ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994                   TAG: 9411100015
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Frances Stebbins
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


RELIGION BRIEFS

PREVENTING YOUTH DELINQUENCY will be the theme of a program Oct. 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. at The Park-Oak Grove retirement community on Virginia 419. "From the Wall to the Fall": Caring for Humpty-Dumpty" will be discussed by the Rev. Roger Peters , a former head of the religion division of the American Association on Mental Retardation.

The program, which is limited to 125, is sponsored by a group of retired Roanoke Valley clergy. The program highlights the Mental Health Association and Children's' Sabbath. To register for the the free program, call George Bowers at 774-1069.

LIFE CHAIN, a silent rally for those who oppose abortion, is scheduled for the fifth year Sunday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Williamson Road and Orange Avenue. Participants will line up in a cross shape and will display signs proclaiming their position. Call 772-8719 for more information.

GLAD TIDINGS ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH, 7244 Deer Branch Road, will participate Sunday in the 39th annual Revivaltime Prayer Meeting starting at 7:30 p.m. The program will be broadcast by satellite from Seoul, Korea. Dan Betzer will be the speaker, using a message he first delivered in Phoenix, Ariz.

THE CHANCEL ORCHESTRA of First Baptist Church in downtown Roanoke will present a candlelight concert Sunday at 6 p.m. at Williams Memorial Baptist Church, 2105 Carroll Ave. N.W. Charles Krause is the director. Art works also will be displayed.

THE NOEL C. TAYLOR COMMUNITY CHOIR will observe its 20th anniversary of founding with a program Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. and the following day at 4 p.m.at High Street Baptist Church, 2302 Florida Ave. N.W.

The choir, which is named for High Street's pastor who also is a former mayor of Roanoke, first performed at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in September 1974 with Kirdell Minor of Washington, D.C. as its first director.

Arthur W. Deane Jr. is the current director. Sarah P. Holland was the first president of the choir and its organizer. The choral group has performed throughout the Roanoke Valley and in other Virginia cities as well as in Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and the city of Washington.

GRACE COVENANT CHURCH, an evangelical congregation on Grandin Road Southwest, will sponsor a neighborhood Bible study at 4325 Cordell Drive S.W. Wednesday through Nov. 9. Child care will be provided. Call 774-6085 or 989-8252 to reserve a place. The five-week study will relate scripture to the family.

RED HILL BAPTIST CHURCH, 6251 Franklin Road in the Clearbrook area, has scheduled homecoming Sunday with worship beginning at 11 a.m. and potluck luncheon at 12:30 p.m. A music celebration follows at 2 p.m. Call 899-9288 for more information.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT has added the Rev. John Childress, a member of the congregation, to its staff. He will serve as director of administration and assistant to the Rev. Quigg Lawrence, rector.

The Evangelical Episcopal parish, currently worshiping at North Cross School, expects to begin construction of a building at Merriman and Cartwright Roads Southwest in the spring.

ST. MARK'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, one of Roanoke's oldest, is celebrating its 125th anniversary on Oct. 9. The Rev. James R. Stephenson of Hickory, N.C. and a former member of the parish, will preach at the 10:55 a.m. worship at the church on Franklin Road and Highland Avenue Southwest.

A luncheon will be held at Holiday Inn-Airport after the service. Reservations are needed by Sunday. Tickets are $9 for adults and $4.50 for children over 3 and are available at the church. After the meal, slides of scenes from the church's history will be presented.

GREENE MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH in downtown Roanoke has begun partially supporting Robert and Mary Beth Blinn as mission workers in the Red Bird Missionary Conference in Eastern Kentucky. The Blinns, who formerly served churches at Christiansburg in the Roanoke District, both are ordained ministers and work with churches in the low-income Appalachia area.

"CONFRONTING RACISM ...I'M NOT PREJUDICED BUT..." is the theme of a Wednesday night series of studies in progress through Nov. 16 at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Roanoke, 2015 Grandin Road S.W. Programs, which are in session from 7:15 to 9:15, are described as "examining the almost invisible ways that racism toward African-Americans is allowed, indeed promoted, by those who consider themselves completely free of racism."

Call 342-8888 for more information. Child care also is available by reservation.

PETER PASZTOR, a Hungarian student at Roanoke College, will speak tonight at 7 at Salem Presbyterian Church after a potluck meal at 6:30.

He is occupying a house owned by the church while studying on a Fulbright grant. Pasztor is the son of a Hungarian pastor and is a publisher, translator and writer.



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