United News: February 2007

The United Church of God is pleased to again offer its brethren around the world a 2007 Feast site in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Advertising of our Vertical Thought magazine for teens and young adults is now actively underway on the Internet using the services of Yahoo, Google and their advertising partners.

The third annual UCG Houston Music Festival will be held on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007, Labor Day weekend, at 20737 Broze Road, Humble, Texas.

During the first part of December, I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting some of our members and Good News subscribers in various parts of Asia. On the Sabbath of Dec. 2, I visited the Davao City, Philippines, congregation for...

It rained all day, but it was warm inside Kemptville Community Centre for a presentation to northeastern Canadian Good News subscribers Nov. 11, 2006.

"I read with great appreciation the wonderful analogy of the chambered nautilus and our Christian lives by Newton L. Baker in the January issue of United News."

President Clyde Kilough, Jim Franks, Doug Horchak, Dave Register and Larry Greider met in Ontario, California, Jan. 16 for a one-day roundtable meeting to discuss future plans for the United Youth Corps program, Challenger II camps and other young adult...

Online advertising that just began a month ago, once again from extra funds made available to the Media and Communications Services department, will ensure that our number of subscribers to World News and Prophecy will continue to climb, and most...

The Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, congregations are hosting their sixth annual Teen Formal Dinner and Dance for the South Central Region on Saturday night, March 17.

The Feast of Tabernacles will be held at Shorefield Country Park, a self-catering holiday village in Hampshire.

On Nov. 18 the two United Church of God congregations in New England got together to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the first congregation established in New England.

The United Church of God in Canada ended 2006 on a very positive note in many areas. Records were set, others were nearly broken and the trend so far in 2007 is for more of the same.

Ever feel like an outsider, a stranger—an alien?

After years of having quarterly teleconferences, Vertical Thought staff members gathered at the home office Jan. 23 for their first face-to-face meeting.

The Atlanta area congregations will be hosting the eighth annual Southeast Regional Prom the evening of March 24 in the Grand Ballroom of the Gainesville Civic Center in Gainesville, Georgia.

Three Good Works Program projects in Kenya have been listed on the Web at www.ucg.org/goodworks, submitted by John Elliott, senior pastor for East Africa.

Senior citizens from the Mankato and Austin, Minnesota, congregations were honored with a special luncheon on the Sabbath of Dec. 9, 2006.

"The New World…Past and Future" is the theme for the activities set for Pentecost/Memorial Day weekend in Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida.

"Awesome, awesome, awesome!" is how one camper described the Australian UCG Youth Camp held from Dec. 22 to 31, 2006.

There is a growing sense in the Church that we are on the verge of bigger and better things, said Clyde Kilough in his introduction to the third managing editors conference.

As mentioned in the November 2006 United News article "Recently Baptized Members Surveyed," we are looking for members' stories of their calling and baptism.

The January-February issue of the Gute Nachrichten magazine was mailed to a record number of subscribers.

Heidi Braun, 10-year-old daughter of Martin and Ailsa Braun, donated more than 10½ inches of her own hair in June 2006 to Locks of Love.

Preaching the gospel gains momentum with ads also to appear in 4.5 million American Baby and Parents magazines in April and May.

This year we again had our youth camp in the town of Paine, about 30 miles south of the city of Santiago, Chile.

Starting in November, we began posting an ongoing series of Vertical Thought weekly commentaries.

The United Church of God congregation in Dallas, Texas, will host a 50th anniversary celebration of the starting of God's Church in the metroplex on April 7, 2007, during Unleavened Bread.

Last year Greg Swartz, a dentist by profession who is also a nonsalaried elder of the United Church of God, provided dental care free of charge for our Church brethren in Rwanda (see June 2006 United News)

The young adults of the Salem and Eugene, Oregon, congregations volunteered their time on Oct. 29 and Dec. 17, 2006, for two service projects.

Imagine a huge grassy campground beneath giant acacia trees with monkeys, fish eagles and giant eagle owls beside a picturesque lake with hippos, herons and white pelicans.

In order to provide additional manpower and expertise to the Church's rapidly growing media efforts, the Council of Elders approved President Clyde Kilough's request to bring Larry Salyer to the home office.

Various events coming up throughout the year

The United Church of God in the Caribbean started very small.

The Lagos, Nigeria, congregation held its second young adults/family activity from Dec. 28 to Jan. 1.

"Out of this world!" What does that mean to you? Perhaps it means something is fantastic. For campers and staff members at Winter Camp this year, it had another meaning—but more about that later.

Two transfers announced and one retirement

Members Help Build Hall in Kasumpa, Zambia

month before the Feast of Tabernacles, a Bible study began in the city of Cebu, in the Visayas region of the Philippines.

Jan. 14 was a much-anticipated date for the ladies of the Sacramento, California, congregation.

In December 2006 a subscriber development letter was sent to just over 200,000 U.S. Good News subscribers offering them the Bible Study Course.

At several U.S. Feast sites this past year, extra-large (9- by 12-inch) cards were made and put out on tables for the brethren to sign. These were sent to area shut-ins, elderly members who could not attend the Feast and...

The following letter was passed on by UCG–Southern Africa chairman André van Belkum. He wrote, "The Smith family live under difficult circumstances due to the internal situation in Zimbabwe."

Over the year-end break, 62 men with their wives attended a three-day live-in seminar at a Girl Scouts of the Philippines camp in Davao City, Philippines.

The Bricket Wood, England, congregation held its annual winter social in St. Stephen's Hall Jan. 13.