The Hays Daily News from Hays, Kansas • Page 5

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12,2004 FAITH THE HAYS DAILY NEWS AS Area churches taking donations for Operation Christmas Child By STACIE R. SANOALL HAYS DAILY NEWS Northwest Kansans will soon have a chance to help make Christmas for approximately 7 million children around the world a little bit better this year. Members of the community can fill empty shoe boxes to the brim with a variety of different items, such as toys, school supplies, hygiene items and a personal note for the Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week, Nov. 15 through 21. Five area churches have hopped on board the international program, the world's largest international Christmas project for children suffering from war, disease, poverty and disaster.

The project is manned by Samaritan's Purse, the international Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. Messiah Lutheran Church, 2000 Main in Hays, is serving as a type of drop-off point for the program that week. They will be open for drop-off between 9 a.m. until noon at the chapel door. The contact points for more information are Sherry Dryden at (785) 625-2057 or Jane Kohtz at 625-6076.

Liberty Christian Fellowship, 120 W. 9th in Hays, also will shuttle the boxes to the drop-off station in Salina. They can take the gifts between 9 a.m. and noon Tuesday through Friday that week, or during the Sunday service. Appointments for other hours can be made by calling the church at 625-6245.

First Presbyterian Church, 2900 Hall in Hays, will take the gifts from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday during collection week. Their contact point is 625-2847. Harvest Christian Church, 1007 S. Washington in Plainville, will have collection hours as Monday through Saturday 8 a.m.

until noon and 1 to 4 p.m. On Wednesday they will also take donations from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday drop-off hours are from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Appointments for other hours can be made by calling Lanette McCune at (785) 434-7348.

Otterbein United Methodist Church, 6th and Maple in Russell, will be open from 8 a.m. until noon Monday through Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. More information can be obtained by calling Alice Hammack at (785) 483-4828 or 483-2629.

Other suggested items to send are gum, hard candy, sunglasses, flashlights with extra batteries, ball caps, socks, shirts, watches or hair clips. There are a few items that will not be allowed. Those include toy weapons, liquids, medicines, used items or breakables such as china dolls or snow globes. If the boxes cannot be dropped off at any of the churches, other locations can be found at www.samaritanspurse.org or by calling 1-800-353-5949. The shoe box gifts can also be sent to Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child, 801 Bamboo Road, P.O.

Box 3000, Boone, North Carolina 28607. Operation Christmas Child reached 6.5 million youths last year and hopes to reach at least seven million children in over 100 countries this year. Some of the gifts are distributed to inner cities and Native American reservations in the United States. Monetary donations can be sent to Samaritan's Purse in place of gifts. Since 1993, the operation has delivered over 31 million shoe box gifts to youths in over 120 countries on six continents.

Reporter Stacle Sandal! can be reached at (785) 628-1081. ext. 136, or by e-mail at saandall Sdallynewa. net. Briefs Festival of Faith brings together area churches The 13th annual Festival of Faith will bring together Ellis County churches in song and praise.

The festival begins at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Performing Arts Center at Fort Hays State University. The hour-long festival is sponsored by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce and the Ellis County Ministerial Alliance and includes prayers, song and scripture reading. The theme this year is "The Signs of Christ." Holy Family students win pro-life essay contest Christina Carreira, daughter of Andy and Linda Carreira, Hays, won first place in the pro- life essay contest sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Council 6984. The contest was conducted during the month of October among sixth-graders at Holy Family Elementary.

Carreira's essay was on abortion. Her teacher is April Pfeifer. Second-place winner was Jeremy Weber, son of Jerry and Ann Weber, Hays. His essay was on euthanasia. His teacher is Shirley "I wish we cmiid have awarded more priaes," said Lester Robben, pro-life chairman as he presented the awards Nov.

,9. The students were awarded with a pro-life rosary consisting of Hail Mary beads, which are light blue teardrops with unborn babies inside of them. The Our Father beads are droplets of blood in the shape of a cross. "Each time you say this rosary, you will help save an unborn child," Robben said. The students will read their essays during the Knights of Columbus awards breakfast in January.

Baha'is celebrate faith's founding Today is a day of celebration and joy for Baha'is across the globe. Today we celebrate Baha'u'llah's birth. On Nov. 12,1817, Mirza Husayn All, who later became known as Baha'u'l- lah (i.e. the Glory of God) was born in Tihran (Teheran), in the land of Persia.

He was the Founder of the Baha'i faith. Relating to Baha'u'l- lah's coming, his eldest son, Abdu'1-Baha, said: The Promised One of all the peoples of the world hath appeared. All peoples and communities have been expecting a Revelation, and He, Baha'u'llah, Is the foremost teacher and Educator of all mankind. Every few centuries, a great divine prophet comes to renew God's message for that day and age. Some of these divine prophets include Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

The most recent of these divine teachers is Baha'u'llah. I would like to share with you my spiritual journey I was born and raised Lutheran, and I learned quite a bit about Catholicism from some of my Catholic friends, but neither of these religions answered all of my questions, and they were never completely fulfilling for me. When I graduated form high school, I moved to Manhattan to attend Kansas State University. While I was at KSU, I began to lead a very destruc- Jive Ijfestyle, participating, in everything from 'jlElpking and drugs fwas going nowhere really of Novem- oer I had that there was no God, feat God was just some made-up superstition. In the middle of November, I was driving home from Manhattan.

It was a really overcast day, but nothing special, just a typical cloudy Kansas day. I was driving in between Abilene and Salina on Interstate 70 listening to a Christian rock group by the name of Seven Places, and I was playing a song about the last 12 hours of Christ's life. As I was listening to it, I started to feel uplifted for some reason. So I decided to give God a chance, even though I had decided prior to this that there is no God. I started praying, asking God to show himself to me.

I screamed, "God, if you are there show yourself to me right now! I know you can I hear about miracles all the time!" No sooner than when the words left my mouth did the clouds part just enough for sun to shine down upon my car; there was just a ray of sun big enough to engulf my car and nothing else. A chill went though my body and I felt a high that was much higher than anything that I had ever experienced before. At first it scared the heck out of me; I didn't know what to think. The atheist views I had all came crumbling down, and I started to cry. I was sobbing so much that I had to pull over to the side of the road.

I sat on the shoulder of the highway crying for about 45 or 50 minutes, until my lap was soaked with tears tears of joy. That day I came home and I started reading the Bible. I read it cover to cover in two weeks. I felt that I had been spiritually dead and now was awakened by this experience. I immediately start- ec atten di 11 every Christian activity that I could find and things were going great.

Despite this, soon I began to feel that everything I was doing wasn't sufficient for my spiritual needs. Once a ain was feeling rather agnostic. Then, I started to hear things about the Baha'i faith. In May, I went to a Baha'i youth retreat in Iowa and learned a lot about the Baha'i faith. On the Saturday morning of the retreat, I didn't really know what to think.

Everything about the Baha'i faith made perfect sense to me, but I was Christian. Sitting down on the hillside, watching the sun rise, I closed my eyes and began to pray God had really 'ib'fte'-ffial day in November, and so I knew do it again. I asked God if the Baha'i faith was the truth, and although it was a perfectly sunny day just minutes before, a small cloud passed over the sun as I asked God if the faith was true. It was blatantly obvious to me that it was from the answer I got. I felt higher than I had even in the car that bleak November day last year.

I then started reading book after book, finding the truth. I read about 12 books in a three-week time period initially looking for anything that I disagreed with. I still haven't found it. I became a Baha'i on July 19. It was by far the best decision that I have ever made in my life.

Aaron Brungardt grew up in Walker and Is now a member of the Hays Baha'i community. He lives and works in Hays. FAITH VOICES Priest who acknowledged being Druid leader resigns DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. (AP) A priest who was criticized by fellow Episcopalians for helping lead a Druid society is leaving his congregation. A letter to parishioners said lay leaders of St.

James Episcopal Church decided recent events made it difficult for the Rev. William Melnyk "to continue effectively" and that he would resign as rector, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Melnyk and his wife, fellow Episcopal priest the Rev. Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk, were discovered to be leaders of a local society of Druids, whb follow pre-Christian worship of the sun and veneration of Earth. Ruppe-Melnyk, who led services Sunday at her church in Malvern, St.

Francis-in-the- Fields, faces possible disci- pline from the Pennsylvania Diocese. Notice Local Church looking for Christian couple or single to work with youth. Part- time position. Call Pastor Ron at 785-737-4955. Service of Prayer For Wholeness and Healing Sunday, November 14 7 p.m.

Messiah Lutheran Church 2000 Main Street Hays Help, Comfort, Strength and Reassurance For those struggling with difficulties. Public Is Invited To Attend Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Annual Soup Supper Sunday, November 14th 4-7 p.m. Green Bean Dumpling Soup A Chicken Noodle Soup Sandwiches Desserts Drinks Silent Auction, Country Store, Sweet Shop, Free Games Fish Pond Free will offering MESSENGER QooKi. 4 An 2512 Vine Street, Unit 1 Centennial Mall Kansas 67601 785.621.2085 ROHHW ana' Hdx and Holy Mari and AMtpMtfef Kalian and Oratk team and ChrUlnw Drawings for many priztsl RefmMwitf Hivid all day. Historic Norcatur church to be moved to museum By JAN KATZ ACKERMAN HAYS DAILY NEWS OBERLIN Historic St.

Mark Lutheran Church of Norcatur is being relocated to the Decatur County Last Indian Raid Museum and Decatur County Lutherans will sponsor a benefit supper to assist with the church's restoration. Built in the late 1880s, the church will be moved from Norcatur to Oberlin as soon as scheduling and weather permits the job to be done. According the Sharleen Wurm, director of the museum, it is anticipated that the move will take place sometime in December or early January. In the meantime, the benefit supper will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at St.

John's Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 510 North Wilson in Oberlin on Nov. 19. "We, as Lutherans in Oberlin, are really excited about having a Lutheran church at the museum. Although St. Mark's hasn't been an active church for a long time, we are all looking forward to having it moved (to Oberlin).

"It will be relocated next to the Bohemian Hall and people can have weddings in the church and go next door to the hall for a reception," Pastor Charlotte Strecker-Baseler said. The supper is a joint project between Faith Lutheran and St. John's Lutheran Thrivent members, along with the help of the museum board members and staff. The money raised at the supper will be used to restore St. Mark Lutheran Church at the museum site.

A free will donation will be taken for the pancake and sausage supper, and the Smokey Hill Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will match up to $1,500 towards the Care Abounds in Communities project. The museum board will recognize those who contribute donations of $100 or more by including the donor's name on a plaque in the restored St. Mark Church. Reporter Jan KatzAckerman can be reached at (785) 628-1084, ext. 163, or by e-mail at ackermanfkOrunltel.net.

il i Festival Presents The Signs of I On This Sunday Don't miss Fellowship faith in Christ. 'orship and share our "Over all these virtues put on love, which binds us together in perfect unity." Col 3:14 Sponsored by: Hays Area Chamber of Commerce and Ellis County Ministerial Alliance Musical Prelude Hays Brass Quintet Brad Dawson, Trumpet Ken Folsom, Trumpet Paula Huser, French Horn Vern Giebler, Trombone Craig MameufFel, Tuba Call To Rev. Wm. Miller Congregational Hymn In This Place Johnny Matlock, Conductor Susan Bowles, Cantor Tom Meagher, Organist Welcome Gina Riedel Hays Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Pastor Steve Dinkel Ellis County Ministerial Alliance President Affirmation of Faith Jill Blurton Special Music Cod of tht Plaint Mario Karen Gutierrez Skit Young Life Old Tciiamem Reading Genesis Rebecca Whitmcr New Testament Reading I Peter 2:9 Matthew Oinkcl Special Muiic Praia Hu Holy Nitme Community Christian Choir Johnny Matlock, Conductor Tom Meagher, Piano Ben Frasier, Drums Skit Christian Challenge Congregational Hymn Beatitudes Message Pastor Kenton Rohrberg Offertory Introduction The Rev. Delbcrt Stanton Offerings will be going to ECMA "Second Mile Fund Offertory Muiic Nocturne by Gliere Renetta Dawson, French Horn Tom Meagher, Piano Solo Testify to Love Jessica McCuire, Vocalist Marietta Cummings, Bass Andrew Cummings, Piano Ben Frasier, Drums Prayers Azarcl Molina Pastor Jerry Sprock Father Joseph Kieffier Special Muiic Amazing Grace Paul Macdonald, Bagpipes Benediction Rev.

Will Hawqrth Congregational Hymn One Spirit, Out Church Aaron Rockers, Trumpet Jaion Kucerick, Trumpet Tom Meagher, Organist.