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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.”

02 Feb

February 2, 2010 |

In Haiti, two United Brethren churches located in Cité Soleil collapsed during the earthquake. Here is an update from Samaritan’s Purse about their work in that part of Port-au-Prince.

Few populations are more vulnerable than the thousands of Haitians living in Cité Soleil, one of the largest slums in the capital. The sprawling shantytown has long been notorious for its filthy conditions and dangerous gang wars. The earthquake only deepened the misery, sending thousands into packed tent cities in the baking heat with few resources. Pigs wallow in a nearby riverbed overflowing with rotting trash, and children splash through open sewage.

On a hot afternoon, Jean Claude, an elder at Eglise Chretienne Des Cities, a local church of 1600, says people are coming to the church’s collapsed gate daily, begging for help. The church has little to give and tells people to wait. He says aid groups come only sporadically.

But within 24 hours, Samaritan’s Purse was formulating a plan to care for the residents in a tent city a few hundred yards from the church. The team will organize sanitation, clean water, food, and hygiene kits, and point residents to the nearby church for spiritual care, while also providing clean water and other relief in more remote areas outside the capital.

02 Feb

February 2, 2010 |

Titus Boggs, director of the Laurel Mission in Big Laurel, Kent., is famous for his annual Groundhog Day Letter. At least, famous among those of us who receive it.

Yesterday, I received #19 in the series. As usual, it contained a batch of delightfully corny jokes which I’d never heard before. It seems that some of the world’s best humor makes its way to the hollows of Big Laurel and stops there, until Titus releases it back to the world via his Groundhog Day Letter.

For example:

  • The other night I left the window open and influenza.
  • Do you know the difference beween Bird flu and Swine Flu? For bird flu, you need tweetment, and for swine flu you need oinkment.
  • Did you hear about the man who watered just half of his lawn since there was a 50% chance of rain?
  • I heard of a preacher who named his bed “the word” and his boat “visitation.” His wife then could answer the phone calls, “He’s in the word,” or “He’s out on visitation.”
  • I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
  • Two cannibals were eating a clown. One cannibal said to the other, “Does this taste funny to you?”

Along with the frivolity, Titus reported that several people prayed to receive Christ this year at Laurel Mission. He noted of his six children, “They are good workers and helpers, and they each love Jesus.” He gave these updates on his family.

  • Titus and his wife, Debbie, have now been ministering at Laurel Mission for 30 years.
  • Nathan, 25, works at United Central, a coal mine supply company. He is also the mission’s youth pastor and leads an active group of teens weekly. “No challenge seems too big for Nathan.”
  • Hannah, 22, lives and works at a high school in Vancleve, Kent., and also works part-time as a state social worker. In October, she spent ten days in Israel.
  • Stephanie, 19, will complete high school in May and plans to attend Kentucky Mountain Bible College next fall. In January, she spent seven days in Jamaica on a mission trip.
  • Erica, 17, loves gardening and animals, and is determined to serve her country in the Army.
  • Lacy, 16, is the extrovert and is able to express herself very well.
  • Taylor, 15, is the youngest, but the tallest, and she loves to do artwork.

Titus concluded his letter with this: “May the Son shine on you so that you cast a long shadow of influence every time you venture from your den.”

01 Feb

February 1, 2010 |

Roy Atherton has been appointed senior pastor of ImagineThis LLC in Grand Ledge, Mich. A commissioning service will be held March 28, led by Bishop Phil Whipple.

Roy has been serving as interim pastor of ImagineThis LLC, and before that was the church’s associate pastor. Roy’s wife, Kathy, is a schoolteacher.

01 Feb

February 1, 2010 |

Light_NoEyeHadSeen500

King Street Church in Chambersburg, Pa., presented their 2009 Christmas program at Shippensburg University’s Luhrs Center for the Performing Arts. Dually motivated by a lack of space in their current worship center and, more importantly, a desire to take the Gospel into the larger marketplace of their community, the decision was made to change the context of this annual event.

LIGHT was an original program written and produced by Jonathan Ford (right), Worship Arts Pastor at King Street since January 2006. The program reflected the different worship styles that are a part of the King Street experience. It featured the Mass Choir and Orchestra, Kid’s Choir, Dance Team, Drama Ministry, Praise Band, and King Street Horns (a 19-piece jazz ensemble).

In many ways, this was a church-wide endeavor as the Evangelism and Missions commissions partnered with Worship Arts to achieve the unique goals of this Christmas outreach. Attendees were carried through a progression which:

  • explained the darkness of our fallen world and our need for spiritual light.
  • introduced Jesus Christ as the true Light of the world.
  • challenged each person to be more than simply receivers of the Light, but to be active Light Bearers both locally and globally.

The King Street Media ministry produced 6 video testimonies featuring the stories of “Light Bearers” at King Street Church. North Africa, Cambodia, Honduras, India, South Africa, and Indonesia were each represented in these stories of ordinary people who have seen God work in extraordinary ways as they carried his Light to others.

In all, a cast and crew of over 300 people shared this message with an audience of 3000 over two performances. Evangelism volunteers had the joy of following up with dozens who responded to the invitation that was given. Twenty-one people sponsored children through a partnership with Compassion International. Many exciting accounts are still being shared about how attending this event has spurred conversation with friends, coworkers, and family members about faith and a relationship with Jesus Christ.

A remarkable number of curious University students attended the program to help fulfill their Fine Arts requirement for the semester. It has been thrilling for King Street’s college students to begin connecting with classmates on a new level as they return to school after winter break.

It is our prayer that the intentional work of evangelism and missions will be the long shadow cast by the light of Christmas 2009 at King Street.

Here are a few more photos from the program.

01 Feb

February 1, 2010 |

Barry Skinner, pastor of Kilburn Avenue UB (Rockford, Ill.), sent this note:

In November 2009, I had the honor of baptizing my ten-year-old grandson, Spencer, and a friend’s daughter, 18-year-old Rose. My younger son Joshua is resurfacing our baptismal tank, and we are redoing the plumbing and top to make it easier to use. We have finished painting the children’s Sunday school room, and now we will add trim and border and an interlocking colorful floor mat system. Little by little, we will keep updating as we can.

In addition:

  • Eight of us from the church, along with three others, will attend the Iron Sharpens Iron conference in Rockford on March 13.
  • We will be collecting a special offering this month for Haiti, and we will send that to the UB headquarters to make sure the money is applied where it is needed.
  • We are participating in the Rockford Rescue Mission services. I will preach there this Easter.

30 Jan

January 30, 2010 |
Denis Casco in Mexico City

Denis Casco in Mexico City

During his General Conference report on January 11, Bishop Denis Casco of Mexico told this story when invited to mention prayer requests.

“First, pray for my physical safety in Mexico. I was attacked a couple years ago in Mexico City while at a hotel. Three men came after me and held me down. I defended myself. There was a car stationed outside. Providently, a police car passed by, and they left.

“They broke my upper arm, they hurt my head, and they hurt my back from kicking me. The policeman took me to the Red Cross and then to the justice office for my report. After being interviewed about the circumstances of the attack, they concluded two things: the three men had mistaken me for somebody else, or they wanted to kidnap me.

“I didn’t want to stay in Mexico. I asked them to take me to the airport. I arrived at the international airport in Los Angeles and went to the emergency room. It took me six months to recover from my injuries.

“Pastors are in danger. Drug dealing, organized crime, developing poverty—half of the people live in poverty, and it seduces people to get money however they can.”

29 Jan

January 29, 2010 |
Relief supplies that have reached UB people in Haiti through CH Global.

Relief supplies that have reached UB people in Haiti through CH Global.

To date, UB churches in the United States have sent $67,233 to Global Ministries for Haiti relief. Here is the latest update from Jose Nunez of CH Global, an organization with which we are partnering in Haiti.

It has been quite busy these last two days. Here are some of the developments.

1. Have met with a significant number of the children who had been enrolled into sponsorship. This morning we traveled to Delmas and were able to meet 12 of the children. More will be coming this afternoon. I hope I can get to meet with them all.

2. We have been blessed! Our supplies arrived from Disaster Relief yesterday. Pastor Oliam Richard and I, along with the other pastors, are working on the best method of distribution for the sponsored children.

3. Elsa (CH Global program director for Haiti) will be coming to take over shortly after my departure. She will be here next week after meeting me in Florida.

4. Pastor Richard and I have been working on establishing the daycare/education/counseling program. I will conclude and share all the details after meeting with Elsa in the States.