Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411230028
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The congregation of Roanoke Valley Cathedral of Praise, formerly known as Williamson Road Church of God, will celebrate the move to its new $1.4 million building in the Hollins area Sunday. The group has been worshipping at 1488 Peters Creek Road N.W. for the past year.
In March the pentecostal congregation merged with Roanoke Valley Worship Center, which had been occupying the Peters Creek Road building. The Williamson Road property, where members worshiped for about 30 years, had been razed by its new owners, Berglund Chevrolet.
The Rev. Harry M. Miller Jr., pastor of Cathedral of Praise, said the relocated church now stands on eight acres adjacent to the state headquarters of the denomination on Interstate 81 near the Hollins exit. The worship center seats 575, and about 330 attend Sunday morning services.
Sunday events will begin at 9:45 a.m. and continue with worship at 10:45, special music in the afternoon and baptism at 6 p.m.
Pastor honored
Thaxton Baptist Church on Virginia 684 in Bedford County will honor the Rev. N.C. "Cam" Napier on Sunday. He served as minister from 1951 to 1969 and has been designated pastor emeritus. Following the 11 a.m. worship led by the current pastor, the Rev. Dr. Michael DuVal, a potluck luncheon is planned.
Martinsville food drive
Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville will sponsor a food collection drive Sunday in cooperation with St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The two parishes have worked together in a Reach Out pantry ministry since 1974.
Public policy concerns
The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, an ecumenical voice of church people seeking to influence General Assembly members, will focus this winter on five social concerns.
These are children at risk, an earned-income tax credit to combat poverty, rehabilitation of criminals, prevention of homelessness through fair distribution of state and federal funds, and prevention of domestic violence.
The General Assembly convenes Jan. 11. Citizens who want to make their views known to the center may write VICPP, P.O. Box 12516, Richmond, Va., 23241-0516, or call (804) 643-2474.
St. Andrew's Day
A blessing of the tartans service with bag pipers from throughout Western Virginia is scheduled Nov. 27 at 4 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Salem.
A reception with Scottish desserts will follow the service, which marks St. Andrew's Day. Andrew, one of Jesus' disciples, traditionally is associated with Scotland.
2,000 stake organized
SALT LAKE CITY - Mormon Church President Howard W. Hunter will organize the faith's 2,000th stake on Dec. 11 in Mexico City.
A stake is a geographical unit comprising several wards, or congregations. There are more than 21,000 congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has nearly 9 million members.
Hunter, who turned 87 on Nov. 14, is the church's ``prophet, seer and revelator.'' He will organize the Mexico City Mexico Contreras Stake. There are more than 700,000 Mormons in Mexico.
The church's first stake was organized in 1834 in Kirtland, Ohio, four years after the church itself was founded by Joseph Smith in western New York.
The Salt Lake City-based church organized its 100th stake in 1928 and the 1,000th in 1979. The first stake in Mexico was organized in 1961; the new stake will be the country's 129th.
Ministry films
BOISE, Idaho - Boise is among 20 cities across the country being used as a test market for theater showings of television minister Robert Schuller's ``Hour of Power'' broadcasts.
Programs from Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Southern California have been transferred to film and will be shown free of charge at Boise Towne Square theaters Sunday mornings starting Dec. 4.
Other test-market cities include Newport Beach, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Anchorage, Alaska.
Boise's growth is part of the reason the Schuller organization decided to bring the films to Idaho. The goal is to reach people who do not go to church.
``We want to take away the stigma people have in going to church,'' says Ray Cotton, a minister who recently joined Schuller's organization to launch the project. ``We'll go to their turf instead of them coming to ours.''
The films - a collection of the best of Schuller - bring a big-screen feel to the programs that is lacking on the Sunday TV broadcasts, Cotton said.
Admission is free. There is no offering taken. And Schuller's appeals for funds to keep his ministry going have been deleted.
Mountain View Baptist Church in Boise is helping to sponsor the films. The Rev. Gene Crewes, Mountain View pastor, will introduce each film and meet with people who come to the showings.
Mormon founder pictured
PROVO, Utah - The University of Illinois at Chicago is using its technology to determine whether an early photograph resembling Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith is really him.
Ronald E. Romig, an archivist for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is 90 percent sure that Smith is the man in the daguerreotype, an old photo made on a chemically treated plate.
The image, circa 1843, shows a youthful-looking man with deep-set eyes, high cheekbones and a narrowing nose.
``How does it compare with other images of Joseph Smith? Sixteen individualized points are quite close, making it between 85 percent and 90 percent sure the daguerreotype is of Joseph Smith,'' Romig said.
Still, the RLDS Church has turned to the University of Illinois at Chicago for help.
Romig said a researcher in the university's department of biomedical visualization is using information from the daguerreotype, death masks and Joseph Smith's skull, which is in the possession of the RLDS Church.
The information will be used to generate, via computer, a three-dimensional image of Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The RLDS Church, headquartered in Independence, Mo., split from the Mormon Church following Smith's death.
by CNB