January 2002 News Archive
January 7, 2002
Findlay, Ohio. For the Christmas outreach, 25 individuals from First
UB hand-signed over 250 Christmas cards and handed them out to the community wishing
them a great Christmas. Each card included a small calendar and an invitation
to worship with the church during the Christmas Season. The main purposes were
to heighten the church's visibility in the community and to share the love of
Christ in a practical way.
Fort Wayne, Ind. Kathy Bruce of Emmanuel UB writes: "Our small group,
called Walk By Faith, has been studying the book of Titus where we found a reoccurring
theme to 'do what is good.' We decided to turn our Christmas party into a service
project for the families in our church who have a ministry to foster children.
We collected enough money to send the parents in each family out to lunch, while
we provided lunch, games, and crafts for all of their children. We had children
from 1-18 years old and we helped them make Chrismas ornaments for every member
or their family, a party favor for their family dinner, cookies, and other gifts
for the parents. We filled baskets with gift certificates to groceries and all
the goodies the kids made, and let the kids give them to the parents. It was a
great time, and the parents raved about how special the uninterrupted lunch and
afternoon was for them."
Hillsdale, Mich. On November 11, the Hillsdale UB church held a Faith
Promise Missions Fair with booths representing 30 different ministries set up
in the gym. This took the place of Sunday school for the adults, so they could
visit the sites and meet with the various missions representatives.
There was also a missions challenge delivered at all three of the worship
services by either Gary Dilley, Global Missions Director, or Lester Smith, the
senior pastor. When the Faith Promise missions committments were collected, the
2002 goal of $30,000 was exceeded by $2,600!
On Sunday, January 6, the third service ended with a commissioning prayer
for the Jim and Peggy Evans family, who are serving for two months at an orphanage
in Uganda. Peg is the Missions chairperson at the church. The Evanses paid all
of their own expenses. Others in the congregation will be leaving for a short-term
UB missions trip to Honduras later in January.
Chambersburg, Pa. The play "Christmas is a Miracle" was presented at
St. James UB. Pastor Mike Rockwell writes: "And what a miracle it was. We had
a standing room only attendance of 202! Cars were parked on the grass and nearby
field."
January 3, 2002
Pastoral Assignments
- Chris Moore has resigned from Good Shepherd Church in Huntington, Ind., as
of January 1. He will be unassigned for now.
- Gary Reiber is the new pastor of Union Chapel UB in Fort Wayne, Ind. Until
January 1, he served as pastor of Kilburn Ave. UB in Rockford, Ill. Kilburn Avenue
will be unassigned for the present time.
- Burton Lange is serving as interim pastor of Cold Springs UB, Fayetteville,
Pa.
- James Mack has resigned as pastor of Pleasant Hill UB in Greencastle, Pa.,
as of December 31. He will not be seeking another pastoral position at this time.
Lester Kauffman has been named as the new senior pastor.
- Richard Brooks has resigned as senior pastor at Strinestown UB church in Strinestown,
Pa., effective December 31. Rev. Brooks, as well as the Strinestown church, will
be unassigned for the present time.
- Paul Tyler has been hired as fulltime Associate Pastor of Care & Outreach
at New Hope Community UB, Bryan, Ohio.
January 2, 2002
Fort Wayne, Ind. Matthew Hallman, 23, was killed Sunday, December 30,
in a car accident in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was home on leave from the Army, where
he was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. His car was struck head-on by another vehicle
traveling north in the south-bound lane of I-69.
Matt was the son of Gerald and Rozanne Hallman, who retired from the UB ministry
two years ago after pastoring in Michindoh and Ontario conferences. Another son,
Ben, died of a brain tumor in 1994. The oldest son, Tim, is pastor of Anchor Community
UB church in Fort Wayne. Another son, Jeremy, lives in Huntington, Ind.
The funeral will be held Friday, January 4, at College Park UB church in Huntington
at 11:00 a.m. Viewing is Thursday, 2-4 and 6-8, at the Myers Funeral Home in Huntington.
Mission Comings and Goings.
- Russell and Nellie Birdsall left Macau on December 20 after serving their
fifth volunteer term teaching in the English Language Program and giving assistance
in many other ways.
- Bishop Emeritus Wilber and
Mossie Sites completed another volunteer term at Jamaica Bible College and
will be snow-birds in Florida for a few weeks.
- Jennifer Blandin will
leave Macau in mid-January for six months and will speak in many churches during
her furlough, then return to her duties in Macau and Taipa next summer. When Jen
is back on the field, Jana Hoobler will begin her furlough.
- Byrdena Shuneman, 78, will return to Macau as a volunteer by the end of February.
She completed her first volunteer term last year.
Huntington, Ind. Global Ministries Director Gary
Dilley's travel schedule:
- January: Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti.
- February: Sierra Leone.
- March: Jamaica.
- April: India, Hong Kong, Macau Thailand, Myanmar.
Pastoral Assignments
- Larry Schimmel has been named interim pastor of Innisdale UB (Alexandria,
Ind.). He replaces Bill O'Toole, who was serving that church along with his responsibilities
in planting a church in Marion, Ind. O'Toole resigned from both positions.
- Marc Stephenson became Pastor of Youth and Worship South Mountain Union UB
(Dillsburg, Pa.) effective October 7.
- Brad Wotring is now senior pastor of Harvest Community UB of Toledo, Ohio.
- Mrs. Nita Speidel has been named pastor of Golden Grace Community Church,
a new church plant in Columbia, Md., by Mid-Atlantic Conference.
Mandeville, Jamaica. Owen
Gordon, president of Jamaica Bible College, writes: "Thank you for your faithfulness
in standing with us with your prayerful support over the past year. It has been
very challenging. Our Library extension building is rising slowly as an expression
of God's faithfulness in defiance of the difficult times. We broke ground on February
5 with very little in hand. Our first obstacle was the hard rocks that took us
three weeks to get through.
Our 84 students, representing over 20 church groups, presents a great ministry
opportunity that we are excited to be used of God to fill."
Macau. Jana Hoobler,
Macau Mission Director, wrote:
Our team had a good time in China over Thanksgiving. Thank the Lord for safety,
time to relax, and good sharing together. We even found a little American restaurant
called "TexBoy" in the middle of China! All of the workers were dressed like cowboys.
New students have been coming to English Bible Studies. Praise the Lord for
these students who want to learn more about God.
We hired a new part-time secretary for the ELP. Her name is Amelia. Praise
the Lord for meeting this need.
Pray for God's direction as we consider how to keep things going after the
Birdsalls return to the States and Jen leaves for a six-month furlough at the
end of this month. We still haven't found anyone to fill in for Jen during her
furlough.
So much is happening in the next couple of weeks before Christmas. I'll list
the things happening.
- December 18: I'll be presenting a lesson about Christmas to a group of English
teachers in mainland China.
- December 20: The Women's Bible Study from Taipa will be coming to my house
for breakfast. Christine, a member of Living Water Church, will be sharing the
gospel with them....The Birdsalls will leave for the States in the evening. A
sad good-bye for us!
- December 2: Living Word Church will be holding a Christmas party for the children's
ward at the government hospital. We'll also be Christmas caroling through the
hospital that night with people from many churches in Macau.
- December 22: Living Word Church is having a Christmas party for the children's
fellowship. Each regular attender is being encouraged to bring a friend.
- December 23: Living Word Church will have its Christmas worship service. This
will include a Bible competition among the Sunday school students.
- December 24: Living Word Church will be Christmas caroling and handing out
gifts in the church neighborhood.
- December 25: The Sunday Bible study group from Taipa will come to my house
in the evening to celebrate Christmas together. I plan to share the gospel with
them.
- December 29: We will be meeting with Eve Tang, a member of Living Water Church
who will be graduating from seminary this spring, to discuss the possibility of
her joining our staff.
Phoenix, Ariz. Gordon
Rohn, a partial-support missionary with Paraclete, a mission aimed at the
Muslim world, wrote on December 13:
"I completed my series of radiation treatments a week ago and am beginning
to get over the tiredness that goes with radiation just in time to get ready for
Christmas. It is great having use of the two hours a day I was spending in travel,
waiting my turn and taking the treatment. My next scheduled medical event is a
series of scans on January 3 to see what the radiation accomplished. Then it will
be observation and periodic checkups, more radiation or chemotherapy, depending
on what the scans show.
"We are optimistic, and I am planning a full schedule for 2002. If all goes
well, my first international trip will be in February. Until then I will be at
home most of the time.
"One of the nonprofit corporations I help manage has become involved in a
project with a local church that is working with immigrants in the Phoenix area.
The project includes teaching English as a second language, computer classes,
learning U.S. culture, food and clothing assistance, and other things needed by
these recent immigrants, many of them refugees, from around the world."
Huntington, Ind. Wes
and Jean Bell, during their furlough, lived in the Myers Mission House in
Huntington, moving out just before the year ended. On December 26, they sent out
this update:
"A few hours ago we arrived back 'home' in Indiana after a wonderful two days
with family. Saying our goodbyes to those in Michigan was not easy, and on January
1, leaving our daughter and her family will also be emotionally difficult. However,
with our son's wedding June 1 and the hope of returning for two weeks makes it
a little easier. Presently we're sorting, packing, and movingŠ-all has to be done
in four days.
"Because we are carrying a number of items for the school, we have extra bags.
Getting through customs along with many baggage checkings and weighings, etc.
will be challenging. And with new regulations, traveling with all this stuff could
be a nightmare come true.
"We've had a great furlough--enjoying our visits with family and friends,
meeting and making many new friends, and experiencing the youthful anticipation
of what God has planned for many college students with them.
"On Tuesday, January 1, at noon we fly (Lord willing) from Indy to Houston,
then out and on to Quito, Ecuador at 4:20 PM.
The Bells' field address is:
CP 3006 Coxipo da Ponte
78060-200
Cuiaba, MT, BRAZIL
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