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05 Feb

February 5, 2010 |
Lane and Shane Smith

Lane and Shane Smith

NOTE (March 29, 2010): This trip has been canceled.

Lane and Shane Smith, from Shoreline UB (Oak Harbor, Ohio), will lead a group of 8 people, from teens through age 30, on a ministry experience to Spain. The group will work with missionaries Troy and Julie Hendricks.

Dates: July 26–August 6.
Cost: $2500 per person.
Persons Needed: 8.

Trip members will be involved in a five-day English Camp built around recreational sports. This will be a wonderful opportunity to build relationships with Spanish youth while playing basketball or Frisbee golf or other special activities. The Spanish youth are interested in developing conversational English skills.

While in Spain, the team will learn about Spanish culture, the language, and learn more about the work with which Troy and Julie are involved.

Openings are still available. The $2500 cost includes air travel, in-country travel, lodging, food, travel insurance, and other miscellaneous expenses. It is important to submit completed applications by mid-March so Troy and Julie can begin preparing to host the team.

You can download the application. If you have questions, please contact either of these by email:

Shane and Lane Smith.
Donna Hollopeter at the Global Ministries office.

05 Feb

February 5, 2010 |
Ethan Conley

Ethan Conley

Ethan Conley, grandson of Chet Conley, the Impact Minister at First UB (Findlay, Ohio), almost died two weeks ago. He is still in the hospital. His father writes:

“Ethan’s biopsy has confirmed his original diagnosis of Viral Myositis with Rhabdomyolysis. Ethan’s doctor came in today and said that Ethan is the ONLY person in the WORLD to survive after reaching CPK levels of nearly 700,000. A normal CPK level in a human is 200. What a mighty God we serve!!! God is still in the miracle business!”

05 Feb

February 5, 2010 |

Last Sunday, January 31, Jeff Bleijerveld, my wife Sandy, and I drove to South Bend, Ind., to attend a Hispanic church which is interested in possibly joining us. Connections were made through the Clearview UB church, a Hispanic congregation in Goshen, Ind. The two congregations have already done a few things together.

This congregation had originally been part of the Missionary Church. It closed for a while, then reopened under the umbrella of a different group. However, that didn’t work out, and the church went independent.

They own their building on a rather large plot of land toward downtown South Bend. When we arrived, people were scattered around the pews on their knees praying. Praying out loud.

The worship service started at 10:00 and lasted two hours. People arrived throughout that two-hour window; they probably started with 30 people, and ended with around 40. There were a lot of children and young adults. They had a very passionate songleader, very engaged with what he was singing about. Other people played guitars, drums, and congas. Throughout the church people had other percussion instruments that they played as well.

The service was in Spanish, but a lady translated for us. During the singing, she would start translating the first few phrases, and then get lost in the song, singing in Spanish. She translated anything spoken. People in the congregation knew enough English that if she got stuck, they would help her.

The pastor preached on being part of the family of God and how we are adopted into the family. He used a number of scriptures. It was clearly a message he spent plenty of time putting together.

At the end of the service, the pastor asked me to give a brief testimony. Since he was a very short man, I drew the analogy with Boehm and Otterbein, two men of different stature and different backgrounds who found that they shared the same passion for Christ.

Jeff Bleijerveld also spoke. Then we went out to a restaurant with the pastor and his wife, and four ladies from the church who comprise the board. We talked about what it would mean for them to become United Brethren. I don’t know that it will happen. This was just an exploratory meeting, and there are always issues to be resolved. But they were very interested, and we enjoyed the chance to get acquainted.

05 Feb

February 5, 2010 |

Lee Rhodes, pastor of Countryside UB (Breckenridge, Mich.), was honored with the Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen Award. An online article describes him as “arguably one of the most popular men in Breckenridge” who “takes on many leadership roles with his church throughout the state.”

Lee and Eileen Rhodes have lived in Breckenridge for the past 21 years, and all three of their children graduated from the local high school. He has been a minister since 1985. He is currently chairman of the denominational Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team.

04 Feb

February 4, 2010 |

Marshall Woods (right), pastor of Mill Chapel UB church (Reedsville, W. Va.), sent this report: “Last week, some men from our church, with their own heavy equipment, enlarged our parking area. After some traffic jams, it was time to do something. We can seat approximately 220 in our newly expanded sanctuary, and we are at 170. We are holding off on going to two services. God is so good.”

04 Feb

February 4, 2010 |

I spoke with Samaritan’s Purse and the World Medical Mission in Boone, N.C., this morning about a number of areas in which we might be able to connect some dots between them and our United Brethren churches in Haiti. I’ll be communicating with our Canadian United Brethren, who oversee the work in Haiti, to see if we can coordinate something.

However, an immediate need is for physical therapists. Haitians are having amputations and other types of surgery, but have no one available to provide the help needed after surgery. If anyone is interested, call our office (toll-free: 888-622-3019) and we’ll arrange to get them there as soon as possible. If assistance is needed with flight expenses, Global Ministries may be able to provide help.

04 Feb

February 4, 2010 |
L-r: Ajiax Wo (Superintendent of Hong Kong Conference), Jeff Dice (former UB missionary to Macau), and Karis Vong, pastor of Living Water UB church in Macau.

L-r: Ajiax Wo (Superintendent of Hong Kong Conference), Jeff Dice (former UB missionary to Macau), and Karis Vong, pastor of Living Water UB church in Macau.

On the first day of General Conference (January 11, 2010), Karis Vong reported about the ministry in Macau. Karis is pastor of the Living Water church, the first UB church in Macau, which this year is 22 years old. Here are some excerpts from her verbal report:

  • “When people ask me, How big is Macau?’ I tell them they need to ask, ‘How small is Macau?'”
  • “Identity is a big issue in Macau. People know Macau because of the casinos. Since 2003, Macau has become just like Las Vegas. Young people graduate from high school and want to immediately go to work in casinos. So they will stop studying, which isn’t good for the future of Macau.”
  • “In Macau, churches and numbers are very small. People in Macau think small is okay, it’s good enough. Most churches have 40-50 people, and no church in Macau has over 1000. You can pray that we’ll have the confidence to become bigger. Being small, we have a lack of people to do ministry, lack of money.”
  • Karis gave each delegate a music CD produced by the Macau churches in 2007. “We hold a concert, and have people buy tickets to come hear Gospel music. In Macau, we don’t have our own Christian music. We encourage our people to create their own music.”
  • “Having to work on shifts affects churches.”
  • Of its 550,000 population, only 4108 people in Macau attend Protestant services each week (up from 3106 in 2003).
  • Prayer request for Macau: “How to prioritize our lives.”

The land size of Macau keeps expanding, as they reclaim land from the ocean. Look at these statistics:
Year Square Kilometers Population
1989 17.4 440,500
1999 23.2 437,455
2009 29.2 549,200

03 Feb

February 3, 2010 |

Robert and Fonda CassidyOnce again this summer, Global Ministries will sponsor a medical mission trip to Honduras.

Date: June 11-19, 2010.
Cost: $1600 per person

This trip is filling rapidly. We still have a few spaces available. The special needs are: doctors, nurses, EMTs, and physical therapists. If you are interested, contact team leaders Robert and Fonda Cassidy (right) for more information.

03 Feb

February 3, 2010 |

This 10-minute video is of the January 31, 2010, worship service at Findlay First UB (Findlay, Ohio). It’s quite inspiring to watch.

Pastor Darwin Dunten explains:

“We had a testimony Sunday where the people of the church wrote testimonies regarding how God is transforming their lives on posterboard. This came from an idea shared with us from a member of our church from Grabill Missionary church when they had cardboard testimony Sunday in November. It took a little over a month to prepare the church for this service. God is working at Findlay First UB.”