ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994                   TAG: 9405120079
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY FRANCES STEBBINS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


RELIGION BRIEFS

THE REV. C.M. PRUITT, minister of outreach at First Church of the Nazarene, will become pastor of Highland Hills Church of the Nazarene in the Chicago area later this month..

He and his wife, Virginia, have been at the church for more than two years.

\ DREW MENTZER, a former minister of Penn Forest Christian Church, will be guest speaker May 22 at 11 a.m. when the 20th anniversary of founding is marked with homecoming. Following worship, a potluck meal is planned. An afternoon program will include hymn singing. For more information, call 774-2445.

\ BAPTIST VISITATION MINISTRY, a program to bring church members in contact with nursing home residents, is established in 19 facilities in the Roanoke area. The Rev. J. Landon Maddex, director, reported at the recent banquet honoring volunteers that 540 members of Southern Baptist congregations are now working with nearly 1,000 residents. Of the 71 Southern Baptist churches in the Roanoke Valley Association, 55 now are involved in the ministry that promotes regular calls to shut-ins.

\ AN UPDATE ON MISSIONS is scheduled Sunday at noon at Westhampton Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 2515 Grandin Road S.W. William Drake of the national church office in Indianapolis, Ind., and the Rev. Marilyn Taylor of the Virginia Region office in Lynchburg, will lead the program. Those attending are to bring a bag lunch.

\ VIRGINIA LUTHERANS from throughout most of the state will gather Friday through Sunday at Roanoke College for their annual Synod Assembly. They will come from the 165 congregations that are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Youths will have their own convention but will join older members for some sessions.

\ VILLA HEIGHTS BAPTIST CHURCH, 4080 Challenger Ave., will hold the 26th annual memorial service for public safety workers on Sunday at 11 a.m. The service honors police, firefighters, rescue squad personnel and their auxiliaries. The Rev. Harold C. Lewis, pastor, will preach.

\ JUDY MILLS REIMER, a member of Williamson Road Church of the Brethren, will be ordained there to the gospel ministry on May 29. The Rev. Dr. Eugene Roop, president of Bethany Theological Seminary from which Reimer is graduating, will be guest preacher at the 11 a.m. service.

Reimer, a longtime resident of the Roanoke area, is the national moderator-elect of the Church of the Brethren. A fellowship time will follow the service.

\ SEVERAL HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HOUSES are being planned by Roanoke Valley congregations for a "blitz" on June 18 when 14 sponsoring groups will get dwellings under way, most on Kellogg Avenue Northwest.

Some Lutheran and Presbyterian churches are working jointly on houses. Virginia Heights and Calvary Baptist congregations are sharing the cost and work for another house. Greene Memorial United Methodist has begun its house at 1701 Chapman Ave. S.W. Meanwhile, a two-story house on Moorman Road Northwest, which has been under construction for several months by St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salem, is nearing completion.

\ BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH, 3017 Ivyland Drive S.E., will observe Woman's Day Sunday at 3 p.m. The Rev. Andrea Cornett-Scott and the choir of Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church will lead the worship.

\ THE REV. DR. BAXTER MOW, a former Roanoker and now the oldest living Rhodes scholar, recently marked his 102nd birthday in a Loris, S.C., retirement home.

\ CHERRY MANN, an employee of Channel 38 Christian TV network, is a serving as an evangelist in Caxias Do Sul, Brazil. She is a member of a 12-member team sponsored by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board.

Mann is active in First Baptist Church in downtown Roanoke. The team will return on May 21. FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH, 929 Murray Ave. S.E., will have revival services May 20-22. The Rev. Lee Roberson, chancellor of Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tenn., will be the guest peacher.

Roberson, 82, also is pastor emeritus of Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga. He preaches in more than 100 churches yearly.

Services will be at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 10 and 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.

\ RIVERDALE BAPTIST CHURCH, 1624 Edgerton Ave. S.E., will sponsor a picnic for the community on May 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The picnic is open especially to fire and police personnel who serve the members without the support of church tax dollars.

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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