Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9501070045
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS & WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Glenn D. Stevens, who was reared in the Saunders Grove Church of the Brethren in Bedford County, will become manager of Camp Bethel Conference Center on Sunday. Stevens will succeed Wayne Garst, who is leaving the post after three years because of health problems. The new manager, who is ordained in the Church of the Brethren, has lived in Indiana for most of his life. He is a former executive director of the Elkhart County, Ind., Youth Services Bureau, a position he held for 20 years. Later he served as associate pastor of Elkhart Valley Church of the Brethren until returning to Virginia earlier this year. He was educated at McPherson College, at Indiana University and Goshen Biblical Seminary with clinical pastoral education training at Bronson Methodist Hospital. He is married to Pat Stevens.
Levy to be ordained
The Rev. Sandra Maria Levy will be ordained to the Episcopal priesthood Jan. 7 at noon at R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington. Levy has been on the staff as associate rector for several months. A reception will follow.
Fund-raising completed
Trinity Ecumenical Parish, which includes members of Episcopal, Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations and serves the Smith Mountain Lake community, has completed a fund-raising campaign for a new church. The congregation has been using Resurrection Catholic Church for the past seven years. The new church, designed by Hughes and Associates of Roanoke, will be built by Lionberger Construction Co. on 13 acres donated by Dr. and Mrs. Warren Moorman of Salem. More than 200 people now are affiliated with the ecumenical church currently served by a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Gary Scheidt. Worship styles are rotated every three months with Episcopal and Lutheran clergy officiating at some services. The $320,000 received in pledges is more than adequate to build, a spokesperson said. Call 297-2628 for more information about the church programs.
Baptist conferences
Four conferences of special interest to church leaders will be offered in 1995 at the Baptist Missionary and Learning Center at Rockville near Richmond. Each costs $45 and covers an overnight stay and three meals. Topics will be "Vision 2000: Preparing Your Church for the 21st Century," "How Traditional Churches Can Grow," "Ministry to Angry, Alienated Church Members" and "Developing a Winning Team and Winning Organization in the Church." For dates and more details, call (804) 262-4110.
Zimbabwe graduation
United Methodism's African university in Zimbabwe has graduated its first class of 27 young men and women . The Dec. 17 ceremony was marked by dancing, singing, prayers and tears as 19 agricultural students and eight theology students completed their work and planned their return to their home communities. More than 900 attended the ceremonies and included retired Bishop Leontine Kelly, a former Virginian who now lives in California.
King celebration
The Virginia unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will celebrate the birthday of its founder, the Rev. Martin Luther King, with three Eastern Virginia programs on Jan. 16. The first will be a rally and breakfast at Fort Lee with Dr. Eddie Moore, president of Virginia State University, the speaker. At noon a youth convention is scheduled at Second Baptist Church in Chesterfield County. At 7 p.m. the Royal Baptist Church in Emporia will be the site of another meeting at which Virginia Sen. Louise Lucas will speak. Call (804) 458-7404 for more information.
Candidates announced
Three men have emerged as candidates for the next national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They are the Rev. David L. Tiede, president of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.; the Rev. Dennis A. Anderson, president of Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio; and Bishop Richard J. Foss of the Eastern North Dakota Synod. Bishop Herbert Chilstrom has announced his desire to step down in August. At a recent meeting of national church leaders in Mahtomedi, Minn., a survey was considered that showed that a commitment to congregational life ranked high among the 60 attending the meeting.
Ministry lives on
NEW CONCORD, Ky. - The work that two young church leaders were doing with a bus ministry didn't die with them a year ago; it is being carried on by others as a tribute to them.
Bryan and Carol Luffman were delivering Christmas packages to underprivileged children last year when their church bus was hit head-on by another vehicle.
The church bus burst into flames, and both died in the accident. The Christmas packages also were destroyed.
A day after the crash, people throughout the area donated money, clothing and food to the 11 needy families whose packages the Luffmans were delivering.
A year later, the bus ministry has grown to four buses and a Chevy Suburban to pick up children for events at Blood River Baptist Church.
In January, church members will start tutoring children in schoolwork each Sunday after the morning worship service. Children will eat a lunch prepared by church members and then will start their lessons.
Church tones it down
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Vici and Stephen Diehl insist they aren't Scrooges.
They would just prefer a silent day to ``Silent Night,'' or any of the other Christmas carols they say a neighborhood church played daily over loudspeakers on its steeple.
The Diehls recently received an early Christmas gift from a state appellate court judge. Judge John F. Lawton ordered the Congregational Church of Antwerp to cut back the time it plays holiday music from four hours a day to two.
``The sad thing is, I like listening to Christmas carols,'' Mrs. Diehl said. ``But I don't like being forced to listen to anything for hours on end.''
The couple, wildlife photographers who do much of their work at their home, 500 feet away from the church, said the music disrupted their work schedules.
The church agreed to cut back the music to two two-hour periods each day, but the Diehls said it was still too loud and sought a temporary restraining order.
Lawton said the church can broadcast two one-hour sessions each day, separated by at least four hours, any time between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. until Jan. 1, said the Diehls' attorney, Robert J. Miletsky. The judge allowed two two-hour sessions on Christmas Day.
New bishop
LAFAYETTE, La. - The former auxiliary bishop of St. Louis was installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette and the new spiritual leader of 350,000 Acadiana Roman Catholics.
At an installation service earlier this month, Bishop Edward J. O'Donnell said there was no way to express the joy he felt about his new position.
``The pope could have sent you a bishop who is wiser than I, holier than I, more eloquent than I. But the pope could not have sent you a bishop who would love you more, who would be willing to devote himself more completely to you than I am today,'' O'Donnell said.
by CNB