Carlson and Naomi Becker, UB missionaries in Macau, sent the following report on March 22 It tells about the launch of the Living Stone church on Taipa island. This is the third UB church in Macau.

We launched the services of Living Stone church on February 26 with 30 adults and 2 children present. We are praying that many of them will continue to worship with us and get involved in Bible studies and the Alpha Course so that we can help them grow in knowledge and commitment to our Lord. It will be a long process to try to make progress in reaching the thousands who live a short walk from our worship center. We mailed 5,000 invitations to apartments near the center and handed out invitations to area businesses. We are trusting God to open ways for us to reach out to them.

We announced to the congregation that our intention is to make this a Chinese church and not an American one. We wanted them to know that the primary language will be Cantonese, and that someday the Americans will back away and the Chinese leadership will continue the work into the future. My prayer is, that that will happen sooner rather than later. We already have lined up Cantonese speakers and pastors to speak each month, with my speaking being only once or twice a month for the rest of this year. The worship time is already being led by Michael, our Cantonese-speaking co-worker, who is a national, born in Macau.

Continue reading "Report from the New Living Stone Church in Macau" »

• Miriam Prabhakar is now in the States. She dropped by the United Brethren offices on March 30, having already spent time in Atlanta with her oldest son, Joshua.
• Jean Bell (with husband, Wes, right), one of our endorsed missionaries serving with Wycliffe in Brazil, received news on March 26 that her mother had passed away.
• Marilyn Reeck is in North Carolina taking a course called "Learning that Lasts." Roger Reeck is Tegucigalpa, Honduras, teaching a one-week linguistic seminar to Honduran missionaries as part of youth With a Mission's missionary training course. He will then travel to the States to join Marilyn. Their youngest daughter, Elisa, graduates from college on May 10, and they will be able to attend her graduation.
• On March 28, Jennifer Blandin, missionary in Macau, sent this note about the new Living Stone church in Macau. "Living Stone continues to grow and reach out to people. After our opening ceremony, the number of visitors has dropped, but the number of regular attenders has increased. This month Michael Chan has started a 'family' small group to reach out and care for people we have come in contact with."

Rev. W. M. Souder, a long-time minister and conference superintendent in Midwest Conference, passed away on the morning of March 28.

New staff openings have been posted on the Staff Openings page. One is for a senior pastor for the Mt. Olivet UB church in Chambersburg, Pa. The other is for a part-time Children's Ministry director at Oak Harbor UB church in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

Other staff positions are also posted there.

Michigan Conference's mid-year session was held in February at Brown Corners UB church in Clare, Mich. The delegates took action to disband the conference as of July 2006, in compliance with the vision of the 2005 US National Conference.

The delegates heard reports and recommendations from conference ministries. Here is a summary of the actions taken:

• A new association consisting of Michigan Conference churches will be formed. Articles of incorporation and bylaws are being developed. Information on the new association will be mailed to local churches in time for their June board meetings.
• The Lane-Dulcenia Home, Carson City Christian Camping Center, the insurance program, and oversight of a fund balance for quizzing will come under the umbrella of the new association.
• Camp Living Water (Luther, Mich.) is working on a name change and will consider if and how they might wish to participate in the association.
• The conference's Cabinent of Missions will disband, and the Roger Carey Scholarship Fund will be administered under the authority of the Michigan Regional Women's Missionary Fellowship.
• The Board of Church Multiplication has eliminated the paid position of Director of Church Planting in Michigan Conference. The new church being planted in Portland will proceed as a locally sponsored effort by Sunfield and the Wesleyan denomination.
• $100,000 earmarked for the Portland plant has been reallocated to church planting projects in Michigan, under the oversight of the national Church Multiplication Leadership Team. If any money is left after five years, the CMLT will have the freedom to use the funds for church planting anywhere.

In February, Randy Fennig, pastor of Prince of Peace UB church in Springfield, Ohio, spent two weeks in Sierra Leone on a fact-finding mission for UB Global Ministries. Randy, a former missionary in Mozambique, is a member of the Global Ministries Leadership Team. He was joined on that trip by fellow GMLT member Ruth Ann Price.

While in Africa, Randy contracted malaria (which he has had before). He has been battling malaria ever since, in large part because his doctors in Ohio haven't seen this disease before. As a result, Randy continued to get worse.

On Tuesday, March 21, Randy's family finally found a doctor near his hometown of Portland, Ind., who has some experience in treating malaria. They took him to the hospital in Jay County. On his arrival, his temperature was spiking at 105.5 degrees and he was having convulsions. The got it down to 102, and then rushed him by ambulance to Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Ind. He began a treatment which was expected to take around 72 hours to make an impact.

Fortunately, Randy is doing much better and is responding to the treatment. As of Wednesday night, after 24 hours of doxycycline and quinine, Randy had improved a lot.

The 2006 UB Youth Workers Summit will be held April 24-27 in Daytona Beach, Fla. The registration deadline is April 15, and the registration cost is $75. You can read more about the event here, and you can also register online.

The Huntington University men's basketball team started as the Number 2 seed in the NAIA Division II national tournament in Branson, Mo. They made it fairly easily to the championship game. But then they ran into College of the Ozarks, a school which basically had home-field advantage.

In the final game Tuesday night, March14, Huntington's poorest shooting performance and lowest offensive output of the season led to its demise. They fell 74-56 to College of the Ozarks.

Read more about the game here.

Jeff Dice, associate pastor at Brown Corners Church in Clare, Mich., will lead his third short-term team to Nicaragua June 9-19. This is part of Brown Corners’ ongoing partnership with that country. The team will do several small construction projects, some cultural outreach activities, and Bible training. Jeff would like to invite individuals from other churches to join the team. Interested? Call him at 989-386-2702, or send an email to Jeff Dice.

UB Global Ministries is making available two new DVDs which focus on what God is doing around the world in the UB church.

• Living in Denial. This six-minute video or DVD features Director Gary Dilley reflecting on UBs joining God in the “war effort,” as well as looking ahead to a new work in East Asia, and our desire to stand in the gap with Sierra Leone as they rebuild and prepare for the challenges ahead. This video was made for Self Denial, but is equally suitable for a short UB mission update in your worship service or smaller group setting. Contact Darlene at Global Ministries for a copy.
• The Philippines and the United Brethren Church. Rev. Mike Brown and Huntington University worked together to produce an introduction to the work and ministry of the United Brethren church in the Philippines.

You can obtain a copy of these DVDs for your church by contact Global Ministries in these ways:

Toll-free Phone: 1-888-622-3019
Email: missions@ub.org

The Huntington University men's basketball team has reached the Final Four of the NAIA national tournament in Branson, Missouri. The entered the tourney as the number 2 seed, and the number 1 seed has already bowed out.

The Foresters defeated #10 Morningside (Iowa) on Saturday, March11, to reach the Final Four. They trailed most of the first half, but overcame a five-point half-time deficit to eventually win 82-70.

The tournament continues at 6:00 p.m. (CST) on Monday, March 13, as Huntington faces MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (25-10) in the semifinals. The game will be broadcast live from Branson by Huntington University Radio WQHU 105.5 FM. MidAmerica is the only unseeded team to reach the Final Four. The other two teams left in the tournament are 4th-seed College of the Ozards (27-6) and 8th-seed Lindenwood Univeristy (26-9). HU's season record is 31-5.

The Huntington University men's basketball team is ranked second in the national in the NAIA Division II, with a 28-5 record. They are now in Branson, Missouri, for the national tournament, and were given the number 2 seed. The top seed went to Embry Riddle, a Florida college, with a 30-2 record.

The Foresters will play their first game on Thursday, March 8, against Fisher College (16-14) of Boston, Mass. The game begins at 4 pm, and can be heard over the internet on HU's radio station, WQHU. Go here for the link.

The Foresters are led by Alex Kock, MCC co-player of the year, who averages just under 21 points per game. Kyle Ganton leads the Division II in 3-point field goal percentage at 51%, and averages 18 points per game. Both are juniors. HU enters the tournament with the best team free throw percentage in Division II, at 78.6%.

On February 28, HU squared off against 8th-ranked Taylor University for the Mid-Central Conference championship, and won easily, 68-44. The photo on the right was taken after that victory.

Pat Jones, Director of Healthy Church Ministries, reporting to the Executive Leadership Team

The Executive Leadership Team met March 6-7 at the United Brethren Headquarters in Huntington, Ind. Bishop Ron Ramsey presented his report covering his first six months in office, August 15-2005 to February 28, 2006. Here are excerpts:

These first 6 months were spent generally:

• In getting moved and settled in Huntington.
• Becoming involved in a steep learning curve as to the status of the various areas of emphasis.
• Becoming acquainted with the condition of churches and pastors.
• Picking up stationing committee duties for churches needing pastors.
• Learning the routines and procedures of the office and staff.

The transition has gone well. There are always some bumps and surprises along the way, but all in all it was a good initial beginning. Pat Jones and I have formed a solid team and positive working relationship. Along with Gary Dilley, Steve Dennie, and Marci Hammel, we have a strong administrative team in place. Adding Tom Blaylock as a part time Director of Church Multiplication was a good decision and we will see benefits from that decision.

Continue reading "Bishop's Report to the ELT" »

The Fall 2005 HTV News team

Every Thursday, Huntington University's HTV airs a news broadcast which focuses on happenings at the university. You can now view those broadcasts via the internet if you have the free Quicktime 7 player installed, and can even download the video clips. The news program is written, directed,produced, and performed by HU students.

HTV News recently won first-place for TV Studio Production from the Intercollegiate National Religious Broadcasters. The station's website, HTVNews.net, also won first place for Web Site Content and Design. HU placed in five of the 11 categories in the awards contest. The other first-place award came in TV Field Production for the film "Love is a four Letter Word."

HU students also took third-place honors for a radio drama, "He Walks With Me," and for a music video, "Good Thing."

Related link: Read about the Radio & Television Broadcasting program at HU.

The following story is about the Living Hope UB church in our Canadian conference. The story appeared in the Shoreline Beacon of Port Elgin, Ontario, on January 25.

What started out as a modest spaghetti dinner shared with the community, has blossomed into one of the biggest showings of community spirit in Saugeen Shores, with more than 150 people turning out each week.

Continue reading "UBs in Canada - Spaghetti Every Week" »

The PMLT meeting in February. Chairman Tom Brodbeck is on the right.

The Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team was created by the 2005 US National Conference to oversee the licensing and ordination process and give leadership to the professional development of our ministers. Bishop Ron Ramsey appointed Tom Brodbeck as chairperson.

This group has met twice, most recently on February 27-28, 2006. Tom Brodbeck reports the following:

Summary of Decisions Made.

• We reaffirmed the action of the US National Conference that the sections on “Ministry” from the 2001-2005 Discipline, plus the denomination’s official statements on theological issues, will constitute the Pastoral Ministry Handbook. Theological issues included so far are: Depravity, Divine Foreknowledge, Destiny of the Unevangelized, the 1974 statement on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and an 1977 statement on the Word of God. We are in the process of editing the sections from Discipline for posting on the website.
• We appointed PMLT team members as chairmen of regional Ministerial Licensing and Ordination Teams. With this format, we will be able to have up to ten regional teams trained and ready to interview and assess ministerial candidates, with a consistency in interview style and outcome. Each chairman is submitting names to the bishop for approval as additional team members. Each team will establish two interview dates (one in May, one in October) to be announced to the church.

“To Do” List

• Review the delivery system and expected outcomes for United Brethren Church history.
• Review and confirm the names of the ministers who are in licensing process from each of the conferences
• Re-think all of the licensing options provided within the US church.
• Review and revise recruitment materials and develop (with the Bishop) a comprehensive strategy for recruiting new ministers.
• Design and develop ways of tracking and advertising quality continuing education opportunities for elders.
• Review and revise the current roll of ministers