Churches announce summer schedules
Leland -- The Leland Community United Methodist Church and the Leland Summer Community Church have announced their summer worship schedules.
In addition to its traditional worship service at 11 a.m., the United Methodist Church, 106 N. Fourth St., will hold an informal, contemporary service at 8:30 a.m. each Sunday. On July 26 and Aug. 30, this service will be held on the church lawn. The Rev. Joe Graybill leads both services.
The Leland Summer Community Church, which meets at the United Methodist Church, will hold services at 9:30 a.m. Sundays starting this Sunday and continuing through Aug. 30, Guest speakers include Dr. Matthew Hook on Sunday; Dr. Jack Stewart, July 12, 26 and Aug. 2; Dr. Rob Craig, July 19; Dr. Ronald Naylor, Aug. 9 and 16; and Dr. Carver McGriff, Aug. 23 and 30.
Call 256-9161 or visit www.lelandcumc.org.
Church sponsors patriotic concert
Eastport -- Eastport Baptist Church invites the public to a patriotic concert on Sunday.
Gospel singer Jonathan White will perform at 9:45 a.m. at the church, 5910 N. M-88.
A free-will offering will be collected and a picnic will follow the concert. To learn more, call 599-2122 or visit www.eastportbaptistchurch.org.
New service times for Anglican church
Traverse City -- All Saints Anglican Church is changing its worship times for July and August.
Services will be held at 5 p.m. on Sundays starting Sunday.
The congregation meets at Church of the Living God, 1514 Birmley Rd. For more information, call 946-6589, or go to http://allsaintstc.org.
Writer, radio personality to speak
TRAVERSE CITY -- Paul Wedding, a self-proclaimed con man, will speak at Unity Church Sunday.
Wedding used to live in a dumpster and has struggled with gambling, drug and alcohol addiction. He remembers the exact time and date when all that changed -- April 19, 2003, 12:37 p.m.
He's written about his awakening in "If You Only Knew What You Already Know" and can be heard every Friday on the Contact Talk Radio show "The Power of the Human Spirit." He's currently at work on a second book, "I May Be Wrong ... But I Doubt It."
The service begins at 10:30 a.m. at the church, 3600 Five Mile Road in Traverse City. For more information, call 938-9587.
Old Mission church hosts cookout
Traverse City -- Members of Old Mission Congregational Church invite the community to let them do the cooking on Wednesday.
The church will cook burgers and bratwurst on the grill and provide side dishes from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the church, 18687 Mission Road, at the corner of Swaney and Old Mission roads. A minimum $5 donation is suggested.
Cookouts will continue on the second Wednesday of the month through October. Call 223-4844 for details.
St. Mary Parish's festival and dinner
Lake Leelanau -- St. Mary Parish will hold its 85th Parish Festival and Chicken Dinner on July 12.
The meal will be served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the cafeteria and gym on St. Mary's Street. Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for children ages 6 to 10 and free for children 3 and younger.
Festival activities include adult and children's games, free crafts for younger children, and a Country Store with handcrafted items, homemade baked goods and fresh local produce. There also will be a raffle featuring 48 prizes. The St. Mary Parish Quilters will hold a quilt raffle and demonstrate the art of hand-quilting.
Proceeds help defray operating costs for St. Mary School. For details, call 256-9676, or 256-9670, ext. 500.
Teen Bible group 'keeps in touch'
Traverse City -- Alicia Classens, a local nurse practitioner who works with teens, will be the guest speaker at a "Keep In Touch" evening hosted by Grand Traverse Teen Community Bible Study.
Teen CBS is an interdenominational, in-depth Bible study for ninth through 12th grade students.
The event will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on July 13 at Faith Reformed Church's Ministry Center, 1139 E. Front St. Classens will share how her sister, the late Katie Heintz, inspired her and others to live their Christian faith. There also will be a cook-out and praise and worship.
Past, current and prospective Teen CBS students and friends are invited and registration for the 2009-10 class will be available. For more information, contact coordinator Sally Miller, 223-4335 or sallymiller@charter.net.
Adoption info meetings planned
Traverse City -- Bethany Christian Services will hold free adoption information meetings on July 14.
An intercountry information meeting will be held from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by a state adoption/foster care information meeting from 1 to 4 p.m. Both meetings will be held at Bethany Christian Services, 1055 Carriage Hill Dr. Adoption specialists will be available to discuss options and an adoptive family will share its experiences.
For details or if planning to attend, call, 995-0870, or go to www.bethany.org/traverse.
Smorgasbord dishes all feature cherries
Frankfort -- All the dishes at the Frankfort United Methodist Women's fifth annual "Very Cherry" Smorgasbord will include cherries in some form.
The meal will be served from 5 to 7 p.m., or until the food is gone, on July 16 at Frankfort United Methodist Church, 537 Crystal Ave. Main dishes include pork loin with cherry sauce, cherry barbecue meatballs, cherry chicken casserole and beef burgundy. Salads, desserts and beverages also feature cherries.
The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 4 to 12 and free for children ages 3 and younger. Tickets will be available at the door only.
Jewish teens visit Michigan Adventure
Muskegon -- Jewish Teen Connection's newest program will bring Jewish teens to the fun for the first statewide Day of Summer Fun at Michigan Adventure.
The free day will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 20 and Jewish teens from all over Michigan are invited. JewQuest crews will pick up teens and drive them to the amusement park.
Reservations are due by July 17. For reservations, ride coordination and other information, contact JTC Coordinator Eric Awerbuch, (248) 568-1856 or awerbuc1@msu.edu.
West Bay Covenant welcomes pastor
Traverse City -- West Bay Covenant Church recently welcomed the Rev. Kent Anderson, who has assumed the role of senior pastor.
The Rev. Anderson has been involved in the Covenant Church all his life and received theological training at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. He has held pastoral positions in Iowa, Michigan and Illinois and has served on the board of Portage Lake Bible Camp in Onekama. He and his wife, Sue, most recently lived in the Chicago area and have three grown sons. The Rev. Anderson replaces Pastor Dick Skar, who served West Bay Covenant as pastor for more than 16 years and left to begin ministry in Kansas. Retired Covenant Pastor Dick Rabine served as interim pastor for the past nine months.
West Bay Covenant Church was founded in 1950 at the corner of Cherry Bend Road and M-22, where it still is located. It belongs to the Evangelical Covenant Church of America. For details, visit www.westbaycovenant.org.
Benzie Square Foot Fundraiser begins
Traverse City -- Four Grand Traverse County Lutheran churches are joining 12 Benzie County churches for the second annual Square Foot Fundraiser to benefit Habitat for Humanity of Benzie County. In addition, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will bring its "Thrivent Builds Mobile" multi-media exhibit on wheels to the National Cherry Festival.
Members of participating churches are invited to "buy a square foot" for $25 on boards being circulated to each church. The board represents the square footage of a typical Habitat home.
For each $25 that is raised, Thrivent will match $175.
This spring, Thrivent awarded Habitat for Humanity of Benzie County, $55,770 to build one home in 2009, with the stipulation that the local Habitat raise the rest of the money.
Thrivent's mobile exhibit will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. today through July 11 at the Cherry Festival.
Local Thrivent members will staff the mobile and answer questions.
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