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VOL. 14, NO. 11

Funds raised for sniper victims families

GAITHERSBURG Goshen UMC church member, Gregory Wims, president and founder of the Victims Rights Foundation, announced May 6 that it has reached its goal of raising $510,000 for families of the Washington area sniper victims.

We are truly blessed, Wims told the Washington Post. With other charities like United Way having difficulties and the economy in a downturn, it was only through the blessing of God that people gave so generously.

Wims, a vice president at Sterling Construction Services, took months off from work to volunteer for the fundraising. My boss told me, There but for the grace of God go I, Wims said.

The foundation began giving checks to the sniper victims families in November. Wims meets with each family and holds prayer services.

After all the money is distributed, the families of 14 sniper victims will have received $35,000 each. Two other victims who were wounded will receive $10,000 each.

Church celebrates secretarys 50 years

ROCKVILLE Jerusalem-Mt. Pleasant UMC is learning to do without its church secretary. Jean M. Johnson retired after 50 years of volunteer service.

At a special church service in March, Ms. Jean, as church members called her, received letters of commendation from President George Bush and Laura Bush, Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr., Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, and Rockvilles mayor, Larry Giammo. County Council members Robert Dorsey and Michael L. Subin made the presentations. The church presented Johnson with an engraved silver plate.

Ms. Jean was truly a volunteer. She never received one dime for her service as church secretary, said Denise Jackson, who chaired the event. She is still very much involved in the church with other duties.

Church leaders convene in Atlanta

SCAGGSVILLE The Rev. Stephanie Vader, pastor of Emmanuel UMC, who chairs the local chapter of the national 96-year-old Methodist Federation of Social Action, returned from the national Voices of Faith conference in Atlanta at the end of April, excited about the worship experiences and the workshops she attended.

Twenty breakout sessions included topics ranging from ecological and ecumenical issues to creating community in and among marginalized people.

Vader was one of 15 or more clergy and laity from the Baltimore-Washington area who attended the conference. It wasnt just about reacting to what other people are doing in the church. It was spending time together in worship, educating ourselves, learning about issues and celebrating the great things about being United Methodist, Vader said.

Community supports church addition

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.VA. A mens group from Snyders Bible Church, a former Evangelical United Brethren Church, started the ball rolling for the new educational wing to Wesley Chapel UMC. That was nearly 10 years ago, said the Rev. James McMahon. The men provided labor for construction of the 3,000 square-foot building.

The superintendent of the Cumberland Hagerstown District, the Rev. Ken Lyons, led the dedication service April 27. The unit, named the Isabella and Carroll Young Hall, includes four Sunday school classrooms, handicapped accessible bathrooms, a multi-purpose room for church and community meetings, and a large kitchen. Much of the equipment for the kitchen came from the St. James School and the Mercersburg Academy, which donated $40,000 worth of stainless steel kitchen equipment and 400 sets of flatware.

Nearly 140 people from the community volunteered in some way to make the building a reality, McMahon said.

La Plata recovering one year later

LA PLATA On April 28, 2002, a devastating tornado nearly wiped out the town of La Plata and La Plata UMC. Winds of up to 260 mph swept through the downtown area.

This year on April 29, at 7 p.m., the hour the tornado struck, 300 church people came together under a tent in downtown La Plata in a service of remembrance, with the theme We Will Rise Again.

The service was developed by the Ecumenical/ Interfaith Community Recovery Team, a group of a dozen congregations and community organizations, organized by the Rev. Ed Voorhaar, La Plata UMCs pastor, who took advantage of the tornado to work communally on recovery issues. St. Matthews UMC in La Plata is also a member.

Voorhaar reported that the church moved back into its sanctuary last September, but the educational unit, which was nearly destroyed in the storm, is not yet ready. It is expected to be completed in the next few months.