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Marc Stephenson was appointed senior pastor of First UB church in New Castle, Pa., effective January 1, 2019. Since 2012 he had been senior pastor of Mt. Olivet UB (Chambersburg, Pa.), and was youth pastor of Cochranton Community UB (Cochranton, Pa.) 2005-2012. Marc was ordained in 2007.
Members of the South Africa team. Christia Whitacre is in the upper right.
In May 2018, Arthur Wilson, Dean of Spiritual Life and campus pastor at Huntington University, approached UB Global about the possibility of a trip to Africa with students. We thought of Impact Africa right away, which has a solid program for short-term teams. UB Global missionary Nichie Parish Stonall serves with Impact Africa in Johannesburg.
The group of 18 traveled during Huntington’s J-term. Christia Whitacre, whose husband Kevin is pastor of Anchor UB church (Fort Wayne, Ind.), came as one of two chaperones.
And, congratulations to Nichie and Chris Stonall, who were married in South Africa back in July and were able to celebrate with US family and friends in December!
The Thai Community Center under construction.
Through your generosity, we raised $63,451 in 2018 to cover the remaining expenses to complete the Thailand Community Center. Thank you!
The center is slated to be finished this summer. It is well positioned on a busy road in a middle-class ethnic Thai neighborhood. When the center opens, we will offer a variety of classes to bless the community and build relationships that will hopefully lead to new disciples.
The $3,450 raised beyond our goal of $60,000 will be the seed money to help with future necessary interior purchases such as furniture, paint, and equipment.
Help Wanted
UB Global is looking for a someone, or a family, to join the Thailand team as Short-Term Team Coordinator. Role: take care of the teams which come to Thailand during the year. Contact frank@ub.org if interested.
L-r: Grace, Jim, and Heidi Olinger.
Jim and Heidi Olinger have been accepted as the newest UB Global endorsed missionaries. The Olingers are members of the Hillsdale UB church in Hillsdale, Mich.
Jim recently became president of the Nicaragua Christian Education Foundation (NiCE), based in Highland, Ill. The foundation serves churches and Christian schools through student sponsorships, meal packing projects, and short-term mission teams. Their goal is to come alongside and equip local believers to reach their country for Christ.
Jim will oversee all operations of the foundation in the US and Nicaragua. He brings 22 years of pastoral experience and nine years of cooperation with the foundation.
Jim and Heidi have been married for 23 years, and will be experiencing an empty nest this fall as Grace enters her freshman year at Huntington University.
“Let’s Pray” is the theme for this summer’s US National Conference. Bishop Todd Fetters addresses the subject in the short video above.
An e-letter is being published every two weeks in the lead-up to the conference. The second edition will go out later this week. If you’d like to subscribe, or if you’d like to download the video above to show to the congregation, go here.
Registrations are coming in for the US National Conference, which will be held July 17-20 in Bowling Green, Ohio. Go here for info and to register.
Registration is open for the 2019 US National Conference, which will be held July 17-20 in Bowling Green, Ohio. You can register here.
We will basically be taking over the wonderful student union building at Bowling Green State University. The campus environment will be something new for our national conferences. Everything–services, workshops, women’s track, childcare–will be held in the student union. The dining hall is right next door.
There are three parts to the registration link:
Registration costs:
Steve and Amanda Henry and children.
Amanda Henry provided this update about her husband, Steve, who had heart surgery on Wednesday, February 27. Steve Henry is pastor of Victory Heights UB church in Franklin, Pa.
“Praise the Lord!!!! Steve is out of surgery! Everything went well. The surgeon decided to do a newer procedure to bypass Steve’s arch altogether. He made a couple of connections now, and in another month or so they will do a stint and finish the bypass then. That should be a small procedure. Right now we are waiting to see him. Thank you for all your prayers and support. This is still a long road to recovery after open heart.”
Says Bishop Todd Fetters, “Let’s keep on praying for Steve, Amanda, and the Henry family.”
Steve has suffered from Marfan Syndrome all his life, and has undergone five other major surgeries. He recently published a book, “Custom Scars,” which tells his story. It is available on Amazon. You can read more about the book, and his testimony, on this web page.
Rev. Ralph Faber
Ralph Faber, 83, passed away February 9, 2019, in Princeton, Ill. He graduated from Huntington College in 1968 with a degree in Bible and Religion, and in 1992 earned a Master of Christian Ministry from the HC School of Christian Ministry.
Ralph pastored non-UB churches 1965-1970, and then spent the next 35 years, 1970-2005, pastoring United Brethren churches in Illinois and Kansas. They included the Illilnois churches in Manlius, Quincy, Rockford, Leaf River, and Claytonville; and the UB church in Abiliene, Kansas.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth, with whom he shared 64 years of marriage; and three sons.
Visitation: 5-7 pm February 15, 2019.
Visitation location: Grant-Johnson Funeral Home, Princeton, Ill.
Funeral: 10 am Saturday, February 16, 2019.
Funeral location: First United Methodist Church, Princeton, Ill. Rev. Steven Barber, an ordained United Brethren minister, will officiate.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of UB Global
Here are two “Top Ten” lists regarding giving to UB Global during 2018. The first list shows the Top Ten UB churches in terms of giving per attendee. The second shows the Top Ten in total giving, regardless of size.
Top Ten Per Capita Giving (Amount Given Per Attendee)
$207: Bethany House of the Lord (Cumberland, Md.)
$173: Kilburn Avenue (Rockford, Ill.)
$146: Mount Carmel (Fulk’s Run, Va.)
$137: The Village Church (Stevensville, Ontario)
$122: Liberty (Stockport, Ohio)
$120: Countryside (Breckenridge, Mich.)
$115: New Hope Community (Toronto, Ontario)
$109: Pleasant Valley (Lake Odessa, Mich.)
$100: Crellin (Crellin, Md.)
$99: Grace (Sherkston, Ontario)
Top Ten Giving (Total Given from the Church)
$88,394: Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
$38,671: King Street (Chambersburg, Pa.)
$24,268: College Park (Huntington, Ind.)
$19,476: Salem (Chambersburg, Pa.)
$17,364: Mount Pleasant (Chambersburg, Pa.)
$17,309: Parkwood Gardens (Guelph, Ontario)
$13,258: Prince Street (Shippensburg, Pa.)
$12,731: Mount Carmel (Fulk’s Run, Va.)
$11,967: Otterbein (Greencastle, Pa.)
$11,420: Heart O’ the Lakes (Brooklyn, Mich.)
Mark Wallace (right), Executive Director of CH Global, and chairperson of the UB Global board, provided the following report on the growing unrest in Haiti. A team from Canada, scheduled to visit Haiti this month, may need to postpone their trip. We have about 28 UB churches in Haiti, and Pastor Oliam Richard is the superintendent.
Protests have been building in the major centers and highways around the country. For the past 5 days, it has not been possible for the CH Global staff or Pastor Richard to travel more than a block form their homes due to roadblocks in the street. As you can imagine, this is very difficult for everyone. Pastor Richard could not go to church on Sunday. People cannot get out to buy cooking fuel and food.
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in Haiti, and our brothers and sisters are accustomed to having disruptions in their lives. Often it blows over after one or two days, and things clear up quickly. This time it hasn’t.
I have exchanged messages with Pastor Richard and the CH Haiti team, and they all tell me that it would be impossible to host the team unless things improve dramatically. The Canadian Government also updated its travel advisory for Haiti today to “Avoid Unnecessary Travel.”
The US State Department issued this travel alert on February 12. It warns of unpredictable and sporadic demonstration. Travelers are sometimes followed and violently attacked and robbed shortly after leaving the Port-au-Prince airport.
Restrictions and other measures have been taken to protect US Embassy personnel. Family members of Embassy personnel under age 18 have been ordered the leave the country.
