| Local pastor makes national headlines  WASHINGTON, D.C. The United Methodist Reporter, a national newspaper, recently published a front-page story about the work of the Rev. Douglas Sands and the conference committee on drugs and violence. Sands is pastor of Simpson-Hamline UMC in Washington, D.C. The article cited Sands efforts to provide all churches in the conference with the gbwc_superuserance, materials and personal support needed to teach active nonviolence. Among the churches which have engaged in the training and nonviolence programs are Asbury-Broadneck UMC in Annapolis, which hosts the CROSS (Children Reaching Out Seeking Strength) Academy, a six-week summer program; and Simpson-Hamline UMCs Intensive Caring for Children Program. CROSS Academys founder, Peggy Johnson, sees the importance of engaging the church in the lives of children, most of who face violence daily in their lives. You know the phrase, It takes a village to raise a child? she asked. Our motto is It takes a church to raise a child. Operating room named for UM technician ANNAPOLIS An entourage of Asbury UMC members and friends attended a naming ceremony at Anne Arundel Medical Center recently. They were there with 200 other people to honor John Jacobs, 66, an operating room technician for whom the operating room is named. Jacobs retired in October from his job after 47 years of handing operating tools to surgeons on the 3 p.m. to midnight shift. Jacobs began as an orderly in 1954, dropping out of high school. He was invited to become the first person in an operating room technicians training program. He loved the work. Patients come in and they are broke, he said. They leave and theyre fixed. He retired because he could no longer stand on his feet for long surgeries, he said. He now plans to spend part of his time visiting patients at nursing homes. Church spires illuminate Baltimore BALTIMORE Approaching Baltimore, one can now see church spires lighting up the citys skyline. One of those is the spire of Old Otterbein UMC on W. Conway Street. The spires on nine churches and four historic landmarks were lighted in mid-November to mark Mayor Martin OMalleys new Inspire Baltimore initiative. The citys two most historic churches, Lovely Lane UMC and the first Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States, were not included because both are undergoing repairs. The lighting project began in East Baltimore, not far from the Dawson arson that killed seven members of the family who had fought drug dealers in their neighborhood. The city worked with contractors and the Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation to draw up a list, which eventually will include illuminating 36 churches, the Baltimore Sun reported. The city government pays for the lights, electrical contractors donated their services and each church foots the electricity bill. | 
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