News Briefs: Church stamps out its message
CHEWSVILLE ? Some churches celebrate big anniversaries with pageants, special guest speakers, parties and historical displays. Bethel UMC celebrated its 200th anniversary with a stamp cancellation.
On Aug. 6, the local post mistress, Sharon Poole, a member of Grace UMC, cancelled stamped envelopes with a specially designed cancellation stamp. 
BEULAH HARTMAN
Bethel UMC observed its
200th anniversary with
a postal cancellation
stamp.
The commemorative cancellation stamp included a silhouetted likeness of George Adam Geeting, who started the church in 1805, and Christianity?s cross and shield.
More than 200 people either purchased stamped envelopes with the cancellation, or brought their own to be cancelled.
A local artist and church member, Beulah 'Snuffy' Hartman, designed the logo and Poole sent the prototype to the Postal Service in Baltimore where the cancellation ink stamp was produced.
The church also celebrated their Heritage Day. Parishioners dressed in period clothing traveled by horse drawn carriage to the Sprecher Barn, where Bethel UMC started. After the Rev. Herbert Doggett, a former district superintendent, preached to the congregation seated on hay bales, everyone enjoyed a corn roast luncheon.
-Across the Conference is compiled
and written by Linda Worthington
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