St. Paul's Christian Messenger News Letter for October, 2007

Music at St. Paul’s

In the 1947, St. Paul’s renovated its sanctuary. More stained glass windows were added, furniture was replaced and relocated. The biggest changes were in the chancel area, the “altar end” of the sanctuary. (To see how the church looked before this project, you can look at two photos, one in the narthex and one just inside the choir room.)

The building’s first organ, which had cost $1812.00 in 1910, was removed in this renovation and replaced with a new instrument. The organ itself was placed in the balcony, although the console remained up front. The new organ was a three-manual instrument (three keyboards for the hands and one for the feet) with chimes built by the Moller Organ Company of Hagorstown, Maryland. It was dedicated just in time for Christmas of 1947. Although I couldn’t find a record of what the new organ cost, $30,000 was budgeted for the entire renovation; the instrument itself probably cost about $20,000 of that. Moller was one of the busiest American organ companies at the time; its instruments were fairly inexpensive but well built and very versatile and comfortable to play.

This year, our organ is 60 years old! Is that old? It’s something like owning a 60-year-old house – it takes work from time to time, but will probably serve its purpose well into the future. Feel free to come take a peep at the console sometime. Or ask Emily to take you on an “organ crawl” in the balcony.

High School Students: Ever thought about organ lessons? This just in: Scholarships for high school students studying the organ or church music. Awards from $300 to $1500. Apply before December 31, 2007. website address:

http://www.chbscholarship.com/

or The Charlotte H. Bagnall Scholarship
17 Beaverbrook Rd.
West Simsbury, CT 06092

Ushers for October

Oct. 7 .	Oct. 9	Oct. 16	Oct. 23
*Greg Jones* *Communion*	Grace Kothari	Phil Ruperto	*Jim Erb*

Donna Young is the Usher Coordinator, Please call her at 732-846-8371.

Coffee Hour Hosts Needed!!!

Gary Conger is coordinator of the Sunday morning Coffee Hours and he would like to have your help by signing up to serve as a host. There is a sign-up sheet on the kitchen counter in the Social Hall. After signing up, if you would like your name and the occasion printed in the Church Bulletin, please call Carol at the church office (732) 828-0020.

Letters…

Dear Friends,

Greetings to all in the name of Christ Jesus, our Savior. I am excited to tell you that I was installed on last Sunday as the Senior Pastor of Cornwallis Street Baptist Church in Halifax. Yes, I am continuing my service in Nova Scotia—it seems to be where God would have me stay for the time being.

Cornwallis Street just celebrated its 175th Anniversary in May. It is the “mother church” of our association (The African Baptist Association of Nova Scotia). It is located in downtown Halifax, so I am moving into urban ministry. I am the first female to pastor the church, but not the first American.

What a whirlwind and emotional two weeks, saying farewell to my first pastorate at Second Baptist in New Glasgow and being inducted into the mother church. The service was wonderful! I was blessed to have the Reverend LeQuinta Porter here to participate in the service with my pastor from Staten Island preaching the induction message.

Please keep me in prayer as I try to sell my house in New Glasgow and I hunt for a home in the city. And for the preachers in the group—if you think you might be interested in checking it out, Second Baptist is now searching for a pastor.

Blessings,
Rhonda
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Pastor Rich,

I wanted to send a note to tell you and each of your members how much your donation meant to me and my boys. It helped us get through a terrible time in our lives and the fact that your love and charity went to a family you did not know touches me deeply. We keep you in our prayers and truly appreciate your kindness.

Sincerely,
Susan Underwood
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Hi Pastor Rich,

Just wanted to send you a note to tell you that Marisa & Amanda thoroughly enjoyed Vacation Bible School last week. It was the first time they attended and they loved it and so did we. We listen to the CD every time we are in the car. They were able to retell the stories from the Bible that they learned each day and the arts and crafts were great too.

Please extend our thanks to all of those that volunteered their time and resources to organize and conduct this program. The youth that volunteered were especially helpful in making our little ones feel comfortable and it was great to see them there. We are looking forward to next year’s program as well as when Jason is older so that I may volunteer more of my time to help. Marisa is looking forward to when she can volunteer to help too and Amanda appreciated your “new dress-up” as she called it!

Janet Keiser
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