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17 Aug

August 17, 2015 |

Nearly 450 photos from the July 15-18 US National Conference have been posted on the United Brethren Facebook page. You’ll find them in these albums.

Tuesday, July 14 (53 photos). The day of preparation, when the National Office staff and local volunteers arrive to begin setting things up.

Wednesday, July 15 (77). Preparations continue, with registration starting at noon. Attendees arrive all afternoon. At 6:30, the conference begins with the first evening worship service. The worship team from Colwood UB church (Caro, Mich.) leads the worship time, and Dr. Wayne Schmidt speaks. A reception is held afterwards.

Thursday, July 16 (78 photos). The day starts with a breakfast for delegates, sponsored by Logos Bible Software. The business session consumes the rest of the morning and afternoon. The evening service again features the Colwood worship team and a message from Dr. Wayne Schmidt. Afterwards comes a reception sponsored by the exhibitors.

Friday am, July 17 (73 photos). The morning features 19 workshops in two time slots.

July l7 Retiree Luncheon (27 photos). Retired pastors and spouses met at noon in the ResLife Olive Tree restaurant for a very nice meal. Dr. Kent Maxwell hosted the event, and gave the pastors and spouses opportunity to give an update on their lives. Dr. Mike Wanous, from Huntington University, spoke about his spiritual and occupational journey.

Friday pm, July 17 (38 photos). A new worship team for the evening service, this one from First UB church in Holly Hill, Fla. Dr. Wayne Schmidt gives his final message to the conference. After the service comes an ice cream reception sponsored by Global Ministries.

Saturday, July 18 (97 photos). The closing service, at 9:30, features a number of elements: the Florida worship team; a consecration time for Todd Fetters, as he prepares to assume the responsibilities of the bishop; a message from Todd Fetters; the ordination of six men; a communion service; and a clever promotional for the 2017 US National Conference in Lancaster, Pa.

17 Aug

August 17, 2015 |
Music in the park in Findlay, Ohio

Music in the park in Findlay, Ohio

Grilling hotdogs for the Back to School Bash

Grilling hotdogs for the Back to School Bash

The Findlay First UB church (Findlay, Ohio) organized a “Back to School Bash” on August 15 at a local park to celebrate the beginning of the school year for the Findlay area community.

The vision for the “Bash” started six months ago when several local churches came together and asked, “How can we make an impact on our community?” The idea of the school bash was planted.

Four area churches adopted two parks. One park enjoyed the eventual participation of five churches, a Toledo radio station, health department, and Child Evangelism. They provided free haircuts, health inspections, concerts, and games.

findlay-boy300Findlay First UB, along with a smaller church, adopted the Riverside park and provided the food and entertainment, the backpacks give away, and face painting by Child Evangelism.

The UB church collected 180 backpacks and filled them will school supplies and Bibles. They also collected 850 cans of pop and close to 1000 hot dogs to be grilled and handed out for free.

In preparation for this, flyers were handed out and Pastor Darwin Dunten was on two radio stations discussing the vision of the “Back to School Bash.” The musical group “Live 4:1” from Fort Wayne, Ind., provided the music and a Christian magician (arranged by the Crosspoint Church) provided the entertainment.

It is estimated that close to 400 individuals from Findlay passed through the “Back to School Bash” at the Riverside park, and 400-500 individuals passed through the Bernard park. Pastor Dunten was also approached by an individual for prayer, and several church women also prayed for a request that was given by an outside person.

The excitement at Findlay First is so great that one Sunday after the event, the people began discussing what they can do next year.

It is the vision of the ad-hock organization to eventually have one church adopt one park on the same Saturday of the year. Meaning, a city-wide “blitz” where the churches go to the people.

16 Aug

August 16, 2015 |
Todd Fetters leading the National Conference business session on July 16, 2015.

Todd Fetters leading the National Conference business session on July 16, 2015.

Steve Dennie, Communications Director

The 2015 US National Conference considered two proposals regarding same-sex marriage and homosexuality. They were sibling proposals submitted by Jeff Reser (right), pastor of East Washington UB church in Ashley, Mich.

The proposals were presented on May 18 at a United Brethren regional meeting in Sunfield, Mich., attended by pastors and laypersons primarily from Michigan churches. The next day, the proposals were presented at a regional meeting in Willshire, Ohio, and later at a meeting in Lancaster, Ohio. So they predate the June 26 Supreme Court ruling which recognized same-sex marriage nationwide. Much of the motivation, as expressed at Sunfield, was to shield ministers and churches from potential lawsuits should they refuse to solemnize or host same-sex weddings. Both proposals contained language from a legal organization called Alliance Defending Freedom.

Proposal 10. Proposal 10, “Same-Sex Marriage,” would add a paragraph to our existing statement in the Discipline on “Marriage.” It passed with a couple amendments as given below. The paragraph in bold is the new paragraph which was part of the original proposal. The words in bold italics were added by amendment from the floor.

¶122 Marriage

Marriage was instituted by God and is regulated by him. For this reason, the Church must resist all attempts to alter marriage from what the Bible has revealed about it. The purpose of marriage is companionship between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:18) in a permanent relationship which can end only when one of the partners dies.

A Christian should marry only another Christian (1 Corinthians 7:39, 2 Corinthians 6:14). Their relationship is to express God’s original intention for marriage: the wife’s role alongside her husband as an equal.

Because God ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between a man, a woman, and himself, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ USA will only recognize marriages between a genetic, biological man and a genetic, biological woman. Further, the ministers classified with the authority to conduct weddings shall only participate in weddings and solemnize marriages between one genetic, biological man and one genetic, biological woman. Finally, the facilities and property of churches in covenant with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ USA shall only host weddings between one genetic, biological man and one genetic, biological woman.

Proposal 11. Proposal 11, “Illicit Sexual Relations,” sought to expand the current statement on “Illicit Sexual Relations” and to add four more paragraphs. After much discussion, it was tabled in favor of a study committee. The text of Proposal 11 will be included later in this article.

That’s the end result. Now let’s eavesdrop on the business session to see how we got there.

businessmeetinghall1000

A Testimony from Canada

Todd Fetters, director of National Ministries, chaired the proceedings. Early on, he invited to the platform Brian Magnus (right), bishop of the United Brethren Church in Canada. Magnus told about the situation in Canada regarding gender issues, giving a peak at what the future may hold for the United States. Here is what he said (with some editing).

“We want to welcome you to the post-Christian world. It’s not a great place to be, but it’s where we are.

“One of the first stages in the grief process is denial, and that’s kind of where we were ten years ago. Our Parliament had just passed a resolution affirming the traditional view of marriage—one man and one woman—overwhelmingly, including all parties. And just a couple years later, our supreme court declared it all unconstitutional. There was shock and denial at first, of course. This can’t happen. It can’t happen to our country. This isn’t right. It can’t last. We need to work harder to reverse it and get it changed back.

“Well, gay marriage has now been the law for ten years, so we haven’t been able to reverse it in Canada. I’m guessing you won’t be able to reverse it here in the States, either. Yes, Christians should have the right to speak in the marketplace, and try to influence and vote to affect society. But that’s not our primary call or commission from the Lord.

“So we’re ten years in, and no pastor has been forced to perform a gay wedding. No church has been forced after ten years to host a gay wedding. Now, we were told initially that it would be helpful if there were denominational proclamations on this that would form some protections, so we have those and have had them for ten years in pretty much all of the evangelical denominations in Canada.

“We anticipate that there will be lawsuits, of course, because there are activists, liberals, around. They are long past gay marriage–that’s just old hat, way behind. I think you’ll find it’s long behind, too. Gender identity, that’s the next one, and you’re talking about some of those things as well.

“First, we had to learn what LGBT meant, and then they added Q. Now it’s LGBTTTQQIAA [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transexual, Two-spirited, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally.] At present in Canada, in most government institutions, if you present yourself as male today, they have to treat you as male. Come back tomorrow and present yourself as female, they have to treat you as that. They will soon be removing gender from driver’s licenses and passports, because it’s no longer relevant, because people can claim to be whatever they want to be on any given day. That’s the direction we’re going. Polygamy, of course, is coming.

“So here’s the deal. I think we need to engage our culture and be salt and light, amen? But Christianity is essentially counter-cultural, and the majority of our energy, finances, and efforts should go to support the true Great Commission. If we can indeed be loving to our neighbors and friends regardless of who they are for the Lord, that’s great….

“We do need some protections. We were told that having clear statements for all our churches and pastors has been helpful. One more thing I should say. We have both civil marriages, which are the legal marriages, and we have religious ceremonies in our churches. In Canada, you must be registered with the government to do marriage. And once the day happens where we are forced to do them [same-sex weddings], then I believe we will simply all turn in our marriage registration numbers—all evangelical leaders in Canada. So en masse, tens of thousands of pastors will turn in their legal registration numbers and say, ‘We will only do religious ceremonies in our churches for our people.’ So that’s where we are, and where you may be in ten years.”

(more…)

12 Aug

August 12, 2015 |


Here is the concluding message of the 2015 US National Conference, delivered by Todd Fetters on Saturday morning, July 18, 2015. (The video starts a few words into the message.)

At the time, Todd Fetters was director of National Ministries. On Friday, August 7, Todd Fetters began his new role as Interim Bishop for the US National Conference.

12 Aug

August 12, 2015 |
The business meeting of the 2015 US National Conference.

The business meeting of the 2015 US National Conference.

Steve Dennie, Director of Communications

The business meeting of the US National Conference lasted throughout the morning and afternoon of Thursday, July 16. Several major proposals were on the docket. But the issue foremost in people’s hearts and minds was the resignation of Bishop Phil Whipple, which had occurred just one week before on July 8. What happened? And where would we go from here?

This issue was scheduled early in the business meeting—in fact, the first item of business after the preliminaries. The end result was the appointment of a new bishop.

The business session began with a hot breakfast for all delegates, sponsored by Logos Bible Software. There was some singing, then a brief presentation from Logos about the latest version of their software.

Around 9:30, the business session began. These persons served as officers:

  • Chairman: Todd Fetters, director of National Ministries.
  • Assistant chairman: Bishop Emeritus Paul Hirschy.
  • Recording secretary: Rocky Spear, pastor of Mongul UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.).
  • Parliamentarian: Craig Burkholder, pastor of Hudson UB church (Hudson, Ind.).
Gary Dilley speaking on behalf of the Executive Leadership Team.

Gary Dilley speaking on behalf of the Executive Leadership Team.

Into Executive Session

After approving the Rules & Procedures to govern the meeting, Todd Fetters turned the chair over to Paul Hirschy to process approval of the Executive Leadership Team minutes from the past two years—four regular meetings, plus a variety of decisions handled through online voting.

Jason Garwood, pastor of Colwood UB church (Caro, Mich.), asked if there would be some explanation of the resignation of Bishop Whipple. It was, indeed, the appropriate time for that.

Two members of the 2013-2015 ELT came forward. Darwin Dunten, pastor of Findlay First UB (Findlay, Ohio), moved that the conference go into executive session, with only delegates and advisory members present. All other persons were asked to leave the room, and they did. Then Gary Dilley, pastor of College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.), read a letter on behalf of the ELT about the circumstances surrounding the bishop’s resignation. There were questions and responses. Nothing was recorded in the minutes.

Bishop Hirschy closed the executive session at 10:30 with prayer. After a break, the delegates reconvened at 10:45. They quickly approved the work of the ELT.

Interim Bishop

Discussion continued about where to go from here. Eventually, this motion was made by Steve Fish, Teaching Pastor at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.):

“I move the United Brethren National Conference affirm the ELT’s decision to appoint Todd Fetters as the Interim Bishop, and that this body determine that time-frame to begin on August 7, 2015, until the meeting of the next United Brethren National Conference in 2017.”

So, Todd Fetters would essentially serve the remainder of Bishop Whipple’s unexpired term, starting August 7 and continuing until a bishop was formally elected at the 2017 US National Conference.

There was discussion about what title to use—“interim bishop,” or something else. The Discipline mentioned appointing an “acting bishop.” Jim Bolich, senior pastor of Prince Street UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.), made a motion to drop “interim” and just use “bishop.” A number of people voted for this amendment, but it lost on a much stronger voice vote.

Todd Fetters was asked to comment on what title he preferred. He said he felt ambivalent. He understood that regardless of what title was used, it would carry the same weight. He also recognized that he would be serving an interim term, not an elected term. Later in the meeting, he said, “To have an asterisk by my title–that’s fine. I’m happy to serve in that capacity. I’m okay with it, because it’s a great reminder of who I have to be. I’m all right with that, and I want you to be all right with that.”

Dan Paternoster (layperson, Fowlerville, Mich.) said “interim” didn’t make the position smaller, but identified the position while reserving the term “bishop” for persons elected to that position.

At 11:05, a vote was taken on Steve Fish’s motion, which remained in its original form after several attempted amendments. It passed with only one dissent.

We had a new bishop. (more…)

12 Aug

August 12, 2015 |
Seth and Brenda Mallay and children.

Seth and Becca Mallay and children.

Seth and Becca Mallay have joined the Global Ministries family as endorsed missionaries. They are members of Hillsdale UB church in Hillsdale, Mich.

The Mallays serve with World Medical Mission (the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse). They are preparing for medical mission work in Togo, a small country of 6.8 million people in West Africa. they will spend the entirety of 2016 learning French in France before arriving in Togo.

Seth is a family physician who will work at the Hôpital Baptiste Biblique in Adéta, Togo. He will provide a variety of medical care, while evangelizing to and praying for his patients in the hospital and clinic. Becca will work in education, discipleship, and children’s ministries in the community in and around the hospital compound.

Seth felt the call to become a fulltime medical missionary as a child, and remained committed to this call throughout medical school and residency. He is honored to be able to serve in a country like Togo, where basic medical care is still a desperate need and where a significant percentage of the population has yet to hear the Gospel.

Becca’s parents were missionaries, and she was raised on the mission field in Brazil. From a young age, she felt called to fulltime mission work in Africa.

When Seth and Becca met in Michigan, they immediately recognized their common calling and decided to pursue their future in medical missions together. They have four children.

Address for Contributions

Samaritan’s Purse
Attn: Post-Residency Program
P.O. Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607

Please make checks out to “Samaritan’s Purse” and write “Dr. Seth Mallay, Account # 005125” on the memo line.

You can also give to them through the World Medical Mission website by entering “Mallay” into the search bar under “FIND DR/MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.” Their names, account number, and photo will appear, along a place to enter your donation amount.

11 Aug

August 11, 2015 |

Here is the concluding message of the recent US National Conference, delivered by Todd Fetters on July 18, 2015. (The video starts a few words into the message.)

At the time, Todd Fetters was director of National Ministries. On Friday, August 7, Todd Fetters began his new role as Interim Bishop for the US National Conference, with all the authority and responsibilities of bishop as stated in the UB Discipline.

(If you receive this post by email, you’ll need to watch the video here.)

11 Aug

August 11, 2015 |

A Centennial Celebration will be held at the Carson City Christian Camping Center Sunday, August 23. A service will be held at the tabernacle at 3 pm, followed by dessert served in the pavilion. A potluck supper will be served in the pavilion at 5 pm, followed by camp meeting at 7 pm.

In 1914, the North Michigan Conference of the United Brethren in Christ Conference paid $15 to lease a piece of property from Mr. George Knowles. They wanted to use the land, located 2.5 miles north of Carson City, Mich., for camp meeting and annual conference.

By 1920, the 40 acres had been purchased and the tabernacle built. The original floor was sand, covered with marsh hay. (Emma Hull said this was a soft place to lay her babies.) The new cement floor was added in the 1940s. Camp meeting has been held there for 100 years.

Camp meeting this year will feature mostly local ministers, with a different speaker and music each night. The schedule is as follows:

  • Sunday, August 23. Message by Rev. Andrew Stahl, music by Shepherdsville Youth.
  • Monday, Aug. 24. Fourteen Stations of the Cross, music by Josh Mayes.
  • Tuesday, Aug. 25. Message by Rev. Charlie Bellinger, music by Crystal Lake Community Church.
  • Wednesday, Aug. 26 . Message by Rev. Larry Austin, music by Open Door.
  • Thursday, Aug. 27. To be supplied (come and be surprised).
  • Friday, Aug. 28. Messsage by Rev. Brian Wicks.
  • Saturday, Aug. 29. Message by Rev. Birt Cooper, music by the Yoders.

07 Aug

August 7, 2015 |

On July 16, 2015, the members of the 2015 US National Conference chose Todd Fetters as the next bishop–actually, “interim bishop,” since he would be completing the unexpired term of Bishop Phil Whipple. He would assume office on August 7, 2015.

After the vote was taken, Todd Fetters made the following remarks (with slight editing) to the conference.

Todd Fetters speaking to the delegates after being chosen as the next bishop.

Todd Fetters speaking to the delegates after being chosen as the next bishop.

I’m not an alliterator when I do messages. I’m just not big on it. It’s a lot of work to come up with points that all have the same letter. And yet, I’m going to do it right here, right now.

Let me just say, the events that you in executive session have heard and that we walked through—they are heart-breaking. I want to speak on behalf of the national office. It’s been a heart-rending, heart-challenging season for us. And yet, I think as you’ve looked at the national staff just in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen that they came to work, and they came to help, and they came to serve the church. I’m grateful for their ability to process challenging, difficult, heart-rending decisions and still come to do this, knowing that our calling is to Jesus Christ and to His Church, and to help all of us point in that direction of our Lord and Savior. So would you just thank our national office staff.

[Applause.]

We have had the opportunity to say it to Bishop Phil and to Sandy, that we love them and enjoyed working with them, and we have enjoyed working for our bishop. We will be continuing to pray for them, and we will continue to serve in the vein that he has led us to this point.So the first H is heart-breaking.

Let me follow that up by saying I am humbled by this body’s confidence in me. I walk into the office every day and go down a long hallway on purpose. The hallway into the office from the back door is a whole long line of bishops’ pictures. Usually I’m troubled by the fact that most of them are cockeyed, and I sort of tilt them back into place. Whether that’s a message from the Lord or not, I don’t know.

But as a kid growing up in the United Brethren church, and not far from headquarters, those are the people I knew as bishop. Those have always been individuals that I was taught to respect, and whom I learned to respect. I’m humbled to follow in that line for these two years.

When I think in terms of our church, I think in terms of the modern era. One of the key parts of our modern era is when we went to one bishop, and that was Bishop Ray Seilhamer in 1993. He served us with a vision for two things—healthy churches, and church planting. A big part of that was endowing for church planting. So he got us in mind for healthy churches and planting churches. His illustration was a two-winged plane—which, by the way, is the only kind of plane I would want to fly.

And then following Bishop Seilhamer was Bishop Paul Hirschy, who has given us leadership in transition to who we are. Between 2001 and 2005, we processed whether or not we wanted to be United Brethren, and we cinched it down. We are United Brethren. That’s who we are going to be. That’s what we want to be. So we said in 2005, this is who we are.

At that national conference, we had a sea change in our structure, our organization. Ron Ramsey was handed the baton to make sense out of something we just sort of threw up in the air to some degree and said, “Make this work.” And we’ve been making this work.

The other thing that Bishop Ramsey brought to the table was a renewed commitment to the Great Commission as our commission. Growing healthy churches was a big part of where we were going. And so, again, when you make a big decision to say this is who we are and this is what we are going to be about as the United Brethren Church, we had the right leader at that moment to say, “Simplistically, it’s about the Gospel—about getting people to hear the Gospel and to yield their lives to him.”

And so in the succession in this modern era, we got to that point where we said, “We are United Brethren, and we are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the Great Commission. That’s what we are called to do.”

Then the baton was handed off to Bishop Phil Whipple. For the last six years, in a volatile culture when it comes to Christianity, he helped us cinch down what we are all about in upholding that one name once more—that we are All for Christ. That’s what we are about. Unashamedly, All for Christ. I look forward to keeping that theme, and the themes that got us to that point, as we move forward.

So I’m heart-broken in the circumstances we are in. I’m humbled by your trust. And I’m hopeful that we will work together in collaboration for the great and glorious Gospel that is ours, given to us by Jesus Christ.

Thank you, folks. It’s been my privilege to serve with our staff and with our bishop and with you. I look forward to what the Lord wants to do in the United Brethren church during the next two years.

07 Aug

August 7, 2015 |
Todd Fetters leading the business session of the US National Conference on July 16, 2015.

Todd Fetters leading the business session of the US National Conference on July 16, 2015.

Steve Dennie, Director of Communications

The business meeting of the US National Conference lasted throughout the morning and afternoon of Thursday, July 16. Several major proposals were on the docket. But the issue foremost in people’s hearts and minds was the resignation of Bishop Phil Whipple, which had occurred just one week before on July 8. What happened? And where would we go from here?

This issue was scheduled early in the business meeting—in fact, the first item of business after the preliminaries. The end result was the appointment of a new bishop.

The business session began with a hot breakfast for all delegates, sponsored by Logos Bible Software. There was some singing, then a brief presentation from Logos about the latest version of their software.

Around 9:30, the business session began. These persons served as officers:

  • Chairman: Todd Fetters, director of National Ministries.
  • Assistant chairman: Bishop Emeritus Paul Hirschy.
  • Recording secretary: Rocky Spear, pastor of Mongul UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.).
  • Parliamentarian: Craig Burkholder, pastor of Hudson UB church (Hudson, Ind.).
Gary Dilley speaking on behalf of the Executive Leadership Team.

Gary Dilley speaking on behalf of the Executive Leadership Team.

Into Executive Session

After approving the Rules & Procedures to govern the meeting, Todd Fetters turned the chair over to Paul Hirschy to process approval of the Executive Leadership Team minutes from the past two years—four regular meetings, plus a variety of decisions handled through online voting.

Jason Garwood, pastor of Colwood UB church (Caro, Mich.), asked if there would be some explanation of the resignation of Bishop Whipple. It was, indeed, the appropriate time for that.

Two members of the 2013-2015 ELT came forward. Darwin Dunten, pastor of Findlay First UB (Findlay, Ohio), moved that the conference go into executive session, with only delegates and advisory members present. All other persons were asked to leave the room, and they did. Then Gary Dilley, pastor of College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.), read a letter on behalf of the ELT about the circumstances surrounding the bishop’s resignation. There were questions and responses. Nothing was recorded in the minutes.

Bishop Hirschy closed the executive session at 10:30 with prayer. After a break, the delegates reconvened at 10:45. They quickly approved the work of the ELT.

Interim Bishop

Discussion continued about where to go from here. Eventually, this motion was made by Steve Fish, Teaching Pastor at Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.):

“I move the United Brethren National Conference affirm the ELT’s decision to appoint Todd Fetters as the Interim Bishop, and that this body determine that time-frame to begin on August 7, 2015, until the meeting of the next United Brethren National Conference in 2017.”

So, Todd Fetters would essentially serve the remainder of Bishop Whipple’s unexpired term, starting August 7 and continuing until a bishop was formally elected at the 2017 US National Conference.

There was discussion about what title to use—“interim bishop,” or something else. The Discipline mentioned appointing an “acting bishop.” Jim Bolich, senior pastor of Prince Street UB church (Shippensburg, Pa.), made a motion to drop “interim” and just use “bishop.” A number of people voted for this amendment, but it lost on a much stronger voice vote.

Todd Fetters was asked to comment on what title he preferred. He said he felt ambivalent. He understood that regardless of what title was used, it would carry the same weight. He also recognized that he would be serving an interim term, not an elected term. Later in the meeting, he said, “To have an asterisk by my title–that’s fine. I’m happy to serve in that capacity. I’m okay with it, because it’s a great reminder of who I have to be. I’m all right with that, and I want you to be all right with that.”

Dan Paternoster (layperson, Fowlerville, Mich.) said “interim” didn’t make the position smaller, but identified the position while reserving the term “bishop” for persons elected to that position.

At 11:05, a vote was taken on Steve Fish’s motion, which remained in its original form after several attempted amendments. It passed with only one dissent.

We had a new bishop.

Bishop Ramsey’s Prayer

Paul Hirschy asked Bishop Emeritus Ron Ramsey to come to the podium and pray for Todd Fetters. As he stood at the podium, with Todd seated at the table behind him, Bishop Ramsey said, “If I’m going to pray for Todd, I’d like to have my hand on him.” There was laughter and applause throughout the room. Todd then came to the podium and stood beside Bishop Ramsey, who placed his right hand on Todd’s shoulder and prayed:

Eternal God and Father, we have come to a point in our national conference, in our denomination, that probably nobody has enjoyed. But we also thank you for your sovereignty in bringing to us the skills and capabilities to take care of the position, and to serve the church in a wonderful way. I thank you for Todd. I thank you for his life, I thank you for his witness, I thank you for his testimony, and most of all I thank you for the consistent way he has walked in the way of the Lord and the way of the Word. And I pray that as he assumes this new position, that those things will not change.

Help him, Lord, to face the discouraging things without destroying him. Help him to accept the victories and wins without getting a big head. But Lord, I just pray you would be with him and strengthen and empower him for this awesome responsibility. Thank you for the years I’ve known him; I’ve known him to be honest and true and faithful. I pray that your Spirit would be upon him to continue moving him and directing him in that kind of fashion. In the strong name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Bishop Ramsey then told the conference, “Let me just say one thing. I think the denomination, for the next two years, will be in very capable hands.”

During the concluding service of National Conference on July 18, Bishop Paul Hirschy led a prayer of consecration for Todd and Lisa Fetters, family members, and the National Office staff.

During the concluding service of National Conference on July 18, Bishop Paul Hirschy led a prayer of consecration for Todd and Lisa Fetters, family members, and the National Office staff.