News

Ryan Emans – Initiate Minister

Posted by Chris Carter on January 28, 2012   |   No Comments

January 18, 2012

With pleasure and excitement, the CoBM would like to announce that Ryan Emans has been accepted as an Initiate Minister for the Church of Body Modification. Ryan first submitted his Minister Application on August 18, 2011 and, though he is in the UK, made himself available for several discussions regarding the position. Ryan is very active on the CoBM forums, giving excellent and appropriate advice. He also helps people on a daily basis through his job as a Registered Mental Health Nurse.

To learn more about Ryan, please read his bio as well as his full Minister Application. You may also email Ryan at ryanemans@uscobm.com. Ryan has a positive voice and a gentle nature to him, making him very easy to speak with.

We are proud to have Ryan join the CoBM as an Initiate Minister and know he will be an asset to the Church and to the modified community.

Join the forum discussion on this post
Tagged ,

New Board of Advisors

Posted by Chris Carter on January 25, 2012   |   No Comments

The CoBM has great news we would like to share. We have constructed a Board of Advisors which will become the new operational force of the CoBM and will replace the previous Board of Directors. The main objective of the Board of Advisors will be to provide an unbiased perspective, act as a sounding board for evaluating new ideas and opportunities, and to provide their experience and expertise as needed.

The goal of this change is to improve the quality of work which the CoBM produces as well as the speed at which it works. A Board of Advisors will operate more fluidly and with greater ease which will help the CoBM achieve its short and long term goals more easily.

The Board of Advisors (BoA) will begin with five members with the ability to add more at a future date if needed. The new members of the BoA are: Cere Coichetti, Russ Foxx, Rick Frueh, Richard Ivey, and Jared Karnes. These individuals are known for their expertise and have a positive reputation in the modification industry as well as the general community. Professionalism, integrity, and high ethical standards are among the qualities of the new BoA members.

In the near future there will be a page dedicated to the BoA with a brief bio of each member.

Join the forum discussion on this post
Tagged

Focusing Our Message

Posted by Chris Carter on May 2, 2011   |   No Comments

Over the past few months, the board of directors has been discussing the reorganization and focusing of the Church’s doctrine. Specifically, we have focused the wording and format of the Mission Statement and Statement of Faith to be more clear and easier to understand. Also, we have added a Vision Statement. The Vision Statement will help guide us in our actions as an organization and be a constant reminder of what we are striving for.

The last time these documents were changed was in 2008. Since then, the CoBM has grown in membership and evolved as a religious organization. By focusing the language in these documents, we reaffirm our goals, our beliefs, and our direction.

Although some of the wording has changed, our message and our beliefs have not. We continue to assist our members on their spiritual path and to support spiritual and ritual body modification. For any questions or comments, don’t hesitate in contacting us.

Join the forum discussion on this post

CoBM Becomes APP Associate Corporate Member

Posted by Chris Carter on April 1, 2011   |   No Comments

We are both excited and proud to announce that the CoBM has been accepted as an Associate Corporate Member of the Association of Professional Piercers. From the APP’s mission statement:

The Association of Professional Piercers is a California-based, international non-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination of vital health and safety information about body piercing to piercers, health care professionals, legislators, and the general public.

The CoBM and the APP have many common goals and we look forward to supporting and working with the APP.

You can find out more information about the APP on their website, http://www.safepiercing.org/.


APP Certificate APP logo

Join the forum discussion on this post
Tagged , ,

Aric Chamberlain Passed Away

Posted by Chris Carter on March 18, 2011   |   No Comments

On Monday morning, March 14th, Aric Chamberlain passed away from complications of cancer. Aric was an initiate minister with the CoBM and a wonderful person to know. It’s impossible to summarize a life such as Aric’s in a few sentences but there are a few things that do stand out.

Aric enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1986, as a medic, working medical/surgical ward, Emergency Room and Primary Care, and was a Desert Storm Veteran. After the Air Force, he went into nursing and was employed in geriatric care. After several years, at age 30, Aric started tattooing and piercing when life directed him in the direction of his new vocation. For the past 13 years, he had been tattooing and piercing and was most recently the owner of Phoenix Rising Tattoo in Ripley, WV.

Whether you knew Aric or not, I hope you’ll take two minutes to read the biography he wrote for the CoBM for his position as minister. He was the rare person who knew himself and knew the love of those around him. We already miss him; please join us in sending caring thoughts to his family.

Aric’s Memorial service will be held on Sunday, March 20th, the Spring Equinox. It will be held at the Waybright Funeral Home in Ripley, WV; visitation from 1 to 2 and the service will begin at 2pm.

In his own words:

I’m married to a wonderful woman and my life companion for over 17 years. We have 5 children between us, 4 girls and a boy. Our oldest is our son (22), who is on his own, working his way through life. Our oldest daughter (19) is in her first year of college. The others follow in age of 12, 11, and 8. Our goals in life are to eventually own our own piece of property; build our own earthen home; and become as self-sufficient as we can, making our own electricity and heat, as well as growing our own food, which looks like a distinct possibility in the coming years.


Aric Chamberlain Aric Chamberlain

Join the forum discussion on this post

An Interview with David Hahn

Posted by Chris Carter on January 17, 2011   |   Comments Off

CoBM minister David Hahn was recently interviewed by Daniel Mikelonis on the blog While You Exist. The interview covers spiritual body modification, self expression, the future of body modification, and more.
You can read the full interview here: Minister of Modification: The Flesh and Blood Spirituality of David Hahn

Join the forum discussion on this post
Tagged , ,

Tribe Site Closing

Posted by Chris Carter on January 8, 2011   |   Comments Off

The following email was sent a few days ago to all CoBM members registered on the Tribe site. To keep all members in the loop, the email is reposted, with some edits, below:

Good afternoon fellow CoBM members,
I hope everyone is having a great day and is making the most of it. Unfortunately, I have some bad news to share. We will no longer be able to support the Tribe site due to technical reasons beyond our control.

We did consider a few alternatives to closing the Tribe site down. However, we could not find any reasonable solution that would be sustainable. It is now our goal to create a forum, with similar functionality of the Tribe site, where members can exchange ideas, connect with other members, and ask questions.

We have limited time to shut the Tribe site down before it adversely affects the main CoBM site. For this reason, we will be shutting the Tribe site down on Saturday, January 8th, around 1pm EST. If you have blog posts which you would like to back up, please do so. If you need help with this, please contact us and we can help.

Finally, a bit of good news. In lieu of the Tribe site, we will be setting up a forum system which will be part of the main http://uscobm.com page. For all members of the Tribe site, your basic login information will be imported into the new forum system so that you will not need to request nor sign up for a new username. Your login username will remain the same. The forum will most likely be found at http://uscobm.com/forum/ and should be up by mid-week.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email us at admin@uscobm.com or you can find us on AOL Instant Messenger as churchofbodmod.

UPDATE:

For those that may equate the closing of the Tribe site to the closing of the CoBM site, please do not be confused. We will be closing the subdomain tribe.uscobm.com but will be opening uscobm.com/forum/. It may look different but much of the functionality will remain. Public and private group discussion, private messaging, the sharing of photos and links will all remain. The only things that will not carry over are blogs, friendship requests, and personal photo galleries.

Join the forum discussion on this post
Tagged , , ,

Aric Chamberlain – Initiate Minister

Posted by Chris Carter on November 30, 2010   |   No Comments

November 30, 2010

With great pleasure, we would like to announce that Aric Chamberlain has been accepted as an Initiate Minister for the Church of Body Modification. Aric first submitted his Minister Application on September 25, 2010, and interviewed multiple times with members of the Board of Directors. Aric’s multiple interviews totaled over four hours, primarily because it is a complete joy to speak with him. He is knowledgeable, approachable, articulate, and very patient- all of which are qualities that will help make him an excellent Minister for the Church of Body Modification.

Aric will remain an Initiate Minister for a minimum of six months. During that time he will become acquainted with his new position and expand his knowledge of the CoBM and spiritual modification.

We encourage members and non-members alike to read Aric’s Minister Application as well as his personal bio. You may email Aric at aric_chamberlain@uscobm.com.

Tagged , , , ,

Jason Morningstar, Richard Ivey Become Full Ministers

Posted by Chris Carter on November 30, 2010   |   No Comments

November 30, 2010

It is an honor and a privilege to announce that Jason Morningstar and Richard Ivey have received full minister status. Both Jason and Richard have served the CoBM as Initiate Ministers for over a year and have done an exceptional job in that position. They have met all tasks and challenges set before them with poise and professionalism.

Their transition from Initiate Minister to full Minister status was voted on by the board of directors and was a unanimous ‘yes’ for both Jason and Richard.

Jason and Richard are assets to the CoBM and we are lucky to have them among our ministers. We are proud of their contributions thus far to the CoBM and look forward to their continued success.

Tagged , , , , ,

Corporate Sponsorship

Posted by Chris Carter on September 21, 2009   |   No Comments

The CoBM is starting a corporate sponsorship program. For more information or to contact us about working together, follow up on the Corporate Sponsorship page.

Tagged , , , , ,