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December 18, 2015
This Blog to be Discontinued
With almost 1 million views since Inside United: Realtime was created in 2010, it is now time to discontinue this United Church of God management team blog.
We thank our 1,625 followers and subscribers. We also thank those who left more than a hundred comments and interacted with us. The majority of our viewers came from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, Germany, Philippines and France.
The content and news provided here at Inside United: Realtime will now appear and continue on the Beyond Today website of the United Church of God and also on the new members website of the Church.
Updates on the work of the Church’s media department, letters from the president, letters from the chairman, and reminders of webcast Bible studies and other events, will now all come from the Beyond Today and UCG Member sites.
We recommend that you immediately sign up for e-mail updates of new material posted on these sites if you have not already done so. Simply go to http://www.ucg.org/email-subscribe and choose one or both of the available e-mail services.
Thank you for your support of the important work of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and caring for those whom God calls into His flock.
Peter Eddington—Operation Manager, Media and Communications Services
New Members Website
December 16, 2015
Exciting New Development
The United Church of God recently launched a major refresh to its main website, UCG.org. And now there is an exciting new change to the members website for members of the Church to find to articles, local church updates, a calendar of events happening within the Church and other information pertinent to them. The new website can be found at www.ucg.org/members. Watch the introductory video below.
The new members site is more usable and functional for mobile devices, with a simpler and cleaner look. The Web team is always working to take advantage of the constantly shifting and changing Internet, improving the website and making it better for everyone to navigate. Everything will work together: the members site, local websites, the main UCG.org and the Beyond Today section.
The search function
The search function works better than ever on the new UCG.org and members website. Any query searches all sections of the website. There are fewer drop-down menu tabs across the top of the page, so if you cannot find something that was there before, just search for it in the search engine. Since everything works together it’s easier to find what you’re looking for.
Local congregation websites
The local congregation websites are rolled into the main UCG.org site, streamlining the look and making it easier for new and prospective members to find information on congregations near them. In the local sites, members can find updates and see a calendar of activities that pertains to their congregation.
The community tab
On each local congregation page there is a tab labeled “Community.” Here, members can join a community that is just for people in their congregation—prayer requests, announcements, member-specific sermons and other information that might be sensitive in nature can be posted here with privacy so that only members who have been vetted by their pastor or the local congregation maintainer can see it.
United News
United News is now a Web-first publication—meaning that important updates, articles, calendar events, news items and other information will be published online at the members site continually, with a print edition continuing to be published bi-monthly. Check out uploaded articles in the “Latest Updates” section on the page, or go directly to www.ucg.org/united-news.
Where will sermons be?
All sermons—including those from every local congregation website—are now migrated to the new site at www.ucg.org/sermons. The updated site makes it easier to listen to on mobile devices. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed (www.ucg.org/sermons/rss) of the newest sermons uploaded.
UCG member e-mail updates
Members can now sign up for updates on the members site by following this link: www.ucg.org/email-subscribe. When you sign up you will receive an e-mail a few times a week with latest updates and articles posted to the members website (www.ucg.org/members). This update will include United Church of God member updates, announcements, events, United News content, sermons and more.
Can I Get Involved?
The Web team is always looking for more volunteers to help with posting sermons and material pertaining to their local congregation. If you would like to get involved and help out with your local congregation website, please talk with your minister about what you can do for the website.
There have been close to 300 local volunteer maintainers of the local congregation websites who have already been helping out. They have been valuable and helpful to the Web team, who could not possibly maintain all aspects of the Church’s various websites without them. The Web team would like to thank all those volunteers.
There is one Body with many members, and the members website is just one of the places where they can come together. It is an exciting new development for everyone to enjoy and utilize.
Linda Merrick—Associate Editor, United News
Aaron Booth—Internet Managing Editor
Wednesday Night Bible Study Webcast
December 15, 2015
“The Time Is Now: Get To It!”
The United Church of God is finishing its four-part Bible study series, “The Time Is Now,” with part four on Wednesday, December 16, at the time of 7 p.m. Eastern. It will be available live via webcast.
Steve Myers, Beyond Today presenter and pastor in Cincinnati, is presenting the topic: “The Time Is Now: Get To It!.” We live in fast paced, hectic, can’t catch your breath kind of world. Life can be like a handful of sand that seems to slip all too easily through our fingers. Why do we have difficulty getting a handle on it? In this study we’ll discuss how to seize control and use our time effectively.
Plan to attend in person at our Cincinnati location, or you can listen online. You can also view the Bible study using your smartphone Internet browser.
Peter Eddington—Media and Communications Services
Big News About “The Good News”
December 14, 2015
For more than 20 years The Good News has been bringing readers the same good news—which is the meaning of the term “gospel”—that Jesus Christ brought when He walked the earth 2,000 years ago. He came “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15).
We at the United Church of God bear that same message—the message of the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ will establish throughout the world following His return to the earth, and how you and I now, through repentance and belief in that Kingdom, submit to the rule and way of life of the King of that Kingdom.
That is a truly life-transforming message, if we allow our Creator to work within us to change us from the inside out. It is also a message of great hope, because although we live in a time of great turmoil and trouble, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
We know that God is working out His plan, and it will come to pass exactly as He sees fit. We look forward to a world and a way of life beyond today.
And that leads to some big news about The Good News. Beginning with the next print issue (January-February 2016), we are changing the name of The Good News to Beyond Today to reflect this hope and mindset. This move is also to better distinguish our publication from others using the name “good news” and to link our magazine more closely to our Beyond Today television program and Internet website.
You’ll still be receiving the same eye-opening articles you’re used to from The Good News, but in a new, more eye-catching package.
The same staff will still be working hard to bring you what our readers have regularly told us they like best—what they need to make both the Bible and the world around us make sense.
We want to share with readers the hope of a new world beyond today—a world in which “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). We also want to help you learn how to start living by the values of that Kingdom and begin experiencing its blessings now.
You don’t need to do anything to continue to receive this renamed and refreshed magazine. If you are subscribed to our print version of the magazine, your subscription will continue as before with no charge. Your email subscription to this email update will also continue. We will be sending out new email messages from Beyond Today within the next few days.
We look forward to having you with us as we turn the page on a new chapter with this magazine. We also hope you’ll continue to join us in praying to God, “Your Kingdom come!”.
Scott Ashley
Managing Editor
Beyond Today
Personal Appearance Campaigns
December 11, 2015
Coming to 10 More Cities
We are pleased to announce that after three successful Personal Appearance Campaigns (PACs) in Texas last October, an additional 10 cities over the course of 10 months will hold PACs.
Here is a listing of what is currently planned:
- Nashville, Tennessee — Sunday, February 21 at 3 p.m.
- Indianapolis, Indiana — Sunday, March 20 at 3 p.m.
- Columbus, Ohio — Sunday, April 10 at 3 p.m.
- Chicago West, Illinois — Sunday, June 26 at 3 p.m
- Chicago South, Illinois — Monday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m.
- Cleveland, Ohio — Sunday, August 14 at 3 p.m.
- Dayton, Ohio — Sunday, August 21 at 3 p.m.
- Raleigh, North Carolina — Tuesday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m.
- Greensboro, North Carolina — Thursday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m.
- Charlotte, North Carolina — Sunday, September 25 at 3 p.m.
A new promotional video (shown below) has been created and placed on the PAC event Web page at www.ucg.org/beyond-today/events and each of the cities will be added to the online list as meeting halls are finalized. Ongoing support and prayers for God’s blessing upon the success of these campaigns is much appreciated.
The PACs are designed to further engage our current Beyond Today magazine subscribers and television viewers. We want them to make an effort to visit us face to face. By shaking hands with our pastor in their city, or by personally meeting our Beyond Today TV presenters, we add personal contact and engagement—hopefully toward the goal of future attendance with the United Church of God as God calls them to repentance and conversion.
Peter Eddington—Operation Manager, Media and Communications Services
Inside United: Realtime 