The members of the National Council of Elders in the Philippines, along with their wives and some office staff, gathered in the conference room of UCG, AIA-Pilipinas National Office, Makati City, Philippines on Jan. 14, 2018, for the annual National Council Meeting. Those present witnessed the transfer of leadership as Mr. Roemer officially confirmed his retirement as senior pastor of UCG-Philippines and acknowledged Mr. Dobson as the new senior pastor. Mr. Dobson graciously stepped in and on behalf of the eldership he presented a plaque of appreciation to Mr. Roemer in gratitude for his devotion and dedicated service to God’s people. The beautiful wooden plaque contains engraved signatures of all the elders along with pictures representing the islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. 

Mr. Roemer was also given numerous cards and messages from the congregations in the Philippines that expressed sincere thanks from the brethren for his faithful service during his term. Though his work in the Philippines is over, he will continue to serve as an elder in Alaska and as the senior pastor for Hong Kong.

Our brethren from the islands of the Philippines are deeply grateful for the labor and leadership of Mr. Roemer as he has continued God’s work in this region of Southeast Asia. During his tenure, he was responsible for overseeing the relief and rebuilding project after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck the islands of the Visayas in November 2013 with a direct hit on Leyte, where many Church members are located. Some of the members’ homes were partially damaged, and some were totally shattered. It took two years for most of the houses to be restored. Some houses had to be completely built from scratch and were then awarded to the members who lost their homes. A number of brethren were provided financial help and livelihood assistance to help them get back on their feet.

Mr. Roemer also implemented the home office directive to transfer the UCG national office back to the country’s capital city of Manila. The office is now located in Makati City, Metro Manila. Another exciting development has been the weekly airing of the Beyond Today TV program in the Philippines! The pilot episode, which officially launched June 11, 2017, aired both on free-air TV and cable channels nationwide via GMA News TV. The feedback from viewers so far has been very positive, with many requests for the free literature and Beyond Today magazine, as well as some inquiries about United Church of God, AIA Pilipinas.

With these developments, the brethren are very enthusiastic about the continuing progress of God’s work under our new leadership. The Dobsons are not actually new to us, for they have been serving in the Philippines since 2011. Mr. Dobson has served as a visiting minister for the three Feast of Tabernacles sites in the Philippines and also during the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. They have met the brethren of all the congregations of the islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao during their visits. Mr. Dobson has been very involved in planning, coordinating and overseeing the work in his role as assistant senior pastor since 2014. He continues to pastor congregations in Huntsville and Gadsden, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, while serving as the new senior pastor for the Philippines.

As we wait for the coming Kingdom of God, the work and the commission to preach the gospel and to prepare the people will surely be continuing in this far side of the world with the help and the will of our Almighty God the Father through His Son and our coming King, Jesus Christ. 

Earl Roemer's Short Biography:

Earl Roemer’s mother came into contact with the Church of God three years before he was born when she began reading the Bible and studying the Church’s literature. She started asking too many questions that weren’t able to be answered by the Catholic Church, so she was excommunicated in 1943. Those events led the Roemer family to the Church of God.

As a child, Mr. Roemer attended Imperial School in Pasadena, California, from 1957 to 1962. He later committed himself to God and was baptized in March 1964. He graduated from Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, in 1966 and was assigned at the age of 22 to serve the Greensboro and Fayetteville, North Carolina, congregations. He was ordained an elder by Herbert Armstrong at the Feast of Tabernacles at Jekyll Island, Georgia, in October 1967.

Due to the racial tensions at the time, in 1966-1967, Mr. Roemer also served all of the African-American brethren in Virginia, North and South Carolina and most of Georgia. In 1968-1970 he was assigned to the Akron, Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio, congregations. His main responsibility at that time was to work with the Youngstown congregation, which covered all of eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania (all the way to central Pennsylvania) and southeastern New York. From 1970-1976 he was assigned as pastor of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Evansville, Indiana. There was much growth in the Church, and new congregations were raised up in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1972 and in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in 1974. Mr. Roemer and Victor Kubik worked together when Mr. Kubik was assigned as the associate pastor of Paducah, Kentucky, in 1974.

From July 1976 to May 1977 Mr. Roemer took an educational sabbatical at Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. He completed his master’s course in human development and psychology (counseling) in May 1977. In July 1977, the Roemers were transferred to Alaska to serve congregations in Anchorage, Soldotna, Matanuska Valley and Fairbanks. During that time he also conducted a quarterly Bible study in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. From July 1987 to July 1993 Mr. Roemer was assigned as Pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and from July 1993 to January 2002, he pastored in Hawaii. In November of 1996 while living in Hawaii, he was commissioned to oversee the Philippines. In January 2002, the Roemers were transferred to Boise, Idaho, with oversight of congregations in Boise and Lewiston, Idaho; Baker City, Oregon; Missoula, Kalispell, Great Falls, Helena, and Billings, Montana. In July 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Roemer were transferred back to Alaska where he continues to serve. Mr. Roemer resumed oversight as senior pastor for the Philippines in 2011, and then in 2013 he was also assigned the role of senior pastor for Hong Kong.

David Dobson’s Short Biography:

David Dobson's journey in God’s Church started in July 1967 when his family began attending Worldwide Church of God in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He went to Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, in the fall of 1970 and graduated in May 1974. While in college, he met Denise Garrison from Birmingham, Alabama. They tied the knot one month after her graduation in 1975. The couple lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for four years.

During the Days of Unleavened Bread in 1978, Mr. Dobson was ordained as an elder in Oklahoma City. One year later the Dobsons moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he continued to serve as an elder for two years. Then he was officially hired by the Church and was transferred to serve the Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee, congregations as the associate pastor from May 1981 to August 1984. At the Feast of Trumpets in 1983, he was ordained as a preaching elder.

As part of the usual movement of serving ministers, the family was moved to Texas in August of 1984 to pastor the Lubbock, Texas, and Roswell, New Mexico, congregations. In July 1991, they were moved to California to pastor the Bakersfield and Mojave, California, congregations. Later that year, Mr. Dobson was also blessed with the honor of starting a congregation in Victorville, California. Then in July 1994, the family was transferred to Tennessee to serve congregations in Kingsport, Tennessee, and Norton, Virginia, before finally leaving WCG due to major doctrinal changes.

In early 1996, the Dobsons began attending United Church of God, and Mr. Dobson was assigned to pastor churches in Kingsport and Knoxville, Tennessee, and London, Kentucky. He also served for 11 years as Camp Director of UYC’s Camp Woodmen in Alabama starting in the summer of 1998. In August 2007 they were transferred to north Alabama to pastor congregations in Huntsville, Alabama, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In the years that followed, church circuits were modified a number of times to include the congregations in Gadsden and Birmingham, Alabama; Tupelo, Mississippi; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Dobsons’ service to God's people and His Church in the Philippines started when Mr. Dobson volunteered to be the visiting guest minister during the Feast of Tabernacles in 2011 for both the Baguio and Davao festival sites. In the succeeding years, he was also asked to help in the Philippines as festival coordinator, member of the National Council of Elders in the Philippines, and assistant to the senior pastor before being officially installed as the new senior pastor for Philippines in January 2018. Mr. and Mrs. David and Denise Dobson feel privileged to have enjoyed their 13th trip to the Philippines to date. They look forward to future opportunities to serve the wonderful brethren in this region of Southeast Asia as God directs and blesses His work in the years to come.