Kyle McQuillen (right), Director of Global Ministries 1993-2001, told us previously that he had been diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes, and would be undergoing further tests. He sent this update on Monday, January 30.

I’ve completed all of my tests, including CAT scans, PET scans, biopsy, chest Xray, blood work, etc.

Diagnosis: Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma, at Stage 3. Grade 1 means it is a non-aggressive, slow-growing cancer, which is very treatable but not curable. Stage 3 indicates that it is in several places–groin, along the spinal column, and under each arm.

I will have surgery tomorrow [January 31] to put in a port in my chest through which chemo will be given.

Treatment: I’ll begin chemo on February 7. Regiment will be three days and then off for about a month; back for another three days, month off, etc. This should last about 5-6 months. The oncologist is confident that the cancer will be eradicated through this chemo.

By the way, this seems to be exactly the same kind of cancer with which Paul Hirschy has been battling for the past 11 years. I’ve spoken to Paul a couple of times via email and phone.

All is well with me and I feel great–just not looking forward very much to a chemically changed body due to chemotherapy!

You can write to Kyle at: Kyle W. McQuillen, 299 Casa Grande, Edgewater, FL 32141.

The Huntington University Board of Trustees approved a modest 2.5% increase in undergraduate tuition and fees for the 2012-13 school year.

  • Tuition: $23,300.
  • Fees: $480.
  • Room and board: $7,940.

The tuition cost is well under the 2011 national average of $28,500 for private college education, as determined by the College Board.

In the adult and graduate programs, the board approved increased of $8 to $11 per credit hour. The new per-credit-hour rates are:

  • $348 for all EXCEL Adult Degree programs.
  • $466 for the graduate counseling program.
  • $376 for the graduate youth ministry leadership program.
  • $395 for the graduate education program.

“We want to keep college affordable for students and their families,” said Tom Ayers (right), executive vice president for operations and treasurer. “We also offer innovative financial assistance programs, such as the loan repayment program, to help reduce anxiety among students and their families over costs when considering a private school education. We understand the financial pressures families are under and want to provide them with more value for their dollar.”

Approximately 90 percent of Huntington University students receive financial aid in the form of scholarships, grants, loans, or work-study assistance. All incoming freshmen are also eligible for the loan repayment program which provides assistance to students after they graduate. The loan repayment program covers all or a portion of a student’s loan up to a certain threshold.

A team from Canada is on its way to Haiti. The first three–Jeff Gordon, Shane FInlay, and Alan Neff–actually arrived on Saturday. The three men hoped to do some repairs around the guest house and to the pastor’s vehicle, and perhaps some work at the Delmas 33 church if time permitted. The rest of the team–five persons–leaves today, January 30.

Arek and Donna Delik (right) are UB endorsed staff in Poland working with Operation Mobilization. Donna sent this note on Monday morning, January 30:

Arek’s sister just called and informed us that Arek’s dad just passed away 15 minutes ago. It happened quite suddenly, as Arek had talked to Dad just the day earlier, so you can imagine it is quite shocking for Arek even though we do expect that can happen any time. We are packing and get ready to travel to Slupsk now. Please remember Arek and his family!

  • Judi Simmons, wife of Charles Simmons, pastor of Liberty UB church in Stockport, Ohio, has passed away.
  • Avis McCray, who served for many years as WMF Regional President in Rock River Conference and held many other roles in the conference, passed away January 23, 2012. She was from Claytonville UB church in Claytonville, Ill.

Francis Alie George, Emeric Young Memorial UB church (Freetown, Sierra Leone)

The Emeric Young Memorial UB church in Freetown, Sierra Leone, saw the Christmas season as a very important season to bring people together to foster the work of God. The board chose to have a home cell at each family head house from December 15-31, 2011, 6-9 pm. By this idea we transformed 12 people who are now part of our congregation (4 men, 5 women, and 3 children).

Our other event during the Christmas season was to bring all members born in the month of December and celebrate their birthday on December 25. All of them were happy to share food, drinks, and funds with each other, and our senior pastor prayed for them all.

Members attended a New Year’s Eve service on December 31, from 9-12 pm.

Finally, we kept a special service and a two-day revival for completing our tile project in the church, and also prayed for our sister church, Pleasant Valley, in the United States for helping us to complete the tiling.

The Fandana music festival returns for the second year in a row on August 10-11, 2012. If your church is within driving distance of Huntington University, you might consider bringing your youth. And adults and families would enjoy the evening concerts outside in the grass. The evening crowds last summer, at the inaugural Fandana Festival, included adults of all ages, plus numerous youngsters.

Huntington University’s hit music festival will feature Christian recording artist Chris Tomlin and more than 50 bands on multiple stages.

Whether you’re into rock, pop, or praise and worship, there’s something for the whole family, including kid-friendly activities, a national talent search, and an on-campus film festival.

Tickets will be available this spring. You can also read reports about the 2011 Fandana here and here.

On October 1, 2011, the memberships of CrossGlobal Link (formerly IFMA) and The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA) agreed to merge. The new group will represent 35,000 evangelical missionaries from over 190 agencies and churches.

This historic decision took place on the heels of the North American Mission Leaders Conference. Present during the conference were Jeff Bleijerveld, our Global Ministries director, and Dave Datema, a member of the Global Ministries Leadership Team who is director of Frontier Missionary Fellowship at the US Center for World Mission.

The organization’s new name will be announced in early 2012 at a special Bi-Centennial Celebration in Salem, Mass. It was there, 200 years ago, that the first North American missionaries were commissioned for overseas service by an organized mission society.

The decision to form one new mission entity was not motivated by a desire to preserve “what is” but rather to better position them to pursue “what could be.” Five desired outcomes for the new organization were stated:

  1. Provide a powerful model of a unified, broadly based, evangelical, forward-thinking national mission movement for the rest of the world.
  2. Leverage the combined strengths of these two organizations to envision new ways to increase the effectiveness of the Great Commission community in North America.
  3. Provide a single point of entry for leaders from the majority world/global south to engage with missin-focused evangelicals in North America.
  4. Harness the collective wisdom and expertise of the most inclusive (church, business, education, mission) network of North American Great Commission oriented evangelicals.
  5. Attract growing numbers of next-generation mission leaders as well as innovative pioneers who operate on the periphery of the traditional mission enterprise.

The Lancaster Eagle Gazette published an article about Josh Dexter, a young black minister who started a new church in downtown Lancaster. In the article, Dexter tells about his wayward days, and how he came back to the Lord. He gives a lot of credit to Greg Voight (right), pastor of Lancaster UB Church.

“My old life of addictions disappeared, and I started to look into things that God wanted me to do….I became a worship leader for the Lancaster United Brethren. In that church, I realized I was turning that church into a more contemporary church. Later, I also discovered, God sent me there to be trained by a great minister named Pastor Greg Voight. I knew through his training he was preparing me for the ministry.”

Kyle McQuillen (right), former Director of Global Ministries (1993-2001), has been diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes. He wrote earlier this week, “They found a mass in a routine MRI following up on my back surgery last year. I will be contacting an oncologist locally and having a PET Scan on January 19. I feel fine and am asymptomatic. Fortunately, the cancer appears to be treatable and I’ll know more after the visit to the oncologist and the PET scan this week.

“I am working fulltime at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach as a Chaplain, where I run two re-entry dorms for 264 inmates returning to the free world. I also continue working as pastor of visitation at the Edgewater Alliance Church. I’ll continue working even if I have to have chemo, which is likely.”

Kyle and Marlouise McQuillen came to the United Brethren church when they served as missionaries in Sierra Leone 1983-1985. Kyle later joined the national office staff as an associate director of Global Ministries for a couple years, and then left that position to pastor College Park church in Huntington, Ind., 1989-1993. After eight years as Director of Global Ministries, he and Marlouise “retired” to Edgewater, Fla.

You can write to Kyle at: Kyle W. McQuillen, 299 Casa Grande, Edgewater, FL 32141