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18 Dec

December 18, 2008 |

Sandie Birdsall, who suffered a brain aneurysm on December 1, is now out of Intensive Care–though still in the hospital. The following is from Brent Birdsall’s Facebook post. Brent and Sandie served as UB missionaries in Africa, and Brent pastored both the Emmanuel and College Park UB churches in Indiana. He is now on staff with a church in Minnesota.

GREAT NEWS! At 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, December 17, Sandie was released from ICU!!!! We are so grateful. Many indicators show that Sandie has come through the worst of her brain hemorrhage and its aftermath. The Interventional Neuroradiologist team who performed the initial emergency surgery on December 1 and the subsequent angiograms/interventions have released Sandie from their care. An appointment will be scheduled for June 2009 to check her aneurysm and the coiling procedure they performed in such a timely manner.

Prayer request: Sandie has been diagnosed with ICU psychosis. Check www.medicinenet.com for an article explaining the ailment. In laymen’s terms, it means, “Get me out of this darn place!!!” Sandie’s symptoms were primarily anxiety, agitation, or some paranoia. The other day when talking about the nurses, she said to me in hushed tones, “I don’t trust them anymore.”

Hopefully, as Sandie moves to a quieter section of the hospital and is allowed more rest and less interruptions, her recovery will be more speedy. Let me say, lest you worry, I am nominating many of these ICU nurses for sainthood. They truly have been “angels of mercy” who lovingly, faithfully, and competently cared for Sandie as she was snatched from the brink of death.

I’ve been told that Sandie will forget most of what has happened these last 16 days. I will never forget and am deeply indebted to the staff of Fairview Southdale Hospital and to the first responders from the city of Apple Valley.
Sandie’s not out of the hospital, but this is a great leap forward. Oh, by the way, she did better with her swallow test. With a little more rest and study [ lame joke], maybe she’ll pass tomorrow.

Thanks again for your prayers and notes. They play a huge part in Sandie’s recovery. We’ll keep you posted from fifth floor. Adieu, Room 350, may we never meet again.

18 Dec

December 18, 2008 |

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Anchor UB church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) held its Supper with Santa evening on Saturday, December 13. Over 100 people, including people from the community, attended. There were crafts for children, and lots of food.

And people could get their picture taken with Santa (a return performance by Tim Bauman, a worship team guitarist who has moonlighted as a Santa at the local Glenbrook Mall).

Pastor Tim Hallman met with all the young children to read through the Christmas story.

This is the second year for Supper with Santa.

18 Dec

December 18, 2008 |

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Every year, the Healthy Ministry Resources staff and spouses go somewhere nice for a Christmas party. Two years ago it was the Bluegate Inn in Shipshewana, Ind. Last year we went to the Back 40 in Decatur, Ind. 

This year: the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park near Angola, Ind. With snow falling all around, it was a beautiful place to be. Not much fun getting there, and not much fun driving back home. But snow falling upon a lodge in the woods–nice. 

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Before the fabulous buffet meal, we all played (brace yourself) Bingo. Cathy Reich, the administrative assistant, found Christmas-themed Bingo cards. Click on the thumbnail on the right for a large view of the card.

Bishop Ron Ramsey drew and called out the card items, which in this case were like “I Snowman” or “G Holly.” Winners received prizes (though be assured,no actual money exchanged hands). Pam Dennie, wife of Communications Director Steve Dennie, won the grand prize (a four-corners round). 

17 Dec

December 17, 2008 |

Randy and Toni Fennig have been in Sierra Leone for three months now. Toni has uploaded a lot of photos to her Facebook page. Here are a few.

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One end of the Bible college campus was without lights for three days…until Randy and a friend got it going again.

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Randy and some Sierra Leoneans built a chicken coop.

17 Dec

December 17, 2008 |

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
One of the things that leaders do is LEAD. 

We desperately need pastors who will LEAD the congregation or ministry area that God has called you to lead. 

You say, “Well, I can’t.” Then, did God make a mistake in calling you? 

You say, “I don’t know how. “Then learn some skills and begin to practice them. 

We tend to think of the Type A personality who is the natural-born leader. If that doesn’t describe us, then we beg off of leading. No! No! No! If God has called you to a position of leadership, then LEAD. If God has called you to that ministry, he wants you to LEAD.

To me, spiritual leadership involves:

  • Discovering where God wants to take us.
  • Leading in that direction.

How do you discover that? Pray. Read the scriptures. Pray. Read books on leadership. Pray. Study your ministry area to determine what the needs are. Pray. Then LEAD! You may not lead where or how I think you should, but if you’re getting spiritual results, then you won’t get an argument from me.

16 Dec

December 16, 2008 |

Living Hope UB church in State Line, Pa., closed October 5 in order to merge with Crossroads Brethren in Christ church. Mike Wentz, the senior pastor, resigned as of the same date to take secular employment.

16 Dec

December 16, 2008 |

Scott Hardaway, pastor of Pathway Community Church, the UB church in Jackson, Mich., wrote a superb blog post called “Something to Believe In.” He talks about how we too often squander laypersons’ time and energy in ministries that lack purpose.

Here are three paragraphs from the middle of the piece. You should read the whole thing, including Scott’s own purposeful goals for himself in 2009.

I believe that churches too often simply assume that everything they do is worthwhile. It might even be true (although, usually it’s not), but I guarantee that the average person in the pew does not make that same assumption. The average person wants to know, “OK, if I give my time to this thing, what difference is that going to make? What’s the impact that my contribution is going to have?” And if we can answer that question satisfactorily, we’ll find people lining up to serve because every single one of us has an innate, God-given desire to make a real difference with our lives.

Part of answering that question satisfactorily, however, lies in our ability to own up to the fact that we have in fact wasted people’s time and efforts in the past. We have invested them in places that really didn’t make any difference. We have created ministries that were not strategic, that were not well-planned or excellently executed. We have mis-shepherded the hearts and lives of our people and put them in positions where they were destined to fail, usually due to no fault of their own.

So we must commit to not doing that anymore. We must solemnly promise (and then, of course, follow through on that promise) to do our part in developing ministries that matter–ministries that really allow those serving to make an impact or an investment in the lives of other people; ministries that tangibly bring glory to God, instead of simply supporting our structure. And the best way to do that is to set clearly defined, concrete goals that spell out plainly what will be accomplished through any particular ministry.