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Here’s another photo montage from the US National Conference. It’s longer than the previous one–9 minutes. The photos show the entire conference, from setup on Tuesday to the end of the Saturday morning service on July 9.
The 2011 US National Conference concluded with a photo montage from the week (excluding the final day, Saturday, of course). Here is that video. Y The video was done by Chris Kuntz, who is on staff at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.), and coordinated the behind-the-scenes music/sound/lighting/etc. stuff at national conference.
Tom and Evelyn Mahas
On July 4, a ceremony at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio, saw 56 people become American citizens. Among them was Evelyn Mahas, whose husband, Tom, is youth pastor at Bethel UB church in Elmore, Ohio.
“I really wanted to be able to vote,” said Evelyn. “And if I have kids, I will be certain of their safety.”
Evelyn, a 26-year-old music therapist, was born in Canada but has lived in the United States since age 12. Six other Canadians became US citizens during the ceremony, along with persons from 25 other countries. The online Toledo Blade published an article about it.
Clockwise, from upper left: Gary and Carol Boston, Marshall and Gloria Woods, Dalton and Jackie Jenkins, Jason and Julie Bakker, Roxton and Diane Spear, Micheal and Cindi Dean.
The US National Conference closed on Saturday morning, July 9, with the ordination of six men. Bishop Phil Whipple conducted the ordination service. Each candidate selected 2 or 3 other ordained ministers to assist in the ordination, laying their hands on the candidate and spouse as they knelt and the bishop commissioned him as an ordained elder.
In the past, ordinations were conducted at the annual conference meetings. In 2005, we eliminated the conference structures. Since then, ordinations have been conducted either in local churches or at the national conference.
The six newly-ordained ministers are:
The public ordination ceremony included three parts.
First, the bishop asked a series of questions to all six persons together, and they responded together.
Next, the candidate and spouse knelt, and Bishop Phil Whipple and other ordained ministers layed hands on them and commissioned them to the ordained ministry. The bishop said to each person, “Take authority to execute the office of an elder in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
The candidate and spouse then stood, and the bishop handed each one a Bible, with these words, “Take authority to preach the Word of God and to administer the ordinances in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.”
Those three parts were done before the entire conference. After the service, Bishop Whipple presented to each candidate a certificate of ordination.
A number of other photos from the ordination service can be viewed on Facebook.
From Dave Spencer, UB endorsed staff in Brazil: “I just returned from a trip to the upper Amazon where at least three different language groups are crying for translations. Please remind UBers that there are hundreds of opportunities to serve the Lord. While we have over 500 translations of the Bible in the English language, of 7000 languages in the world, less than 500 have a translation of the Bible. Over 2000 languages don’t even have a translation program in progress! Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth workers!”
College Park Church in Huntington, Ind., is seeking a servant leader to develop and lead our congregation in connecting ministries.
All of the National Conference photos have been placed on Flickr, as well as on Facebook. If you would like to download specific photos, or build your own presentation about the conference, Flickr will work best. Here, you can get the full resolution photos.
Over 600 photos from the 2011 US National Conference have been published on the United Brethren Facebook page.
Feel free to tag photos of people you know (or of yourself).
The US National Conference elected 8 members for the Executive Leadership Team for 2011-2013. The voting went like this. The person elected is in italics.
East District Clergy
Todd Fetters: 166
Daryl Elliott: 44
East District Laypersons
Robert Eberly: 74
Annette Sites: 137
Central District Clergy
Marty Pennington: 142
Brad Kittle: 63
Central District Laypersons
Tim Krugh: 77
Debbie Voight: 127
North District Clergy
Lester Smith: 122
Mike Arnold: 76
North District Laypersons
Joan LaClair: 57
Dan Paternoster: 143
West District
Tim Hallman: 113
Kent Koteskey: 93
West District Laypersons
Jim Cates: 90
Molly Kesler: 116
The only new person elected was Tim Hallman, senior pastor of Anchor Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
Three of the four women on the ballot were elected. All three are pastors’ wives.
These 8 persons, along with chairman Phil Whipple, will appoint four more persons to the ELT. There will be one appointee from each district–two of them clergy, two of the laypersons.
L-r: Jason Bakker, Micheal Dean, Roxton Spear, Gary Boston, Marshall Woods, and Dalton Jenkins.
Seven men will be ordained during the closing service of the US National Conference on Saturday, July 9. Bishop Phil Whipple will conduct the service. Each candidate has selected ordained elders to assist in their ordination.
The six candidates are:
