Report 31

Communications Director

Steve Dennie

Once upon a time, back in the days of publishing The United Brethren magazine, my work focused around writing and editing, with some graphic design thrown in for good measure. But those days are long gone. My work has transitioned heavily into other areas, mostly out of necessity. And the computer is mostly to blame.

So, as a prelude to this report, let me give a quick summary of the major areas in which I work.

Writing. The writing that I still do is not so much creative as it is ordinary. Compared to a magazine, there's not much you can do with newsletter and brochure copy to spice it up. And editing is editing. But my writing and editing skills, while no longer front and center, provide a valuable foundation for most other things I do.

Graphic design. Most of my projects require designing something. Publications, web pages, stationery, PowerPoint presentations, reports, databases, even run-of-the-mill mass emails--all of these benefit from a good sense of design.

Since the early 1990s, I've worked hard to become knowledgeable and skilled at graphic design. Now, I even run a side business which involves graphic design. I can do grunge, I can do staid, I can do most things in between. The need for strong design skills has become very important, especially as more and more regular people--now empowered by their own computers--increasingly know (or think they know) what to look for in recognizing good or bad design.

The Internet. We launched the first UB website somewhere around 1997 and wondered whether or not it was important. Well, having a website has become essential for any organization or business. This has thrown into my job description a huge new responsibility. A good website requires both writing and graphics skills, plus technical expertise. I already had the first two (though the web requires some different twists when it comes to both), and I have educated myself on the technical aspects.

Technical expertise. Every business needs a Computer Guy (or Gal). I'm that Guy for the UB offices. Several times a week--if not several times a day--a fellow employee knocks on my door and asks for my help. Maybe it involves an attachment they're unable to open, or a computer that keeps freezing, or a program that is doing funny things not covered in the manual. My job is to drop what I'm doing, solve their problem, and get them back up and running.

When more people worked in the building, there were more go-to Computer Guys. But now, I'm It. When someone needs a new computer, when programs need updated, when new capabilities need to be designed into the databases, when an email gets bounced, when someone receives an attachment in a strange format, when visitors want to connect to our internet system--when these and many other situations arise, I'm the one who takes care of it.

So that's a quick overview of what I do. Now I'll deal more specifically with what's been happening during the past four years.

Publications

Newsletters

In 1994, we discontinued the UB magazine and replaced it with two newsletters. That was still the case in 2001, except that the newsletters had gone from two-color to four-color, and from monthly to bi-monthly. The print quantity remained at 21,000 copies, most of which were distributed through church bulletins. We would send a package to each church, based on how many copies they requested (based on how many bulletins they printed each Sunday).

Prior to 2001, those newsletters were "denominational" newsletters. But with the adoption of an international structure in 2001, they became publications only of the US National Conference. For most practical purposes, nothing changed. I continued using news from our Canadian churches as if they were just another conference, rather than a separate National Conference, and we continued sending copies for distribution in the Canadian churches. Nothing changed with the other national conferences, either. But it should be noted that those ceased being truly "denominational" publications.

Most information in the newsletters would end up on our websites, often before the newsletters hit church mailboxes. The completed issues would also be posted as PDF files, which people could download.

In 2003, we discontinued Impact in favor of relying fully on the monthly WorldView, which I felt was a good move. We also stopped producing Connect on a regular basis. In fact, since June of 2003, only one issue of Connect has been printed, and that was the special issue in September 2004 dealing with the Missionary Church. Three things contributed toward the cessation of Connect, and they were all intertwined:

• The uncertain financial picture in early 2003. It looked like we could possibly end the year way behind, as far as giving to denominational interests. One way to save money would be to not print Connect.
• My part-time status, which began in June 2003. I couldn't continue doing everything I had been doing on 20% less time. Something had to give.
• The initiative to join the Missionary Church. This added a whole new component to my schedule, which compounded the time factor. But it also threw a lot of things out of whack (excuse the technical jargon). The idea of producing a promotional piece while, at the same time, the official initiative was to pursue (basically) doing away with the denomination--well, that felt unduly awkward.

At this point, it doesn't make sense to resume something when we're in the midst of possibly implementing a radically different structure. After the US National Conference, when we know what we're working with--goals, structure, needs, personnel, etc.--the total communication needs of the church need to be thought out anew. Then we can decide if newsletters should be part of the mix.

Missions-Related Materials

As mentioned, we discontinued the bi-monthly Impact newsletter and replaced it with a monthly, two-page newsletter called Worldview. Worldview, from what I and others can tell, has proven to be popular and well-read, and therefore quite effective. The Global Ministries people send me material, and I take it from there--edit the copy, design the newsletter, proofread it, and get it printed.

That's the main thing I do for Global Ministries. Here are some other things I've done during the past quadrennium.

• Edited and designed the Self-Denial materials each year.
• Redesigned and printed the world missions map, which shows all of our missionaries and where they serve.
• Designed electronic slides for each missionary and each country. These can be downloaded from the UBMissions.com website.
• Helped with a range of other materials that come along. There's no point in mentioning them all.
• I spun off the missions site to its own domain, UBMissions.com. This made it much more manageable and enabled me to impart a little more of a separate identity from the main UB.org site.

Photos of all UB missionaries (including some former missionaries), plus various national leaders, are available for download on UBMissions.com. I try to post them in three sizes to fit varying needs.

Other Print-Related Projects

• Designed new stationery--letterhead, envelopes, business cards--for the United Brethren Offices.
• Edited and designed the 2001-2005 UB Discipline, and also posted all of the chapters online.
• Prepared materials related to the referendum voting, such as forms and instructions for boards of tellers.
• Designed a brochure for Women's Ministries.
• Developed a PowerPoint presentation for Global Ministries.
• Revised the pastors' annual reports.
• Designed posters for STUMP trips and for the Youth Summit.
• Designed a new B-Mail template for Bishop Hirschy. I edit and lay-out the content each month.
• Compiled a "Proceedings" of the 2001 General Conference and US National Conference.
• Seriously revised the UB booklet.
• Designed and produced certificates for ministerial licenses, membership, and other needs.
• Handled all editing and design for the National Conference notebook.

Disseminating News via the Internet

Website. The website is a valuable tool for getting news out. I can post news as it comes in, and space is not an issue (as it would be in a newsletter). The drawback is that people need to come to the site to get the news--it's not something we "push" to them. Still, site statistics show that lots of people visit the news page.

Email News. I have gathered a denominational email list of about 700 names. On an as-needed basis, I send news to everyone on that list. Depending on what needs to be communicated, I might send two emails in one week, and then not send another one for several weeks. The "as needed" part is important. The last thing I've wanted to do is send an email on a regular, periodic basis, because after getting an email from the same source on the same day of the week for way too many months, you begin ignoring them. When people receive a "UB News" email, I want them to assume its worth reading--that we don't send email just to send email.

I guard the email list closely, and more protectively than some people might prefer. We receive many requests from people and organizations wanting access to the list, both UB and non-UB. I have never given it out. I'm very much a control freak about it. And I carefully monitor and guard the frequency with which we use the list. The more it is used, the less effective it might become (as people learn to ignore the emails).

Live Reporting. During the February 2005 US National Board meeting, I used an FTP program to post a live, on-going report of the meetings. A number of people told me later that they eagerly read this report and regularly refreshed their screen to get the latest five-minutes-worth of information. Since this proved to be popular, I'll do the same for the 2005 US National Conference. So watch what you say.

Databases

In 2002, I tied our church directory into the web. The church directory is maintained on a Filemaker database which I created in 1994 and have upgraded a number of times. Other databases have been created, two for Global Ministries. As of May 2005, the following searchable databases are available:

• Church Directory (including links to maps through MapQuest and Yahoo Maps). As soon as we make changes in our internal databases, the information is "live" on the web.
• Missionaries. People can look up information on missionaries, get contact information, check their support status, and use a Paypal link to contribute toward their support.
• UB People (password protected and only used internally).
• UB Calendar. I question the value of this one.

Only certain fields (ones I specify) are available to the public through the website. Internally, we can access the entire database over the network. Sherry Rupert, secretary to Bishop Hirschy, keeps the Church, People, and Calendar databases up-to-date. Darlene Burkett takes care of the Missionaries database.

We also did a rather complex set of files to track contributions and do receipts. One major component focuses on child support for the over 100 children in the Beautiful Family Program.

I also adapted a Conventions database, which I had developed in my freelance work, for use in the 2003 UB women's convention.

Computers and the Internet

Computer Related

The quadrennium began with moving the missions staff from what is now the Graduate School offices. Now we're all clustered in the southwest corner of the building. In the process, I threw out thousands of dollars of now-obsolete or broken computer equipment (computers, printers, drives, monitors, keyboards, mice, you-name it) from the 1990s which was already long past the sitting-around-collecting-dust stage. Computer equipment is disposable, and only cruel people consider it charitable to pass along to other people obsolete computers which can't handle current operating systems and software.

Every time there is a staff change, I need to set up a computer for that person, installing new programs and drivers, putting in internet settings, and much more. When software needs to be upgraded, I do it.

During the summer of 2001, I reformatted both a desktop and laptop computer for Gary Dilley to use, reformatted Bishop Ray Seilhamer's laptop for Bishop Paul Hirschy, and reformatted Doug Johnson's laptop for Donna Hollopeter.

By the end of the year, I had transitioned everyone in the building to Entourage as their email program (the Mac version of Outlook, basically) and MS Word as their main word processor. I upgraded everyone to Mac OS 9.1, with the same versions of Appleworks, Office 2001, MS Explorer, Adobe Acrobat, ATM, and miscellaneous drivers, and also installed fonts, desktop pix, and other things. I was able to move everyone to a G3 or G4 desktop computer, with the exception of one person. This got most of us on the computer equivalent of "the same page."

Also, the college moved everyone to a DHCP system for assigning IP addresses. Formerly, every computer in the building had its own static IP address. So this involved making new settings on every computer (including the ones used by Family Centered Services, which rents a number of offices in the building).

I've set up new computers for Janet Bilyew, Jane Jordan, Mabel Mundy, Darlene Burkett, Phylis Stouder, Donna Hollopeter, and other persons who have come and gone. HQ employees regularly appear at my door with troubleshooting questions or problems. I give them blank stares.

Servers

My office has six computers, five of them Macs. Four Macs are servers which run constantly. I do most of my work at another desktop computer. Then there's a little Dell laptop, which I use only to look at web pages I design. The Windows version of Internet Explorer tends to be very unforgiving about HTML code, and I discovered that pages that looked great on a Mac--exactly the way I designed them--were doing odd things in Windows Explorer. The Dell enables me to catch, and fix, a number of problems.

I have given the servers names based on noteworthy UB people.

Meadows. This is the web server. Both the UB.org and UBMissions.com websites are hosted here, along with the site for Laurel Mission. It runs on the Mac OSX Server software.

Fleming. Until May 2002, the email server and web server were hosted on the same machine, a G4 desktop machine that I purchased on Ebay. In May 2002, I moved the websites to a new G4 dual-processor server, and converted the previous machine to an email-only server, which I named after Dr. George Fleming, the former Secretary of Missions (and the greatest prayer warrior I have known). During the summer of 2002, I upgraded Fleming to the OSX operating system and installed the CommuniGate software, an industrial strength email server.

The previous email server program, QuickMail, forced us to use what's called an "open relay," which means spammers could potentially send email through our server. That prompted the move to CommuniGate. Now, let me proceed to explain further and thereby bore you silly.

To shield their internet subscribers from unwanted junk email, some ISPs refuse to accept email from domains with open relays. We were continually getting email back from various addresses saying our email was rejected and citing something called "Osirusoft." It took me a while to figure out what was happening. Turns out that this company called Osirusoft keeps a list of domains with open relays, and ISPs use the Osirusoft list. So, we had to get off the Osirusoft list before we could send email to addresses on KCOnline, Pa.net, Hoosiernet, and others. To add to the frustration, everything with Osirusoft is automated--you can't actually talk to anybody, you can't send them an email, and their online info is cryptic. It's tyranny.

Just as I was making the change to CommuniGate, I received a threatening email from AOL saying that unless we closed the open relay, no AOL subscribers would be able to receive email from UB.org addresses. We had a week to fix the problem. I fixed it.

Osirusoft rescans the internet periodically to update its blacklist. After a month or two, we were removed from Osirusoft's blacklist (and two other lists I found). Then it was just a matter of waiting for the ISPs to update their lists. It took a couple months, but now we're not on any blacklists (that I know of).

All of which is more than you wanted to know. But hey, this is my report.

Otterbein and Newcomer. The two other servers run the Filemaker databases, which contain information on churches, ministers, missionaries, and much more. The files reside physically on one of them, Otterbein. The other server, Newcomer, provides the gateway to the web. So when someone accesses the online church directory, they come to Newcomer, and then Newcomer goes over to Otterbein to get the requested information.

All of the servers run Mac OSX. Fleming and the CommuniGate software need to be upgraded soon. All of the servers will probably need to be upgraded within the next two years.

It's valuable having our own servers. I can make changes directly on the server, without needing to upload revised pages. A single small change in a template could require uploading several hundred pages. But we don't need to do that.

Plus, we don't need to worry about costly security solutions, since our servers sit behind Huntington University's firewalls and benefit from HU's filtering capabilities. And since we use Macs, viruses and spyware and so many other PC plagues are not an issue for us. It's a good situation.

Websites

A large chunk of my time is spent on the websites--a whole new part of my job description since the mid 1990s. I design the sites, maintain them, and fill them with content. I thoroughly enjoy working with the websites.

In January 2001, a redesigned UB website went online. Every page was redone. The site was structured around five areas: About Us, News, For Churches, Global, and Other Stuff. "Stuff" is a highly useful term.

In early 2005, I totally redesigned the UB website. It was a huge, humongous, gargantuan job. And it needed done. I'm now using a single template throughout the site, with extensive use of Cascading Style Sheets, which enables me to easily make changes site-wide. I spent months playing with different design ideas. But once I stumbled across what I wanted, I jumped into action and implemented it fairly quickly, considering that hundreds of pages needed to be revised. It was quite fun. Big, creative projects like that energize me. Got me out (much of the way) of my post-MC funk.

I still have a long way to go with the site, but it's mostly a matter of adding content. And I have a lot of stuff I still want to add. But I got the new site up and running, and now I'm basically just adding rooms and filling them with interesting stuff, as I have time. Among other things, I've been scanning, editing, and posting scores and scores of articles by bishops and from newsletters and magazines from the past 20-plus years.

In 2002, I redesigned the Laurel Mission website, and also created a website for Women's Ministries. Women's Ministries later launched a separate website (partly so they could have more control of it), and asked me to point ubwomen.org to their site. I did that most gladly. It saves me time, and gives them a greater sense of ownership.

At the request of the Youth Task Force, I created a youth area on the UB website (which they never really used). They now have their own site hosted elsewhere.

Next: I need to redesign the Global Ministries (UBMissions.com) site. I plan to give that site its own graphic identity. It'll still be tied closely with the UB.org site, but not integrally linked as it is now.

Domains

Over the years, I have snapped up a number of domain names which I thought we might want to keep to ourselves for some future use. Some are currently being used, some aren't (or merely point to another domain name). For the record, here's the complete list. All of these domain registrations are held by Network Solutions.

UB.org. This is the main UB site. We're fortunate that we got into the game early enough to land a two-letter domain name.

UBMissions.com. This is the site for Global Ministries.

UBOnline.org. Hosted by a commercial company, which gives us some added capabilities (like very good forms processing and FTP access). The UB online store, before it was closed, was hosted here. I used this site for the live National Board report in February 2005.

Laurelmissions.com. We host this site as a service to Laurel Mission.

UBWomen.org. This site was originally hosted on UB.org, but now points to the website of UB Women's Ministries, which is located at UBWomen.com.

Cotubic.com. Unused.

Cotubic.org. Unused.

Unitedbrethren.com. Unused.

Unitedbrethren.org. Unused.

UBPastors.com. Unused.

Internet Infrastructure

During the quadrennium, several improvements were made in our internet infrastructure.

Hub. The fiber-optic line from Huntington University enters the back of the building and attaches to our hub, located in a closet-like room in the warehouse. We ran out of ports, so I bought a new switch to double its capacity. Thanks to the wonders of Ebay, I found (in Quebec!) a switch identical to the one we already had, and at one-tenth of the cost.

Wireless. In 2002, I installed an Airport wireless hub. It worked great and enabled laptops to connect to the internet. In 2004, I upgraded it to Airport Extreme. I can envision us expanding the wireless capabilities in the years ahead.

Wiring. We needed more Ethernet ports--for servers, for printers, for computers, for conference room access. So I called the folks who did our initial wiring back in the 1990s and had them run a lot more wire throughout the building. That included four new ports in my office for the servers. I should have done more.

Website Traffic

During the ten months between July 2004 and May 2005, we showed these statistics for the UB.org website:

• An average of 37 visitors per day, with a high of 643 visitors in one day.
• An average of 107 pages viewed each day.
• A total of over 31,000 pages viewed during those approximately 300 days.
• An average of 4.5 megabytes of data transferred each day.

Over 2000 people visited the About Us section, 1700 people visited the News page, 1550 visited the section about the Missionary Church, and 1100 landed on the Downloads page.

The most-visited page (as with any site) is the homepage. But beyond that, the News page is the most popular page. The About Us area is also very popular. Lots of visitors head to that section.

People from 94 countries visited the website during that period. They include:

• 4400 from the USA.
• 161 from Canada.
• 97 from Hong Kong.
• 89 from the United Kingdom.
• 65 from the Netherlands.
• 63 from Germany.
• 54 from Spain.
• 39 from China.
• 37 from Australia.
• 34 from South Korea.
• 29 from Jamaica.
• 26 from Sweden.
• 24 from Brazil.
• 24 from Singapore.
• 22 from France.
• 14 from Japan.

Other visitors have come from Chile, Cyprus, Bahrain, Botswana, Gambia, Iceland, Luthuania, Israel, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cameroon, Yugoslavia, Togo, and Saudi Arabia.

I get a kick out of thinking that, as I work each day, people from all over the world are "visiting" my office--that is, visiting the servers located in my office. I'm more global than Global Ministries.

Internet Inquiries

I field and respond to a lot of inquiries from non-UB people who either send a question to the webmaster address or submit a question via one of our online forms.

People inquire about our official stand on specific issues--women in ministry, the death penalty, eternal security, homeschooling, rock music, and much more. It's nice to be able to say, in many cases, "We don't have a stand on that issue."

They ask about locations of churches, or about whether or not a certain person is among our ministerial corps.

A significant portion of the US population seems to be engaged in geneology research. I receive many inquiries from people who say they found reference to an ancestor from the 1800s who attended a United Brethren church in Oklahoma, and did I have information on that church? Usually, I tell them they probably need to go to the United Methodist Church archives, and I explain our history. Or I send them to Randy Neuman at the UB Historical Center.

Then there are people doing research for magazine articles, books, college papers, newspapers, and other media, or perhaps for marketing purposes. They ask the webmaster, and the webmaster gets back with them.

PayPal

I set up a Paypal account for the UB Headquarters. It is being used in several ways. For instance, through the Missionary database, people can use a PayPal link to give online to specific missionaries (a script in Filemaker automatically generates the link address). Also, when the hurricanes hit Haiti, Jamaica, and Florida in the fall of 2004, we set up disaster funds and used a Paypal link on the website to collect donations. A lot of people used it. People can also use Paypal to contribute toward the projects listed on the Global Ministries website. It's plenty useful.

Email Issues

We licensed 200 email accounts with CommuniGate. That enabled me to set up forwarding email addresses for all of our missionaries. Each missionary has an email address with the UB.org extension; any email sent to that address is forwarded to their regular email address. For instance, any email sent to hoobler@ub.org is forwarded to Jana Hoobler's email address in Macau. When she comes home on furlough, she gives me a different forwarding address to use.

CommuniGate also allows unlimited aliases, which was one of the selling points for me. I build in a number of aliases for each missionary, for the sake of people who are bad spellers or are simply guessing at an email address. For example, these addresses, with the @ub.org extension, also go to Jana:

jana
janna
janahoobler
jana.hoobler
jana_hoobler
jhoobler
janah

Gary Dilley wanted to be able to check his email via the web while he was out of the country. CommuniGate has a webmail interface, but we can only access it from the office because of the college's firewall and other safeguards (for which we're thankful). To meet Gary's needs, I set him up with a Yahoo account, which has worked fine. When he is gone, we can tell CommuniGate to forward a copy of his email (only a copy) to his Yahoo account.

Bookstore

We had talked about starting an online UB bookstore, and also getting set-up to use credit cards in the bookstore (something which many customers had requested). This was all accomplished by the end of the summer of 2002.

After extensive research, I settled on a company called Aplus to host our online store. The whole process was rather complicated--Aplus to host the store, Miva as the storefront software, and another company (a bank) to provide the merchant account. I navigated through all of that--applying for the merchant account, setting up the storefront, and much more. Now, Marilyn Waters, our bookstore manager, can go to a website to authorize credit cards and print out receipts for walk-in customers (like Graduate School students). It works very well.

I populated the online bookstore with all kinds of information on UB products (books, discipleship materials, certificates, brochures, etc.), including photos of everything. I also set it up to allow online donations to missionaries. However, after two years, the online bookstore had been used very, very little. So in March of 2005, I shut it down. Marilyn can still do credit card transactions for walk-in customers, but the online component is gone. At least for now.

Other Issues

The Missionary Church

I was involved, from beginning to end, in the discussions to join the Missionary Church USA. This started with the March 2003 Executive Leadership Team (of which I am an advisory member), and continued with the preliminary meeting in August 2003 with representatives from the Missionary Church. At that meeting, they expressed their strong interest in bringing our groups together.

The ELT formally voted to pursue this in October 2003. That's when the fun began for me, and it didn't let up for over a year. Within a couple days of the meeting, we mailed an information sheet to all UB ministers informing them of the ELT's decision and explaining three key rationale dealing with critical mass, the perception of a shallow leadership pool, and issues of biblical unity. Then I joined my wife and 20 other people from my local church in heading off to Chicago to attend Willow Creek's Prevailing Church Conference--an incredible event which continues to have an impact on Anchor Community Church.

Upon returning, I discovered heated, angry postings on the denominational discussion forum (which I had launched just a few months before). I was immediately engulfed in a form of rumor/damage control which proved to be increasingly futile. Right from the start, we were put on the defensive responding to assorted charges and invective and some highly creative conspiracy theories, and the Executive Leadership Team was pretty much demonized. I know, it sounds like I'm exaggerating. But let me tell ya': reactionary emotions ran deep and rampant during those early days.

My work on behalf of joining the Missionary Church took many forms, and fairly well consumed 2004. Here's a run-down:

• Put together a great deal of material for the initial meeting of the UB/MC transition team, and quickly posted the results on the UB website.
• Created an entire section of the website devoted to the issue.
• Developed several information sheets which were mailed to all UB churches in January 2004.
• Developed a PowerPoint presentation which was used in various information meetings.
• Participated in several public information meetings.
• Helped the MC Michigan District leaders arrange a joint UB/MC retreat at Camp Michindoh in March of 2004.
• Prepared materials for the April 2004 US National Board meeting.
• Continually, painstakingly, excruciatingly monitored the discussion board.
• Responded to numerous emails regarding the Missionary Church.
• Developed several more information sheets over the summer of 2004.
• Helped develop a video, which was distributed to all UB churches.
• Put together a special September 2004 issue of the Connect newsletter devoted to the issue.
• Participated in all meetings of the UB/MC transition team.

When October came, we could all sit back and breathe, knowing that whatever happened would now happen. Once the results were known, I produced more materials--in print and on the web--to announce the results.

So that was pretty much my year. A year of much work expended in vain? In futile pursuit of a lost cause? Perhaps. For the record, or for whatever it's worth, I sincerely felt that joining the Missionary Church was a huge opportunity for us and that it was most definitely in the long-term best interests of our local churches. But that option is dead, and we need to look at other scenarios for moving our local churches forward. We have preserved our Church, but we need to do justice to our churches. That's where my heart has always been.

John Sanders

The John Sanders issue also took a lot of my time. I helped prepare letters and other materials that were mailed from the Bishop's office, and developed a section of the website devoted to the issue. There were interactions with the college, with individuals, and with other elements of our constituency.

Discussion Forum

In early 2001, I tried out a web-based discussion forum. But after it had been online for some months and had attracted practically no interest, I took it offline. Evidently, it's time hadn't yet come.

That same year, I also started two email-based discussion groups: PastorTalk and YouthTalk. It was all automated through our QuickMail email server. People had to subscribe to be a member. Then, when they sent an email to a certain address, every subscriber received a copy of that email.

PastorTalk gained a pretty good following. There would be periods of inactivity--perhaps weeks at a time--followed by a flurry of activity when someone raised an engaging topic. PastorTalk eventually had about 80 members. It had its fans, and it had its detractors.

YouthTalk, designed for youth leaders, had about 20 members, but never really took off. Our pond is too small.

In 2002, when I switched to the CommuniGate email server, PastorTalk and YouthTalk bit the dust.

In August 2003, I launched a new discussion forum at UBOnline.org. There was little interest until the end of October, when the ELT's decision to pursue joining the Missionary Church became public. Then things really took off.

There can be value in having a denominational discussion forum. It enables people to interact on any subjects they desire and to share ideas. It could have a place. But my experience with the UBOnline forum during the discussions about the Missionary Church have made me wary of the idea.

As a vehicle for denominational change, a discussion forum is seriously flawed. It attracts, and gives voice (I am speaking very generally here, not about everyone who participated) to naysayers, to people who may have minimal influence or involvement in their local churches, to reactionaries who know not Covey's "Seek first to understand, then to be understood," and to people who sometimes seem to have way too much time on their hands. Most (not all) UB leaders of influence didn't want to get involved in the discussion forum, but chose to wield their influence in other ways. A discussion forum can promote interaction between people who are geographically separated, but it is not representative of our total constituency.

Because this was an "official" church discussion board, I was embarrassed by some of what appeared on it. I knew it wasn't reflective of our entire denomination, but a non-UB wouldn't know that. Monitoring the discussion board became a constant thing for me, almost an obsession, and my wife grew impatient with the effect it was having on me, especially when UB people sent me private messages like these from the Dark Side:

• "You are a fraud. I don't know if you had any integrity to begin with, but you certainly don't have any now. Shame!"
• "I am surprised at the way you and the rest of the ELT nazis have put your own interests over that of the denomination, yet you still have the nerve to call yourselves Christians. It's a lost cause, Steve. Get over it."
• "I would think that as communications director, as a paid staff member, that you would attempt to do your job in an unbiased manner."

I came close to shutting it down several times. Finally, as the April 2004 US National Board meeting approached, I made the decision to shut down the discussion board as soon as the meeting ended.

People have told me, "This is just how people interact on the internet. You need to accept it and adapt. It's the wave of the future." That kind of thing. My response is: so? If something is disrespectful of our leadership, is often dishonoring to Christ, undermines leadership initiatives, is dysfunctional in interaction, and represents the UB church to the world in a negative way--why allow it? So I shut it down and never lost sleep over it.

I was very, very grateful for the strong support I received from nearly everyone, including people on both sides of the issue who had been very active on the discussion board. We UBs are generally good people, and we realize when something's gone awry. I think most of us realized that, collectively, of the discussion board.

At the same time, I was happy to see UBHope start their own discussion board, where debate continued (though on a smaller scale). I had no trouble with that, since it was not an "official" UB discussion board. I monitored it, but never engaged.

Future Needs

Computers. We've fallen way, way behind when it comes to computers at Headquarters. I'm pleased that we're looking at adopting a new accounting system, which will free us from the text-only mainframe system which we installed in 1987.

Most people at Headquarters (not me, gratefully) need to use software that interfaces with the accounting system, software that only runs on Mac OS9, which the rest of the Apple world has left in the dust. This has created a number of technological logjams which I'm anxious to clear, plus assorted headaches for me as the Computer Guy. If all systems are "go" for liberating ourselves from the mainframe chains, I'll be a most happy person. The benefits to the building will be legion (but would bore you silly if I elected to list them).

Communications Strategy. Communication will always be important. But the form it takes depends a lot on our structure and the available lines of communication. So if the US National Conference adopts a radically new structure which doesn't include annual conferences, and which creates greater interaction directly between local churches and the UB offices, we'll need to think through our communication needs with freshness. What needs to be communicated? Who needs to hear it? What publics do we have, both internally and externally? Who will be the new information gatekeepers (or roadblocks)? And not least: what can we afford? I think it would be great fun to wrestle through all of these issues. But communications is a support function, and can only be a strategic tool if other leadership groups are strategic and intentional.

Personal

Part-Time Status

In May 2003, after the ELT held a joint meeting with the conference superintendents, I gave Bishop Hirschy a letter asking to go to part-time status. I sensed that change was coming and wanted to hedge my bets by exploring some freelance opportunities.

At that point, two scenarios seemed likely:

1. We would merge or join with another denomination. In that case, my job would end.

2. We would undergo some kind of radical restructuring, which might or might not include a person in communications.

With my continued employment in such serious self-doubt, I decided to get a head start on building a freelance business, which isn't something you develop overnight.

Here are pieces of that letter to Bishop Hirschy. Referring to the discussions at the ELT's March 2003 long-range planning meeting, I wrote:

"As I looked at the options being presented--deep budget cuts, restructuring, merger, dissolving--I saw no assurance of a role for myself. In fact, when the ELT talked about things they felt a denomination needed, nothing that I do was included....So I began weeks of serious prayer, thinking, and internal debating. I wanted to do things wisely and rightly, and without creating problems at the UB Headquarters. But nothing has arisen to reverse the decision I made after the ELT meeting. The special ELT meeting and superintendents' meeting only confirmed my thinking.

"I don't know what will happen at the October meeting or afterwards, but this I do know: I can't wait around passively. I expect some major changes to come. I don't want to stand in the way of change. But at the same time, I want to prepare for changes that affect me....I am not looking to leave the UB Headquarters--just to prepare for what has become a very uncertain future."

I then proposed, beginning June 1 (my 25-year work anniversary date), that I go to a four-day-a-week schedule and that one-fifth of my salary be chopped off. I also suggested ways to adjust my workload, which Bishop Hirschy and I later hashed out a little further in his office. Between cutting my salary and making even more significant changes in budgeted items, I was able to cut the Communications budget by nearly $30,000.

I greatly appreciate Bishop Hirschy's openness to this arrangement, and I feel it has worked well for the US National Conference. Although I'm on a four-day work week, those are seldom merely eight-hour days.

And what have I done with my "freelance day"? I created an online graphics business for churches at RandomPokes.com (using the name of the column I once wrote for the United Brethren magazine). I have designed websites and databases on a freelance basis. And I wrote a Christian novel, which I hope to get published someday. These ventures have not replaced the income I sacrificed by dropping to part-time status (at least, not until I sell the novel), but that's okay. It's been a valuable time for me, and I have no plans to request a return to fulltime status.

I greatly look forward to my Friday "freelance" day. These are highly productive days, and amazingly enjoyable. I crank up iTunes with my Harmon-Kardon Soundsticks, fire up Photoshop, and design stuff. Or I go out to the eMac in our living room and let my imagination run wild as I invent scenes and characters for my novel. When Jordi or Molly crawl up on me, pet-fatherhood demands that I stop to pet them. It's a tough life.

Church

Pam and I love being part of Anchor Community Church, just west of downtown Fort Wayne. We are greatly needed there, and the opportunities for ministry are boundless. God designed us with a wide collection of skills which make us ideally suited for a small church or for a church plant, both of which describe Anchor.

Pam and I spend Thursday nights at the church with music practice (I play the keyboard, she runs sound). We enjoy doing ministry together.

Until recently, we hung out on Friday nights at our youth center. We remain involved with the concert ministry, which has drawn 600+ kids (generally, high school through their 20s) to our little church. Pretty amazing. I'm grateful that Anchor people don't get bent out of shape about kids smoking outside, losing gum in the sanctuary carpet while moshing, occasionally breaking a window, or entering the church with the F word emblazoned on a t-shirt.

I do three websites for Anchor: Anchorpeople.org, Third StreetCafe.com (the concert ministry), and LUYC.org (for the Life Unlimited Youth Center). I also do the PowerPoint announcement loop on Sunday mornings. And I am one of Anchor's three elders.

Family and Fun

Pam is one of four partners in a CPA firm, Christen-Souers LLC. That keeps her really really busy from January through April, and merely real busy the rest of the time.

I started my own blog in the fall of 2004 at http://dennie.randompokes.com/blog/.

I play twice a week in a city ping-pong club, where I regularly get drubbed but also inflict some satisfying drubbing. This has become a wonderfully enjoyable outlet for me.

A month after the 2005 US National Conference, my parents, Don and Gloria Dennie, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. My two brothers and I, along with our families, have rented a big chalet outside of Gatlinburg, Tenn., for a week at the end of July. We're greatly looking forward to this time to spend with our parents and to honor them not only for their 50 years of marriage, but for their 49 years as astounding parents.

We're all proud that, in their "retirement" years, our parents are back serving in the pastorate with seemingly no decrease in the energy they had in earlier years. We wear the PK label with pride.

Final Thoughts

In June 2004, I completed 25 years as a fulltime employee of the United Brethren Offices (with a year working part-time before that). Nearly all of that time has been spent working with or for Paul Hirschy. From 1982-1993, I worked under his direction as the Director of Church Services. Since 1993, when my title was changed to Communications Director, I have worked under the direct supervision of the bishop. So when Paul Hirschy became bishop in 2001, he once again became my "boss."

I greatly appreciate the freedom he has given me. We creative types have our quirks, and often need to just be left alone to do our thing. And when it comes to the creative process, you can't always explain how you get from point A to point B--you just do it. Paul has always given me the freedom and flexibility on which creativity thrives, and I appreciate that. So did Bishops Seilhamer and Miller. I've been most fortunate.

It's been a delight working with Gary Dilley during the past four years. He has brought some wonderful new ideas and focus to the world of UB missions, and we've all seen the positive results. For me personally, he's become a good friend.

And to all of my other Headquarters coworkers--Donna, Phylis, Sherry, Darlene, Marilyn, Mabel, Marci: you're fun to work with, you make me laugh a lot, and it's been a joy. Now quit bugging me with all your computer problems.

With sincere appreciation to my church,

Steve Dennie