Update from the President

Our Pastoral Development Program concluded yesterday and the participants have now returned home. Twelve couples were trained in a ten-day program for ministerial trainees and newer pastors.

I thank Darris McNeely and Steve Myers for helping to develop the program of classes that was presented. Our lecturers represented more than 100 years of practical pastoral ministry. The participants learned essentials of the pastoral ministry as they spent time with us not only in class, but personally, socially and recreationally.

We are also very thankful for the wives of these men. One factor of consideration for selection of new trainees is the character, demeanor, and spiritual maturity of their wives. We believe that a husband and wife working together as a team for the care of a congregation is very important and much was said about this.

There are two major directions for training our new leaders. We first talk about character, commitment and natural people skills. We then discuss the necessary skills in speaking, counseling and administration that need to be developed in order to be effective.

We are in a time of transition in the Church. Many of our ministers are approaching the end of their active careers and we need leaders to continue to make disciples and care for them.

One of the highlights was a morning devoted to the wives. The ladies gathered separately for a discussion about dealing with diversity in congregations, cultural differences, managing criticism, confidentiality and how to involve themselves with the congregation and their husbands' work. Again, emphasis was on ministerial husbands and wives working together as a team.

We held social evenings at the Kubiks' and the McNeelys' homes. We discussed the modern history of the Church, focusing on how the United Church of God came to be 21 years ago. It was founded in the interest of preserving true biblical doctrine and with a governmental structure that would help to preserve it. Those of us who were there at the start told our personal stories of what had happened.

One afternoon we all went to the Cincinnati Nature Center for a group hike.

We also held a speaking lab to discuss speaking techniques and conducted group evaluations of each speaker. On the Sabbath, the participants traveled to neighboring congregations to give split sermons.

Other classes dealt with visiting members, new contact visiting, teaching as you have been taught, combating common heresies, apologetics, interacting with peers in the ministry, financial counseling, creating an environment for growth, working with young adults and much, much more.

Training will continue with a multi-part on-line speaking course developed by Larry Walker, as well as ongoing classes for those in the program, including those from last year.

We are now beginning to look towards the next round of regional conferences to begin in the Southeast region, January 15-17, 2017, near Atlanta, Georgia.

Thank you for helping with Malawi/Zambia drought!

Beverly Kubik writes:

We want to thank all of you who have donated funds for the seed and fertilizer for Malawi and Zambia. Please pray that God will supply the needed rains to produce the needed crop this year. We so appreciate your interest in helping with this need. The response to our request has been very generous and to date we have received promises for the immediate need and beyond. But, if you would like to help in other ways, we are always in need of additional funds to help with education of the brethren and their children, boreholes for clean water, small livelihood ventures and other needs that will come along, not only in Africa but also in other developing countries where God is calling people. Any excess funds received will be used to help with these other areas unless you write and request otherwise.

Thanks to everyone for their generosity. For those who would like to help, donations can be sent to the address below or via www.lifenets.org .

LifeNets
1227 Woodchase Trl
Batavia, OH 45103