Sports Recognition Sunday at FBC

This morning we invited the members of our Softball team to join us for worship as we recognized them and celebrated their success on and off the field. It was a nice service that included awards, special music from our praise team and the induction of two new members into our Sports Ministry Hall of Fame.

Our sports outreach ministry began in 1987 with the formation of a softball team in the Church League. Bob Duntz, George Rezendes, Marc Vaillancourt, George and Dick Strouse, Mark Damien, Adele DiBiagio and I made up the better part of that team. We won seven games and the rest is history.

In 1992 we formed a Christian Bowling League at the Norwich Ten Pin and for the next fifteen years we had a lot of fun and fellowship on Sunday nights. We had as many as ten teams in any given year and involved as many as seven churches.

In 1996 we developed our third sports outreach ministry. This time we focused on the young people and got involved with the Church Basketball League. We started with two teams and over the years we have had as many as forty five kids in the program in a given year. It was so successful at one point that we thought about starting our own league.

In 2002 we decided to recognize the men and women who really stood out in our program. We started our own Hall of Fame for the sports Ministries. That year we inducted the three obvious, most celebrated members of reach ministry and the people who initiated our participation in them. Bob Duntz was our choice for softball. He was a six time MVP of the program. Mark Damien was the one who urged us to put together our first team and he was recognized and inducted for that. Barbara Bray was a two time champion and three time top bowler and the obvious choice to represent the Bowling league in our Hall of Fame. Paul Lorraine was the man who pushed the idea and got us started. He was inducted too. Terry Dunn brought instant credibility to the basketball program and was the first one to also accept Christ. He went on to distinguish himself in High School and college. He represented the basketball ministry in that first Hall of Fame class. Cliff Vanase was the driving force behind our getting involved and he was also the first Coach.

So this is why set aside two Sundays a year to recognize the participants. One in the Summer for softball and bowling and a second in February or March for basketball. We praise God and I preach a message that includes lots of sports references. We also induct our Hall of Fame members.

Today was that day. We inducted Cameron Barnhill and Chip Chaffee into the Hall of Fame and recognized our softball team. Chip Chaffee was the MVP of the winningest team in our history. We won 17 games this year. That tied us with the 1993 team which won the league championship. Daryl Alves was the best defensive player. Sean Wilding was the Most Improved Player. George Rezendes was the 11th Player Award winner and Brian Bachman was the Rookie of the year.

Our Praise team played and really got us swaying in our seats. I captured a bit of their presentation here. Enjoy.

Cal

All time softball roster

Our softball outreach ministry is the oldest of the three sports ministries and has the best records going back to the beginning in 1987. Here are the men and women who have played on our teams and the years they played.

Chris Adams 06-09
Daryl Alves 02-05, 09
Brian Bachman 09
Doug Bartkowski 96-98, 00,07
Matt Bell 03
Tom Bell 92
Brian Bernardo 99-00
Norm Boulay 99-03
Mark Bradley 99-01
Matt Brick 99
Curt Brockway 88
Hal Brockway 92
Jeff Brockway 99, 05
Mary Brockway 88
Mal Brown 89-99
Kyle Bryson 09
Jeff Buddington 91
John Calash 98-99
Tony Calkins 93
*Chip Chaffee 04-05, 08-09
Michelle Chaffee 08
Craig Chapman 07
Dale Chenette 94
Mike Colucci 99
Tom Couture 99
Leon Dalbec 87
*Mark Damien 87, 89
Al Dart 96-99
Wendy Dart 88
Ray Dassat 99
Tony Daugherty 09
Adele DiBiagio 87
*Bill Discordia 90-94
Mark Dunaj 93-99, 01
*Bob Duntz 87-88,90-01
Kat Duntz 87,91,95,97
Ken Duntz 87
Tim Duntz 87-88
Dan Dutrumble 06-09
Kip Effman 02
Bill Ericson 92-95, 99
Carlos Estralla 01
*Mark Ferguson 99-03
Andrew Fernando 09
Joel Fishkin 97-99
Sharon Fishkin 97, 99
Steve Flanders 05
Scott Gilbert 04
Dennis Girardin 90
*Brian Gldn 94-99, 02-07,09
Jeff Goldin 07
Nick Grange 06
Fred Green Jr. 02-03
*F Green Sr 96-02, 04-07
Jeffrey Hamilton 99
Tina Harrington 97
Armin Harris 04-08
Ray Henry 07
Jeremy Hornyak 02-03
Daryl Jackson 90
Bill Jay 94
Victor Jiminez 88-91
Justin Kazarian 07
Mike Keithley 89-92
Jeff Kirkland 96
Ken Kreger 95-09
Tom Lacey 04
Glenn Lamb 99
Wayne LaMothe 00-03
Chris Lavallee 06-07
Mike Lavallee 92-95
Eric Larsen 08-09
Bryan Lawson 92
Krystal LeBlanc 05
Chris Lonergan 04
Joe Lopez 05-06
Bryan Lord 96
*Cal Lord 87-00, 05-09
Jason Mandeville 04-09
Ken Marsden 00 - 04
Roland Martinez 99
Kayla McCullough 08
Tim McCullough 08
Ray Meier 96
Lee McFalls 91-96, 99
Dave Mehlinger 03-06
*Andy Miller 97-99
Dave Moon 04-05
Steve Moon 02-09
Rich Morgan 07
Mike Muyres 92
Jeff Nguyen 93-94
Rich Ozga 99-01
Steve Parker 87
Nelson Petrone 99
Ted Phillips 95-97
Pete Piaczic 99
Corey Poore 87-91
Dave Poore 89-91, 08
*Eric Poore 87-92, 08-09
Rob Porter 88
Scott Rapoza 98-03
Gary Reeves 91
Rob Renaud 92
Amy Rezendes 87,89
Casey Rezendes 02-07
*G Rzndes 87-99, 04-09
Christian Rice 00
Greig Rosano 87
Andy Royce 97-98
Bruce Royce 88-92
Curtis Royce 96-03
*Dv Royce 88-95,97-98
Frank Royce 97
Tim Ryan 97
Edgar Santana 06
John Saparita 01
Jake Shank 08-09
Bill Shick 93-96
Ken Sherwood 88
Tim Skorinski 04
Matt Smith 09
Mike Spicer 93
Mark Staron 99-03, 08-09
*Mike Staron 92-05, 08-09
Bruce Startz 92-97
Fred Stone 99-05, 07-09
Chris Stroud 90
Dick Strouse 88
George Strouse 87-90
Jim Strouse 89
C Swartzlander 92
Gary Teczar 87-94
Don Terry 99
Jason Tinelle 04
Chris Vaillcrt 07- 09
*Marc Vaillcrt 87-99
Mike Waggoner 92
Corey Watford 01
Chris Wilczek 06
Sean Wilding 08-09
John Wisehart 06-07
Mike Young 08-09
* denotes Hall of Famer for Softball

Our bowlers

Our Bowling League began in 1992 and ran through the summer of 2007. The idea for it came from Paul Lorraine who suggested we try to fill the bowling alley on Sunday nights with folks from local churches. For several years it was a great way for couples in our congregation to get out and have fun. A few years ago we opened it up to the community again and we have up to six different churches represented.

Here is the list of participants in our bowling league over the years. Hall of famers have an asterisk next to their names.

Amelia Adams, Heidi Adams, Daryl Alves, Tony Antonino, Gary Arzamarski, Karen Barber, Matt & Nancy Bell, Natasha Charles Bonaparte, *Barbara & Oliver Bray, Matt Brick, Amy Brockway, Jeff Brockway, Curt & Mary Brockway, Amanda Calkins, *Bob & Lucy Calkins, Carol Calkins, *Harry Calkins, Sandy Callendar, Frank & Susan Chaluto, Ken Chapman, Fred & Debbie Church, Maureen Couture, Chris Creamer, *Adele DiBiagio Cofer, Steve Contois, A. J. Dart, Al Dart Wendy Dart, June Deptulski, Kristen Deptulski, Petra Dickson, Cheryl & Mark Dunaj, Beverly Duntz, Bob Duntz, Kathy Duntz, Ken Duntz, Tim Duntz, Zelda Earle, Bill & Jennifer Ericson, Melanie Ericson, Celeste Lavallee Etlinger, Linda Evans, Brian Fage, Bruce Fellows, Joel & *Sharon Fishkin, Carol Foster, Pam Fraser, Gayl Fullerton, Dennis & *Nancy Girardin, Brian Goldin, Fred Green Jr., Gwyn & Fred Green Sr., Stacia Green, Amber Grillo, Rosemary &Terry Hanrahan, Trisha Hanrahan, Jeremy Hornyak, Brian & Laura Howe, Kathy &, Dan Hundley, Pete Ingoglia, Bill Jackson, Bill Jackson Jr., Jane Jackson, Mary Jane Jackson, Sarah Kallen, Lisa Kenny, John Kozak, Ken & Laura Kreger, Grace Latham, Kay Lautzenheiser, Cal & *Lori Lord, *Paul Lorraine, Susan Lupienski, Joe Madore, Jamie Madore, Paul Mager, Les & Rosie Main, Melinda Maynard, Andy Michaud, Reo Michaud, Andy & Nancy Miller, Joe & Lora Mineau, Jane Morris, Cindy Morse, Wayne Morse Sr., Wayne Morse Jr., Regina Grillo Mynes, Diane Nesselrode, Vickki Page, Albert & April Phillips, Mark Pilletere, Eileen Potter, Jeff Provost, Ed Quinlan, Scot Rapoza, Don & Sharon Rapuano, *Amy Rezendes, April Rezendes, Casey Rezendes, George Rezendes, Fran & Mark Rogers, James & Polly Rolfe, Dasa Rosaker, John Ross, Dawn Rowe, Dave Royce, Frank Royce, Debbie Muyres Sandherr, Nancy Schuster, Bill Shaw, Chris Shaw, Michael Shaw, Bill Sheehan, Laura Sheldon, Don Shogren, Leanne Shogren, Les Shull, Kathy Smith, Dave Squires, Fred & Sandy Stone, Carrie Thompson, Mariah Thomson, Carrie Thompson, Stephanie Thompson, Cliff Vanase, Michelle Vaswani, Nick Vaswani, Betsey Ward, Ron Watson, Chip & Connor Welch, Will Willey

Our ministry to kids

I've been working on the September newsletter as well as preparing for our big service on Sunday. We will be recognizing our Sports Outreach Ministry and the participants of our softball team. We will also be honoring Chip Chaffee and Cameron Barnhill by inducting them into our Sports Ministry Hall of Fame.

In doing the background stuff to get ready for the service, I found a pretty complete list of all the participants in our softball program and the church bowling league. The one thing I had never done was put together a list of all the kids who have played in our basketball program. So I decided to do that tonight. I was pretty amazed at what I came up with before I was done. I remember so many of the kids and find it hard to believe that a good number of them have graduated and gone on to do great things with their lives.

Some of them bring tears to my eyes. Keith Heidtman died over in Iraq. Cole Chappelle and Eleazar Brayboy are in jail. I am so proud of Allison Walberg, Malik Champlain, Bethany Brown and Becky Lord who went into teaching. Several of the kids played ball in high school and did quite well. They include Daryl Alves, Ryan Jaziri, Malik Champlain, Terry Dunn and Wesley Murphy.

WE did a good thing when we started this basketball program and I believe we made a difference inn the lives of some of the kids. I hear from Jason Lavallee through Facebook and he is sold out for Christ. I like to think we planted a few seeds in his life.

Anyway here is the full list of all those who have participated in our basketball program and the men and women who coached them.

Basketball 1996 - 2009

Adam Allard, *Daryl Alves, Mike Alves, Douglas Babbitt, Raffy Baez, Dane Baird, *Cameron Barnhill, Jervis Bell, Brandon Bessette, JJ Biro, Justin Bohara, Joey Brachas, Eleazar Brayboy, *Amanda Brown, Bethany Brown, Chris Brown, Greg Brown, Tyrone Brown, Isam Bryant, Hassan Carney, Jean Celestin, Taylor Chaffee, Malik Champlain, *Shareef Champlain, Tecumseh Champlain, Cole Chappelle, Shawn Clang, Nick Clemons, Jaquim Cook, Henry Cordero, John Daly, Isham DeJesus, D J Depinci, Clodee Deshardouin, Buddy Dewaine, Marques Dorn, Adrian DosSantos, Devin Douglas, Dayna Drain, Paul Dreyer, Scott Dryer, Jeff Dugan, Ryan Dugan, *Terry Dunn, Mike Duntz, Irving Eggleston, Brian Emery, Carlos Esbri, Chad Estabrooks, Greg Estabrooks, Khaleed Exum, Matt Feraco, Darryl Ferguson, Tishawn Flanders, Marcus Fowler, *Ben Fuller, Ronald Floyd, Ben Galligan, Nick Giroux, Ben Golart, Chantalle Goodwater, Isaac Goodwater, A. J. Gomes, Ahmond Gomes, C J Gray, Richie Gray, Fred Green Jr., Jack Greenwood, Isiah Griffin, Brandon Haas, Victor Hall, Avery Hargrove, Craig Hauser, Keith Heidtman, DaRon Henry, Rondell Henry, Elvis Hernandez, George Hernandez, Jamar Howard, Jordan Hyde, Max Ingalls, Charlie Jarmon, Ryan Jaziri, Philip Jenks, *Joe Jensen, John John, Chris Johnson, Devon Johnson, Dorian Johnson, Troy Johnson, JJ Jones, Nico Jones, James Kantzios, James Kelly, Stephen Lampkin, Chris Larsen, Miles Laureano, Jason Lavallee, Joe LeBard, Austin Lee, Frankie Lee, *Jeremiah Lee, Eugene Lewis, Steven Loiler, Mike Lopes, John Lopresti Jr., Rebecca Lord, Sarah Lord, Ryan Lusk, Ryan Maddox, Donovan Matthews, Emily McFalls, Daniel Melendez, Desmond Miller, Izack Miller, Pete Mitev, Brandon Moffitt, Dylan Morris, Scott Morse, Jaquan Morton, David Murphy, *Wesley Murphy, Nicholas Muyres, Jim Nesselrode, Mitch Nesselrode, Andre Nicholas, Jordon Nicholas, Kaitlyn Niles, Chris Nott, Cebria Outlow, Marcus Outlow, Ross Page, Adam Paradis, Jahmaal Perez, Shawn Poirier, Igor Pontes, Joel Powell, Dane Proffitt, Steve Renzoni, Casey Rezendes, Danny Rivera, Edwin Rivera, Ibo Rivera, Brandon Robertson, Brent Robinson, Keith Robinson, Barbara Ruggs, Indio Sanchez, Julian Sanchez, Louis Sanchez, Ulyssa Sanchez, Christina Santana, Bill Seddon, Victor Sevilla, Isiah Smith, Jordan Souvenance, Bethany Stone, Deshaun Stonick, James Strick, Dwayne Sutton, Archeley Sylpha, Robert Thomas, Davon Thompson, Dashawn Thompson, Nick Thompson, Josh Tiller, Adam Tinsley, Joey Troniar, Jaquan Tucher, Jonathan Vanase, Zack Verley, Jason Volpe, Jordan Volpe, Allison Walberg, Dominic Walmsley, Kyle Walton, Michael Wanico, Tim Weidlich, Kyle White, Shane Wilcox, Ramel Williams, Mike Witherspoon, Isaac Yates, Josh Zinewicz

Coaches: Jack Thompson, Jim Estabrooks, *Cliff Vanase, Scot Rapoza, Joe Biro, Leslie Champlain, *Don Fuller, *Andy Miller, *Fred Green, *Bob Duntz, George Strouse, *Mark Ferguson, *James Brown, Julio Sanchez, Leonard Miller, Thomas Outlow

Gearing up for Sunday School

Our Sunday School opens on Sunday, September 13th. We met a few weeks ago and laid out plans for Rally Day. We also made sure that all the classes had teachers and had chosen the materials they wanted to use.

Rosie Main is going to teach the nursery class again with help from Sandra Lucien and a few of the other moms.

Rachelle Weimer, Janet LaFlamme and Zelda Earle will back and teaching our K - 2 class.

Pam Kane and Kelly Bolin will take over Dot Calkins' class this year which includes those in grades 3 -5. We will miss Dot and her able helper, Laura Kreger. THe kis loved them both.

I'll have the Junior/ Senior High Class.

Curt Brockway will be teaching the adult class.

Sandy Stone ordered all the materials this week and they arrived at the church today. The only class missing was mine. I couldn't settle on what I wanted to use for material.

It's a tough age to find material for because the kids don't want to sit and listen to me lecture them on the Bible. Most of the kids have spent years in Sunday School and they know the basics. They also are technically savvy. They live in a world with DVD's, ipods, computers and so much more.

Last year I used a combination of games, Bible studies and some old video resources that I had from past years. Bluefish tv does a great job with the video Bible studies and tonight I went online to see what they had new for 2009/2010. I was impressed with what I found. So I placed my order. I think this will engage the kids and get them thinking. There is a combination of Biblical materials and some issue related studies. Here is a sampler of one of the studies they provide. Let me know what you think.

Cal

A hot time at church

We had a great day at church. It was hot and humid but we had every fan up and running. Fred Green welcomed everyone as our worship assistant and we sang "Lead on O King Eternal" to open the service. I told everyone that they were free to move closer to one of the fans so they could be comfortable during the service but that didn't matter once Cliff Vanase began singing the blues.

Cliff worked with the Praise team to polish up two songs he had been working on "A Change is Gonna' Come" and "Guess Who." With his electric guitar, his sunglasses and fedora, Cliff sang about the change Jesus can make in someone's life.

After Cliff finished singing I felt called to change the order of service and jump right into the sermon. The message was about Joshua and his call for the people get off the fence and make a decision. The point was that we needed to do the same thing. We needed to decide if we were going to follow Jesus and then do it.

We closed off the service by singing the chorus "Into my heart."

I captured Cliff's second song, "Guess Who" on video. Enjoy.

Cal

Our area for ministry

I just got home from a visit to Steve and Patricia Ohlund's house. It was a nice night for a ride in the country and Lebanon was the place to go. Earlier this week I stopped in to visit Matthew and Elizabeth Isenburg. They live in Hadlyme.

I remember Doris Royce telling me that most of the families that came to First Baptist when she was growing up lived in the neighborhood. Times have changed. today there are only five families that live in the immediate vicinity of the church. June and Fred Coleman, Yolanda Charles and Tag and Joy Griffin and the boys all live behind the church within a quarter mile. Kathy Marino, Muriel and Frank Roderick live across the street in the senior housing.

Just for the fun of it I went town by town and listed the number of families in each area town. There are 54 families that live in Norwich and40 that live outside of town. Here is the breakdown.

Norwich 54

Baltic 1
Bozrah 3
Colchester 1
Dayville 1
East Lyme 1
Gales Ferry 1
Griswold 4
Hadlyme 1
Jewett City 2
Lebanon 2
Ledyard 1
Lisbon 1
Montville 1
Moosup 1
Mystic 1
North Franklin 1
Oakdale 1
Plainfield 1
Preston 5
Quaker Hill 1
Salem 2
South Windham 1
Sterling 1
Suffield 1
Taftville 1
Uncasville 2
Waterford 1

Cal

Mid week prayer

It's Wednesday and time for our on-line prayer meeting.

We lift up Nancy Schuster's mom in or prayers. We also lift up Michelle Lord and Barbara Mathre in prayer.

Both Matthew and Elizabeth Isenburg are scheduled for tests in the coming eeks for separate issues. Think of them both.

Lift up Luis Pabon in prayer as he considers whether he to have surgery or not.

Think of Al Damien in prayer.

Think of Jennifer Laflamme in your prayers too.

Remember Jean Roscoe and Doris Adams in your prayers.

Finally let's pray that our elected officials in Connecticut put aside politics and find a way to come up with a budget.

Cal

The legacy of faith from one family at church

I stole this picture from one of the kid's facebook photo album for those of you at church who might enjoy this photo. It is a great picture of the Royce grandchildren.

Doris and Leonard Royce grew up in the church and served it their whole lives. You might say that they ran the church because they were involved in so many areas of church life. From Sunday School, to the choir, to the finances and Pulpit committees, Len and Doris gave their time and energy to support our ministry. We recently dedicated the grand piano in the sanctuary in their memory.

They had four children: Bonnie Koch, Frank Royce, Cynthia Strouse and David Royce. All four of them grew up in the church and today Frank and Cynthia live close by and are very active members. Kate and Ben Strouse and Curtis and Lauren Royce were active in Sunday School and youth group. The others have all been regular visitors over the years. I feel blessed to have gotten to know them in my time as Pastor here.

Today all the kids are adults and they are all great people that you'd love to call your friends. I believe it is a tribute to the their parents and grandparents who have served and loved God and given them a firm foundation to build a life on.

Cal

The Interfaith Luncheon

It was the third Sunday of the month and we were at St. Mark's Lutheran Church serving lunch this week. Sue Ferguson cooked up some vegetable lasagna for the folks and we added salad and dessert to make a nice lunch for a hot day. We had about 65 people in attendance for lunch and for the first time in several months we didn't have a lot of extra food left over. Everyone got a generous portion and had cookies and chocolate pudding for dessert.

Muriel Roderick and Shirley helped out in the kitchen and Amanda Duntz and I served in the dining room. There is always room for more volunteers to come out and help. Drop in if you are free on any given month. The cooks usually get there by 11:30 a.m. or noon and the rest of the crew usually comes in by 12:30 p.m. to set up tables and get everything ready to serve. f there are a lot of people, we usually have some time to sit and chat. At 1:30 p.m. we invite everyone in and at 2:00 p.m. we begin by greeting the guests and offering up a prayer. By 2:30 p.m. everything has been served and seconds offered. Around 2:45 p.m. we begin cleaning up. We finished up about 3:20 p.m. this week but with a couple more people we usually are out of there shortly after 3:00 p.m.

It is a great ministry. My heart was touched this week when one of the woman called me aside and thanked me. Last month she had asked for prayers for her mother who was having surgery. This month she was so excited to tell me everything went well. Although we don't push our faith on the folks, they know why we are there and what we are doing. One other young woman took me aside and told me that quite a few of the folks were upset and dealing with two recent deaths in the community. I was able to make reference to it in my prayer and she thanked me afterwards.

This ministry started off as one that fed the hungry but it has become an extension of our ministry in ways we never imagined. As we get to know some of the people, we have had the opportunity to pray with them and meet their needs. Who knows? Some of them may even begin worshiping with us down the road. The best part of it all is that we can feel the hand of God on our shoulders as we minister to "the least of these."


Cal

On Sunday morning we talked about Solomon and his response to God's offer to give him whatever he wanted. Solomon, a worshiping man, asked God for wisdom so he could rule well and please God. During the sermon I went on to say that God will always honor our requests when we are trying to do his will.

We had some special guests with us on Sunday. Amy Rezendes was there with her grandson, Benjamin. He was very good for Amy and Rosie during the service.

My good friends Mike and Kim Slomianyj were with us as well. They brought their youngest son, Harrison along with them. I was blessed to marry them here in our church in October of 1985. We lifted up Kim in the family in our prayers. Her dad died this week and they were up for the service.

Muriel Roderick shared a word with the children and talked about books.It fit right in with the Pastor's message. She noted that the Bible is a good book to read and learn about God and his plan for our lives.

Lori, Sarah and Rachel Lord offered special music for the service as well. It was nice to hear them sing together. Sarah returned home from her three week course in South Africa last Monday.


Next Sunday we will enjoy some more special music as Cliff Vanase joins the Praise Team for a song he sings.

Every Sunday brings new fun as we worship together at FBC.

Cal

A wedding reception that looks a little like church

Every once in a while there is a wedding at church where several families are connected and attend. It becomes a church event. George and Mary Ann Rezendes' wedding was like that. The reception was on a harbor cruise in Newport. Check out these pics.

Cal

George & Mary Ann Rezendes

April is enjoying herself.

Cal & Lori Lord

Best Man Timothy offers the toast!

Curt & Mary Brockway

Cliff & Sue Vanase

Gwyn & Fred Green

Harts & Adele Cofer

Steve & Patricia Ohlund

Rosie Main

Sandy & Fred Stone

Cynthia & Dick Strouse

George and Mary Ann's Wedding

George Rezendes and Mary Ann McComiskey were married on Saturday at the Coast Guard Academy in New London. Timothy Rezendes stood up for his dad as the best man and Shannon McComiskey served as her mom's maid of honor. April and Karin Rezendes served as bride's maids and Casey Rezendes and Chris McComisky served as ushers. It was truly a family affair. Even George's grandson, Benjamin Rezendes, had a role. He was the honorary ring bearer.

George asked Lori Lord if she would sing at the wedding and she begged off at first and then decided to make it a "family" event. Lori, Sarah and Rachel sang "The Gift of Love" and Adele DiBiagio played the piano for them. Becky joined in by playing the obe with the group.

Just prior to the actual beginning of the service George's mother and Mary Ann's uncle represented the families by lighting the candles as a prelude for the unity service.

After the service the congregation headed to Newport for a harbor cruise. It was a beautiful day and a lovely evening for George and Mary Ann as they began their life together.

These last two summers have been very special as several members of our church family have exchanged or renewed their vows. I think weddings are the best part of the ministry we have. A lot of people like to talk about the divorce rate. The truth is that people are still getting married. They believe in the promise of love and fathfulness. This is something the church has to offer and we should celebrate it because we invite God to be part of people's lives in this special celebration.

Cal

P.S. Next up are the wedding of Stacia Green and Nick Grange and the renewal of vows for Zelda and Bruce Earle.

Together at a wedding rehearsal

On Friday night I had the joy of conducting the wedding rehearsal for George Rezendes and Mary Ann McComiskey. The wedding was scheduled for the next day at the U. S. Coast Guard Academy and we went over everything from where the folks were going to stand to how the service was going to flow. The Academy Chapel has a beautiful sanctuary. It was my first service there.

Wedding rehearsals are pretty standard once you've done a few. I've done over a hundred weddings in my twenty five years in ministry. The first wedding was for a couple in their late twenties while I was serving the Cross Mills Baptist Church in Charlestown Rhode Island. It was a small wedding in the church and the rehearsal went very well. The wedding party consisted of the couple and their best man and maid of honor. The wedding itself was small because both of them had been married before. They wanted to do something quietly with only a few friends and neighbors.

I sometimes tell the story of how the service from start to finish lasted only 11 or twelve minutes. And Lori sang. They gave me $50 and I felt guilty about it.

Wedding rehearsals are really about getting everyone together so that they can get acquainted with the place and have some idea of what is going to happen. I run my rehearsals from the inside out.

We put everyone in place so they will know where they are going to stand for the twenty-five minutes or so that the wedding in going on. (I preach a little bit more now a days.) Then we practice marching out to the recessional music. When everyone is out in the front hall, we line them up and let them march back down to their spots. It is pretty straight forward.

I sit everybody down then and walk through the service itself explaining the legal, traditional and religious parts. I have my little spiel and filter in humor and a few good stories. It puts everybody at ease and gets them ready for the wedding.

I don't usually go to the rehearsal dinners unless it's a good friend. On Friday night George qualified. Lori and the girls joined us as we went to the Seaman's Inn to spend a nice night together. Our kids grew up with George's kids. The Rezendes family moved to Norwich shortly after we arrived. Next thing you know they showed up at church. George's kids and our kids grew up together. On Friday night the kids were together again and we had a great time.

Life has changed for all of us since we first met. The kids are mostly grown up. Timothy is married and has a son of his own. April is living in Boston. Becky is living in New York. Casey lives in Maryland and Sarah will be graduating from college this fall/ Even the baby, Rachel, has turned into a lovely young woman. Now George is starting a new chapter in his life. I don't know what the future will bring but Friday night was a glorious celebration of family. It was one of the reasons I thank God every day for his call to serve.

Here are some photos from that wedding rehearsal.

Cal

Our Property Committee's work is never done

A couple of weeks ago a group of guys came down to tackle a leaky roof at church. We rented a sixty foot boom and Randy Sargent and Dave Poore went up to replace some shingles. A leak had develop that was running down inside the chapel area. Several shingles had come loose and the pitch of the roof made it hard to climb up there and the scope of the job meant no roofer really wanted to do the job.

Mark Rogers orchestrated the events through the property committee and they got the job done. While up there they also rehung a few gutters and some other minor repairs. We have a very active Property Committee and they have done a number of projects over the last few years. That is par for the course with a building that is going on 130 years old. Our Church was built between 1880 - 1882 and was dedicated in 1883.

The last major project we worked on at church was done in 2003. We did some work in the sanctuary replacing the tiles floor and touching up the ceiling where it had begun to peel. Greg Maxim did the floor and we raised the money by having people buy tiles at $125 each. Ray O'Connell did the paining and we had the job done for just under $2,000.

In order to do the work we took out all the pews and it was quite a sight. Pews filled one of the chapel, the parlor and we even took a few downstairs where we worshipped that summer.

We have set our sights on renovating the church kitchen next. Our hope is that we might be able to do it some time in 2010.

Cal

Online prayer meeting

It's Wednesday and time for our on-line prayer meeting.

I heard from Melinda Maynard tonight. She had surgery and the doctors were very pleased with the results. They were able to remove all cancer or pre-cancerous cells. Melinda also called to say that she was moving to South Carolina. She was heading down this week and hope to put a down payment on a home. More details will follow. Think of her in prayer.

Al Damien was in the Backus Hospital this week. The doctors are doing more tests. Think of him.

Bruce Sullivan was in an accident over the weekend and had to have emergency surgery. Bruce is the son of Bill and Joyce Sullivan, long time members of First Congregational Church.

Think of Jennifer Laflamme in your prayers. She has had a tough summer fighting infections.

Lift up Barbara Macht Mathre in prayer. Barbara grew up in our church and is living in California now. She is having some health concerns.

Remember Jean Roscoe, Michelle Lord and Doris Adams in your prayers.

Ask God's blessing on with George Rezendes and Mary Ann McComskey as they exchange their wedding vows this weekend.

Finally let's pray that our elected officials in Connecticut put aside politics and find a way to come up with a budget.

Cal

AmeriCares was a blessing

It's amazing what you find when you are cleaning. You realize how quickly time flies when you are weeding out old files. For example I realized it was ten years ago that the Americares Free clinic was housed here at First Baptist. Beginning in June of 1999 a large mobile bus would pull into our driveway and see patients who were uninsured.

A nurse would screen patients and then either send them to a doctor or to a social worker. The nurse would also begin the discussion on possible referrals and follow up visits that might be needed.

A social worker was here to hook them up if they were eligible for medical services through state or national programs. Several kids were enrolled in the Husky program through this effort. It was a great ministry to the working poor in our community. Every Thursday our chapel area was filled with people waiting to see the doctor. Two of the volunteer physicians were Dr. P J Costa and Dr. Ben Hong.

In the first eighteen months of the program there were 1510 visits representing 523 different patients. These numbers don't include those who were referred to other programs and enrolled in Husky and other government sponsored plans.

The AmeriCare Van was here for three years. Funding for the program began to lag behind and in August of 2002 the Van made its last visit here. It was a sad day when they pulled up their stakes and left. Fortunately Backus Hospital and a few other independant programs stepped uyp to fill some of the void left by their departure.

When I think of AmeriCares I can't help but be proud of our folks who shared a valuable resource, our building, to make such a ministry possible. It is one of the reasons why so many in our community think of us a community minded congregation.

Cal

ABCCONN House has moved

The ABCCONN House has moved.

As of June 30, 2009 the new address is :
ABCCONN
90A North Main Street
West Hartford, CT 06107-1924

The phone number will be 860-521-5421

You can check out the web page at abcconn.org and find out all the latest happenings in our wider Baptist family.

ABCCONN stands for American Baptist Churches of Connecticut. That is the regional Baptist organization that we belong to. In Baptist polity it is the local church that has the authority to do mission in each community. There is no outside governance other than that of the Holy Spirit. Yet we come together with other congregations to join forces to do more than any one congregation can do alone.

Historically for Baptists this meant sending missionaries into the world both overseas and across America. We formed Associations (SUNL), regions ABCCONN, and denominations (ABCUSA). These organizations provide the network that allows us to fulfill the great commission and reach out with the Gospel to the whole world.

Congregational autonomy is a big part of our history. That means that the Moderator of the Association, the Executive Minister of the Region or the General Secretary of the denomination cannot tell the congregation what to believe or how to answer God's call. Yet in the spirit of cooperation and discernment many of our congregations have worked cooperatively within these associations to get things done.

Camp Wightman, Pierce Baptist Home, Spring Fling and so many other ministries have grown out of these relationships. First Baptist has been very active in the associations over the years and we can be proud of that.

We are also active ecumenically working with other Christian traditions to do the will of Christ and active in interfaith relationships to advance the will of God.

You can check out all the great work being done by our wider Baptist family by going to www.abc-usa.org.

Cal

Sunday worship at FBC

We had a wonderful time at worship this morning. We sang some very familiar hymns and talked about the prophet Elijah. The sermon was entitled "Running on Empty." We were reminded that God hasn't promised that we would always have smooth sailing in life, even when we are faithful. He has promised to be with us though and to meet our needs.

During the service we also recognized Cami Ferguson as the winner of the 2009 College Scholarship. Cami is a second year student at the University of Connecticut. She is a psychology major and involved in intramural sports on campus. She is the eighth recipient of the award. The others were;

2002 - Adam Barber
2003 - Jennifer Kane
2004 - Lindsey Adams
2005 - Jonathan Vanase
2006 - Casey Rezendes
2007 - Rebecca Lord
2008 - Melissa Ingoglia

A look back at our organists and choir directors

In January 2010 our organist and choir director, Adele DiBiagio will celebrate 30 years in her office here at First Baptist. I thought it might be fun to look back on our history with the organ and our organists today.

Our first known organ was installed in 1895. It was an inside swell box from Norwalk, CT. The organ had to be pumped and several boys were hired to do so. James L. Tourtellottee did it in 1898. Others who did it from 1913 on included Herbert Willey, Lloyd Rathbun and George H. Strouse Jr. The boys received as much as 25 cents each week to do the job. It was that important.

The records indicate that our first regular organist was Ernest P. Rose who served the church from 1907 - 1913.

William Douglas was the organist from 1917-1918 and Robert Otis is also listed as organist around that time. He may have filled in.
In 1920 Annie Cowen became the organist and choir director. She served in that position for 46 years and concluded her service on May 8, 1966.

In 1921 the pump organ was changed to an electric organ putting the boys out of work. After the fire of 1942, a new (for us) tracker organ was installed and dedicated in memory of Charles S. Stamm.

During Annie Cowen's tenure we had several substitute organists who helped out when Annie was away. They included Florence Holdridge, Mildred Cass, Elvira Pierce, David Harris and Nancy Diehl.

Annie Laycock assisted Annie with the choir over the years.

In 1950 Elvira Pierce filled in at the organ while the choir traveled to the 13th Annual Musical Festival in Boston at Trinity Church.

In October 1966 Mrs. Olive Roberts became our organist until October of 1970. Annie Cowen returned as our interim organist for the last quarter of the year until a new organist was found.

Mr. Harold G. Grist served as organist and choir director from January 1971 - December 1979.

Adele DiBiagio began as a substitute organist in January 1980 and was spelled by Cynthia Strouse and Rev. Douglas Howell. She became our permanent organist in July 1980 and that fall assumed the role of choir director.

Over the years Cynthia Strouse and Lori Lord have filled in as substitute organists.

In October of 1999, as part of our 200th anniversary celebration, the McNeeley Organ was installed in memory of Rev. George H. Strouse by the members of his family. It was built by Alan McNeeley of Waterford. A room was added and the choir loft refigured.

We close in on 115 years of organ music at First Baptist Church in the coming months and we give all the glory to God.

Looking back on a great season

The First Baptist Softball team closed out its best season since 1993 tonight. Sadly, it was with a loss in the second round of the play-offs. The final record for 2009 was 17 - 8. There were a lot of heroes this year. Chip Chaffee won the triple crown by hitting 11 homers, 53 RBI and batting .759. Dan Dutrumble gave Chip a run for the money in the batting race and finished up with a .740 average. He and Daryl Alves tied for the team lead with 12 doubles each. Daryl, Mike Staron and Chip all were on base over 40 times. Mike Young, Dan, Daryl and Chip all had more than 30 hits. Ken Kreger had his best season playing a strong shortstop and batting .511 with a .611 on base percentage. Sean Wilding batted .508 with 2 homers and 20 RBI as thew youngest member of the team. Mike Young had 4 triples to go along with his .569 batting average. And believe it or not, I got my 400th career hit. It took me 5 times at bat to do it but I did it.

Here are a few photos of this year's heroes.

Cal

Give us your coats and sweaters

This morning Ed finished cleaning the Tower room at church. It has been a "catch all" for things that couldn't go to the basement at church. It has all the Christmas decorations, stuff from my office, boxes, old computers and more. The only thing left up there are the Christmas Decorations.

On Tuesday I bought some shelving from Home Depot and Ed put it together and loaded all the Christmas Wreathes, ornaments and decorations onto them. Once they were up off the floor and all the junk was removed, a spacious room was left. Ed cleaned it up and it is now ready for our coats and sweaters. More shelving is on the way.

Erica Corbett got us started on this project by starting her own collection of used clothing that can be sold or given away to help the poor. When our missional team was looking for its next project, I noted that Erica had collected some sweaters and that they weren't really needed right now. One thing led to another and we decided to collect gently used coats and sweaters and give them away to folks in the neighborhood across from the church next Fall.

Erica was also doing so well that she was quickly running out of room for her stuff. She asked if we had any space at the church. That's when we thought of the tower. Now it is ready for Erica's stuff and our coats and sweaters.

This idea of recycling good, used clothing is great. It is also something that everyone can get involved with. If you don't think it is needed and appreciated, come to our next monthly interfaith luncheon. Amanda Duntz has been stocking a little clothing bin at St. Marks and every week the guests come in and take away all kinds of things. It is a special ministry and it costs us next to nothing.

So when you go through your closets at the end of summer, think about us and bring your washed, gently worn coats down to church.

Cal

Softball Playoff continue

Our Softball team played its first game in the second round of the play-offs tonight. Our opponent was the second place team from Calvary Chapel. We had beaten them two out of three during the regular season. Tonight they had our number.

We started out great. Daryl Alves and Mike Staron reached base in the top of the first and Chip Chaffee drove them in with a three run homer. Mike Young followed with a single but that was all we could muster. Through the next four innings we only had a couple more hits and no more runs.

Calvary Chapel put together two big innings and scored five times in the bottom of the first and eight times in the bottom of the fourth to put the game away. They now lead the series one game to none. We play again on Friday and will try to win and extend the series to three games.

Cal

A Wednesday Night On-line Prayer Session.

It's Wednesday and in September we will be reviving our Wednesday night prayer services. They will include some singing, a short message and a time of prayer. The services will be held at 7:00 p.m. and go to about 7:45 p.m. I hope you will join us. I'll start the season with a series of messages based on the Lord's prayer.

Since we don't have the prayer service yet, I thought I would try to share our prayer list with you on Wednesdays from now on. So here we go.

Think of Don Bonds, our new friend in West Virginia. Pray for his health and his growing relationship with the Lord.

Lift up the Mustard Seeds and Mountains Ministry that we worked with. Especially think of Randy and Jacque Wallace, the leaders, in your prayers.

Say a prayer for Doris Regets, Melinda Brick, Michelle Lord, Matthew and Elizabeth Isenburg, Nancy Oat, Lois Lopez and Al Damien.

Think of Pam Maynard who recently had surgery in your prayers.

Lift up Luis Pabon as he has a cat scan and determines whether he will need surgery this fall.

Four friends of our from the community also covet our prayers. Mike Goldblatt and Doug Philipps both had emergency surgery last week and came home early this week. Think of them. Mary Webber Hall, former organist at Lee Memorial, and Randy Shibilo, pastor at Norwich Assembly of God, are both undergoing treatment for cancer.

We lift up the Landa family in Griswold. Bruno Hayn will be working with volunteers to help build them a new home. Some of us will be a part of that effort.

Think of Rick and Mercy Barnes, our missionaries to Mexico. They recently traveled across the country to bring their oldest daughter to the University of Virginia for her freshman year. They are now adjusting to life with their oldest spreading her wings.

There is also reason to give God praise for the ministry of the Barnes'. After the June numbers were in, it appears they have nearly reached their goal for support for the year. They need to raise just over a thousand dollars more to insure their stay in the field. Praise God.

We also give thanks for the safe return of the two ladies from North Korea. We continue to lift up our state government as they seek to make the cuts needed to bring a budget to a vote.

We continue to pray that God's will be done and that he will use us to share his love in concrete ways.

Cal

God will direct our steps if we ask Him

It's funny how God works. He directs our steps even when we are sleeping. I woke up on Monday morning and because it was early, I decided to do a make-up meeting at the Sunrise Rotary Club. If you miss a meeting you are supposed to attend a meeting at another club. It builds fellowship and friendship. So I get up and go to the meeting and they have a guest speaker. The guest is none other than Bruce Hayn of Colchester.

He came to the meeting to talk about his next project. Several years ago he decided to get involved in some of these community builds for families in need. Then last spring his efforts were broadcast nationwide when he was chosen to head up the Extreme Home Makeover.

Bruce told the group that they were going to continue doing these kind of builds even without the publicity they got with the television crews. Now plans were under way to build a home for the Landa family in Griswold.

I had to laugh because one of the things we talked about while we were in West Virginia was trying to do the same type of things in Norwich. The only question was how to find things and how to get involved. I asked Bruce about volunteers and he gave me the info I need.

You think God didn't have something to do with this? Think again. Bruce hopes to have the Landa family into their new home by Thanksgiving. I will be getting more information on how members of our congregation can get involved to help and share the love of Christ in this project.

Cal

A grand day at Church

This morning we dedicated the grand piano in the sanctuary during morning worship. Several members of the Royce family was present for the occasion as we remembered Doris and Leonard Royce in whose name it was given.

Leonard and Doris grew up in the church and served in many ways over the years. Leonard was the singer in his younger days but he was also involved in the Deacons, Trustees and in so many other ways. Doris always joked that she couldn't carry a tune but she loved the music. She found her own ways to serve as well. She was the very visible presence that most people met when they entered the church. Her smile, hugs and love of all things First Baptist were well known by generation after generation of our FBC family.

Leonard passed away in 1999 and after Doris went home to be with him a few years ago, the family decided to honor their memory with the gift of this beautiful piano. We had planned to dedicate it some time ago but we couldn't get everyone together until today. Bonnie Koch, Frank and Bette Royce, Cynthia and Dick Strouse, David and Mary Royce were in the service today with some of their children.

As part of the dedication service, Lori Lord and Adele DiBiagio played a four handed duet on the piano. Then we stood and gave thanks to God for the gift of music and dedicated it to his glory. Today's sermon focused on the passage in Exodus 16 where the people began grumbling about God. Moses reminded them that their grumbling was really complaining about God. Then God told them that he was going to provide for them but they needed to trust him. I made reference to the fact that Doris lived life with this kind of faith and dependence on God.

A few of the members of our Appalachian Mission Team were on hand and Taylor Chaffee and Erica Corbett shared a few words about the trip. In my sermon I also talked about a couple of the ways we saw God at work while we were there.

We had several special guests with us during the service today. Casey Rezendes was up from Maryland and present with his mom, Amy and her friend Rosie. Stacia and Alana Green were up from Florida and visiting with Fred and Gwyn.

We closed the service in a circle of fellowship after sharing the Lord's supper together. Afterwards we took a few photos. Dick Strouse made me laugh after the service when he reminded me that the hour and twenty five minute service would have drawn a comment from Len Royce, who was always quick to point out if we went over time. None-the-less it was a great day.

Cal

Northfork West Virginia

Here is a little information abot the area where we went on oujr mission trip.

As of the census of 2000, there were 519 people, 229 households, and 130 families residing in the town of Northfork, West Virginia where we went to serve on our mission trip. There were 298 housing units. The racial makeup of the town was 44.12% White, 53.95% African American, 0.19% Native American, and 1.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.39% of the population.

There were 229 households out of which 21.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.3% were married couples living together, 24.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.8% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town the population was spread out with 22.5% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 22.0% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 24.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years.

Estimated median household income in 2007: $21,423 (it was $16,544 in 2000)
Northfork: $21,423
West Virginia: $37,060

About 31.3% of families were below the poverty line.

Estimated per capita income in 2007: $13,032
Northfork: $13,032
West Virginia: $20,419

Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $27,859 (it was $18,000 in 2000)
Northfork: $27,859
West Virginia: $96,000

Males: 185 (44.1%)
Females: 235 (55.9%)

Median resident age: 43.4 years
West Virginia median age: 38.9 years

Zip codes: 24868.

Races in Northfork:

* Black (53.9%)
* White Non-Hispanic (44.1%)
* Two or more races (1.7%)
* American Indian (0.8%)

2008 cost of living index in Northfork: 73.0 (low, U.S. average is 100)