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Marshall Woods (right), senior pastor of Mill Chapel UB church (Reedsville, W. Va.), sent this encouraging report:
“In the last two months, we have baptized 30 people. There are some more to be baptized in the near future. Some were baptized in a pool, some in a river, and some in a hot tub. The church is also considering an expansion program, to build an additional building.”
Pastor Woods also traveled to Haiti September 9-16 with a group of six UB ministers.
Dr. Sherilyn Emberton was inaugurated on Friday afternoon, October 4, as the 13th president of Huntington University. The video above shows the entire service.
There were a lot of different speeches and–surprisingly–all of them were very good.
Short speeches were also given by Dr. G. Blair Dowden and Dr. Eugene B. Habecker, the two previous presidents of Huntington University.
The service included a “Blessing of the Bishops.” Bishop Phil Whipple and the four bishops emeriti who are still with us–Paul Hirschy, C. Ray Miller, Ron Ramsey, and Ray Seilhamer–gathered around Dr. Emberton and prayed for her.
The actual installation ceremony was conducted by Ms. Kelly Savage, president of the HU Board of Trustees, and Mrs. Nancy Hull, secretary of the Board of Trustees.
After the installation came a message from Dr. Emberton.
You can watch it all in that video.
Victor Mojica family
Victor Mojica in his store.
Victor Mojica and his wife Margarita pastor the Hispanic congregation of Clearview United Brethren in Goshen, Indiana. In order to support himself through years of church planting Victor has been in business for himself selling everything from gold jewelry to swimming pools. Currently, he sells furniture and high-end audio systems along with two of his sons, Jeremiah and Joshua.
Victor will also be traveling to Nicaragua October 12-19 to participate in a small business training event led by Jeff Bleijerveld and Jeff Dice. During the week they will be working with a limited-sized group of pastors and church planters seeking the means to develop ministries that allow them to do both ministry and business at the same time.
Victor and Margarita have found multiple opportunities over the years to share there faith, counsel and even lead people to Christ at their place of business. Many of these are now members at their church. Being bi-vocational is not viewed as an obstacle for ministry, but another opportunity as they live their lives from Christ.
The video below gives you a peak at an event they host called Mid-Summer Mayhem.
Paul and Carie Burrus
Paul Burrus has been appointed senior pastor of Corunna UB church (Corunna, Ind.) effective September 22, 2013. He holds degrees in Biology and Psychology from Manchester University (1980), a masters in Clinical Psychology from the University of St. Francis (1983), a Master of Divinity from Winebrenner Theological Seminary (1995), and a Doctor of Ministry from Grace Theological Seminary (2008).
Paul and his wife, Carie, have served in pastoral ministry since 1990. He was ordained in 1995 by the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.). He and Carie have two grown daughters.
The Global Ministries Leadership Team begins its fall meeting tonight, Oct 2, and will continue until Friday, Oct. 4. They’re meeting at Gull Lake Ministries, a Christian conference center in Hickory Corners, Mich.
Two recent additions to the team are:
Bryan and Emily Gerlach arrived in Thailand in mid-September. The Gerlach represent an expansion of our work in Thailand. Although our Thai churches are located in the northern mountains, we are shifting our focus to the city of Chiang Rai.
Many young people who migrate from the mountains in search of jobs and education find themselves being lured into the drug and prostitution industries. Bryan and Emily will be part of a multi-national team providing housing, discipleship training, education, and job skills training to vulnerable young people.
But first, the Gerlachs need to learn the Thai language. For that, they will spend a year in the city of Chiang Mai, in central Thailand. They start classes today, October 2.
A week after arriving in Chiang Mai, the Gerlachs wrote:
We are finally getting adjusted to the time difference and feeling rested in the morning when we wake up. Our flights were incredibly smooth thanks to prayers from all over, and we have been blessed to stay in an amazing guest house about 15 minutes south of the city center. It has been a productive week taking care of a lot of ‘living life’ type details and getting to know some awesome missionaries and Thais too.
Right now our biggest goal is to find an apartment near our language school in the city. Global Ministries has asked us to live downtown, close to school, in order to really get into the Thai culture and life. (Where we are staying right now is pretty much missionary central.) We are both really excited about being close to the action and relying on Thais for friendship and support, but it comes with challenges too.
We don’t have many good connections downtown—yet–and the cost of living is just always higher in the city, so we will have a small place (studio or one bedroom) that isn’t as cheap as we were hoping. We know that the Lord will provide for us, though, and he has already. There is a missionary here starting a “Business As Missions” business which helps foreigners find a place to live, so we’ve already been blessed by his services tremendously.
Language school starts for us on October 2. We’ll be joining a class of three other students who have already begun their studies. We were tested for our own level and assured that we will fit in well with where the other students currently are. Undoubtedly there will be gaps in our knowledge, and other things that we already know that they don’t, so it will be interesting to see how that all works out.
Our first week was not an easy one adjusting to life here, but we’re confident that it is where God wants us.
Chiang Mai is a modern city with a population of about one million, including a lot of Westerners and numerous tourists . Chiang Rai, with about 200,000 people, is somewhat less modern.
Global Ministries is looking for additional people to go to Thailand—youth workers, people with business skills, persons with skills in the trades, and church planters.
The Gerlachs need additional financial support. They raised enough of their needed support to get the green light to go to the field, but could still use more supporters. If you’re interested in supporting the Gerlachs, please contact Global Ministries at gm@ub.org.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
During the recent Pastors’ Tour of Haiti September 9-16, the team was able to visit with 80 United Brethren members receiving training in small business development. Training of this nature is one of the best solutions to poverty as people are provided an opportunity, not a hand out.
The training was provided through a generous grant to our partners CH Global. The instructor, Eric Musee a Kenyan national, is the director of Go Ye Africa. Eric trains and coaches church planters throughout Africa, many of whom support themselves through small business. However, he had never been invited to Haiti before. The students were surprised at the similarities in their circumstances and responded well to receiving this training from an African brother in Christ.
October 4-5 is Homecoming Weekend at Huntington University. On Friday, October 4, at 2:30 pm, Dr. Sherilyn Emberton will be inaugurated as the 13th president of Huntington University.
You are invited and encouraged to be a part of this historic event. If you are in the area or coming to campus for Homecoming, you are welcome to attend the ceremony in Zurcher Auditorium of the Merillat Centre for the Arts. A reception will immediately follow the ceremony in the upper level of Habacker Dining Commons.
If you cannot attend in person, you can watch the event via web streaming.
Chuck Malson (right) has resigned and retired as senior pastor of Brown Corners UB church (Clare, Mich.).
In mid-September, Dave Luther, who has worked on staff at Brown Corners in a counseling role, began serving as senior pastor in an interim capacity.
Chuck Malson had been senior pastor of Brown Corners since 1981. Only one other current pastor has served at his present church as long. Joe Cilone, pastor since 1981 of Pleasant Heights UB church (East Liverpool, Ohio), now has the longest tenure of current UB pastors.
Baptismal service for Shepherd of the Valley UB church.
On Sunday, August 25, Shepherd of the Valley UB church (Logan, Ohio) held a baptismal service. Senior pastor Doug Stull and associate pastor Jason Sheets baptized seven persons in Carmichael pond near Sugar Grove, Ohio. Pastor Doug shared a message about the fundamentals of the Christian faith. After the service came a time of fellowship and ice cream.
