Thursday, November 12, 2009

Wellsville Area Ministerial Association


Tuesday - November 10: The WAMA members gathered for their monthly breakfast meeting this week at Tonda's. The meeting was conducted by association President, Rev. Troy Warner.

Special guests were Kate & Bob Moore, founders of Youth With A Purpose Boys Home. The Moores are pictured above. Founded in 1995 the home provides a refuge for troubled teen age boys between the ages of eight to 21 years old. The home is located in the Salineville area on the Moore's 84 acre farm. Mr. Moore said the farm is split between being in the village limits of Salineville and the other half in the township.

The home provides a family model with parents in a rural farm setting. Since opening their home and farm along with their three sons there has been as many as 16 boys residing there. Currently they have six residents. The home teaches independent living skills and provides behavior management, individual treatment plans & counseling, drug & alcohol counseling and medication management in a loving Christian family environment. The home is licensed by the Ohio Dept. of Jobs & Family Services and is a Title IV-E Group Home Program.

The Moores got started in their calling providing counseling to incarcerated juveniles in the county's Tobin Center. Seeing a need for a home they opened up their farm and life savings to provide a traditional family setting that some of the boys have never experienced in their young lives. Up until recently 90% of the funding for the home was provided by the various government placement agencies. With cut backs in federal & state funding they only get a per diem for each child. That barely puts food on the table. Beginning this past May the cost of providing a home for these children has been running a negative cash flow. Since then the Moores have begged, borrowed and have invested everything they have to keep it going. Now this dedicated couple is asking for help to support for this operation. Many of the young men that have been with them have learned to be independent, responsible individuals as they go out into the world. If not for the Moores they would have probably been thrown back into the same environments that got them in trouble in the first place. Rev. Warner challenged all Wellsville area congregations to support the Moore's mission in their time of need with today's economic conditions. For more information on what you can do to lend a hand you can call the Moores at 330-679-1013.

In the Treasurer's Report First Baptist Church Deacon Terry McCuen reported there is a $279.32 balance in the Paint-The-Town account to start out with next year. McCuen is the WAMA treasurer. This year the volunteer painters did three houses and the Ascension Church. This year's campaign ended with painting the outside and replacing the protective plexiglass on the historic church's windows. With absolutely no congregation the church at 11th & Main is the only structure in Wellsville with a historical landmark designation. Rev. Phillips reported that at one time it was probably one of the biggest congregations in the ville's history. Many of the villes early residents were Angelicans.

Nazarene Church Pastor Dirk Hall reminded everyone of this year's Community Fall Revival that will be hosted at the Nazarene Church. It starts Sunday, November 15 and runs through Wednesday, November 18. Services will begin each evening at 6 P.M. and the public is invited.

The annual Community Thanksgiving Service will be held Sunday, November 22 at Wellsville's First Baptist Church. It's the annual installation of the newly re-elected officers of the WAMA. Mayor Joe Surace will be conducting the installation and the ladies of First Baptist will handle the cooking for the dinner. It's open to the public. There will be a free will donation collected which will be donated to the Youth With A Purpose Home. Rev. Thompson has invited all. The church's choir will be performing.

According to Rev. Phillips the Methodist parishes at Highlandtown, at 10th & Main and at 5th & Main are now known as the Wellsville United Methodist Parish.

Bishop Rudder announced that the annual Thanksgiving Dinner sponsored by the New Life Hope Ministries will be held at Tonda's Place this year. The traditional turkey dinner and all the trimmings is free and open to the public. Some of the notable servers this year will be Muni Court Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling, County Commissioner Penny Traina and Mayor Joe Surace. If you would like to help, donate or just come for some good cooking you can contact Bishop Rudder for more information. I forgot to get the times.

Rudder also announced that starting on January 17 the Awakening Reclamation Conference will be delivering the torch to New Hope Life to begin a week of 24 hour per day prayer. The church will be open all week for anyone wishing to stop in to offer a prayer at any time of the day or night while this is taking place.

Rev. Warner reminded everyone of the gently used clothing that is available to anyone in need at the Harvest House. All donations are sorted, cleaned if necessary and free. It is part of the mission of New Hope Life to open their hearts and ability to help where they can. Donations are thankfully accepted and the clothes are there for anyone.

Rev. Ted Ludwig of Bethel Presbyterian announced that tonight, November 12, at 7 o'clock members of the African Children's Choir will be performing at that church. There will be 23 members of this choir between the ages of 8 to 10 year olds entertaining for this worthy cause. This is also open to the public and free of admission. A free will donation will be collected to help support the education, care and emergency relief for over 7,000 children in many African nations. The church is located at 16521 Steubenville Pike Road.

It was also announced that Lee's Chapel pastor Rev. Renfro will continue to serve that parish.

Finally Bishop Rudder wanted to issue a public thank you to the East Liverpool Review for their weekly Saturday announcements of all area churches. Many at the breakfast meeting agreed it is one of the most comprehensive coverages published by any newspaper they have ever seen.

The East Liverpool Christian School will be offering another Thanksgiving Day Dinner at Adrian's in Calcutta.

There will be no meeting held in December. The next breakfast meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12 at 9 A.M. at Tonda's.

ole nib

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