Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993 TAG: 9307020175
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Mount Moriah Baptist Church will hold open houses July 10 and 11 to thank those who donated materials and about $10,000 to install plumbing and bathrooms in the historic church.
The 135-year-old church, founded by slaves, had only an outhouse and no running water. Membership had dwindled.
People across Western Virginia responded by sending money, hymnals, sinks, a water heater, toilet, fountain, paint and other materials to Mount Moriah's dozen members.
They still are raising money for wheelchair ramps, hoping the improvements will spur growth.
The church was founded in 1858 and the current church built around 1873. It sits on a hill near U.S. 460 in Southeast Roanoke near the Roanoke County line.
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers is expected to attend the July 10 open house between noon and 4 p.m. Another open house and homecoming will be held July 11 from 2 to 6 p.m.
-Staff report\ Ecumenical parish pushes into Grayson
Western Virginia's second ecumenical parish, the Church of the Good Shepherd/Episcopal and Lutheran in Galax, is expanding its community outreach in the Grayson area.
This summer it is being served by the Rev. Wilford Lyerly of Mount Airy, N.C., a hospital chaplain serving as pastor-developer of the congregation that has included both Episcopalians and Lutherans for the past two years. Lyerly said that in August the Rev. Robert Walker, a regional director of Lutheran campus ministry, will begin serving Good Shepherd parish as its pastor. Walker, who has lived in Chapel Hill, N.C., had been the temporary pastor of the Galax group following the retirement two years ago of the Rev. Standrod Carmichael, an Episcopal clergyman who had served Good Shepherd for a decade.
The Galax church at 404 W. Center St. has been commended by both Episcopal and Lutheran leaders as a model for cooperation in an area where two small liturgical churches can function better as one. It maintains a home for temporarily destitute people and is a supporter of Hospice of the Twin Counties.
Another Episcopal/Lutheran church, which also includes Presbyterians, serves the Smith Mountain Lake community.
Brethren elect Reimer as moderator
Roanoker Judy Mills Reimer has been elected to the Church of the Brethren's highest elected position. Delegates meeting late last month in Indianapolis elected Reimer moderator for the 1995 Annual Conference.
Reimer is a student at Bethany Theological Seminary and is a member of the Williamson Road Church of the Brethren. She has headed the General Board of the denomination and this summer is on an internship at Central Church in Roanoke. Before entering seminary Reimer helped run her family's office-furniture business in Roanoke.
As moderator she will serve for two years, the first as moderator-elect. During her second year, she will preside over the Annual Conference in Charlotte, N.C.
Beth Ikenberry Middleton of Boones Mill has been elected to the General Board of the Church of the Brethren. The 25-member board administers mission and service programs across the United States and abroad with its closest office to Western Virginia in New Windsor, Md.
-Staff report
Virginia Wesleyans to ordain female pastor
Members of Virginia Wesleyan congregations, who will meet July 21-25 in the Roanoke Valley for their annual business convention and camp meeting, will ordain their first female pastor.
Beth Ash, wife of the Rev. David Ash of Roanoke's First Church, will be among six candidates to be received into the full ministry July 19 in a service at Emmanuel Church.
A Virginia Conference spokesman, the Rev. Raymond Powers, said other ordained Wesleyan women are serving in the state's churches but they came to Virginia from areas where women have been more common as pastors for several decades.
Others to be ordained are Randy Watts of Danville, Bud Roth of Rocky Mount, Fritz Lehman and Don Martin of Roanoke and Lawrence Sellers of Ararat.
The Wesleyans, an evangelical Protestant group formed in 1968 from the Pilgrim Holiness and Wesleyan Methodists, annually gather in July in Roanoke for business and later in the week for an indoor camp meeting. The evangelist this year will be a retired church official from Marion, Ind., the Rev. Robert W. McIntyre. He will preach nightly at 7:30 and at 3 p.m. on July 25 in the Northside High School auditorium. The Rev. and Mrs. Wes McCallum of Shokan, N.Y., will be song leaders. A nursery will be staffed.
Daily Bible studies at 10:30 a.m. at First Wesleyan Church, 3706 Peters Creek Road N.W., also are part of the public camp meeting program and will be in progress Thursday through Saturday during the week. Programs for children also are provided as are specialized meetings for women, men and youth.
Call 366-4406, the Virginia District headquarters at Hollins, for program details.
-Staff report
by CNB