December 16, 2002
___ The Concert for the Next Generation, held at Texas Stadium Oct. 19 as a part of the Metroplex Mission with Billy Graham, will be broadcast Dec. 28 at 12:30 a.m. While many of Graham's meetings have been broadcast in the past, this is the first time the youth-oriented, music-driven service will be televised. It will feature the music of Jars of Clay, dcTalk and Kirk Franklin, followed by Graham's message. It will air in the time slot just after midnight on the WB network in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The www.passageway.org website lists when and where the program will air in other cities around the country.
___Deaths
___ Elizabeth Swank, 87, Nov. 30 in Kerens. She was the wife of Fred Swank, pastor of Sagamore Hill Church in Fort Worth for 43 years. Following retirement, the couple spent a year in Brussels, Belguim, with Swank serving as interim pastor of
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| FIRST CHURCH in Vernon will enter 2003 debt free. The church whittled the debt for renovations to its E.S. James Building, which houses the church's education and office space, to $70,000. On Nov. 3, the church collected $91,585.36 to retire the debt. Participating in the note burning ceremony were Pastor Robert Prince, Norman Brints and Don Ramsey. |
International Baptist Church there under the auspices of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1982. She is survived by her son, William; daughter, Susie McDaniel; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
___ Eugene Maston, 74, Dec. 8 in New York City. He was the son of T.B. and Essie Maston of Fort Worth and the last living member of that family. Maston entered Baylor University at 16, where he earned a bachelor's degree, then returned to Fort Worth to work on a bachelor of divinity degree. He later earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago. He taught in a lumber camp on the Hudson Bay of Canada and served as a Baptist campus minister at a college in Louisiana before moving to Manhattan in 1959 to enter graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary. In the 43 years he lived in New York, Maston served as the catalyst for beginning Baptist campus ministry across the northeast, including at Columbia, West Point, Vassar, Yale, the University of Connecticut, Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth. He was a charter member of Metro Baptist Church in Manhattan, where he served as teacher, pianist, pulpit supply, deacon, historian, hymnist, clerk and door man. Maston suffered from both severe adult diabetes and chronic clinical depression. He regularly shared his story of God's grace with seminarians preparing for ministry. Each week, he met with medical residents at Columbia University doing rotations in psychiatry to describe for them the experience of being a clinically depressed individual. Maston taught at Harlem Prep, a magnet school established to provide innovative educational opportunities for African-American students failing in conventional schools, and at the Manhattan extension campus of The College of New Rochelle. Memorial services were to be held at Metro Baptist Church Dec. 12 and at Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth Dec. 19 at 3 p.m. Burial will be in Fort Worth.
___ George Oakley Jr., 68, Dec. 8 in Pettus. He was a house parent at South Texas Children's Home with his wife for the past 17 years. They had a special ministry to the many teenage girls they cared for over the years. He was a member of First Church in Kenedy and a member of the Stratford Volunteer Fire Department for 18 years, 10 of which he served as chief. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Gaynelle, daughter Patricia, sons Wyatt and Jeffery and six grandchildren.
___Events
___ The Heights Church in Richardson will break ground on an $18 million worship center complex Jan. 12. Members have committed to driving 2,003 wooden stakes into the ground that day, rain or shine, as a testimony to their commitment. Each stake will have an individual's or family's prayer written on it. Construction on the 2,500-seat worship center and two-story, 34,000-square-foot children's building will begin Jan. 13. Completion is scheduled for March 2004. Gary Singleton is pastor.
___Anniversaries
___ Central Church in Kirbyville, 50th, Jan. 12. Former pastors and charter members will be featured during the day. Former pastors Orel Speed, Percy Bailey, Larry Tucker and Jimmy Burks are expected to attend as well as former staff members John McClain and David Sevar. A luncheon and special music will follow the morning service. Abe Ogea is pastor.
___Licensed
___ Jim Roberts and Shannon Hopkins to the ministry at Bluff Dale Church in Bluff Dale.
___Ordained
___ Ismael Gomez to the ministry at Trindad Iglesia in Olton.
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