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VOL. 15, NO. 3

UMs protest Sunday marathon

FREDERICK Plans have been underway since last summer for the fourth annual citywide marathon, to be run in Frederick May 2. While 10 churches are supporting the race, two United Methodist churches are protesting it being held on Sunday morning.

We dont want to be naysayers. However, if we dont ask that Sunday morning time be kept for churches, any number of encroachments would occur, the Rev. Robert Manthey, pastor of Calvary UMC, told the Frederick News-Post. Manthey was also spotted in a TV news brief on NBC, stressing the importance of keeping the Sunday morning church hour sacred.

The churches complaints prompted the organizers to hold a meeting with pastors and community leaders. Some concessions were made, but not to change the date of the marathon, which is expected to attract 2,000 runners.

Commemorative bell-ringing began at UMC

WASHINGTON, D.C. More than 30 churches across the District of Columbia rang their bells at noon Jan. 15 to commemorate the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was born about noon on that date in 1923. Albright Memorial UMC was the ceremonial center for the bell-ringing.

As you do it unto the least of these

BROOKLYN PARK When John Moore went on a safari to Tanzania in 1999, it changed his life and the life of Brooklyn Heights UMC.

While there he visited Esilalei Primary School in the Moduli District, and saw the immense needs of the children and teachers in a country where the average annual income is $300.

Moore took the needs back to his church. In 1999, providing daily hot lunches to the 200 Masai children who attend the primary school became their mission. Every few months the small church sends head teacher Azenath Oola $300, which is sufficient to feed the children a meal each day. Oola reported that students attendance and performance has improved.

But Moores mission didnt stop there. He now raises $6,500 a year for a full scholarship and living expenses for a young woman medical student to complete her education and become a doctor. Honoratha Maucky, from the Chaaga tribe, is in her fourth year of the five-year program.

UM teen models achievement

ANNAPOLIS Miranda Beans, 17, was named Teen of the Week by the Annapolis Capital newspaper at the end of the year. The senior at Key High School attributes her considerable achievements to her mother, grandmother and church, Asbury UMC.

Beans and her mother, Michell Savoy, lived with her late grandmother, Mary Brown, as she was growing up. They have both been wonderful role models, Beans said. Brown ran the churchs mission groups and soup kitchen, and her mother is an administrative assistant on the conference staff.

Beans, who received early acceptance to Hampton University near Norfolk, Va., spends three or four nights a week at the church, and carries a challenging academic load at the private school where she is one of only three African Americans in her class. She is an acolyte, youth fellowship president, and a certified lay speaker. She represents the youth on several church committees including finance and worship. She has been in Asburys choir since she was six, and is choir director for the Easter cantata.

She says she is proudest of her achievement in leading her fellow high school students to a greater understanding of race issues. Forty-two students turned up for a lunch discussion she arranged on Why is Race Hard to Talk About?

Church benefits from Eagle Scout project

GLEN BURNIE When Chris Wyatt was ready to complete his Eagle Scout requirements, he turned to his church, Messiah UMC. He was 13 years old last spring when he finished supervising a group of volunteers to work with him to install three new flag poles and a garden bed at the church. He also raised all the funds to pay for the materials.

Wyatt began Scouting when he was six years old, and has earned 48 merit badges. I have plenty more to go, he said. His Scout Troop 725 meets at Glen Burnie UMC.

At Messiah UMC, Wyatt serves as a greeter, reader and acolyte. Last summer with his youth group he participated in Camp Joy, repairing and refurbishing homes for needy families in the Appalachian mountains in West Virginia.