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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994                   TAG: 9405130066
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: NEIGHBORS   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Frances Stebbins
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RELIGON BRIEFS

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.

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.

BONSACK BAPTIST CHURCH on U.S. 220 Alternate in Botetourt County, is 114 years old. It was started as rural Hebron Baptist Church in 1880 and is now a rapidly growing suburban Roanoke congregation.

Heritage Day will be marked May 22 at 10:30 a.m. when a former member, the Rev. Dr. Steve Spangler of Beulah Baptist Church in Lynchburg, and his wife, Ruth, will present a drama on the history of the church.

GLAD TIDINGS ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH, 7422 Deer Branch Road, Hollins, has scheduled revival services May 22-25. Guest evangelist will be the Rev. Betty Davis, worker in jail and youth ministry and a missionary to Haiti. Services will be at 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday and at 7 p.m. on week nights.

HOLLINS ROAD CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN is having a Heifer Project International Walk on May 21 at 9 a.m. Participants will choose a goat, sheep, flock of chickens, rabbits or hive of honeybees on which pledges will be taken. Funds needed for each of these food sources range from $30 to $120. To pledge or participate, call 366-6922.

ALL FOR THE LORD, a contemporary gospel singing group of six members of Green Ridge Baptist Church, will perform there May 22 at 7 p.m. The sextet, Carol Tuttle, Linda Landis, Jan Moore, Rodney Smelser, Ben Bryant and Bernard Atwood, all have performed in previous groups.

Moore is minister of music at the church.

The concert is free, and a nursery will be open. The church is at 5521 Green Ridge Road.

AMANDA FRAZIER, a student at Mars Hill College, will join the staff of Ridgewood Baptist Church from June 5 through Aug. 14 as a summer missionary to children and youth. This will be the second year Frazier has been engaged in Baptist summer ministry in the Roanoke Valley.

THE ROANOKE COMMUNITY CHOIR, directed by Jimmy Cook, will sing Sunday at 5 p.m. at Greater Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1810 Grayson Ave. N.W. The Paradise Gospel Chorus is the sponsor.

THE REV. LORRAINE ALSTON, pastor, and the choir of Deliverance Church of Christ will lead worship at a special Stewards' Board ceremony Sunday at 4 p.m. at Price Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 506 15th St. N.W.

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.

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.

by CNB