Update From Victor Kubik

February 8, 2011

[The following update contains material from a report sent to the United Church of God ministry by Victor Kubik on February 4.]

What a wonderful and energized conference we just held in Cincinnati! Several of you commented about our new beginning, energy and enthusiasm to preach the gospel, as well as to serve the churches. More than 330 of you were present. Many elders who were not able to come listened to the conference via webcast. You can access much of what was covered in the meetings at coe.ucg.org/videos. Please encourage our members to visit this link, as well.

Also, please make our brethren aware of the very latest news from the Church on our Inside United: Realtime blog at https://realtimeunited.wordpress.com. From here they can automatically sign up for updates to come to their e-mail every time a post is added, which is usually a few times a week, at minimum.

Victor Kubik addresses the conference

The focus of the conference was not only on ministerial service in the churches but also continuing the momentum we’ve achieved in publicly proclaiming the gospel. Our media services department has come through this crisis virtually intact and their personnel made strong presentations on Tuesday afternoon.

The conference also provided important time for social interaction. We were able to meet with many of you to discuss your areas and future plans. We were also able to interview a few of our elders for further service as pastors. We were heartened by the optimistic spirit of moving on. We have come through a serious separation, yet we are optimistic for a strong recovery.

Here is a listing of our most recent hires to the ministry since December, in alphabetical order:

• Roc Corbett (pastor): Salt Lake City, Utah and Grand Junction, Colorado
• Joe Horchak (associate): Sacramento, California and Reno, Nevada
• Mike Joseph (pastor, half-time): Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Michigan
• Rick Shabi (pastor): Jacksonville, Orlando, Ocala, and Tallahassee, Florida
• Greg Thomas (pastor, half-time): Cleveland, Ohio
• Braden Veller (associate): St. Petersburg, Tampa, Ft. Myers, Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida
• Herb Vierra (associate, half-time): Red Bluff, Eureka, California
• Chuck Zimmerman (pastor): St. Petersburg, Tampa, Ft. Myers, Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida

We have also asked associate pastor Brian Shaw who has been working with Bob Fahey in Chicago to move to the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, area and become pastor there. We are all happy about this move for him and his wife RaNae and four daughters.

We still have quite a number of critical locations to fill and are working hard to fill the pastoral needs.

Melvin Rhodes discusses laying the right foundation, which is Jesus Christ.

For your information, in early 2010, there were 492 credentialed elders in the United Church of God, an International Association. Of that number, 323 (66%) are still with UCG. Of that total, we have retained 62 of 131 salaried field ministers (47%); 15 of 20 elders salaried by the home office (75%); 9 of 14 retired elders (64%); and 237 of 327 non-salaried elders (73%).

In the United States, we have retained 250 of 382 elders (65%). Of that total, we have retained 46 of 100 salaried field ministers and 180 of 248 non-salaried elders (73%).

In our breakout sessions at the ministerial conference we talked about various ways local churches can do more to serve. We will be sharing the results of those sessions with you soon.

For those asking, I have made a very good recovery from my accident in Zambia. Thank you so much for all the prayers and the many, many cards from individuals and churches around the world. I was overwhelmed at the outpouring of well-wishes that I know helped in the recovery process. May God bless you!

In Christ’s service,

Victor Kubik—Operation Manager, Ministerial and Member Services