St. John's, Monroeville, provides food for body and soul in its prison ministry

By The Rev. Sandra Meaher, Rector
St. John's, Monroeville

MONROEVILLE, AL - St. John's, Monroeville, has been very involved in its prison ministry outreach program. Beginning in early summer a group of parishioners from St. Johns have been conducting services at L.I.F.E Tech campus, a program of the Alabama Pardon and Parole board located in Thomasville, Alabama. This is a six month program for men on parole to help them make a smooth transition from incarceration to the free world.

The services are held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays and include Holy eucharist, Bible study and fellowship led by the rector Rev. Sandra Mayer. Approximately 25 men participate on a regular basis.  On a Sunday in October, a special service, Mass On The Grass,  took place under the trees on t he sprawling 93 acre campus. Music for the service was provided by several of the residents who performed some of their own compositions. 

Full story and photos here

LILLIAN, AL - Members of the Church of the Advent are excited about the progress made so far with their Capital Campaign, entitled Bridge to a Dream, for a new building, pictured above in a rendering from Barganier, Davis, Sims Architects of Montgomery, Alabama.

The campaign kickoff luncheon was held on October 3rd, on the expansive screened porches of "Mark's Ark" in Perdido Beach, the historic vacation home of parishioner Priscilla Condon's family.   Architect Jim Barganier unveiled the rendering and plans, and presented them for discussion.  John Corbett, communications chair for the campaign, also made a presentation.  The goal is to build the church without a long term mortgage. Phase I will include the nave and chancel, narthex, restrooms, and a small parlor.  As finances permit, the bell tower, porte-cochere, and connector to the new building will be added.

The results were enthusiastically received, and in just a little over 8 weeks, pledges for the project have come in within 10% of the campaign goal for Phase I, thanks to Jean Ray and Paul Condit who headed up the campaign "ambassadors," and to Art Hahn, overall chair of the Capital Campaign.  If the goal is reached, the hope is to break ground in the Spring of 2011, on the site of the present structure at 12099 County Road 99, in Lillian, Alabama.   This will be a little over 7 years from the date that the mission congregation first began to worship on Sunday mornings, and 9 years since Advent became an organized mission of the diocese.

Submitted by Mary Rodning, Coastline Communicator

In celebration of St. Matthews' 50th Anniversary, the parish created this greeting card with the following words printed on the back of the card:

St. Matthew's Episcopal
"50 years living as Christ came to teach us to live."

St. Paul's, Daphne

"Come and Behold Him"

Submitted by Suzanne Burkett, Coastline Communicator

DAPHNE, Alabama - Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Daphne, AL will host it second annual "COME AND BEHOLD HIM", a Nativity Open House on Saturday, December 11^th from 9 am until 4 pm and Sunday, December 12^th from 9 am until 4 pm in St. Paul's Life Center.

Click here to view photos from 2009



To help cover the cost of our event, there will be a Preview Gala on Friday evening, December 10th. The evening will include food, beverage and live jazz entertainment. Tickets are $20.  Contact Darryl Bryant @ (251) 422-3108 or dbryant@fairwoodfinancial.com.

St Paul's has received the gift of an oil painted interpretation of Madonna and Child; Mother of Loving Mercy by Baba Hendricks.  We will sell raffle tickets for this beautiful painting.  Tickets are $1.00 each or 6 tickets for $5.00.

Hope to see you there!

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Church of the Redeemer, Mobile

Christ Church Cathedral

Advent Music Series

Wednesday, December 15

Bob Holm. Pianist; Enen Yu, violinist

The website is  

http://www.refresheverything.com/supperatgrace

Green Tips for Trying to Save on Gas

Driving habits

Erratic and irresponsible driving chews through gas at a phenomenal rate. Poor driving practices can lower your mileage by up to a third. Aggressive practices include speeding, heavy braking, rapid acceleration and "jackrabbiting".

Excess weight

Our cars tend to become storage lockers over time :). Every pound your vehicle carries goes against your fuel economy. It's not unusual for people to carry excess baggage and equipment that adds up to the weight of a passenger. Make it a habit to clear out non essential items from your vehicle weekly - every bit counts.

Avoid extended idling

In some countries, when you hit a red traffic light, you must stop your engine - and there's good logic behind this requirement. Millions of gallons of gas is burned annually waiting for traffic lights. If you have a reliable vehicle, don't let your car idle for more than 30 seconds - switch it off. Around town this can save you a substantial amount of fuel over the year and not to mention a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

By the same token, starting and stopping your engine excessively can also chew through a lot of fuel and cause extra wear on ignition systems and your engine, so be discerning.

Submitted by Eugene Johnston, Disaster Response Coordinator for the Diocese

The End of the 2010 Hurricane Season

The week of November 29 marks the end of Hurricane season. Through fervent prayer and God's Grace we did not have a hurricane hit our area or any coastline in the United States.

 According the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2010 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the busiest on record with a total of 19 named storms formed - tied with 1887 and 1995 for third highest on record and 12 became hurricanes - tied with 1969 for second highest on record. Five reached major hurricane status of Category 3 or higher. This was the fifth straight year that the United States did not have a major hurricane. This ties a record of years without a major hurricane strike.  

During the late summer months a low-pressure system kept the hurricanes from hitting the United States coastline. At the same time a high-pressure system over the continent of Africa pushed tropical storms into the Atlantic.  On average Atlantic season produces 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

To celebrate the end of hurricane season we have one last article in our series on what parishes in our diocese are doing in disaster preparedness. The last article comes from Holy Cross in Pensacola. The article is how they contact the members of the parish. Thank you to John Briscione for gathering the information.

Holy Cross Pensacola Congregation Notification

Holy Cross actually has two means to notify our congregation of various events, schedules, general news and emergency notifications.

Shepherd Groups: Our congregation is divided into geographic areas and each member family is assigned to a group. We currently have 14 shepherd groups. We try to keep the groups as close to individual neighborhoods as possible. Each group has a leader or co-leaders. Shepherd Groups are used to disseminate information, coordinate meals for parishioners in need, assist with the Stewardship Program and keep track of people in the specific group that may have special needs. Groups also meet on a purely social level. The Church office can put out a call to one or more groups. Group leaders also advise the Church Office of needs within their group.

Phone Tree:  Phone Tree is a third party automatic dialer/message delivery program that interfaces with "Power Church " and other church management programs. Our office administrator sets ups weekly messages that are automatically dialed and delivered to the congregation. Messages can be set up to deliver to specific ministries, Shepherd Groups or the entire congregation. Messages can be composed and recorded and set to be delivered anytime. They can be sent in the early evening hours or on weekends when the phone system is not being used at the Church.

Anyone with interest in either of our systems can call Holy Cross for more information at 850-477-8596.

Lance Armstrong

Convener, Addictions Recovery Ministry

Diocese of Louisiana

225-216-9083 home

225-315-9083 cell