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William Wheeler has been named senior pastor of Mt. Pleasant UB church in Angola, Ind. He had been filling the pulpit since the retirement of the previous pastor, Devon Strine. Wheeler is a 1987 graduate of the former Fort Wayne Bible College, and in 1991 received the Master of Christian Ministry from Huntington University.
Matt McKeown from First UB church in Holly Hill, Fla., leads a time of worship.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Fifteen ministry couples are gathered in Daytona Beach for fellowship, relaxation, and mutual stimulation. Yesterday, we dealt with the question of our heart’s condition, spiritual disciplines, and cultivating friendship while ministering to others. Today we’re wrestling with numerous cultural shifts and how our principles and values may need to be expressed in new ways so that the mission of God, to make and multiply disciples, remains at the forefront of our ministries.
A Pastoral Resource Day will be held November 6-7, 2016, at Rhodes Grove Camp & Conference Center in Chambersburg, Pa. This event is sponsored by the United Brethren Association, the United Brethren denomination, and Rhodes Grove Camp. This year’s theme is “UB Connected.”
The event begins at 3 pm on Sunday, November 6. Bishop Todd Fetters will speak at 6:30 on “Gospel: Spiritually Alive.”
At 9 am on Monday, Mike Dittman, director of National Ministries, will speak on “Unity: Relationally Connected.” Then Jeff Bleijerveld, director of Global Ministries, will speak at 10:15 on “Mission: Missionally Engaged.”
A Pastors & Wives Summit is underway in Daytona Beach, Fla., with 32 people attending. They include 13 senior pastor and spouses from churches of 300+ attendance. They are joined by three couples from the National Office: Bishop Todd and Lisa Fetters, Global Ministries director Jeff and Charlene Bleijerveld, and National Ministries director Mike and Pam Dittman. The event began Monday night and will conclude on Thursday.
The Executive Leadership Team, during its October 17-18 meeting, approved the Pastoral Compensation guidelines for 2017. Many United Brethren churches use this formula to set salaries and budgets for the coming year.
The 2017 minimum fulltime salary (called Standard Base Salary) for senior pastors was set at $38,756, which is a 1% increase over 2016. This is a minimum. Churches are encouraged to go beyond the minimum. This year, the guidelines also provide figures for 1.5% and 2% increases.
The Standard Base Salary is only the starting point. Other factors—such as experience, education, church attendance, and staff size—add to the base salary.
Benefits such as parsonage, utilities, SECA, insurance, and pension round out the total compensation package.
To be a fulltime pastor, the compensation package must meet all of these criteria in full. If a church cannot meet these guidelines, a pastor may pursue supplemental employment to achieve the compensation level.
Questions have been coming to the National Office about overtime pay for church employees. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), though designed for businesses, also applies to churches and other ministries.
The Fall 2016 edition of The Deacon’s Bench, a newsletter from Brotherhood Mutual, does a thorough job of explaining how the FLSA applies to churches, especially regarding overtime pay. You can download that issue here.
The newsletter covers these areas:
The newsletter explains a “ministerial exception” which “is intended to apply to pastors, ministers, or other employees who are ordained or who function in a similar religious capacity.” Five criteria are given for classifying someone as a minister.
The newsletter also discusses church record-keeping, and how the FLSA applies to educators.
We encourage you to download the newsletter
Pastor Charles Simmons (right) passed away October 17, 2016, at age 77. He served 21 years as senior pastor of Liberty UB Church (Stockport, Ohio) before retiring in 2015.
Longtime member Michael Turner wrote, “He shared God’s love with abandon. All who knew him could see Jesus in him. He will be missed.”
Visitation time: 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on October 20, 2016
Visitation location: Stone-Matheney Funeral Home, Chesterhill, Ohio
Funeral time: 11 am on Friday, October 21.
Funeral location: Liberty United Brethren Church, 470 Sheets Road, Stockport,OH 43728
L-r: Bob Bruce, Jeff Lawson, Brandon Groff, Christine Augustat, and Holly Lutton.
A United Brethren History Course was held October 10-11 at the National Office in Huntington, Ind. Bob Bruce, Pastor of Caring Ministries at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.), taught the course to four students—one senior pastor, and three staff ministers.:
Milton and Erika Pacheco with Rosanna Dunn.
At Rosanna’s organ.
Milton and Rosanna jamming.
Milton and Erika Pacheco, a Honduran couple, are in the States this fall raising support as they prepare to become United Brethren missionaries in Thailand. A few days ago they had the opportunity to visit Rosanna Dunn, the maternal grandmother of Brian Glunt, one of their Thailand team members. Rosanna, 93, is supporting the Pachecos financially and through prayer.
Rosanna, who lives north of Indianapolis, started learning to play the electric organ in her 80s. she and Milton, a talented musician, were able to have a little jam session.
Kyle McQuillen (right) was a UB missionary in Sierra Leone, and served as Director of Missions 1993-2001. He retired in Florida, but has remained active in ministry with a prison and a church. In 2011 he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and began aggressive chemotherapy which lasted until April 2012.
On October 15, 2016, Kyle posted on Facebook an update on his physical condition. Here is some of what he wrote.
“On April 15 of 2012, my cancer went into remission, but because the cancer had adversely affected my immune system, I continued receiving treatments for the next several years on a regular basis. At the present time, I go to oncology every three months to receive an infusion of IVIG to build up the immune system. As far as we can tell, there is no cancer at the present time.
“Over the years I have suffered with back problems, having had two back surgeries, laminectomies in 1972 and 1980 and then another one, a fusion, in 2011. Because I suffer from spinal stenosis, I am going back in for surgery on Tuesday, October 25, at the Florida Hospital in Ormond Beach, Fla. Two neurosurgeons will work on my back and seek to build a cage which will enable some stability in the L3 L4 area of my back, which at the present time suffers from a condition known as the sequester disc….
“It will be an extensive operation, but the neurosurgeons feel that this will bring relief to a great deal of pain that I have been having in my back, radiating into my right leg, for the past several months. I’ll be off for some weeks from work–yes, I still work at the church every day (Pastoral Care and Visitation), but I should be fine and able to return to work in a couple of weeks after surgery.”
