ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610140008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: RELIGION Briefs
The Rev. Donald Makin and his family traveled from Collierville Presbyterian Church near Memphis, Tenn., to downtown Christiansburg Presbyterian.
Makin will lead one of the valley's largest congregations, which has a wide range of worship and missions ministries for all ages, from elementary school children through the older adult ministries group.
The school children, for example, make visits to local nursing homes and correspond by mail with Ralph Hungate, a longtime member of the congregation who is now in a retirement home in Richmond. A group of 20 youths recently went to see one of their members, Brandon Miller, 17, in the production, "Godspell" at Radford University.
The Presbyterian women's group holds an annual Christmas craft workshop, on Nov. 3 this year, to help finance its many missions and community projects, including the Women's Resource Center and the Free Clinic.
The church will officially welcome its new minister in an installation service at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 27. His family includes his wife, Jennifer, and children David, 11, Chelsea, 7 and Tommy, 2.
The Rev. David Hoagland came to Dublin Baptist from Lynchburg's Lakewood Baptist. Hoagland and his wife, Millie, have a son, Scott, and a daughter, Jessica. He praised his new church's diversity of age groups by saying, "It's amazing! We have a tremendous blend of ages in this congregation."
The approximately 20 young people in the church are actively involved in a series of lessons with the theme "Life Issues." The Women's Missionary Union is working on a project to provide school supplies and Bibles to the Baptist Children's Home in Salem.
Originally from Michigan, the Rev. Todd Knock served in the Coast Guard before completing his studies at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. He and his wife, Donna, have added appreciably to their new congregation at Big Spring Baptist in Elliston with their five children, Kris, Taylor, Nicholas, Shannon and Ashleigh, ages 14 to 2.
Knock described his new congregation with, "The love is incredible!"
Soon after his arrival, a congregational "vision meeting" was held to discuss churchwide matters. The men of the church are involved with the Promise Keepers Movement, which emphasizes the commitments husbands and fathers make in family relationships. The church as a whole is beginning a new prayer ministry which follows a networking approach, connecting all age groups.
"Celebration of a New Ministry" is the theme for the Rev. Jack Wilcox's installation service at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church in Blacksburg. Wilcox is the new campus minister for Episcopal students at Virginia Tech. Besides being a musician and singer, Wilcox is a chaplain major one day a week with an active duty unit of the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
Wife Gail and daughters Angela, 5, and E.J., 3, moved here with him from Colorado. Wilcox leads Virginia Tech students each Wednesday night in an informal eucharistic service, playing his guitar along with one or two other students and leading the singing. The responses he gets from these services provide him with great ideas for his Sunday sermons, he said.
Family life authority to speak
Dr. Edward Watke Jr. will conduct revival meetings at Harvest Baptist Church, 201 Lucas Drive, Blacksburg beginning Oct. 27 at 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m., with evening meetings, Oct. 28-30 at 7 p.m. Watke's focus and theme is "Building Stronger Families." A nationally known seminar speaker and author of books on family life, Watke is head of Revival in the Home Ministries, Augusta, Ga.
Free recovery seminars offered
A free series of seminars on recovery from the loss of a loved one is in progress through Oct. 28 at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 400 Tyler Ave. in Radford. The Monday night programs start at 7 and are led by the Rev. Jonathan Webster, chaplain at Carilion Radford Community Hospital and Carilion St. Albans Hospital. To register for the remaining seminars on coping with loss, sharing grief and surviving and recovering, call Webster at 731-2556.
Va. synod women's group to meet
The New River Conference Fall Gathering of the Virginia Synodical Women's Organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be held Oct. 20 with registration beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pulaski. Jody Smiley of St. Michael Lutheran Church, Blacksburg is the coordinator.
Participants will include Judy Ann Fray, president of Virginia Synodical Women's Organization of Madison, and Judy Casteele of Pulaski, who will give a report of the Third Triennial Convention of the Women of the ELCA, which was held in Minneapolis, Minn., July 11-14.
Sister parish founder to speak
Richard P. Fenske will speak at Christ Episcopal Church, Church and Jackson streets, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 about his book "En La Buena Lucha, In the Good Struggle: The Sister Parish Movement."
In response to the poverty and suffering he observed in Nicaragua, Fenske and Vicki Schmidt formed an association in 1987 in order to craft the model of Sister Parish, which has as its goal the creating of relationships between communities of faith in the United States and Latin America. Fenske is now a resident and worker in an impoverished neighborhood in Guatemala.
A reception and booksigning will follow his talk in the parish hall.
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots Makin, Wilcox, Knockby CNB