December Newsletter
Hello Church Family,
November was filled with moments of grief alongside exciting ministry opportunities and enjoyable community gatherings. I had the honor of officiating the funeral of Mary Alice Christian at the Suber-Shively Funeral Home in Fletcher. Many of her family members were in attendance, and some of our church members stopped by to pay their respects. My hope is that the family continues to draw on the hope of the gospel as they continue to grieve their beloved mother and grandmother.
Yet in the midst of grief, we also had joyous times of fellowship. We had our Thanksgiving potluck and annual business meeting on November 9th. During that meeting, we were able to approve the 2026 budget and approve new deacons and trustees for the upcoming year. I look forward to working with these men as we seek to strengthen and edify the church for God’s glory. I also took time to discuss my vision for 2026 at the end of the meeting. I shared that the theme for next year’s preaching calendar will be “Wisdom,” and we will focus our attention on Proverbs and James during our worship services. I also shared three potential ministry opportunities that I will be exploring. First, we have the potential to help with the new LifeWise program starting at Miami East Schools in January. Second, I am investigating the potential of starting a ministry outreach to Edison Community College, because it is only 10 minutes away from the church and the next generation needs to hear the gospel. Third, I am looking into the possibility of doing prison ministry at the Miami County Jail because of my prior experience as a prison chaplain.
I am still in the early stages of exploring the college and prison ministry options, but there have been some exciting developments with LifeWise. The week before Thanksgiving, I met with the new director of the Miami East LifeWise program, Allison Trowbridge. She has been serving as the director of the Piqua Schools program for the past year, and she is taking on the new Miami East program as well. She toured our facilities and was very interested in using our fellowship hall as the host location for the program. She is hoping to start the program officially in late January 2026, so we could start seeing kids arriving at our church each week in just a couple months. Allison is planning on visiting UBC and giving a presentation about the LifeWise program during our worship service on December 14th. I am excited to partner with the program and see what God will do in our community through our facilities.
As we look forward to the rest of December and the beginning of next year, please keep a few events in mind. On December 13th, UBC will be hosting Cathy Ashman’s Celebration of Life service. If you have time in your schedule to come and support Randy Ashman and his family, please plan on doing so. On December 21st, the choir will perform a Christmas cantata during our worship service. We will also have a Christmas Eve service this year at 6pm. On January 10th, UBC will be hosting an evangelism and discipleship training event in partnership with the Greater Dayton Association of Baptists. Please mark that date on your calendar, as that training event will be crucial for our community outreach next year.
Thank you for your support and generosity over my first year of ministry at Union Baptist Church! I look forward to what God has in store in year 2!
With great affection,
Pastor Nathan Justice
November was filled with moments of grief alongside exciting ministry opportunities and enjoyable community gatherings. I had the honor of officiating the funeral of Mary Alice Christian at the Suber-Shively Funeral Home in Fletcher. Many of her family members were in attendance, and some of our church members stopped by to pay their respects. My hope is that the family continues to draw on the hope of the gospel as they continue to grieve their beloved mother and grandmother.
Yet in the midst of grief, we also had joyous times of fellowship. We had our Thanksgiving potluck and annual business meeting on November 9th. During that meeting, we were able to approve the 2026 budget and approve new deacons and trustees for the upcoming year. I look forward to working with these men as we seek to strengthen and edify the church for God’s glory. I also took time to discuss my vision for 2026 at the end of the meeting. I shared that the theme for next year’s preaching calendar will be “Wisdom,” and we will focus our attention on Proverbs and James during our worship services. I also shared three potential ministry opportunities that I will be exploring. First, we have the potential to help with the new LifeWise program starting at Miami East Schools in January. Second, I am investigating the potential of starting a ministry outreach to Edison Community College, because it is only 10 minutes away from the church and the next generation needs to hear the gospel. Third, I am looking into the possibility of doing prison ministry at the Miami County Jail because of my prior experience as a prison chaplain.
I am still in the early stages of exploring the college and prison ministry options, but there have been some exciting developments with LifeWise. The week before Thanksgiving, I met with the new director of the Miami East LifeWise program, Allison Trowbridge. She has been serving as the director of the Piqua Schools program for the past year, and she is taking on the new Miami East program as well. She toured our facilities and was very interested in using our fellowship hall as the host location for the program. She is hoping to start the program officially in late January 2026, so we could start seeing kids arriving at our church each week in just a couple months. Allison is planning on visiting UBC and giving a presentation about the LifeWise program during our worship service on December 14th. I am excited to partner with the program and see what God will do in our community through our facilities.
As we look forward to the rest of December and the beginning of next year, please keep a few events in mind. On December 13th, UBC will be hosting Cathy Ashman’s Celebration of Life service. If you have time in your schedule to come and support Randy Ashman and his family, please plan on doing so. On December 21st, the choir will perform a Christmas cantata during our worship service. We will also have a Christmas Eve service this year at 6pm. On January 10th, UBC will be hosting an evangelism and discipleship training event in partnership with the Greater Dayton Association of Baptists. Please mark that date on your calendar, as that training event will be crucial for our community outreach next year.
Thank you for your support and generosity over my first year of ministry at Union Baptist Church! I look forward to what God has in store in year 2!
With great affection,
Pastor Nathan Justice
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