Park Church

The county Board of Appeals is expected to grant a variance to a Brooklyn Park church that wants to build a sanctuary at Hammonds Lane and Trillo Avenue.The board voted 5-2 at its meeting Thursday for a motion to grant the variance to Christian Bible Church. The decision will not be final until minutes of the meeting are signed by a majority of the seven-member board in several weeks.The 120-member nondenominational church meets at Arundel Village Plaza, in the 5500 block of Ritchie Highway.

Some of the pieces resembled enormous wooden kazoos. Others looked like oversized vacuum cleaner tubes. But to the crowd assembled on the lawn of the Severna Park church, each of the thousands of oddly shaped segments was created to do one thing: evoke the voice of the divine. For nearly two decades, the parishioners of St. Martin's-in-the-Field Episcopal Church in Severna Park dreamed of hearing pipe organ music in their sanctuary each Sunday. A few years ago, they started raising money - to the tune of nearly half a million dollars - and ordered an organ to be custom-built for the church.

The county Board of Appeals approved yesterday a variance to allow a Brooklyn Park church to build a 164-seat sanctuary at Hammonds Lane and Trillo Avenue.The board voted 5-2 to grant the variance to Christian Bible Church, ruling it would be consistent with other development in the neighborhood, which has a Lutheran church, a nursing home and two medical clinics.Northern Anne Arundel County is nearly fully developed, and it would be difficult for the church to find other land, the board said.

Pastoral counselor from Millersville to direct nonprofit Jerry Long, director of pastoral counseling at Severna Park United Methodist Church, has been appointed executive director of Pastoral Counseling Services of Maryland Inc. A private, nonprofit mental health organization, Pastoral Counseling Services, based in Baltimore, has 30 counselors and therapists and runs 20 treatment centers in offices provided by churches of various denominations throughout...

In time to chase the winter chill, homemade vegetable beef soup and corn bread muffins are on the menu at Severna Park United Methodist Church on Benfield Road Feb. 15.The Learn and Share Circle is preparing a delicious recipe from the kitchen of Lynn Webber for the annual soup sale.The cooks, who begin early on the sale day, will prepare 100 quarts of soup, and when those are sold, says head cook Betty Sosnowski, the sale ends."For the last four or five years, we have made it on President's Day," says Sosnowski, "so people have a good meal without having to cook."

Residents of a Brooklyn Park mobile home park are worried that the traffic from a proposed church would jam the only road to their neighborhood.The 120-member nondenominational Christian Bible Church, which meets at Arundel Village Plaza in the 5500 block of Ritchie Highway in Brooklyn Park, would like to build a sanctuary at Hammonds Lane and Trillo Avenue, the only street providing access to Terrace View Mobile Estates, which has about 160 residents.The...

Stunned by the shooting death of the son of one of its parishioners in a Severna Park doughnut shop in August, the governing body of Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church is joining the fight for gun control.The session, as the governing body is known, has written to church members, urging those who have handguns to "reconsider what may have seemed prudent in the past, but now is shown to be dangerous."It also plans to distribute literature and invite politicians to speak on the issue.Cynthia Ferris, an assistant state's attorney and church member, said the murder of 21-year-old Charles Willis "woke up our congregation."

Pastoral counselor from Millersville to direct nonprofit Jerry Long, director of pastoral counseling at Severna Park United Methodist Church, has been appointed executive director of Pastoral Counseling Services of Maryland Inc. A private, nonprofit mental health organization, Pastoral Counseling Services, based in Baltimore, has 30 counselors and therapists and runs 20 treatment centers in offices provided by churches of various denominations throughout...

For 55 years, the Severna Park Church of God had stood along Ritchie Highway, a simple wooden building with room for no more than 40 worshipers.Until last week, when a crew demolished the old church to make way for a new building twice its size. Construction workers are to start laying the foundation for the $170,000 building this week. Church members hope the job will be finished by Christmas."We just put our money together, paid tithes and trust God to work it out for us," said the Rev. Theodore Watts, pastor of the small congregation that has met in the building since the 1940s.

Some of the pieces resembled enormous wooden kazoos. Others looked like oversized vacuum cleaner tubes. But to the crowd assembled on the lawn of the Severna Park church, each of the thousands of oddly shaped segments was created to do one thing: evoke the voice of the divine. For nearly two decades, the parishioners of St. Martin's-in-the-Field Episcopal Church in Severna Park dreamed of hearing pipe organ music in their sanctuary each Sunday. A few years ago, they started raising money - to the tune of nearly half a million dollars - and ordered an organ to be custom-built for the church.

Musical notes whispered and chords shouted through the cream-colored sanctuary of St. David's Church in Roland Park yesterday as more than 1,000 organ music fans gathered for the 25th annual Baltimore Bach Marathon. Some attended for a short while, others stayed the entire 7 1/2 hours listening to the concertos, preludes, arias and fugues written by the 18th-century German composer who died 250 years ago. "I love Bach," said the Rev. Bruce Wickkiser, a retired Episcopal priest, who with his wife, Mary Jane, traveled from Glen Arm and stayed for an event that lasted from 12: 30 p.m. to 8 p.m. "Many people have said we are gluttons for punishment," Wickkiser said three hours into the program.

After 30 years as the Baltimore Zoo's curator of reptiles, one would think Frank Groves had enough of snakes and slimy creatures. Not so. In his retirement, the 79-year-old cleans the snake cages at Piney Run Nature Center in South Carroll. "I like to keep my hand in my work," said Groves, who also volunteers four hours a week for his former employer. Groves is one of hundreds of senior volunteers who give their time, knowledge and energy to parks, senior centers, churches and more in Carroll County.

After 30 years as the Baltimore Zoo's curator of reptiles, one would think Frank Groves has had enough of snakes and slimy creatures. Not so. In his retirement, the 79-year-old cleans the snake cages at Piney Run Nature Center in South Carroll. "I like to keep my hand in my work," said Groves, who also volunteers four hours a week for his former employer. Groves is one of hundreds of senior volunteers who give their time, knowledge and energy to parks, senior centers, churches and more in Carroll County.

MARLEY PARK Church of the Nazarene leaders know that formal worship services are not for everyone, so this year the church added another option to its weekend schedule: "Saturday Night Light."Held every Saturday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the casual service includes a video, contemporary praise music by a seven-piece band and a short sermon. A coffee bar is open during the evening."We want to provide an alternative to the regular Sunday morning service," said spokesman Ed Salmons. "Some people don't like a traditional service."

In time to chase the winter chill, homemade vegetable beef soup and corn bread muffins are on the menu at Severna Park United Methodist Church on Benfield Road Feb. 15.The Learn and Share Circle is preparing a delicious recipe from the kitchen of Lynn Webber for the annual soup sale.The cooks, who begin early on the sale day, will prepare 100 quarts of soup, and when those are sold, says head cook Betty Sosnowski, the sale ends."For the last four or five years, we have made it on President's Day," says Sosnowski, "so people have a good meal without having to cook."

On a bright Sunday morning in 1985, the Rev. Teresa Martin-Minnich had just concluded a tightly reasoned, intellectual sermon before the sea of well-to-do white faces at Baltimore's Roland Park Presbyterian Church.Then something totally unexpected occurred.A large, strikingly handsome African-American woman with a leonine mane of jet black hair suddenly rose to her feet and, without a trace of self-consciousness, burst into song.Amazing Grace, How sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like me!

Many Severna Park residents look forward each December to the live Nativity enacted on the front lawn of the Severna Park Baptist Church. Pastor the Rev. Lawrence Baylot and associate pastor the Rev. Bill Brazell have invited everyone to experience the Nativity from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, weather cooperating. At 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, there will be a candlelight service at the church.Christmas worship at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church on Benfield Road, led by pastor the Rev. C. Frederick Eichner and music director Mary Jo Bedsworth, includes two Christmas Eve services: a family service at 7 p.m., with music by the primary and chorister choirs; and a candlelight service at 11 p.m. (the musical prelude begins at 10:30 p.m.)

THE CONGREGATION of Severna Park United Methodist Church said farewell to the Rev. Warren Ebinger, who is taking early retirement, and his wife, Mary -- last night at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie.The evening was a celebration of the Ebingers' nine-year ministry and a time to wish the couple success in the next chapter of their lives.To the Ebingers' surprise, they were presented with a book of memories and good wishes compiled by family and friends.The Ebingers' children -- Lee Plowman, Lori Lear and Jonathan Ebinger -- were at their parents' side.

The county Board of Appeals approved yesterday a variance to allow a Brooklyn Park church to build a 164-seat sanctuary at Hammonds Lane and Trillo Avenue.The board voted 5-2 to grant the variance to Christian Bible Church, ruling it would be consistent with other development in the neighborhood, which has a Lutheran church, a nursing home and two medical clinics.Northern Anne Arundel County is nearly fully developed, and it would be difficult for the church to find other land, the board said.