Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993 TAG: 9303040497
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY FRANCES STEBBINS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RELIGION BRIEFS
A MISSION AWARENESS WEEKEND involving several United Methodist churches in the Roanoke area is scheduled March 5-7. Marie Russo, director of The Neighborhood Center, a nationally-supported inner-city ministry of the church in Utica, N.Y., will be the featured guest.The event will begin with a breakfast for clergy at Huntington Court Church. A community forum will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Greene Memorial Church.
The $5 fee covers lunch and registration. Call 345-7351 or 345-6781 by Friday for reservations. The March 5 activities will conclude with a tour of several Roanoke Valley service agencies.
Events on March 6 will include a talk by Russo at 9 a.m. at Bonsack United Methodist Church. She will talk about the work of the center, and several others will discuss their involvement the Neighborhood Center.
The awareness weekend will conclude March 7 when staff workers from the center will speak at several churches, including Thrasher Memorial Church in Vinton and Highland Park in Roanoke.
\ WEST END UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 13th Street and Campbell Avenue Southwest, will observe Missions Sunday with Michael and Lori Camp, workers in Malawi, visiting at 9:15 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
The couple will present a video at the education hour and speak for morning worship. Luncheon will follow.
He succeeds Verle H. Witmer, who left several months ago after 25 years on the staff, at South Roanoke. Witmer is now interim music director at Campbell Memorial Presbyterian in Vinton.
\ BETHLEHEM BIBLE COLLEGE, which offers evening classes to enhance spiritual growth, will observe Founders Day Saturday at 7 p.m. with a program at Hill Street Baptist Church, 111 Madison Ave. N.W.
The Rev. Frank Feather of Forest Park Baptist Church will speak. Special music also will be presented.
\ GRACE CHURCH, 2731 Edgewood St. S.W., will present the Bryan College Chorale of Dayton, Tenn., in concert on March 5 at 7 p.m.
The 44-voice choral group has performed nationwide and in Canada, Europe and the Bahamas.
\ THE REV. JOHN SYLVESTER-JOHNSON will leave the staff of St. John's Episcopal Church in June after more than four years as its minister of Christian outreach. Sylvester-Johnson said he is seeking a church-related position in the Roanoke area.
\ SEVERAL GUEST TEACHERS will lead Sunday morning classes during Lent at St. John's Episcopal Church in downtown Roanoke.
Beginning Sunday and continuing through March 28, Roy S. Bent, a retired religion professor at Roanoke College, will discuss "Contemporary Theological Visions."
Another class, "Living with Diversity," will feature Muriel Wiggins of Charlottesville on Sunday ; the Rev. Kathy O'Keeffe on March 7; and Ellen Brown on March 14. All classes will be from 10:15 to 11 a.m.
\ WORLD DAY OF PRAYER, an annual program of Church Women United, is scheduled March 5 at Belmont Presbyterian Church, 1005 Ninth St. S.E. The service, which opens with registration at 10 a.m., was written by Guatemalan women.
The women's group is ecumenical and interracial.
\ CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE will be the theme of a retreat for couples April 16-18 at Camp Alta Mons Center near Shawsville. A United Methodist trained couple, Dick and Pat Faris, who have led similar retreats throughout the Virginia Conference, will lead the group.
Cost of the three-day event is $115. The retreat, intended for couples with stable marriages, will be from 7 p.m. Friday through lunch Sunday. Call 989-3335 before April 1 for registration information.
\ TWO FORMER PASTORS, J. Edward Stockman and George Bowers, will be honored in the naming of a new addition to St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Old Southwest Roanoke.
The wing at the rear will bear the name of Stockman, who served in the post-World War II years. Bowers, who still lives in the Roanoke Valley, will have the library/conference room named for him.
\ JOSEPH H. KENNEDY has resigned as director of music and organist at Virginia Heights Baptist Church after more than 13 years on the staff. He will take a similar job at South Roanoke United Methodist Church after his March 6 departure from Virginia Heights.
\ GREENE MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is raising funds and recruiting volunteers for the construction of a Habitat for Humanity house.
The house will be at 115 Harrison Ave. N.W., near five other Habitat residences. Work is expected to start in late March.
Deadline for religion briefs for Neighbors is Thursday. Material must be delivered to Neighbors Religion Briefs, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010, by noon in order to run in the following Thursday edition.
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