ONWARD Page 2 October 2003

NEWS FROM WILL SIBERT

My travel schedule has been very full as I have also been to Mexico, China, and Ireland, and I leave for Nepal in late August to teach there. The Internet Biblical Seminary project continues to receive donations for its development in Chinese and Vietnamese. I will be traveling to Vietnam in October to set up the translation and technical team in Ho Chi Minh City. In November, I will be in China to do the same in Beijing as well as do some teaching in the training centers. By the end of the year, we should have courses in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and of course, English. The languages we will be starting will be Russian, Hindi, Bahasa, and possibly Swahili. Our progress is made in small steps, but looking back over the last 4 years provides me with a great sense of satisfaction given where we started and the very limited human and financial resources that have been available. BEE (Biblical Education by Extension) World is also planning to move its headquarters to Chiang Mai, Thailand next year, which will mean major decisions for Kim and me. While the possibility is exciting it also means major changes for Maria and Anna as well.

THE UNITY OF BRETHREN

It’s been a wonderful summer. The convention was wonderful and God’s power and majesty were center stage as they should be. We were thrilled that God’s missionaries Ray and Laurie Griggs and Rob and Anne Thiessen were able to join us at the convention, and that they graciously shared their field experiences with various congregations throughout the denomi- nation during their stay in Texas. At the 2005 convention, we hope to have Tony and Elizabeth Bragg join us, as well.

The Mission Board met August 2 to begin work on the directives from the convention: Youth Missions involvement, Home Missions, and Future Mission work. Please pray for us as we take the next step in faith in pursuing these goals. Our November meeting will focus on Home Missions. If you’d like to join us at this meeting, please do so. At the time of this printing, the date in November is not set. Please check the Unity of Brethren’s website, www.unityofthebrethren,org, for the exact date.

Other prayer concerns: Michael and Caroline Woo in Southeast Asia and their challenge of language acquisition; youth considering missions-related careers and the December 2003 Urbana missions conference, www.urbana.org, which will be held in Illinois; and the ”Where in the World?” mission initiative which was given a two-year extension at the convention – encourage your congregation to begin petitioning the Lord for clarity in where the Unity should next put its efforts in missions.

FOUR MORAVIAN MINISTERS

In the past few days four Moravian ministers completed their life long careers as pastors, educators, missionaries and innovators as they were called home..

Br. Thorlief Harberg, was ordained in 1937 and went to Alaska. After suffering greatly for several years from lack of sunlight, he had to leave his budding career and entered in service to the Western District, then served as director of Christian Education for the Northern Province, then as president of the Eastern District. After he retired, he was called by the Southern Province to found the Sunnyside Ministries.

Br. Earl R. Shay was ordained in 1944 and served in the Northern province as pastor, then served in Alaska. He was the professor of Practical Theology in the Seminary for many years. After retiring, he continued to serve as pastor and developed many new ideas, including a concordance to the 1969 Hymnal which was very useful.

Br. Alan H. Barnes was ordained in 1955 and served his entire career as pastor in the Southern province, including Raleigh, and Ft. Lauderdale. He had musical and poetic gifts. Several of his texts have been published.

Br. Eugene R Glasser was ordained in 1957, served first in the Western District, then as an educator in Moravian Schools in Bethlehem, and after retirement from the pastorate, in the stewardship program of the Northern Province. On a work crew to Nicaragua his plane was forced down over Cuba and was a prisoner of Fidel Castro for 24 hours.

All leave their wives and families who have all been a great addition to their ministry in the church.