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Denis Casco, bishop of the Mexico National Conference, produced a two-page newsletter about the work in Mexico. He addresses the current drug violence and their outreach efforts, and includes a map showing the three places where we work in Mexico. You can download this July 2009 PDF newsletter.
Ron Ramsey: One common problem I’ve seen in our churches involves conflict resolution. They’re not good at dealing with conflict.
Pat Jones: We have hammered the Matthew 18 principles of conflict resolution. Sinful conflict is a major hindrance in our churches. We’ve seen and experienced that for years. Ron and I committed, at the beginning, to address sinful situations. In churches, how you disagree and address your grievances is vital.
Ron: I think you manage conflict, not resolve it. If it resolves, that’s good. But sometimes you can’t resolve it, yet can manage it so it doesn’t hinder what God wants to do in that place. Some conflict is just difference of opinion. Some conflicts are more substantive, issues between sin and righteousness. You would like to think that people not approaching it from a righteousness standpoint would be conflicted by the Spirit, but sometimes they hang in there, and it becomes a power struggle.
Too often, it’s a matter of power, of who gets to call the shots. People want to sit in the big seat and make decisions. Sometimes this stems from seeing pastors come and go, come and go. They figure the current pastor will only be there for a while, so they’ll run the church how they want. The pastor will just be a chaplain. We’ve tried to break up some of that thought. People forget that there is only one power source, one power seat, and that’s the seat that Christ sits in, and we’re all servants of him.
Pat: We have helped address the alligators, and I’m not afraid of addressing them. But we do that by opening up the scriptures and saying, “This is how God says it should be handled.” I don’t say you must agree with me, but here is what the Bible says about how you disagree with me. Here’s what Titus says about divisive people. You’re not battling me; you’re battling a scriptural truth.
Following weeks of pneumonia and respiratory distress, the Lord has taken to Himself our sister Restituta Lim, wife of Rev. Prudencio Lim, superintendent of our Philippine National Conference. Funeral services will take place in Manila this coming Saturday.
Mrs. Lim was a faithful wife, devoted mother, and loving grandmother. She will be greatly missed by her grandchildren, four children, and ministry partner, Rev. Lim. Long-time friends of the family and national conference, Rev. Mike Brown, remembers fondly her love for people and anchoring affect in their home and ministry.
I recall walking the slums of Manila with the Lims, the two of them hand-in-hand, partners in ministry and life sharing the love of Christ with everyone they met. Global Ministries will be passing on any benevolent gifts received to assist the family in paying for the hospital bills that have accumulated over the past six weeks.
Huntington University is co-sponsoring an August 7 concert with MercyMe in Fort Wayne, Ind. It’ll be held at Parkview Field, the new ballpark which is home to the semi-pro TinCaps baseball team.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for ages six and older are $11 in advance or $16 at the door and may be purchased at the Anchor Room Bookstore in Fort Wayne. You can also order tickets through Trinity Communications.
Also performing is Attaboy, an alt-pop band which includes two Huntington University alums, Amos Caley and Jeff Edgel.
The UB church in Freeport, Mich., has closed. A concluding service was held June 28, 2009.
The wife of Rev. Prudencio Lim, our superintendent in the Philippines, has been in and out of the hospital for a number of weeks with pneumonia. She is currently on a ventilator and is not doing well. When I was with them the week following our the US National Conference, it seemed she would be home soon. In addition to her poor health, hospital bills are mounting quickly.
On a brighter note, Rev. Lim has done remarkably well recovering from the stroke he suffered late last year. He has just recently begun preaching again and did a marvelous job walking me through the neighborhoods of Manila to visit churches and pastors during my short visit.
The Staff Openings page added a senior pastor listing for Colwood UB in Caro, Mich. That’s the church currently pastored by Phil Whipple, who was elected bishop. He’ll be moving to Huntington, Ind., at the beginning of August.
Donna Hollopeter has been excited about participating in the China team this summer. On Thursday, July 9, the first group of 16 people are scheduled to leave for China. But on Monday, Donna was diagnosed with bronchitis. She saw a doctor, but had a reaction to prescribed medication. She’s seeing a doctor again today.
Last week I sorted through 15 years of correspondence, 1978-1993. We were cleaning junk out of the warehouse, and I had two file cabinets of stuff from way back. I knew I’d want to keep some of the letters in those files, and that meant going through each one. Took me most of two days.
Those were the years of the monthly United Brethren magazine, which I edited from 1982 until it ceased in 1994 (and worked on as assistant editor before that). There were, as you can imagine, some negative letters. People called me on the carpet for various literary offenses. In some cases, folks subjected themselves to severe contortions in order to scrunch between the lines of things I published, finding meaning which neither I nor the angels and demons knew was there. One person accused me of writing “editorial drivel,” which was actually true more than I’d like to admit.
My favorite was the fellow who, in a light-hearted piece of satire, imagined a slight against gun owners (which I could never locate). That led to conclusions about my patriotism and Christian commitment, which he expressed thusly: “I am very let down that you people are not only un-American, but also against Freedom and apparently pro Communist. Where are the true Americans who used to be pro-Christian freedom-lovers and God-fearing? Please don’t answer this letter, as I am not in the mood for some stupid liberal trying to convince me that living in slavery is good.”
Letters like that stand out. Most of the negative letters, though, made good points. Some, as I look back, were totally valid (though in my defensiveness, I may not have felt that way at the time).
But as I plowed through hundreds of letters, here’s what really struck me: the overwhelming graciousness of UB people.
Put aside the occasional negative letter. Most of the letters I read during those two days contained affirmations, compliments, positive statements, and assorted words of appreciation. The sheer volume of warm fuzzies totally eclipsed the occasional bad-mouthing.
It really humbled me, and renewed my appreciation for all of you. Thanks, UBs, for being good people.
Huntington University is adding three new online programs:
The first fully online program offered will be the Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a major in not-for-profit leadership. Although the official launch of this online program will be in January 2010, some online courses leading to this degree are being offered this fall.
Huntington already offers a hybrid master’s degree program in youth ministry leadership that has both online and in-class components. The university’s online offerings also include some master’s degree courses in other programs, including counseling, education and ministry.
