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20 May

May 20, 2008 |

Confronted with the price of gas and a 20-mile daily commute to the office, Jeff Bleijerveld and I thought it made sense to ride together. So today, I picked him up. We both live on the southwest side of Fort Wayne, maybe a mile apart. It was good fellowship, we saved money, and we reduced our carbon footprint.

Seth Godin predicts that in the business world, with the price of fuel, it’ll become more common to hear people, after a meeting, complain, “I came all the way here for this?”

Churches don’t have nearly as many meetings as they once did.

  • Monthly board meetings have become bi-monthly or quarterly.
  • We’ve dispensed with lots of committees that once seemed necessary.
  • We’ve streamlined our church structures. Streamlining is good.

But now, church meetings don’t only take up a person’s time. They also hit the wallet.

  • Every trip Pam and I make to church costs us around $5.
  • Other people drive much, much farther.
  • A single board meeting could involve a collective cost of $50 or more.
  • Since we’re a low-income church, gas hurts.

So whatever awaits us at church, whether a meeting or music practice or a service, needs to be well worth not only the time, but the gas money.

That, of course, should have always been the case. But money has a way of focusing our attention.

19 May

May 19, 2008 |

Marie Else, wife of Warren Else, who pastored in Kansas, passed away early in the morning on May 19 in Abilene, Kansas.

  • Viewing: Thursday, May 22, 6-8 p.m., at Martin Becker Carlson Funeral Home, Abilene, Kansas.
  • Funeral: 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 23, at Abilene United Brethren church.

19 May

May 19, 2008 |

Congratulations to three wonderful servants of the church who received honorary degrees from Huntington University on Saturday.
birdsalls_degrees300.jpgowengordon_degree300.jpgRuss and Nellie Birdsall (right) have served the Lord as a team in a variety of capacities–as missionaries in Sierra Leone, in administrative positions at Huntington University, in the pastorate, as conference superintendent, and most recently, during 11 stints as short-term missionaries in Jamaica and Macau.

Owen Gordon (right, being recognized by HU president G. Blair Dowden) is a long-time leader in Jamaica Conference. He is currently president of Jamaica Bible College in Mandeville, and also pastors a church.

Nine people from Jamaica, including Superintendent Winston Smith, were on hand to see Rev. Gordon receive his honorary degree.

16 May

May 16, 2008 |

Right now, the base salary for UB fulltime ministers is $35,000. Many churches generously go far beyond that amount. But too many churches cling to the minimum.

The Executive Leadership Team, during its April meeting, spent some time talking about pastors’ salaries. They didn’t make any decisions; I just wanted their input as I consider making some proposals. Here are some thoughts from that discussion:

  • About two-thirds of our churches have an attendance less than 100. To sustain a minimum fulltime pastor, you probably need 125 people.
  • We have a lot of churches on the bubble of being able to afford a fulltime pastor.
  • A lot of quality pastors are being less than adequately compensated.
  • If you can’t pay a fulltime salary, you need to let your pastor supplement his income with other work.
  • The fulltime salary suggestion should reflect a true living wage.
  • We can’t expect to recruit ministers if, as a denomination, we set such a low salary. It’s embarrassing to talk to a prospective pastor and tell him what our minimum fulltime salary is.
  • Churches should do a lot more in adding benefits for pastors, such as paying for a cell phone, computer, internet access, and other things.
  • In denying pay raises for ministers, people point to the plight of other members of the congregation.
  • A pay increase for the pastor usually requires a board member willing to champion that cause.

What are you thoughts? What would you like to add?

15 May

May 15, 2008 |

Seven UB churches are now among the 830-plus churches across the world that are participating in One Prayer. Four were mentioned in an earlier post. Now they are joined by:

  • Colwood UB (Caro, Mich.; Phil Whipple, pastor).
  • Christ Fellowship (Westerville, Ohio; David Hedrick, pastor).
  • Devonshire church (Harrisburg, Pa.; Todd Fetters, pastor).

15 May

May 15, 2008 |

traintrainer.jpg

The Train the Trainer seminar is continuing today at Huntington University. In addition to the 20 UB ministers who are attending, there are various people from the local community–from government, the schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other groups. Huntington University, the Huntington Foundation, and the UB denomination are jointly sponsoring the event.

Tim Elmore, the leader, is sharing principles about communication, vision, leadership, and other topics that can apply to various types of organizations.

14 May

May 14, 2008 |

We need to step up leadership development, because there is a dearth of recognizable leadership across our denomination. With that in mind, three events are occurring during a three-week period. Two have already happened. The third started today.

1. Hit the Bullseye Conference (Lima, Ohio). We brought all of our cluster leaders to this two-day conference April 29-30. We registered 35 people through our office, and several other UBs came on their own.

2. Drive Conference (Atlanta, Ga.). For the second year, we took a group of pastors of our largest churches to the Drive Conference, hosted by Andy Stanley’s church in Georgia.

3. Train the Trainer (Huntington, Ind.). Tim Elmore, who has been associated with John Maxwell for a long time, has his own leadership development organization. He recrafted material which he uses in the business world. We invited 20 people to take part in this event:

  • Howard Beaver (Mount Olivet UB, Chambersburg, Pa.)
  • John Beukema (King Street Church, Chambersburg, Pa.)
  • Darrel Bosworth (Kilpatrick UB, Woodland, Mich.)
  • Kelly Burnside (Gaines UB, Caledonia, Mich.)
  • Mike Caley (Banner of Christ, Byron Center, Mich.)
  • Owen Gordon (Jamaica Bible College, Jamaica)
  • John Cole (Northland UB, Traverse City, Mich.)
  • Gary Dilley (College Park Church, Huntington, Ind.)
  • Milton Herrold (Orrstown UB, Orrstown, Pa.)
  • Gordon Kettel (church planter, Grand Ledge, Mich.)
  • Kent Koteskey (Emmanuel UB, Fort Wayne, Ind.)
  • Chris Little (Mount Pleasant, Chambersburg, Pa.)
  • Michael Longfellow (New Life, Chanute, Kansas)
  • Marty Pennington (Mainstreet Church, Walbridge, Ohio)
  • Greg Reed (Morning Star, Kokomo, Ind.)
  • Pat Daugherty (Atlantic Avenue UB, Franklin, Pa.).
  • Winston Smith (superintendent, Jamaica Conference)
  • Phil Whipple (Colwood UB, Caro, Mich.)
  • Ray Seilhamer (New Hope Church, Huntington, Ind.)
  • Larry Vander Laan (Gaines UB, Caledonia, Mich.)

13 May

May 13, 2008 |

brenneman-kyle.jpgKyle Brenneman (right), a senior worship leadership major at Huntington University, has received the first Award of Distinction in Christian Worship from The Robert E. Webber Institute of Worship Studies. Kyle, from Spencerville, Ohio, is the grandson of Howard and Sue Cherry, who are well-known in the United Brethren church for their service in the pastorate, at Huntington University, and at the United Brethren national office.

The award, earned by Brenneman for the quality of his scholarship, leadership and diligence, includes a $1000 scholarship to continue his studies at the institute.

The Institute of Worship Studies is located in Orange Park, Fla. Phil Burkett, Minister of Music at College Park UB (Huntington, Ind.), is finishing his doctoral work at IWS, and Sam Ward, Minister of Music at Emmanuel UB (Fort Wayne, Ind.), is in the Masters program. Read more.

13 May

May 13, 2008 |

Melisssa Kline sent this note from Macau:
“A few of you may be wondering about the earthquake in China that happened yesterday and if it effected us at all. Macau is quite a distance from the epicenter, but at 2:30 pm on Tuesday I did feel our building sway. Our fish didn’t know what to think as they went sloshing from one side of the tank to the other. Nothing other than a slight movement though so that was a blessing.

“But from what the Macau paper said today, 8700 people have so far been found dead in mainland China and I would guess that number will increase over the next few days as they dig through the rubble. Please keep this situation, the families who have lost loved ones, and the believers in those areas in your prayers.”