are adapted to the environment.
  3. Pastors and church planters who are developing small businesses.

Many look at the use of small business as a way for pastors and church planters to simply support themselves. But there are many other advantages.

Acts 18:1-4 gives the example of Paul and coworkers Aquila and Priscilla, who supported themselves as tentmakers. In this way, they gained access to people in the Corinthian marketplace among whom they could evangelize and make disciples. Their example and integrity earned the respect of outsiders and believers.

Global Ministries has been providing training for pastors and church planters who want to use small business to transform their communities for Christ.

Last week, three of us from the United States spent five days in Nicaragua. I was joined by Jeff Dice (non-traditional Global Ministries staff member) and Victor Mojica, a Hispanic pastor who leads the Clearview UB church in Goshen, Ind.

We conducted five days of small business training with 11 pastors and church planters in Nicaragua. The small business training provided everything they would need to know to effectively start and manage a small business, but also focused on how to use the business to expand their ministry. It’s what is known as the dual bottom line – successful business and successful ministry.

The training this past week was the second such effort. The first was conducted in Sierra Leone. Global Ministries hopes to continue offering similar training events in Central America, Africa, India, and Asia.

If you’re a small business owner and would be interested in knowing more about serving as a trainer, contact Jeff Bleijerveld in Global Ministries.

22 Oct

October 22, 2013 |

Gary Brooks (right)

Gary Brooks, a former United Brethren pastor and missionary in Honduras, recently returned from Mexico, where he helped Bishop Denis Casco conduct a leadership training seminar for members of our churches in Mexico. Gary, who currently lives in Florida, has participated in a number of training events for Mexico Conference. Here is Gary’s report about last week’s event.

Twenty adults participated in the seminar that was held in Dr. Mora, Guanajuato. This is a rural area about an hour or so out of Queretaro. I taught about the dangers of carnal leadership. The focus of this mini-series of lessons was King Saul. Our study included most of 1 Samuel. Bishop Denis Casco taught a series of lessons from Nehemiah.

While I taught about the hazards of being a carnal leader, Denis focused on the characteristics of a spiritual leader. Among these are found:

  • His interest in God’s people.
  • His personal involvement in their lives.
  • His intercession on their behalf.

We closed out the seminar by setting aside a brother for the gospel ministry.

The following day, we drove to Celaya to visit an elderly man and his daughter. Denis shared the Gospel with them, and they both readily made professions of faith.

Saturday evening, we boarded a bus and returned to Mexico City. Sunday was a day of relaxation. As is our custom, we strolled along the Paseo de La Reforma. We saw a colorful parade, line dancing, and a “professional” Mexican wrestling match, and even got a free hug that I’ll never be able to explain to my loving wife.

These seminars are valuable opportunities to provide continuing education for lay church workers and pastors in the churches of the United Brethren in Christ scattered throughout this beautiful country south of our border.

This is just one of three outreaches led by Bishop Denis Casco in Mexico. Another is the Vacation Bible School that reaches out to children. The third is the moral and spiritual support our Mexican brethren receive from periodic visits made by Brother Denis.

If people would like to contribute to the leadership development needs of Mexico Conference, they can do so by sending a gift marked specifically for Mexican Leadership Development.

21 Oct

October 21, 2013 |
Top row (l-r). The four out-going members: Lee Rhodes, Dennis Sites, David Burkett, Chuck Wheatley. Continuing members: Phil Whipple, Chris Little, Terry Smith. Bottom row. Continuing members: Bob Bruce, Craig Burkholder. New members: Gary Gates, Mark Wilson, Randy Carpenter, Jim Bolich, Mike Brown.

Top row (l-r). The four out-going members: Lee Rhodes, Dennis Sites, David Burkett, Chuck Wheatley. Continuing members: Phil Whipple, Chris Little, Terry Smith. Bottom row. Continuing members: Bob Bruce, Craig Burkholder. New members: Gary Gates, Mark Wilson, Randy Carpenter, Jim Bolich, Mike Brown.

The Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team is meeting today and tomorrow (October 21-22) in Huntington, Ind. The PMLT deals with various issues involving ministers, in particular licensing and education.

The PMLT consists of ten ordained UB ministers. They include the bishop, the chairman, and up to eight persons appointed to two-year terms by the Executive Leadership Team.

Five changes have occurred on the Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team for the 2013-2015 period.

Leaving the team are:

  • Lee Rhodes, who has chaired the team since 2005. He is pastor of Countryside UB church (Breckinridge, Mich.).
  • Denny Sites, pastor of Jerusalem Chapel UB church (Churchville, Va.). Denny is now a member of the Executive Leadership Team.
  • David Burkett, senior pastor of Mount Morris UB church (Mount Morris, Mich.).
  • Chuck Wheatley, senior pastor of Avlon UB church (Bremen, Ohio). Chuck retired this year.

Taking over as chairman is Gary Gates, the Director of Ministerial Licenses. He had previously served only in an advisory role. Also joining him on the team are:

  • Mark Wilson, senior pastor of Fowlerville UB church (Fowlerville, Mich.).
  • Randy Carpenter, senior pastor of Sunfield UB church (Sunfield, Mich.).
  • Jim Bolich, senior pastor of Prince Street UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.).
  • Mike Brown, senior pastor of Franklin UB church (New Albany, Ohio).

You can see the complete team here.

17 Oct

October 17, 2013 |
Bridge Fellowship has been meeting at the North Baltimore High School.

Bridge Fellowship has been meeting at the North Baltimore High School.

Bridge Fellowship held its first baptismal service in August. Pastor Mike Soltis is on the left.

Bridge Fellowship held its first baptismal service in August. Pastor Mike Soltis is on the left.

Bridge Fellowship, a church plant in North Baltimore, Ohio, will officially launch on Sunday, October 20. The core group has been meeting for some time, using the North Baltimore High School. Now they are going public.

The congregation is led by Pastor Mike and Brenda Soltis. Their son, Joshua, is the worship leader.`

Please keep Bridge Fellowship in your prayers this Sunday as they make this important transition.

17 Oct

October 17, 2013 |

There are two new additions to the Global Ministries Leadership Team.

  • Ruth Ralph (right), whose husband, Mark, is pastor of the Mount Zion UB church in Wayne, Ohio.
  • Mark Wallace (left), executive director of Christian Horizons Global. He is a licensed UB minister in Canada, and is a member of the Mill Crossing UB church in Cambridge, Ontario.

They took the place of former members Chuck Malson and Jeff Sherlock.

The GMLT held its fall meeting at the beginning of October at the Gull Lake conference center in Michigan.

16 Oct

October 16, 2013 |

The Higher Education Leadership Team is meeting tonight, October 16, as they always do prior to meetings of the Huntington University Board of Trustees. The HELT deals almost exclusively with issues pertaining to Huntington University. The members serve four-year terms.

All eight members of the HELT are also members of the HU Board of Trustees, which meets October 17-18.

We have one change to report. Brooks Fetters (right), a UB ordained minister who is currently mayor of Huntington, Ind., has been appointed to the team. He replaces Keith Schall, a layperson from Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.).

16 Oct

October 16, 2013 |

doug-birdsallIn March 2013, Dr. Douglas Birdsall (right) became president of the American Bible Society. Doug, a licensed United Brethren minister, grew up in a UB pastor’s home, the son of Dr. Roger and MaryLou Birdsall. Prior to assuming the ABS leadership, Doug was president of the Lausanne Movement.

But just a few weeks short of Doug’s official inauguration as ABS president, scheduled for November 8, he and the ABS have parted ways.

Both Doug Birdsall and the American Bible Society issues statements, both of which are published on the Christianity Today website.

Birdsall wrote: “Last week the Board of Trustees at American Bible Society brought my service to a close….I was excited about giving this decade of my career to leading the American Bible Society into the future with a strategic vision for cultural engagement. However, there are times when the vision and style of a new leader does not mesh satisfactorily with the culture of an established organization or with the expectations of a board. Unfortunately, things did not develop as we had hoped.”

The ABM chairman wrote: “While both the Board and Dr. Birdsall shared the same passion for all generations to engage with God’s Word, there were significant differences of how to move the organization towards that goal.”

Birdsall says he and his wife, Jeanie, sought advice from some longtime friends. “Their collective counsel is for us to get rest. The three years leading up to Cape Town were exhilarating, but they also left me more exhausted than I was willing to admit.”

In May 2013, Wheaton College recognized Birdsall as “Alumnus of the Year for Distinguished Service to Society.” He graduated from Wheaton in 1975. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology degree from Harvard University, and recently completed his doctorate from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies on Oxford, England.

Beginning in 1979, the Birdsalls served 20 years as missionaries in Japan with what is now called Asian Access. He became the organization’s president in 1985 and leds its expansion throughout Asia (now into 12 countries). He took a position with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1999, but continued as president of Asian Access until 2007.

In 2004 he was named head of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (now simply Lausanne Movement). He stepped down as leader of Asian Access in 2007.

As head of the Lausanne Movement, Birdsall convened the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010. It brought together 4200 evangelical leaders from 198 nations. Christianity Today magazine described it as “the most representative gathering of Christian leaders in church history.”

Doug and Jeanie have three children, all born in Japan. Stacia is a graduate of Princeton, Yale, and Columbia, and now works as a midwife in Manhattan. Judd worked at the US State Department and is now pursuing a doctorate at Cambridge University. Jessamin graduated from Harvard and now serves in London with Save the Children.

16 Oct

October 16, 2013 |

Huntington University is one step closer to opening its first doctorate program with the appointment of Dr. Ruth Ford (right) as the director of occupational therapy. The program will open in Fort Wayne, Ind., in fall 2014.

Ford previously served as the associate dean of occupational therapy at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. She comes to HU with 13 years of experience in academia, and is a practicing occupational therapist with 37 clinical years of experience in management, acute care, rehabilitation, outpatient, long-term care, and home health. She has managed more than 500 occupational and physical therapists and speech language pathologists, and has opened multiple occupational therapy programs.

You can read much more about her on the Huntington University site.

This doctorate program will be located within the Life Science Education and Research Consortium of Northeast Indiana at the Parkview Randallia campus in Fort Wayne. The program will build on Huntington’s undergraduate degrees in psychology, nursing, and exercise science. A bachelor’s degree and certain prerequisite courses are required for this program.

Ford will relocate to Huntington in January 2014 to begin her work. She is currently serving in a consulting role in preparation for the 2014 program launch. The HU website has more information about the occupational therapy program.

14 Oct

October 14, 2013 |
The elected and appointed members of the 2013-2015 Executive Leadership Team. Top (l-r): East region: Dennis Sites, Robert Eberly, Sherwood Cook. Central region: Greg Voight, Tim Krugh, Darwin Dunten. Bottom (l-r): North region: Dan Paternoster, Lester Smith, Bob Tobey. West region: Gary Dilley, Molly Kesler, Kent Koteskey.

The elected and appointed members of the 2013-2015 Executive Leadership Team. Top (l-r): East region: Dennis Sites, Robert Eberly, Sherwood Cook. Central region: Greg Voight, Tim Krugh, Darwin Dunten. Bottom (l-r): North region: Dan Paternoster, Lester Smith, Bob Tobey. West region: Gary Dilley, Molly Kesler, Kent Koteskey.

The Executive Leadership Team meets October 14-15 in Huntington, Ind. Members are elected or appointed to two-year terms, so this team will serve until the 2015 US National Conference.

The National Conference elects eight members–one minister and one layperson from each of the four regions. The bishop is an automatic member. Those nine persons then appoint four more members–two ministers and two layperson, spread out among the four districts.

The result is an Executive Leadership Team that looks like this:

  • Six ministers and six laypersons, plus the bishop.
  • Three members from each of the four regions.
  • Two regions have two ministers and one layperson, and two regions have two laypersons and one minister.

Six of the 13 voting members are new.

The four persons appointed by the ELT for 2013-2015 are:

  • East region: Sherwood Cook, a layperson from Mount Pleasant UB church (Chambersburg, Pa.). Sherwood previously served on the 2005-2007 ELT.
  • Central region: Darwin Dunten, senior pastor of Findlay First UB church (Findlay, Ohio).
  • North region: Bob Tobey, a retired schoolteacher from Colwood UB church (Caro, Mich.). Bob previously served on the 2011-2013 ELT.
  • West region: Kent Koteskey, executive pastor of Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.). Kent previously served on the 2011-2013 ELT.

The ELT begins meeting Monday night, October 14, and will continue through early afternoon on Tuesday, October 15. (See the entire team)

14 Oct

October 14, 2013 |
Member of the Shiloh congregation.

Member of the Shiloh congregation.

Pastor Bob Cotie (middle) with Chris and Dianna Lueck at the Black and White dinner, which raised funds to ship 800 shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse ministry.

Pastor Bob Cotie (middle) with Chris and Dianna Lueck at the Black and White dinner, which raised funds to ship 800 shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse ministry.

The little Shiloh Church in Tiverton, Ontario, has outdone itself again This congregation, with an average attendance of 26, provided nearly 800 shoeboxes for the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child.

Board Chair Donna Doern writes:

At Shiloh UB church, we start working on our shoeboxes during the summer. We filled 33 cartons, which is 792 boxes. We had enough money to pay for 518 boxes, but still needed more funds to make that happen.

Some people wondered, of course, why we wouldn’t do 800 boxes. Again, that would be more funds.

We decided to have a “Black and White” roast beef dinner on a Saturday evening. The decor was all black and white, and we asked people to wear black and white. We also showed old black and white show clips–Red Skelton, Lucy, Abbot and Costello, etc. Sixty people attended

We needed $1,904 to send our 792 boxes and 1,960 to send 800. We had a profit of $3,700. We were totally blown away, and certainly know that God’s hand was in this project.

Pastor Bob Cotie brought the house down with his newly acquired wardrobe, coming dressed as a Holstein cow.