Home About Us Resources Missions For Ministers News Links Other Stuff
UBIC Title

September 2000 News Archive

September 12, 2000

Director of Adult Ministries. King Street UB (Chambersburg, Pa.) is looking for a new Director or Pastor of Adult Ministries. This person would be responsible for resourcing all adult Sunday school, small groups, and other adult ministries. This person would also assist with speaking in the contemporary worship service, and would oversee that area of ministry. This is a fulltime position which the church wants to fill by November. Send resumes to: pat@kschurch.org (that's senior pastor Pat Jones). Ground mail: Rev. Pat Jones, King Street UB church, 162 East King St., Chambersburg, Pa. 17201.

Want to Go to Honduras in January? Trenton Hills UB (Adrian, Mich.) is sponsoring a work trip to Honduras from January 13-20, 2001. The group will fly from Detroit. They still need two or three workers with some building experience to join the team. If you’re interested in participating, contact Jeff Degen at (419) 647-1140.

General Conference Elections. Throughout October, your church will hold elections for General Conference delegates. All members of your church can vote. Every church will receive ballots containing the names of nominees for ministerial delegates and lay delegates from your conference. The number of ministers and laypersons will be the same, but the total number will vary, depending on the size of your conference. Each church must also appoint a Board of Tellers to oversee the election, and to send the results to the conference board of tellers.

Among Pastors

  • Paul and Mikaela Baird are the parents of a baby girl. Brenna Laelle arrived on Wednesday, September 6, at 9:12 a.m., weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces.
  • Gayle Ruble, Jr., is the new pastor of Gethsemane UB in Jackson, Mich. He was ordained on August 20.
  • Barry Pratt resigned as pastor of Patricia Park UB in Des Moines, Iowa.
  • Jim Bolich became fulltime associate pastor of Mongul UB on September 1. He will oversee the church’s youth and music ministries. He was previously associate pastor of Atlantic Avenue UB in Franklin, Pa.
  • John Goodwin concluded his ministry at the Willshire, Ohio, church on August 13. Marion Burkett will begin his tenure as the interim pastor at the Willshire Church (Willshire, OH) on Friday, September 15. Ken Thompson served as interim pastor for four weeks. The Central Conference Stationing Committee will begin the search for the church's next pastor.
  • Ted Doolittle, former pastor of First UB in Findlay, Ohio, is now pastor of Youth and Christian Education at Mt. Zion UB of Wayne, Ohio.
  • Murray Stevens was named pastor of Mt. Olivet UB in Aspers, Pa. He previously served in an associate role at Macedonia UB near Greencastle. On August 3, he received his annual conference ministerial license from Mid-Atlantic Conference. Mt. Olivet held a surprise appreciation picnic on Sunday, August 13, to honor Pastor Stevens and his wife, Connie, along with the Sunday school officers, and to also celebrate Pastor Murray's birthday.
  • Michael Hewitt is the new youth pastor at First UB in Blissfield, Mich. His wife, Kimberly Hewitt, is the church's new Director of Worship and Music. They have moved to the Blissfield area, along with their one-year old daughter Brianne. The Hewitts were previously at a church in the Chicago area.
  • Linton Thomas, pastor of the Jamaican church in the Bronx, NY (First Church), was ordained at Mid-Atlantic Conference on August 4, and on August 10 he received his Master of Science Degree in Secondary Education from Hofstra University. But more significantly: Linton Mark Anthony Thomas was born to Linton and Michelle Thomas on July 15, weighing in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces.

PK Injured in Football Game. A. J. Pitts, son of Pastor Bill Pitts (Lancaster UB, Lancaster, OH) was injured in a high school football game on Friday, September 8. Superintendent Tom Brodbeck reports, "I don't know a lot of the details, but the word I am getting says that AJ (who is a senior at Lancaster High School) is still a patient at Children's Hospital (Columbus, OH) and that there is still a degree of paralysis. Keep AJ and the Pitts family in your prayers."

Church on the Square. King Street UB (Chambersburg, Pa.) started a neat ministry in June. Senior Pastor Pat Jones explains, "We call it COTS (Church on the Square). Essentially, we take breakfast, music, and a simple Gospel message and go to the Square in Chambersburg, on a plaza in front of the Courthouse. Relationship builders and greeters meet with the folks who come, get some info on them, and they receive the same "Welcome Basket" that all of our visitors receive. Our greeters do follow-up with the folks as well, and we have been able to minister to several families this way. Twice, the attendance for COTS has been over 50 people. Around 20-25 of our folks participate each week. This is in addition to our other three services. It happens concurrent to our 11:00 a.m. service.

Macau Update from Jana Hoobler

  • We have the final estimates and will be hiring a contractor for our Taipa facility this week. Praise the Lord that we're finally at the point of being able to begin remodeling. Please pray for a smooth start to this process. The paperwork with the contractor for Taipa came through on September 8. It's pretty amazing for any paperwork to come together within a week here. Now that we've turned the paperwork about the contractor into the government, we must wait for another letter from them to get the license to begin remodeling. (It feels like a never-ending process!) This could take up to a month. Please pray that it will come through as soon as possible.
  • The tutoring program began at Living Word Church at the beginning of September. We learned, at the end of August, that the college students who helped with our tutoring program last year wouldn't be able to help this year because of their class schedules. Several people are helping until we can find teachers. Please pray that we'll find teachers soon.
  • Wilber and Mossie Sites (in photo) arrived safely on September 6 and are getting settled in. We're happy to have them here!
  • We are advertising for the new ELP term. Pray that God will bring many students who are open to the gospel!

From the Blackwood Brothers to Malaysia. McGuire Bend UB (Dayton, IA) shares pastoral staff with four United Methodist Churches, with Rev. Dale Schoening serving as senior pastor. On August 31, these five churches hosted a concert by the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, held in the Stratford School Gym. Pastor Schoening writes, "Although it was a hot, humid night in a facility without air conditioning, over 300 people attended (this in a town of 700 people). We praise God for the ways in which he worked during the concert. One gentleman who, after a faith crisis, had quit going to church for eight years, came over 60 miles to attend the concert, and left there with the commitment to return to church and to Christ. Even more amazing was that he heard about the concert on a radio station to which we did not even send information!"

This summer, Pastor and Mrs. Schoening traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia to hold Marriage Encounter Weekends. Altogether, 52 couples completed the two Weekends, and most, if not all, came away with deeper marriage commitments and faith commitments. Pastor Schoening says, "We saw some struggling marriages turned around. In Malaysia, a non-Christian couple decided to start attending church, which we hope will lead to a commitment to Christ. In Indonesia, we faced the additional challenge of a language barrier. The Weekend was presented in English, which is a second language for all the couples present (their first language is Bahasa Indonesia). The level of English ability ranged from quite fluent to pretty limited. Fortunately, we had a Host Couple who was able to translate for us when needed, and in spite of the language barrier, God worked. A Hindu couple was obviously deeply moved by the Weekend closing--the wife was in tears (this in a culture where people don't usually show their emotions outwardly). We thus have reason to believe some new believers may yet come out of this Weekend."

McGuire Bend recently started a Children's Church. The children take part in the adult service until after the Children's Sermon, then go downstairs for their own lesson for the remainder of the worship hour. Pastor Schoening says, "We are running 4-6 young children each week. I realize this doesn't sound like much, but you must remember McGuire Bend has only 33 members with an average worship attendance of about 13, and has not had any kind of children's programming in several years."

The four United Methodist churches on this circuit with McGuire Bend are:

  • Calvary United Methodist Church, Stratford, IA
  • South Marion United Methodist Church, Stratford, IA
  • Homer United Methodist Church, Homer, IA
  • Duncombe United Methodist Church, Duncombe, IA

Roger Martin Battling Cancer. Pastor Roger Martin of First UB (Columbus, Ohio) has been in the hospital. He was diagnosed with cancer in the lungs some months ago. He has had surgery and has undergone radiation and chemotherapy. On Monday, September 4, he was diagnosed with a tumor on the brain.

Deaths in the Pastoral Family

  • George Martin of Detroit, MI, passed away. He pastored the Banner Street (now Banner of Christ Church) in Grand Rapids, MI, and then Warrendale UB in Detroit. The funeral was held Tuesday, August 29, at Warrendale UB.
  • A. Ward Woolner, retired UB pastor and former conference superintendent in Ontario Conference, passed away Wednesday, August 30, in Kitchener, Ontario. A memorial service was held on September 7 at the Ratz-Bechtel Funeral Home on King Street in Kitchener. Rev. Woolner joined the United Brethren Church in Canada (formerly the Ontario Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ) in 1933 and was ordained in 1937. He served various churches in the conference for 39 years. He was a member of the New Dundee UB church when he died.
  • Donol Frederick, a former pastor in both Michindoh and Central conferences, passed away August 19.

Work Trip to North Carolina. Twenty teens and adult sponsors of the Mt. Washington Church youth group went to Griffton, NC, July 9-15 on a work missions project with Christian Endeavor. They helped restore and remodel properties damaged by flooding during Hurricane Floyd. Some helped rebuild the inside of the Griffton Chapel while others laid blocks for a neighborhood house. They were greatly blessed by the entire experience.

First Jamaican Missionary. Dave and Cathie Datema are partial-support missionaries serving with the US Center for World Mission in Pasadena, Ca. Cathie sent this note: "A few weeks ago a young lady named Marshalee Brown arrived on our campus from Jamaica to join a two-year program called Frontier Service Corps. I told her that the United Brethren denomination, which I’m from, has a lot of churches in Jamaica. She said, "I’m UB!" As it turns out, she has attended the Washington Gardens church in Kingston, which Dave’s parents founded in the 1960s. Cool huh! It’s great to have another UB on our campus!"

Lloyd Spencer, General Superintendent of Jamaica Conference, says Marshalee is the first overseas missionary sent from Jamaica Conference. She is a member of Faith UB, which commissioned her on August 6, and a recent graduate of Jamaica Theological Seminary. Lloyd writes, "Marshalee feels strongly that God is calling her to that part of the world referred to as the 10/40 Window. She has been accepted by Frontier Service Corps for language and cross-cultural training. As a local church, we feel very honored to be the sending church. A number of individuals and at least one other local church is partnering with us in this venture. The Women’s Missionary Fellowship of the Conference is also supporting the mission. Hitherto, we have been solely a receiving Church. We trust that this is the beginning of becoming a sending Church."

New Address for Linda Burns. Linda Burns, who returned from Macau in June after six years there, now lives in Jonesboro, Ind., and is teaching elementary school for gifted/talented kids. Her address: 706 W. 6th Street, Apt 3, Jonesboro, IN 46938

Church to Close, Then Reopen. Immanuel UB in Carlisle, Pa., voted to close in order to make possible a restart effort, which will begin as soon as planters (hopefully, a team) are identified and available. Paul Dunbar will continue as pastor of Immanuel in the interim.

Never Too Old to Witness. At age 91, Lottie Sider (in photo) continues spreading the Good News. The wife of former Ontario pastor Evan Sider, Lottie came to live with her daughter Joan two years ago. At the time, she was in badly deteriorating health; but with good care and medication, her health returned.

"She feels God spared her life so she could be a witness," says Joan. "She writes many letters to families and friends and anyone she has had a concern for over the years so they have an opportunity to know the Lord."

The Toronto UB church sends copies of Our Daily Bread, the devotional booklet, to about 500 people every quarter. A recent mailing included a letter written by Lottie in which she tells of her relationship with Christ.

But Lottie also views her apartment building as her mission field. The building has 16 floors, with 16 apartments per floor. Every time a new issue of Our Daily Bread comes out, she targets three floors, distributing the booklet and a letter to each resident on those floors. Using an "I’m your neighbor" approach, they’ve hit ten floors thus far.

Lottie takes advantage of every opportunity to witness—at the hairdresser, the doctor, wherever she goes. Joan says, "As a pastor’s wife, she says she didn’t witness as much as she should have, and that now she’s making up for lost time."

She’s also a prayer warrior, keeping a book with the names of missionaries, pastors, and others. "Every night," Joan says of her mother, "you can see her sitting in her chair praying for those missionaries. She’ll fall asleep in the chair, but continue on when she wakes up."