13 Jan 33 Baptisms in Thailand
On December 5, the UB church in Thailand added 33 members through baptism.
(260) 356-2312
13 Jan Merger Creates NorthPoint Church
Harvest Community UB church (Toledo, Ohio) merged with another congregation in August, and in October the name was changed to NorthPoint Church to be reflective of the new congregation.
Pastor Brad Wotring writes, “Currently our church is running about 450 people in our two Sunday morning services. That is up from the 30-40 attenders when I came here three years ago. We now have 4 fulltime pastors on staff, 16 small groups up and running, about 60 kids in children’s ministry, and 75 junior and senior high kids in student ministry.
“In November we hosted our third annual Thanksgiving Dinner and Concert where we feed over 600 people from our church and their family and friends for free. During our most recent outreach, in December, we gave away over 200 Christmas trees to people in the community.”
13 Jan Oak Harbor Looks to Relocate
Oak Harbor UB (Oak Harbor, Ohio) has taken steps to relocate. Pastor Randy Carpenter reports, “We are in the process of working with an architect and are attempting to find land to buy. The current building has been outgrown, even with the addition of multiple services.”
13 Jan West Windsor Pays Off Mortgage
West Windsor UB (Dimondale, Mich.) paid off its mortgage. The church averages about 60 people in attendance. With extra offerings and collections, they paid more than $13,000 in one year.
13 Jan Northland to Send Crew to Ecuador
Carlson Becker, pastor of Northland UB church (Traverse City, Mich.), reports, “Northland Church is taking an 11-person work team to El Tablon, Ecuador, near Quito. We will help build a church for the congregation to use. The church was started by Ruth and Doug Weber and now has a national serving as pastor. Naomi and I visited the church a year ago last summer. The team is made up of Northland members and Ron Beaver from Huntington, Ind.
“We leave on February 12 and return on February 26. College Park UB in Huntington is sending a team to finish the building next summer. We will start it and get as far as we can in February.”
Northland UB is seeking a pastor. Carlson has been serving as interim pastor since last July.
13 Jan Denominational Finances in 2004
Giving toward denominational finances was very good in 2004. We received 96.8% of the general benevolence needs. Bishop Hirschy notes, “In light of the financial pressures created by rising insurance costs and the uncertainty surrounding the discussion about the Missionary Church, I view 96.8% as a very positive show of support from the local churches and the annual conferences for the US National Conference benevolence. I certainly want to express my thanks.”
13 Jan Michigan Mid-Year to Meet January 29
Michigan Mid-Year Council convenes on January 29 at the Colwood UB church in Caro. The keynote speaker will be Dwight Smith, president of Saturation Church Planting International and co-author of Invading Secular Space. He will challenge the conference on their church planting vision.
13 Jan Pastoral Changes
- Jenna Zirbel is the new pastor of McGuire Bend UB church in Dayton, Iowa.
- Michigan Conference has stationed Scott Hardaway at the Gethsemane UB church in Jackson, starting in February. He previously served as associate pastor of the UB church in Hillsdale, Mich.
13 Jan Hurricane Relief Funds
As of the end of December, we had received $85,951 for the three hurricane relief funds.
- $38,397 for Florida.
- $34,284 for Jamaica.
- $13, 269 for Haiti.
Persons who want to contribute toward tsunami relief are encouraged to give through World Relief, the relief organization of the National Association of Evangelicals. Or, people can designate money for relief work by our couple in India, who have been helping some victims of the tsunami.
30 Dec News from India About the Tsunami
We heard today from our couple in India concerning the tsunami which devastated countries along the Indian Ocean. They report, “The impact of the Tsunami was felt by villages about 1 to 2 miles from here. There were 5000 people who came to Narsapur because their houses were either destroyed, or as a precautionary measure to avoid further damages from any follow-up waves. Many of these people were housed and fed in the schools and colleges nearby. The hospitals, both the leprosy and the regular hospital, were used in aiding the people in need of care and shelter.
“As of yesterday, most of the people have gone back to their homes. Our area does not seem to be as badly hit as some of the areas further south. We will get a better assessment of the damage, we hope, soon. We are going to give clothes and towels to about 250 fisherman on January 2 who are Christians The pastors of two villages have shared this need. The government is helping, but it is hard to know exactly who have been helped. We felt that we should start somewhere.
“Many of these people will not have any new clothes for the New Year, which is a cultural thing here, since they have no earnings. The fishermen have been told not to go into the sea as yet. Many have lost their nets and some of their boats have been damaged. The cost of repair of boats and buying nets would be helpful, we are sure. We will need to find out about the cost of this need. The government is also giving rice and lentils. We hope that the right people will get these supplies. We will look into this need as well after the government have done their part.”
Narsapur is not far from the seacoast. They are fine in Narsapur, but the villages on the coast were hit hard by the tsunami. Homes were destroyed and people lost their lives. Several thousand people came into Narsapur right after the waves hit, but are now returning to what is left of their homes. The hospital dealt with many medical needs, and will be assessing how they can help with medical and health-related needs in the days to come.
Relief agencies are coming in, too. They don’t know how long the relief agencies will stay–if they will be there for a long time, or only for the short-term. Therefore, they don’t know the extent to which they and Narsapur Hospital will need to be involved.
If you wish to donate toward the relief efforts, you may do so by sending funds to Global Ministries. Global Ministries will forward the money to World Relief, the relief arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, unless the money can be used by our people in India.