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)