Central

Journal . . . electronic edition

                                                                                                          November, 2002

Keeping Members and Friends Informed

                                      Promoting Fellowship                                                                                       
                                                         Contributing to Spiritual Growth

I met someone recently in another city who mentioned that her boss made regular work visits to Lansing. While here, he always came into Central church to pray. He loved the building and its spirit. Our sacred space is a gift and can be a ministry in itself.

Parking Project Progress
Susan Grettenberger, Chair, Board of Trustees

Forgive us if we neglect to give you enough information on the parking lot. We have spent so much time working on this, it feels like you all must have heard everything already. Here are some basics:

¨ Work on the walkway will be partially finished before winter. Take a look at what is being done.

¨ It is hoped that the church will have access to a few daytime parking spots for staff in the north lot during the winter.

¨ We are making plans for a small storage building off the northwest corner of the Temple House at the end of the apartment sidewalk. We are working on the design.

¨ We plan to replace the canopy over the west exit door from Fellowship Hall.

¨ When there are disruptions in parking, we will do our best to keep you informed. Please be patient!

¨ We do not want to interfere with the regular stewardship campaign. Bob Wangen has helped us all understand the importance of giving to the church’s regular budget. We also know that many of you are willing to make a significant, one time contribution to special projects such as the Parking Project. If you already know you want to give, please contact Susan Grettenberger (372-4146), or make your contribution marked, “Parking Project”. Thank you to those who have given already.

¨ Please ask a trustee if you have any questions or concerns about building matters.

Next month we will have updates on work being done in the building. Okay, there are more exciting things in the fall line-up, but the mundane can make all the difference.

A note from the Pastor
Sisters and brothers:

“How is it going at Central United Methodist Church?”, or some form of this question, is frequently asked by people at and outside the church.

Everywhere I go in United Methodist circles, people want to know. In more explicit words, the real question is, “how is the cross racial-appointment working?” I have responded to these friends and colleagues, and I am ready to share my unscientific evaluation with you, even with the possibility of being premature.

Yes, the appointment is working. What reasons make it work? Some argue the idea of not drawing attention to the issue of race, is a reason. Just see each other as human beings. I tend to agree with this kind of thinking most of the time. There are so many needs which rise above color. People want attention, affirmation, energy, and other resources. No one has time or energy to think about race. Just care about us. You really do, under these circumstances, become color blind. My friend Byron is insightful and color blind and is always saying to me and others, “I love you, man.”

A more significant reason why the appointment works is because the members and friends are determined that it work. So they do all the things to make it happen. There is real intention to staff the church with team players and people who are deeply committed to Jesus Christ. The staff is not only committed but they are talented and resourceful. We have volunteers who are equally committed and talented. So we do have faithful stewards serving through the giving of time, money and talents. That determination and approach do make a difference for good.

It is working because there is a cloud of witnesses, pulling prayerfully for Central UMC. They are watching and waiting with great expectation. These friends are praying and hoping for us to be effective in ministry. While in attendance at Rev. Kearney Kirkby’s funeral in Chelsea, people from the Michigan area expressed genuine concern for Central. That active concern is very helpful.

Central’s capacity to participate in inter-denominational activity and cooperation with the state of Michigan, is another reason for us doing well in the appointment. Rev. John Boley and Trustees Susan Grettenberger and David DeVinney and other lay leadership, are to be credited for the design and implementation of the joint parking lot. What a tremendous gift for me to walk into and inherit. I was able to celebrate last Thursday and highly enjoy the effort with people from First Baptist and St. Paul’s Episcopal Churches and the State of Michigan. It happened with Central’s involvement. That cooperation is a strength. It has implications for other downtown churches throughout the country with the issue of parking.

So, how is it going, Russell? Praise God! I am having the best time of my life. I am rich, blessed and am on my way to the Promised Land.

AMEN!
Education
Bob Roth, Director of Christian Education and Youth Ministries

Sunday Christian Education Program

Kindergarten – Fifth Grade

Following Children’s Time until 10:45 a.m.:

Music Activities, K – 3rd Graders

Crafts, 4th – 5th Graders

§ 10:45 – 11:15 Children join adults for coffee hour.

§ 11:00 – 12:15 Sunday School, K – 3rd Graders (Colleen Weinfeld, teacher)

§ 11:15 – 11:40 Music Activities, 4th – 5th Graders (Randi Bolding, leader)

§ 11:45 – 12:15 Sunday School, 4th – 5th Graders (Dave Stinson, teacher)

(Coffee Hour – Fellowship Hall, following morning worship through 11:00.)

Middle School and High School

§ 11:00 – 11:40 Middle School Class meets in the Skylight Room,

3rd floor. (Mike Cooper & Jeff Holoweiko, teachers)

§ 11:00 – 11:40 High School Class meets in the Loft, 3rd floor.

(Julie Cooper, teacher)

§ 11:40 – 12:15 Middle School and High School Music Activities, Loft.

Adult Sunday School

11:00 – 12:15 Adult Sunday School:

§ “From Genesis To Revelation” (Second floor

conference room), Dale Kirkby & Leon Martin

§ “Coffee House Discussion Group,” (First floor lounge), Anne Forgrave & Kathy MacLaren, facilitators.

§ A class on John Shelby Spong’s autobiography will be taught by Keith Pohl on Sunday afternoons.

§ Life of the Beloved is a wonderful spiritual book by Henri Nouwen being discussed by a class led by Joi Tennant.

Mid-Week Adult Opportunities

§ 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m.: Men’s Bible Study (questions: Dave Schuurmans)

§ Tuesdays: Well Women’s Bible Study (questions: Karen Holoweiko)


>>>Your Help Is Needed…Right Where You Are!

In parishes where I have worked over the last 25 years -- large and small -- I have observed that the most effective means of communication is often word-of-mouth. There are a few things you could help spread around. Gossip? Sure, holy gossip! Please work these things into your telephone, supermarket, and coffee hour chats:

>>>We have fun and meaningful kindergarten - third grade and senior high Sunday School Classes.

I mention these two because attendance is low while quality is high. With the leadership of Colleen Weinfeld and Joann Klein with the little ones and Julie Cooper with the big “guys,” these classes are in able hands. Spread the word -- let’s find and invite these age groups to class.

>>>John Shelby Spong is in East Lansing November 9 & 10.

This is a great opportunity for both the Keith Pohl Class and any one interested. (See the education bulletin board for details.)

>>>The second floor Resource Room is rich with resources.

Thanks to the organizing and inventory skills of Pam Jennett, we again have a great place for teachers and leaders to find supplies, books, maps, and other resources.

>>>The Sunday Morning Nursery needs more volunteers!

If you can help out, please call Mary Bowers at the church on Thursdays or in the evenings at home: 484-1593.

Music Notes
Caryn Welter, Music Director

Thanks, Young Adults, for planning and launching the October 11 Karaoke Night. The music department is grateful for your efforts on behalf of the adult bell choir. Even more than all that, a lot of people appreciated and enjoyed the super night of fun and fellowship. Your efforts are yet one more example of how the people of Central pull together, create fun, and pursue common purposes.

Chancel Choir members and Spirit Singers, the people of Greater Lansing will enjoy your upcoming participation in the GLADE action event to be held at Union Missionary Baptist Church on Wednesday, November 20. Central parishioners, let's try for a goal of 100 people in attendance on that special night. Support GLADE; support your musicians.

Everyone, please mark this date on your calendars: January 19, 2003. Central UMC will host the area's ecumenical service which begins the Week of Christian Prayer. It would be very meaningful if our own people could fill a significant number of pews on that special day. The adult choir will sing, along with members of several other groups. Rev. McReynolds, too, will be involved, as will leaders from other churches. Won't you plan now to bring friends and join us?

Children's Choir, Wesley Choristers, and Youth Fine Arts Group members, your singing and ringing during worship on October 13 sounded great. You looked good, too, and presented a very professional face as you remained in the chancel area throughout the service. Thanks, parents, for having everyone arrive on time for rehearsal. We know that these activities set a lifelong pattern of participation, as most adult choristers had their beginnings in children's choral groups. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Youth and parents of youth, the big day for launching the new events groups is Sunday, November 3. Youth who expressed interest will meet on that day for the first of their near-weekly rehearsals with Mrs. MacLaren and Mr. Tennant. Youth instrumentalists will meet with Mr. Tennant 8:50 - 9:20 a.m. on the stage in Fellowship Hall. Youth bell ringers will meet with Mrs. MacLaren 4:15 - 4:45 p.m. in the sanctuary. To all who signed up, thank you for the valuable part you will play in Central's worship life. Thanks, too, to the leaders for their willingness to invest time, effort, and energy in our youth.

Worship participation schedules for:

Youth, Children's Choir, Wesley Choristers,

Youth Bells and Youth

Instrumentalists:

October 27 - Children's Choir and Wesley Choristers play instruments as they join with the Spirit Singers in leading opening hymns.

November 10 - Youth sing and present a skit entitled Awesome God, from Ultimate Youth.

November 24, Christ the King

Sunday - Children's Choir and Wesley Choristers sing To the Glory of Our King, by Robert Leaf.

December 8 - Tentatively, the special events Youth Instrumentalists play for the first time during our morning service. Also, the Children's Choir and Wesley Choristers sing Mary's Lullaby (Sandra Ford) and Little Drummer Boy (Jay Althouse). Just wait until you hear their two accompanying instruments!

December 15 - Tentatively, the special events Youth Bells will play for the first time during our morning service. Also, they will accompany the Children's Choir and Wesley Choristers' rendition of Lloyd Larson's Christmas Day. The Youth Fine Arts Group will present This Baby with What Child is This, arranged by Dennis Allen.

United Methodist Women
Pat Mort, President

Do you realize that missions supported by the Women's Division through our (UMW's) pledges and offerings do not receive any outside assistance?

If pledges and offerings don't come in, many of these ministries would have to close their doors, depriving women, youth and children of the assistance they need. Schools would close. Shelters would not be able to help domestic assault victims and their families. Latch key programs would have to lock their doors. Programs that clothe and feed those who need help the most would be gone. Recovering alcoholics and addicts, HIV-positive and AIDS patients would go without support. Senior Centers would be abandoned.

People ask, where do our monies go? They go to people who need a hand. They go to clinics and hospices, day cares and nurseries, orphanages and lunch programs. They go to help children go to, and stay in school. They go to inner cities and rural communities. They empower. They nurture. They teach reading and writing. They give shelter. They give hope.

November is World Thank Offering month. Think of all the ways God has enriched your life and the lives of those around you. How can you put a price on that? How can you turn away from those who aren't as fortunate?

All women are United Methodist Women. Please look around at your blessings and give generously to share those blessings with others. Your gift can be given to Mary Bowers or your Circle treasurer.

Pledges are also due this month so Mary can close the books and send the money on to the District Treasurer in time for her to close their books out. Again, Mary or your Circle Treasurer will be honored to accept your pledge towards missions.

Christmas by Candlelight

Christmas by Candlelight is December 3 at 6:30

p.m. in Fellowship Hall and will honor Grand

Rapids Community House on its 100th birth

day! We'll have punch, tea and coffee at 6:30

And Gretchen Gleason's vocal students will

provide our program at 7 p.m. before our dessert.

We will collect unwrapped board games, card games, bingo prizes, and costume jewelry for Community House. Children, youth and seniors will use the games and prizes. Let's see how much variety we can provide them for 2003.


—Note: There is no December Mission Team.

Calendar of Events

November_____________________

5 NO Mission Team

December______________________

3 Christmas by Candlelight

January________________________

7 Epiphany Breakfast (place TBA) 7 Mission Team

(weather permitting)

February_______________________

4 Mission Team

March_________________________

4 Mission Team

April__________________________

1 Mission Team (no foolin'!)
Lenten Lunch

May___________________________

6 Mission Team

CHURCH WOMEN UNITED

World Community Day

"Daughters of Abraham,

Called to Peace"

Friday, November 1

10 a.m. Board meeting

1 p.m. Program

Mayflower Congregational Church

2901 W. Mt. Hope, Lansing

Sponsor a radio broadcast in honor of a loved one and support this ministry outreach. Please contact Pat Basgall at the church office, 485-9477.

If you would like an audio or video tape of a broadcast, please contact Pat prior to the date requested if possible. There is no charge for tapes but donations are accepted.
From Ed Spink, Library Task Force

Islam, Muhammad and Christianity

Aseven tape set of video tapes has been added to the Ralph Goodell Memorial Library, courtesy of Jim and Dottie Stark. Three themes: 1) Islamics, 2) Apologetics, and 3) Pragmatics provide an in-depth look at:

¨ The origins of the religion of Islam

¨ Islamic beliefs and practices

¨ The life of Muhammad

¨ Apologetic arguments between

Islam and Christianity.

The tapes may either be checked out individually or as a complete set. A guide is included in the set.

Continuing Care Services

Help for the Holidays

Steps Toward Healing

November 11, 7 – 8 p.m.

Sponsored by

Palmer-Bush Funeral Homes

and

The Hospice of Lansing

Best Western Midway Hotel

The Symposium

7711 W. Saginaw Highway

Lansing

There is no charge

Contact Kayla Tipton

Continuing Care Coordinator

484-5349 or 323-7890

Don't forget to VOTE November 5!
Church and Society sponsors presentations during the church school hour:

THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

Nov. 3: Omar Subani, Religious Advisor, Islamic Society of Greater Lansing – Middle East Conflict

Nov. 17: Michael Rubner, President Shaarey Zedek Congregation –Middle East Conflict

Nov. 24: Jack Rackman, Shaarey Zedek Congregation – The Jewish Faith

Dec. 1: Bob Roth, CUMC – Discussion of Muslim Americans

Dec. 8: Michigan Faith Resistance Peace Team member (possibly Father C. Peter Dougherty), sharing Middle East peace mission experiences.

Kayla Tipton, Co-Chair, Church and Society Commission
Help with holiday luncheons for those in need

Contributions for Thanksgiving and Christmas Thursday Fellowship Luncheons will be collected on November 10 & 17 and December 8 & 15 during Fellowship Coffee Hour. (Any extra monies will be used for post-holiday Thursday Lunches).

Pray for the Homeless

A Week of Prayer for the Homeless will be observed November 17 - 23 as a time for prayer and advocacy for the homeless of our nation. (This was among the petitions related to Church and Society at the West Michigan Annual Conference 2002).

Your presence is requested

The Greater Lansing Association for Development and Empowerment

(G.L.A.D.E.), will have an Action meeting November 20, 6:30 PM, at

Union Missionary Baptist Church. The Mission of G.L.A.D.E. is to build an organization that improves public policy.

Central has been a G.L.A.D.E. Covenanting Church since 1999. Your presence is needed on November 20 to show Mayor Hollister and other leaders that a large number of persons are concerned about the issues of:

1) Early Childhood Education

2) Adolescent Youth (children and youth in the Lansing School District

3) Transportation (focusing on better coordination between the public transit systems for those dependent on public tranportation for health care and employment)

We are requesting only your presence and support at this event unless you are interested in further involvement. Thanks!

Sponsoring Congregations: Asbury UMC, Central UMC, First Presbyterian, Judson Memorial Baptist, New Mount Calvary Baptist, Pilgrim Congregational UCC, Redeemer Lutheran, Trinity AME, Union Missionary Baptist, Westminster Presbyterian.

Among Friends

Thank You…

Thank you to my Central friends for their calls, cards, visits, and especially their prayers. I very much appreciated Rev. McReynolds being at the hospital the day of surgery. I shall hope to be back to Central soon.

Betty Corbishley

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and cards during my extended hospitalization and recovery last fall and winter. I know they helped to keep me alive with a lot of help from Our Lord. I am doing well now even though I have some "down times." So, I am asking for your continued prayers. Thank you so much for all you have done for me. In Christian Love,

Linda L. Bates

Remember…At press time:

Betty Corbishley – Home

Ruth Norton – St. Joseph's hospital in Ann Arbor

Mary Jessup – Home

Harriet Tuttle (Carolyn Kirkby's mother) -

Assisted living at Grand Haven Manor

Ken Lamphere – Cleveland Clinic

Transitions...

Clela Ruth Adams passed away October. A memorial service as held October 29.

Congratulations...

Pam Abbey & Jeff Roth were married October 19.

Georgia Mead recently received the Distinguished

Service Award by the Ingham Area Chapter of the Michigan Association of Retired School

Personnel.

Through the teaching, support, sacrifice, worship and commitment of the church, utterly ordinary people are enabled to do some rather extraordinary, even heroic acts, not on the basis of their own gifts and abilities, but rather by having a community capable of sustaining Christian virtue. The church enables us to be better people than we could have been if left to our own devices,

—Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon in Resident Aliens; Life in the Christian Colony
Elderberrys sail away
Francis Anderson

Our older adult ministries program invites you to the next session of the Elderberrys:

Tuesday, November 12, 10:30 a.m. in the Church Dining Room.

Charlie and Pamala Jennett, members of Central, have a sailing vessel in which they have toured some of the Great Lakes Region. We will see pictures of their travels and descriptions of times on the waters.

Reservations by sign-ups in Fellowship Hall. Our parking will be as before, by the courtesy of First Presbyterian Church in their lot. Our van will serve as a shuttle. Plan to come and enjoy the fellowship. Luncheon is $2.00.
Committee on Lay Leadership invites you to consider your stewardship

Charge Conference coming up December 3

Greetings and Blessing from your Committee on Lay Leadership. We want to remind you that we are in the midst of addressing the leadership needs for the upcoming year.

We hope to have opportunities for service on the Board of Trustees, the Finance Committee, the Staff-Relations Committee, the Committee on Lay Leadership, and some Chairperson positions filled by the time we gather for Charge Conference on December 3rd. Other committee and commission vacancies will be addressed as God calls and you respond.

Please take this time for prayer and self-evaluation. We want to help you fulfill your desire to be a good steward. We want to share your passion and compassion. If you receive a call from one of us, please consider prayerfully your gifts and talents for service. If you do not hear from one of us and are feeling a call we have not acknowledged, please contact us. We desire to be in ministry with you.

With Abundant Love, David DeVinney, Dave Stinson, Ange Smeltzer, Pat Bell, Leon Martin, Joanne Harvey, Kathy Maclaren, Russ McReynolds, and Karen Holoweiko.

UMW and CUMC garage sale a success
Dottie Stark

Thanks to all for a successful sale October 4 and 5. We earned a total profit of $645.92. Designated items brought in $100 for the church and UMW earned $545.92 toward their mission work.

The garage sale was an opportunity to earn money but it was also a service to several of our church members who are trying to down-size their living areas or are concerned about unnecessarily adding more to the landfill.

In addition to benefiting our members, we found new homes for kitchen appliances, good clothing, garden equipment, craft items, toys, etc., at a price not matched in the most inexpensive local store. We are trying to be good stewards in God's Kingdom!

Thanks to the following helpers that made this sale possible and worked with us at our home:

Joe O'Shea, Justin Sleight, Dave Jessup, Dave DeVinney, Norma Hanson, Ruth Perry, Mary Nesman, Arline Roe, Beth Murley, Annette Voorhis, Carolyn Schuurmans, Don Pickard, Jon Reynolds, Earl Shirtum, Joyce Joranko, Audrey Holly, Dorothy Forgrave, Marge Sleight, Frank Anderson and Jim Stark.
We are compelled to live in a Christ like manner with those who do not believe, just as Paul and the early missionaries lived among people whose customs and beliefs were very different from their own. Respectful of differences, we strive, not to make others just like us, but to make ourselves like Christ.

-Melissa A. Hall in These Days
We need a cheerleader for Habitat!
Carolyn Schuurmans

After Pat Bell spent a day as crew chief at the Habitat House that the members of Central are helping to build on South Fairview, she said we need more enthusiasm about this project. Our neighbor's, St. Paul's, St. Mary's, Grace Lutheran and First Presbyterian have a lot of people working on the house.

You can join a crew from 8 a.m.- noon or 1- 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, or 1- 4 p.m. on a Sunday.

Bob Pena works every Sunday as crew chief. Bob Wangen enjoys working in high places and helped put the roof on. Murray Brown had fun helping put up a shed. Mary Boudreau will be crew chief for the "chick builds" the first Friday of the month from 6 – 9 p.m.

November 1 is the next work session. Leora Stutes and David McReynolds plan to work, and a number of women will take lunches over to the site.

Talk to Carolyn Schuurmans during Fellowship Hour or call 321-0569 if you want to help.

Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat, spoke in Lansing recently. He is a good cheerleader! He was pleased that former President Jimmy Carter had received the Nobel Peace price.

Carter had done so much with Habitat that people think he started it. Mr. Fuller said, "It is God's work, and a blessing to anyone who helps build a house."
Yard-care thanks
Dottie Stark

The summer season is giving way to fall and then winter with our church yard preparing for the winter rest as well as the workers preparing for rest! Many have said thank you for the work done. Perhaps you would express your appreciation to the persons responsible:

Loretta Marvin, Dottie Stark, Mary Boudreau, Sue Grettenberger, Donna and Jon Reynolds, Bryan Halter, Annette Voorhis, Jan Keen, Larry and Jean Beckon, Clyde Maas, David DeVinney, Tom and Claudia McLellan and Tom Towsley.
JONATHAN STARS stars November 17
Carolyn Schuurmans

Jonathan Stars is appearing in a benefit performance for our Habitat House.

Stars will perform a music and comedy show that will be fun for the whole family, Sunday, November 17, 4 – 5 p.m. in Molly Grove Chapel at First Presbyterian Church. (Entrance off parking lot behind the church).

Donation checks can be made out to Habitat for Humanity.

Refreshments will follow with an opportunity to visit with our neighbors who are also working on the house.

You may have seen Jonathan perform in some of the Civic Player's performances, using his other name, Mitchal Stutes, Leora's famous son.
50 YEAR MEMBERS
ByNancy O'Shea

Charles and Mary Jacobs met in the singles group in the earlier years of Central’s history. Charles came to Lansing and enrolled at Walter French Junior High School and later graduated from Lansing Eastern High School. Little did he know that his participation in the events at Central at that time would connect him with his partner for life – Mary. This couple was married at Central in 1948.

Mary had moved from Kentucky to Lansing where she landed a job in 1945 as the MSU Library Cataloger. Books, books, and more books! Charles and Mary were asked by Dr. Coors to catalog books and start Central’s first library. (See related story.)

More books! Charles opened a book store – with a lunch counter – where he employed 12 part-time students to help him in the sale of textbooks to Sexton and Eastern High Schools. Charles tells the story of a young man who called the store at 3 a.m. Charles was sleeping in his apartment above the store and decided to answer the ring of the persistent caller. It was a young man who had run out of ink and needed a refill to finish writing a report due that day. Reluctantly, yet with understanding, he opened the store to sell a pen refill to the student.

Charles and his parents always sat in the same section of the sanctuary where he ushers today. When Charles became a member in 1938, he was quickly recruited to become an usher. Ushers at that time had to wear a black or navy suit, have a handkerchief in their jacket pocket, and wear a fresh flower on the lapel. In fact, Charles' father, purchased boutonnieres for 18 ushers each week with his own funds. Believe it or not, Charles says there were about 2100 people in the congregation on an Easter Sunday in the early years of his ushering days!

One Sunday when ushering, Charles was taking a lady to her seat. He got to her designated seat, turned around, and discovered the lady still standing...still...in the aisle behind him. He walked back to discover that the heel of her shoe had become caught in the heat vent in the floor and she couldn't move.

Charles and Mary remember:

Rules of the Temple House: no smoking, no drinking, and no dancing.

Stationary theatre seating (but not padded) on the main floor of the Auditorium (Fellowship Hall).

The Dramatic Society which held competitions and book reviews.

The gymnasium was rented for basketball and for roller skating.

Many gatherings for scouting programs in the auditorium.

Sunday School Character Research Project (CRP) had so many students that Central rented space on  Sunday morning from Lansing Business University (now Davenport College) across the street.

The Trustees gave serious consideration to an addition to the church, but it was voted down because those with foresight said the church had reached its peak.

Sunday night services held in the library.

Sunday School was held in the library and in the chapel.

Ladies of the church had a large sewing group and put on luncheons.

Central's library begins

In the late 1940s, at the suggestion of Dr. Coors (Pastor of Central and later Bishop), a group of single young people was organized and met Sunday evenings in the second floor lounge of the Temple House. The group consisted of single, young working people. They were not necessarily all Central members. The average attendance was 20 or 25 persons. A program with a guest speaker, followed by social time and refreshments was the usual agenda.

This group took on various projects. One such project was collecting, packing and shipping packages of clothing to families in Greece; the names and addresses were supplied by an organization called C.A.R.E.

At one meeting, Dr. Coors informed the group that he had books he would like to donate for the beginning of a church library. He suggested that starting a library would be a good project for this group because two members were professional librarians: Mary Jacobs and Doris Cairns, at M.S.U. Library and Lansing City Library, respectively.

It was agreed by the group to take on this project, and the space was assigned in what was known as the mimeograph room (later Judy Grove’s Education office). Under the direction of the two librarians, some members came in early Sunday mornings and occasionally evenings to get the project started. Church members began donating books and L. P. record albums. (The L. P.’s were then replacing 78’s--long before the time of C. D.’s)!

The Goodell family took over the expansion of the library as a memorial to Ralph Goodell and moved the library to its present location. Mrs. Fohl was appointed librarian, and Mary and Doris continued to work with her.

Later, due to events like the Korean War, and members taking positions in other cities, the young people’s group dissolved.
Many thanks to all who gave so generously to the Shalom Center, on Peace with Justice Sunday, October 27.

–David Mills, Russell McReynolds, Frank Joranko and Bob Roth for the Guiding Committee.

The Shalom Center is a Lansing District Ministry housed at Central.
What does the Shalom Center do?

"It is the mission of the Shalom Center to offer opportunities for education, activism, and spiritual community concerning issues of Christian conscience, in the areas of social justice, world peace, and peace within local towns and cities in the Lansing District. With special focus on District churches and their Church & Society Committees, the Shalom Center endeavors to disseminate information, call to non-violent action, provide seminars and forums, offer a speakers bureau, and facilitate activism in line with the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church and our Book of Discipline. The Shalom Center strives to work in harmony with other peace and justice groups. All to the glory of God!"
Youth News
(More details on what follows in the youth newsletter.)

November 3-BOTH GROUPS

Lunch provided at

12:15 p.m.

1:00 – 3:30 p.m.:

--Middle School: Uncle John’s Cider Mill

--Senior Highs: gym with St. Paul’s Youth

November 8-BOTH GROUPS

Overnight, 6 p.m. Friday until 9 a.m. Saturday.

“Rock-A-Thon Against Famine” (Permission

Slips will have full details and what to bring.

(No Youth Groups Nov. 10.)

November 17-BOTH GROUPS

4:00 – 5:30 p.m. Jonathan Stars Show at First

Presbyterian (with families, whole church)

5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Food Drive/ Scavenger Hunt

(note different beginning time)

November 24-BOTH GROUPS

12:15 p.m. Church-wide Potluck

1 – 3 p.m. Hanging of the Greens (youth with

parents here will stay until 4 p.m.)

December 1-BOTH GROUPS

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

--Middle School: “Lasting Faith”

--Senior High: “Teen Struggles”

Hanging Of The Greens ’02
Sunday, November 24, after Sunday School

12:15 p.m. - Church-Wide Potluck

1:00 – 4:00 p.m. - Hanging of the Greens

(More information in the church bulletins as the date approaches. Questions: speak with Denise Kelley, 484-9109)
Life is like an ice cream cone. Just when you think you've got it licked, it drips all over you.

Click here to return to previous page, or to A Central Place.