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News at a Glance
Ambassador Bible Center Begins Seventh YearAmbassador Bible Center is about to begin its seventh year! We will welcome what appears to be our largest class! We have accepted 59 so far, and last-minute applications continue to come in. We have accepted eight international students this year, and 51 from 15 different states. Applicants range in age from 17 to 67. This month we welcome Dave Register and David Johnson to the ABC staff and the home office. We have restructured the administration of ABC with a team that includes Clyde Kilough (president), Jim Franks (operation manager of Ministerial Services), Dave Register (director of education programs), Gary Antion (admissions and student affairs officer), Ralph Levy (registrar and academic officer) and David Johnson (alumni affairs and Continuing Education). We have had several constructive meetings to prepare for the class that we will welcome on Jan. 8, with our orientation. Classes begin Jan. 9. We have also decided to change the name of the ABC Mini-Samplers to ABC Continuing Education. This new title better describes what we are offering in the local churches—continuing education for our membership. We plan to continue this part of our ABC program with three or four Continuing Education sessions in various locations around the United States and Canada in the summer and fall of 2006. Dave Register [ back to top ]316 Baptized Around the WorldIn 2005, at least 316 new members were baptized around the world. This compares to 368 reported last year. Here are the baptisms reported at press time: Argentina — 3 Johnnie Lambert, an elder in New York who helps serve the Church in Estonia, told about the two members baptized in Estonia this year: "Imbi Kuusksalu has attended services now in Tartu for four years. She is an English teacher in the public schools in the Tartu area. She was called to attend with us when we needed a translator in order to be able to conduct weekly Sabbath services. Imbi has served almost without absence from that time until the present, and also during the Holy Days. Imbi was baptized by David Baker in New York during a visit to the United States last February. "Aleksei Matvejev first encountered the Church online. He is a Russian native living in Estonia whose English is excellent. Aleksei had already acquired a substantial understanding of our doctrines before he contacted us. "He has worked as a translator in the past, so we employed Aleksei to translate our 12 Bible lessons into Russian. Ten are now completed and six are in publication. Aleksei expects to complete the other two early in the year. Aleksei asked to be baptized before the Days of Unleavened Bread last April." [ back to top ]Kansas City Hosts Memorial Day Weekend EventThe Kansas City, Missouri, congregation is once again hosting a Memorial Day weekend event. Singles ages 20 to 50 and married couples of all ages are welcome to attend. The theme will be "Building Spiritual Friendships," focusing on developing spiritual friendships with all of our Church brethren, regardless of age, sex or marital status. All guests attending will again be asked to fill out an online questionnaire prior to the event, and the results will be shared during the weekend. UCG President Clyde Kilough will be the featured guest speaker. Separate seminars for the single men, single women and married couples will again be a part of our triple-breakout session. Sunday's seminar will be an interactive discussion session. Other activities include an evening at Kansas City's historic Union Station. Saturday night's social will again include a fine meal followed by a lively mix of dancing and karaoke. Sunday's activities will include a family picnic at one of Kansas City's most beautiful parks. Sunday dinner will be at an Irish Pub restaurant, and the evening will end with a Kansas City Symphony outdoor patriotic concert climaxing with a spectacular fireworks display. The weekend will conclude Monday with a hearty brunch at the Cheesecake Factory. The registration fee for the three-day weekend is $75 and is due by May 1, 2006. After May 1 the registration fee will be $90. Payments can be made online using your credit or debit card. For more details and to register online, visit www.kc2006.com, or e-mail coordinator Ruben Gusman at eventcoordinator@kc2006.com. Beyond Today Now on the Air and WebOn Dec. 7 and 8 four more Beyond Today video programs were recorded in the new media center. This brings our total to eight programs. The next four will be videotaped on Jan. 11 and 12, with Darris McNeely hosting. Beyond Today began airing Dec. 18 on 105 cable-access TV channels across the United States plus on the World Wide Web. In the United States, if you are interested in hosting the program on your local community-access TV station, please contact John LaBissoniere at john_labissoniere@ucg.org or by telephone at (888) 369-9940. Our new multimedia Web site is now live at www.beyondtoday.tv, and we will be adding new programs as they are scheduled. Be sure to visit and watch the video clips! You can view broadband, high-quality clips, plus download dial-up versions if you have a slower Internet connection. Soon QuickTime files will be available for download for video i-Pods so that Beyond Today can be viewed while on the road! Peter Eddington [ back to top ] Camp Woodmen Moved to GeorgiaThe United Youth Camp in the southeastern United States will not be in Alabama again, as announced last issue. It will be in Georgia, approximately 12 miles south of Forsyth or 20 miles west-northwest of Macon. The dates that were published are correct—July 2-9, 2006. Camp Woodmen in Georgia is being constructed right now, so it will be brand-new. Hardwood and pine forests completely encircle the camp property, and it will have an 11-acre lake. It will be somewhat of a pioneer year as some activity areas may not be fully complete by this summer. This new camp facility will allow us to run our own kitchen and hopefully the air conditioning will work! David Dobson [ back to top ]
Atlanta Hosts Prom March 18On the evening of March 18, the Atlanta, Georgia, congregation will be hosting its annual prom. Teens and young adults are invited to enjoy afternoon Sabbath services and a "Bella Noche" that evening at the Gainesville Civic Center in the Grand Ballroom. More information can be found at the www.ucgatlanta.org Web site. Bruce Gore [ back to top ]
Winter Weekend Set for Wooster, Ohio, Feb. 18-19Wooster, Ohio, will be the location for a combined winter weekend of activities on Presidents' Day weekend, Feb. 18-19. At noon on the Sabbath a young adults Bible study will be presented by Randy Stiver, followed by 2 p.m. services with guest speaker Richard Pinelli. Afterward a chili dinner will be provided. On Saturday evening the games will begin with basketball, volleyball, dodge ball, activities for preteens and ice skating. Saturday evening will also feature a fund-raiser for the Good Works program. A large variety of gift baskets will be available for silent auction and many handmade crafts will also be for sale. The evening will be topped off with a casual family dance. Sunday's activities include basketball, volleyball, ice skating and swimming. All of the activities will take place at the Wooster High School complex, with the exception of the skating rink, which is within walking distance. Group prices for local hotels begin at $40 a night. Hotel rooms must be reserved by Jan. 27 to receive the group rate. There are also over 20 restaurants within 2 miles of the activity complex. If you would like to receive a flyer by e-mail or mail with all the details of the weekend activity, please contact Mrs. B.J. Thomas at glt-bj@ispwest.com or call (330) 723-1973. B.J. Thomas [ back to top ] Families for God Weekend in Twin Cities March 25-26The annual Families for God weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will be held March 25 and 26. The theme is "Turning the Hearts," based on Malachi 4:6. The weekend includes Sabbath services, informative seminars, a concert, teen prom and more! Special guests for the weekend will be Council member Larry Salyer and his wife, Judy. Activities will be at the Marriott Minneapolis West in St. Louis Park. More details will be provided soon at www.ucgstp.org/familiesforgod or contact Steve or Amy Allwine at (651) 552-0136 or at familiesforgod@allwine.net. Gale Black [ back to top ] Calendar of EventsJan. 24-25: Managing editors' meeting. Feb. 11: Family Dance, Cincinnati East, Ohio (FouchB@greatoaks.com). Feb. 12: Ski Trip, Cincinnati East, Ohio (FouchB@greatoaks.com). Feb. 18-19: Winter weekend, Wooster, Ohio (glt-bj@ispwest.com). Feb. 24-March 1: Council meetings. March 10-11: 50th anniversary, Houston, Texas, congregation (www.united-church-of-god.org or www.ucg-houston.org). March 18: Atlanta prom for teens and young adults (www.ucgatlanta.org). March 24-26: "Hidden Treasure—The Pearl" ladies' retreat, Portland, Oregon (scruggsjr@aol.com). March 25-26: Families for God weekend, Minneapolis, Minnesota (www.ucgstp.org/familiesforgod). May 7-8: General Conference of Elders annual meeting. May 9-11: Council meetings. May 26-29: Memorial Day Weekend, Kansas City, Missouri (www.kc2006.com).[ back to top ] Houston 50th Anniversary Set for March 10-11The 50th Houston Church Anniversary celebration will be held the weekend of March 10 and 11, 2006. The weekend promises to be full of fun, friendship and reflection, as many former Houston ministers and members share their memories of the past 50 years that God's work and Church have been active in Houston. The weekend will begin with a reception Friday evening, March 10, at the Houston North church hall. A church history photo gallery and personal photo mixer will get the evening's events underway, followed by former Houston ministers sharing their memories of times long since past (including some that we probably hoped would be long forgotten). The Sabbath of March 11 will include morning snacks and socializing, which will be followed by a special service from 2 to 4 p.m. This commemorative service will include a Houston history presentation, special music presentation and a sermon by former Houstonian, Clyde Kilough. Following services, there will be drinks, dinner and dancing. The dance will include a local band, as well as a supplemental DJ, and the dinner will be approximately $25 a person. Additional details, such as local hotel listings and a dinner reservation form, will be provided in next month's United News. Dinner reservations and money will need to be received in advance. For updated information, please continue to access our local congregations' Web sites at www.united-church-of-god.org or www.ucg-houston.org, or you may call Frank or Nelda Pierce at (409) 945-6256. [ back to top ] 2005 Statistics at a GlanceFor 2005, total mail received at the home office was 563,573 pieces (up 18 percent from 2004), and 559,721 pieces of literature were sent out (up 20 percent). The literature mailed out does not include The Good News, World News and Prophecy, United News and other periodicals that are not mailed from the home office. Subscription requests came from many sources, including 257,961 from subscription cards, most of which were from card decks but also included 24,577 from brochures, 770 from newsstands and even 77 responses to the Reader's Digest ad run in June 2000! Another 2,359 subscriptions came from calls in response to The Good News radio program. Total Internet responses were up 46 percent, from 149,509 in 2004 to 217,759 in 2005. The five language editions of The Good News (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) are now going into 178 countries and territories around the world, from Albania to Zimbabwe, from Chile to China. The January/February issue is being distributed to 453,294 English readers, and about 25,000 in the other languages. (See PDF page 5 for more details and page 15 for some other statistics.) What's New on the Web?On www.ucg.orgCompass Check See video of home office weekly meeting. UCG Commentary on This Week's News Weekly commentaries by UCG written on world news and trends, from a biblical perspective. Read these and more: "Don't Disguise Christmas Celebrations With Euphemistic Names" "The Christmas Economy" "Germany's New Chancellor Discusses EU Admission for Turkey" Current World News & Trends Browse up-to-date world news events by subject categories! E-mail Updates and UCG eNews Receive e-mail updates relevant to UCG members and weekly HTML newsletters
with ucg.org updates. Sign up today! On vcmagazine.orgThe January VCM has articles on "The Quest for Happiness," "Count
It All Joy," "Catch the Disease of Optimism" and more. On verticalthought.orgThe new January-March issue has articles on "Christianity and Education," "Are
You a Frog in a Pot?" "Paying for College" and much more. Featured Links of the MonthBeyond Today Good Works Program
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