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Samaritan's Purse Partnership

2008-07-04T12:14:59Z

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Global Ministries is developing a strategic partnership with Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief and development agency headed by Franklin Graham. When a hurricane, earthquake, or some other disaster occurs, it's much better for us to channel contributions from UB people to an organization that specializes in such situations, than for us to organize relief efforts on our own.

Why Samaritan's Purse?

I previously had excellent experiences working with them in Darfur and Ethiopia.
Some organizations take the attitude, "Send us the money. We'll do the job." But Samaritan's Purse is open to partnering with other groups to address all needs in a particular area.
In many places, they already have people on the ground and contacts with national churches.
Their administrative fees are very low--only 6% for fundraising and 4% for general administration.
Samaritan's Purse has a good reputation, partly due to the connection with Billy Graham's family (the president and CEO is Billy's son, Franklin).

With Pastor Rubenia Bomatay

2008-07-03T18:08:04Z

Pat Jones, Director of Healthy Church Ministries

In early June, after spending some time with our brethren in Canada, I swung down for a visit with our churches in New York City. Then, on Wednesday, June 11, Pam and I arrived in Jamaica Plain, a suburb of Boston, to visit Rubenia Bomatay and her Hispanic congregation. I wrote about that visit earlier, but I'd like to say more about this isolated church.

Pastor Bomatay formerly served with our Honduras Conference. She came to the States about 13 years ago, but still has a house in Honduras. It is used to teach women the craft of sewing, so they can earn money to provide for their families. A pastor oversees that work and does spiritual development with the ladies.

The congregation in Boston is called Iglesia Reformada Emanuel. It consists mostly of Hondurans, but includes Hispanics from several other countries, too. They meet in a store-front. It is fixed up well, a warm place, They have a worship area, and some storage space.

While Rubenia is the senior pastor, her husband Gerardo and son Moses preach occasionally, and a daughter helps lead worship. It's very much a family thing.

When Pam and I walked into the building, worship music was playing, and there was Rubenia on her knees, praying. That sight deeply moved me and taught me a lot about her.

What's Really Happening at Willow Creek?

2008-07-03T12:28:57Z

Many of us have attended conferences at Willow Creek and have been greatly influenced by the ministry of Bill Hybels. Willow recently released the results of the Reveal survey, as they call it, which took a sobering look at the level of life transformation actually occurring at Willow and other churches across the country. As a result of that study, they are making some major changes.

Unfortunately, too much of the information about the reported changes has not been accurate. Bill Hybels finally felt compelled to address the misinformation. He did that through this video, which explains what Willow is actually doing--a mere "strategic adjustment," he calls it. The video not only clears up the confusion, but gives some good insights into reaching the current generation and the way "seekers" have changed over the years. Willow staff Nancy Beach elaborates in another YouTube video.

Control Issues

2008-07-02T19:00:04Z

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
When Jesus was ministering to his disciples, the mother of James and John wanted to know which of her boys would enter the Kingdom first. She wanted them at the front of the potluck line.

The issue is control. Churches too often have people who want to control what happens, because they think they know better. They want to decide which table goes first at the potluck. That is carnality.

I had a whole bunch of people at Mainstreet who didn't agree with me, but we got along and were excited because we baptized another 12 people on Sunday. Give up trying to control what happens in your church, and focus on fulfilling the Great Commission. It's not about who goes first at potlucks. It's about lost souls.

July HU Prayer Ministry Email

2008-07-01T17:20:08Z

Every month, an email goes out from the office of Paul Hirschy with a variety of ways you can pray for our college, Huntington University. To receive the email directly, you can subscribe. We're including it below so you can see the types of items the email contains. Just follow the "continue reading" link.]]> July 2008

Thank you for your willingness to pray for the ministry of Huntington University!

Academic Staff

Please pray that our new faculty will make a smooth transition to Huntington. Some have houses that need to sell and children will need to adjust to new schools and new friends. We have new faculty moving from Oklahoma, New York and Pennsylvania. This is a difficult time to sell a house and we pray for quick sales.

Capital Campaign

Pray that God will prepare individuals to be open and willing to participate. Pray for the Advancement staff as they continue to prepare for the capital campaign. More of the early proposals of the "Leadership Phase" of the campaign will be presented this month.

Livingston Hall Construction

Thank God for the nicer weather! The building is looking good. Most of the bricks are on the outside. Continue to pray for the safety of the workers.

Summer Drama Troupe

"Godspell" has been presented fifteen times in June. We have twenty-two scheduled for July and may add one or two more. Pray that God will use the gospel communicated through the "Godspell" production to bless, encourage and even change those who attend!

Admissions Staff

The new staff members have been hired. Thank you for praying for this selection process! Pray for the new staff as they get acquainted with their responsibilities.

Stewardship Training Offered to Local Churches

Paul Hirschy is offering the "Good Sense" stewardship training produced by the Willow Creek Association to local churches as a service of Huntington University. Pray that local churches will see this as an opportunity to help their people gain some insight into what it means to be a good steward of all that God has entrusted to them.

PRAISE ITEM:

Successful Freshman Registration Weekend

Freshman registration was held June 20-21, 2008. Two hundred twenty-four freshman students registered. This is a record number and it appears we should have a new record of freshman students this fall. Thank God for this blessing!

Christ@Center@Huntington

Praise God for the year long emphasis on making Christ the center of our Huntington University experience. If you would like to listen to the presentations that were given by the special speakers on March 5, 2008, go to this web page for the audio presentations http://www.huntington.edu/christcentered.

Thank you for your prayer support of Huntington University! If you want more information about HU you can visit our web site.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:4-6)

Watching Livingston Hall

2008-07-01T13:08:34Z

Huntington University has a live video feed of the new residence hall taking shape across from the Habecker Dining Commons. This is the new Livingston Hall, as mentioned previously on the UB News page. It'll house 150 students.

Hang with the Bishop, Part 4

2008-06-30T23:30:03Z

Pat Jones (right) introduces Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries.

About 50 people attended last Thursday's "Hang with the Bishop" event. The location was the festively-decorated (for VBS) gymnasium of College Park Church in Huntington, Ind. As with the other three Hang with the Bishop events held thus far (in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan), Pat Jones emceed the occasion, and attendees had the chance to ask any questions they wished of Bishop Ron Ramsey.

Prince Street: Looking for Worship and Youth Pastor

2008-06-30T17:52:26Z

We posted a staff opening for a fulltime pastor of Youth and Worship at Prince Street UB, Shippensburg, Pa.

The Crossroads Up Close

2008-06-30T12:01:13Z

Steve Dennie, Communications Director
A few days ago, Jeff Bleijerveld talked about "crossroad cities," a concept that fascinates me. He says he's got a lot more to unpack on that subject.

Fort Wayne, like so many American cities, has some crossroads qualities. We've got the largest population of Burmese outside of Myanmar, plus a lot of immigrants from Bosnia and Darfur. And yet, they remain somewhat invisible to me. I don't know where to find them.

Last Saturday, I attended the dedication of a Habitat for Humanity home that my church, Anchor, along with three local Presbyterian churches, funded and built. The keys were handed over to a Muslim family (seven kids!) from Somalia. That's them in the photo, along with some other folks from Somalia. This family spent 13 years in refugee camps before making it to the States four years ago. The husband and wife, and I assume the kids as well, now speak English very well.

During the ceremony, two young men, immigrants from Ethiopia, expressed their appreciation to us for helping their "brothers and sisters" from Africa. Very cool.

So we got a touch of the crossroads thing. In building this home, they saw the best of Christianity, and maybe some seeds were planted.

Resources: New Books

2008-06-29T13:28:27Z

Jeff Bleijerveld added reviews of two missions-related books to the Resources page.

It would be great if you wrote a few paragraphs about a resource you've found helpful.

Walk the Streets of the Philippines

2008-06-27T12:52:16Z

Have you seen the new Global Ministries video on the Philippines? Jeff Bleijerveld, the director, put this together using footage from his May trip to the Philippines. It's quite good, and suitable for viewing as part of a church service or Sunday school class. You can download a 22MB version.

Coming and Going

2008-06-26T20:14:15Z

There is a lot of activity regarding mission trips this summer.

A group from College Park UB church (Huntington, Ind.) returned from a week in Honduras early this morning. Everything went well, and associate pastor Roger Vezeau promises some photos and stories.
Banner Church (Byron Center, Mich.) is sending a group of eight high school students and four adults to Nicragua June 26-July 6 (which means they left today). They'll help complete construction on two church buildings and provide a couple outreach events in hopes of connecting villages to their churches.
Michele Vigil, Youth & Disciple Pastor at Hillsdale UB (Hillsdale, Mich.) reports that they're taking 12 teens and adults to Honduras July 14-21. They'll stay in La Ceiba, visit a few orphanages and churches in the area, and do some work projects at the Bethel school.

Design a Logo for the 2009 US National Conference

2008-06-26T12:27:20Z

We're inviting UB people to design a logo for the 2009 US National Conference. We need car racing imagery combined with the name XLR8 (the text-message equivalent of "Accelerate"--clever, huh?). Think Nascar, without the trademark infringements. All the details are given here.

UB pews are loaded with talented people. Know someone in your church who might be interested in designing a logo? Make sure he/she hear about it. The deadline is July 31. And the winner gets a whopping $100. (Several possible designs have come in already.)

Paul Hirschy and the Good Sense Training

2008-06-25T12:59:41Z

Paul Hirschy, former bishop and now a Huntington University staffer, has been offering the Good Sense stewardship training to UB churches. He recently conducted this at Franklintown UB church (Franklintown, Pa.). What's this about?

Paul explains, "Willow Creek developed the Good Sense materials because they found that people would not give the time required for the demanding Crown Ministry. It is practical, designed to be done in one day, with six one-hour sessons. However, people are expected to do some pre-session work in preparation for the training.

]]> "The material emphasizes that:

God owns it all and we are to be good trustees of what God has entrusted to us.
Credit card debt is the most damaging kind of debt, and people need to be very wise in the use of credit cards.
People can get out of debt and find financial freedom.

Credit card debt is a huge issue for many people. Churches need to deal with it to be relevant to one of the major problems in people's lives.

"I like Good Sense because it is easy for people to understand, it can be presented in one day, and the cost is reasonable ($15 per manual, which a couple can share)."

If you're interested in possibly hosting a Good Sense seminar, contact Paul Hirschy at phirschy@huntington.edu or call toll-free 1-866-213-3710

Crossroads Cities

2008-06-24T17:11:27Z

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Macau is becoming what we called a "crossroads" city. While the population consists primarily of Chinese and Macanese (people of Portuguese descent), you increasingly find people from many other countries. New York, Paris, Berlin, Toronto--those are well-known crossroads cities, where you see the nations gathered. Now Macau is joining their ranks.

On the high-speed ferry from Hong Kong, I met a Canadian coming to Macau on a six-month contract to work with Cirque du Soleil. You find Filipinos and East Indians everywhere, many coming on short-term contracts or seeking service-industry jobs. Unfortunately, Macau's growth and international attraction is built on misfortune--gambling.

We have a missionary team in this crossroads city. What do we do about that? What might God be intending? Can we reach people who then go back to their homelands and have an impact beyond Macau?

Living Stone UB church in Macau has already begun embracing this opportunity. Three Filipinos currently attend the church, and they are increasingly open to saying, "We're going to reach internationals."