ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996                TAG: 9603120017
SECTION: RELIGION                 PAGE: B-9  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

RELIGION BRIEFS

Leaving presbytery staff

Edith Patton, a member of the staff of Presbytery of the Peaks since 1989, will leave its Lynchburg office at the end of this month. Patton, a former Roanoker, most recently has been acting general presbyter for the regional association of Presbyterian congregations. Patton will be honored March 31 at 4 p.m. at Bedford Presbyterian Church. She has not announced her plans. The new general presbyter, the Rev. M. Anderson Sale, will fill the permanent position, which has been vacant for two years.

Executive retiring

The Rev. R. Woods Kent, chief executive of the Virginia Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lynchburg, will retire April 30. Kent is completing 42 years in active ministry. He will make his retirement home in Decatur, Ga. He has been Virginia general minister since 1992.

Volunteer coordinator

Wayne Garst, a former director of Camp Bethel Conference Center, has become disaster response coordinator for the Virlina District, Church of the Brethren. Garst will oversee Brethren and other volunteers who travel to areas where emergency help is needed. Two Caribbean relief projects are under way with future help planned for flood victims in West Virginia.

Society of St. Andrew

The Society of St. Andrew, a Christian community in Bedford County dedicated to relieving hunger, has begun its seventh year of distributing seed potatoes to poor families, including American Indians, in the Appalachian Mountains. The potatoes are bought from suppliers in Maine. With money donations by churches, civic groups and individuals to pay for transportation, 50-pound bags of the spuds are distributed by food banks to enable small farmers to augment family meals after the 1996 harvest.

Resource center mov|

The Bishop Marion Resource Center, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia for Christian educators, is moving Wednesday to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Calhoun at Market streets in downtown Salem. The center is vacating its building at 1010 First St. S.W. until an enlarged diocesan headquarters is in use in about two years. The center is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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