Category Archive

Join us in celebrating Laurie Wallace Theisen, who has served as Asbury’s Director of Lay Ministries since 1999. Laurie announced her resignation earlier this year; and her final Sunday at Asbury will be on June 29.

Asbury’s longest-tenured program staff member, Laurie has worked with 3 senior pastors over her 26 years. As her role evolved over the years, she has played critical roles as the leader of Asbury’s hospitality team, cared for new attendees, served as the coordinator and facilitator of Asbury’s “Adult Inquirers” membership class sessions, helped to connect new members of Asbury with ministry areas that fit their interests and gifts, played a crucial role in recruiting and managing volunteers, assisted with communications, served on the Church and Society committee, was always a friendly face welcoming attendees on a Sunday morning, and much, much more.

We’ll be holding a reception in the Parlor on Sunday, June 29, which will be Laurie’s final Sunday with us – we hope you’ll drop in to express your gratitude for Laurie’s ministry. A card will be available over the next 2 weeks for everyone to sign. Finally, if you’d like to donate towards a gift for Laurie, you can submit financial contributions via cash, check, and online via PushPay – just note “Laurie’s Farewell” with your contribution.

We are grateful for Laurie’s many years of service to the church and pray blessings over this new season of her life. We hope you’ll join us in expressing appreciation for her time at Asbury.

An Announcement from Asbury Church

Dear Asbury Church family,

Greetings to you amid this Spring weather.

Presently, we have two situations we would like to bring to your attention: some staffing changes in the custodial area and water damage that has impacted one of the main staircases, which may mean a change in your normal path to and from your destinations in the building, particularly on Sunday morning.

First, on the staffing changes:

Effective Sunday, March 9, 2025, Dorian Wright, the Daytime Supervisor for Asbury’s custodial staff, resigned. Dorian joined the custodial staff in June of 2023 and was promoted to the supervisor role in August of 2024. We are grateful for his time at Asbury and wish him well.

Terence Benjamin, who has served the Evening Supervisor for Asbury’s custodial staff since August of 2024, has been moved to the Daytime Supervisor role effective immediately.

With Dorian’s resignation, the church is understaffed by 3 custodial roles. We are currently in an active search to fill these positions.

Due to being short-staffed, we are asking all groups and teams that are able to assist with their room setup. If your group or team is unable to set up for your meeting or event, please contact the Church Office at least 2 weeks in advance so we can attempt to make accommodations. Other staff are assisting with tasks as needed. To further assist during this time, if you are able to use preset room arrangements, that would be greatly appreciated.

In the midst of these staffing challenges, one of our hot water heaters also failed, leading to water damage in multiple rooms of the building.

On the evening of March 10, the hot water heater in Room 218 had a critical failure and flooded the immediate area. Room 108, which is directly under Room 218, also sustained water damage due to the leak; as did the stairwell that abuts the rooms.

Our staff responded immediately and began the cleanup. An insurance claim was filed and a cleaning company arrived to begin the process of drying the affected areas out. Until further notice, both rooms are unavailable for use; as is the adjacent stairwell (this is the main stairwell that leads between the elevator lobby areas).

The elevator and two other stairwells are available to travel between the upper and lower levels of the building. If you’re unfamiliar with the building or having trouble placing the locations of the stairwells, they can be found:

• just past the lobby for the main lower level entrance (this staircase leads to the upper level near rooms 215 and 217)
• just inside the outer doors of the upper level entrance (this staircase leads down to the area at the end of the 100 hallway, just outside of the Youth Lounge)

We do not expect this to impede any of our ongoing missions and ministries. If room reassignments are necessary, team and/or group leaders will be notified. We appreciate your patience and understanding as work proceeds.

Sincerely,

The Pastors and Staff of Asbury Church

March 19, 2025 Update:
The center staircase is currently open again, but the carpeting on the upper level that was damaged still needs to be replaced. Because of this, there is a section of rough floor at the top of the staircase. The staircase will close again at some point in the future to replace the carpeting in this area. Additional communication will be shared to keep you informed of days when the staircase will not be accessible for this work to be completed. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

June 4, 2025 Update:

We are happy to report that all areas affected by the hot water heater damages have been restored. As such, those rooms that were closed (108 and 218) are reopened for regular use.

We are grateful to the contractors that facilitated these repairs, our Church Mutual agent, our Asbury Staff for their coordination and efforts creating alternative spaces while the repairs were being performed, and all of you for your patience, understanding, and prayers.

Asbury announces the hiring of Richard Moyer as a part-time accounting assistant, effective Monday, October 7.

Richard has an extensive accounting background and a Masters in Taxation. He will be handling all of Asbury’s in-house accounting functions and will be working closely with Asbury’s CPA firm. Richard will also be rewriting accounting policy and procedures at Asbury and working with Pastor Eric and the church board on budget creation.

Asbury announces the following upcoming staffing changes:

Shellie Fritchman, Asbury’s Administrative Secretary since 2019, is moving into the role of Office Manager. Her additional tasks will include overseeing Asbury’s facility and custodial staff.

Dorian Wright, a part of Asbury’s custodial staff since June 2023, is being promoted to the Daytime Supervisor for Asbury’s custodians.

Terence Benjamin, a part of Asbury’s custodial staff since December 2023, is being promoted to the Evening Supervisor for Asbury’s custodians.

The following changes are taking place for Asbury’s finances and accounting:

• The CPA firm that Asbury has retained over the past few years will take on increased responsibility with Asbury’s finances
• Asbury is seeking to hire a part-time accounting assistant (15-20 hrs/week) who will focus on reporting
• Pastor Eric will assume some of the oversight of Asbury’s accounting

The tasks of the previous position of business manager will be covered between these changes in the operations and accounting/financial areas.

Additionally, the following changes are being made in worship staffing:

Asbury is seeking to hire an individual to run sound and multimedia on Sunday mornings. This is estimated to be a 3-4 hour/week job.

Tina Lebrecht, who served for many years with Asbury’s children’s choirs, is returning to the staff to provide oversight to music at the 11 AM traditional service. Monika Short will continue to serve in that role for the 9:30 AM contemporary service.

Please direct any questions to Pastor Eric or the church board.

Mark Mangum, who has served as Asbury’s Director of Finance and Operations since January 2023, has announced his resignation. His final day with Asbury will be Friday, May 24. Mark is excited to begin a new position with the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation near his home in Boone, NC, in the coming weeks. We hope you’ll join us in expressing appreciation for his time at Asbury.

Mark will be remotely assisting with the transition.

Asbury’s Church Council will begin the process to fill the staff vacancy in the near future. In the interim, Asbury’s accountants will be taking on additional responsibilities.

The following announcement was delivered by Sarah Kinzel, chair of Asbury’s Staff-Parish Relations Committee, in our 9:30 AM worship service this morning:

“It is my joy to share with you today that the Bishop John R. Schol has appointed the Reverend Richard (Rick) Brown as the new Associate Pastor of our congregation. Reverend Rick will begin his new responsibilities on July 1 of this year. As a United Methodist Church, we are part of an appointment system. Our congregation’s Staff-Parish Relations Committee has identified our congregation’s needs and the needed skills in a pastor. We have also met with Pastor Rick to better get to know him and to ask questions.

“Richard (Rick) Brown, III was ordained as an elder in 2017. Prior to entering ministry he worked as support staff in an adult outpatient drug and alcohol unit as well as a child and adolescent mental health unit. Rick received his call to ministry in high school while taking part in worship at Prospect UMC and received a Master of Divinity degree from Palmer Theological Seminary in 2012. His appointments included Hellertown St. Paul’s for nine years and Quakertown United Methodist Church, where he is presently serving. Rick enjoys preaching and finding practical ways to live out our faith. His hobbies include running and various games. He is married to his wife, Kim, and has two young daughters. Our new Associate Pastor will work with us and the conference so that we continue to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Bishop Schol and the leaders of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference will work with us to continue to grow as a vital congregation. I know you will join the Bishop, our new pastor, and me in helping to make new disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

“Transition can be exciting but also a daunting time. I ask that you be in prayer with Rev. Rick Brown as he prepares for a new chapter in his ministry; and please also keep in prayer our church, Pastor Eric, and Pastor Evelyn as we begin this transition.

“We do want to make sure that everybody knows that nobody’s roles are changing. Pastor Evelyn will continue to be our Pastor of Bereavement and Care Ministries, and Pastor Eric will continue to be our Senior Pastor; we are just now adding a new associate pastor – a new member of the team – to help us grow into the future and really focus on family and young ministries.

“SPRC is a tough committee. We do a lot of work in confidentiality. While we welcome all of your questions, please note that there are some things that we are not going to be able to share.

“We ask for your prayers as we move forward.”

You can reach Asbury’s Staff-Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) via email at SPRC@asburylv.org

Pastor Eric delivered the following remarks:

“I’m excited to bring Rick onto the team and to mentor him and to learn from him as well [as we work to] reach out to a younger generation of people.”

Pastor Eric presented the following announcement in worship this morning

Back in October, during our 100^th anniversary celebration, we announced a series of initiatives called “vision 2026” a plan we call Closing the Gap.  And we laid out various goals that we have over the next three years at Asbury as we try and close the GAP between the way the world is and the way it is supposed to be.

So in order to accomplish this over the next three years, we are making some staffing changes.  First, Israel Olivieri is taking on a new role as “Director of Discipleship and Worship Production.”  Israel will be the staff person working with the Spiritual focus team to create more small group opportunities as well as help resource current groups.  Israel will also be working with AIM to create more hands-on mission opportunities in the Lehigh Valley.  He will also be in charge of the tech volunteers on Sunday morning. Israel has served as the Business Manager at Asbury for just over 5 years.  Previous to coming to Asbury, he worked in the non-profit and human services areas.  In 2017, Israel became a Certified Lay Minister with the UMC denomination, with specialization in Leadership and Speaking.  Israel has been a member of Asbury Church since 2009 and has served several terms on various leadership committees including Church Council and AIM.

Along with Israel’s job change, we are hiring Mark Mangum as the Director of Finance and Operations.  Mark currently resides in NC where he was an Executive Director for a non-profit entity.  Mark grew up in Florida and is moving to Allentown following a distinguished career in pastoral, hospitality, and non-profit management. He holds a Sacred Music degree from Florida Southern College, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and an MBA from Walden University. Mark has a wife, Jennifer, originally from Allentown, an adult son, Nick, and a son, Jonathan, who passed away from complications of Cerebral Palsy.  Mark is passionate about Christian ministry and mission to the community after serving non-profits focused on housing and food insecurity.  Mark brings strengths in finance, administration, and operations to Asbury. I hope you will join me in welcoming Mark in the coming weeks.

We believe that both of these staffing changes will help Asbury Close the Gap in the coming years.

Israel Olivieri Director of Discipleship and Worship Production

Mark Mangum Director of Finance and Operations