Reverend Paul Bailey in his annual State of the Church Report gave a mixed report for his version of the Church year 1995. First he wrote, “1995 has been a wonderful year for the First Baptist Church. We continue to throw our energies into the themes of Work, Worship, Education, Mission and Encouragement....We have met, with God’s Grace, many challenges and continued to declare the good news of Jesus Christ in faith and practice.” However, while he was glad for the emphasis on the Mission Statement, he felt that it had not effected change.
The concept where the Church focuses on an annual theme (for the Manlius Baptists the theme in 1995 was “we’ve a story to tell,” followed by “restore unto me the joy of thy salvation”) he felt had not really helped attendance which decreased from 9270 in 1994 to 8774 in 1995. The membership increased by three from 211 in 1994 to 214 in 1995. Pastor Paul had good words for the staff, however, i.e., “a wonderful staff that is a joy.”
The Youth Leadership Team found that while funds were available for a salary, a more difficult task was to find someone to fill the position of Minister of Youth. After months of searching, Kevin Donoghue was found and agreed to serve. He began work on March 1, 1995. Kevin was active with Ross Binder’s Senior High Sunday School Class and assisted Pastor Paul with the Wednesday Night Live program for Grades 5 to 8. Kevin also initiated and led several special events including a trip to New York City, a Christian Rock Concert, and a work weekend at Camp Pathfinder. Apparently all was not well since in the October 8, 1995, Church Bulletin Kevin informed the Church that “I have come to a very difficult decision concerning my position as the Minister of Youth here at the First Baptist Church of Manlius. It is with sadness that I tender my resignation. I find myself unable to meet the requirements and expectations of this position. I have enjoyed working with all of you and plan to stay at our Church as I believe God has brought me here. I look forward to the fellowship without the responsibilities. Yours in Christ, Kevin.” Kevin was replaced by Andy Carlsen, who started on November 1, 1995. Andy was assisted by his wife Jenn. Andy grew up in our Church. He is a graduate of Houghton College and is in private business in Manlius.
The Church sponsored a series of Lenten Lunches on Fridays from March 10 to April 7, 1995. Five different ministers from area Churches were guests and spoke on “The Thorns,” “The Robe,” “The Nail,” “The Spear,” and “The Shroud.” The leader for “The Spear” was Reverend Leon Oaks-Lee from the Auburn United Church.
On April 29, 1995, at 6:30 P.M. in the gymnasium the tenth annual Coffee House was held. Sandy Haase invited everyone to join in the “wonderful fun and fellowship” found at the Coffee House, this year with a Hawaiian theme.
In May, 1995 John Day became Custodian replacing Ken Burrows, who was retiring. John was highly recommended by Myrna and Mike Stasiw as he had worked for Mike at Morgan Badgly for several years. John was skilled in plumbing and carpentry and was willing to tackle almost any problem that came along. He saved the Church a great deal of money with his expertise.
On June 25, 1995, the Church Service became a Reunion Sunday Service. Reverend Gary Johnson and his wife Nancy came from Maine where Gary was the Baptist Executive Minister for the Maine Baptists. Reverend John Baker and his wife Wanda came from Maryland, and Reverend Frank Clayton and his wife Jean came from Northville, New York. Reverend Johnson delivered the morning sermon “Renewal for Mission,: Reverend Clayton led the Congregation in the Morning Prayer and Reverend Baker was recognized for sixty years of Christian Ministry. As part of this service Aileen Chang was commissioned for a short term mission.
Pastor Paul, on July 1, 1995, was honored by the Congregation on the occasion of his fortieth birthday and completion of fifteen years in the ministry. He was given by the Church a monetary gift which he said he cherished and would bank for a future trip to Israel that he and his wife Phyllis hoped to take.
In 1995 the Manlius Baptist women, continuing their leadership of working on and financially supporting projects to improve the church facilities, and having completed their renovation of the basement kitchen, took on the task of installing a kitchenette in the class room next to the Chapel. This made it convenient for the women to hold receptions and small dinners in the chapel rather than in the gym. The main floor of the Education Wing was accessible to wheelchairs and the restroom on the main floor was also accessible. To facilitate the transfer of food from the kitchenette to the Chapel, an opening between the two rooms and the installation of a door was accomplished in a skillful manner by our new Custodian, John Day.
Other important projects completed were the basement kitchen renovations, the insulation of the educational wing, a complete renovation of the ladies’ restroom in the basement of the old part of the Church (humorously called the “old ladies” restroom, the “old” referring to the age of the bathroom itself and not to the age of the ladies using it), and a renovation of the hallway between the “parlors” and the gymnasium. Our new and talented Custodian also installed shelves in the library for children’s books. On the outside of the Church, the steps to the Pleasant St. entrance were rebuilt. The steps to the main entrance were partially caulked and outside window sills were scraped and painted.
At the July 25, 1995, Quarterly Business Meeting the Diaconate recommended that Suzi Harriff, director of Music, be licensed by the Church to preach as a step toward ordination. The Church agreed.
Vacation Bible School , August 14-18, was directed in 1995 by Lynn Dew. While 58 children enrolled at the beginning of the school, 88 were in attendance on the last day. The theme was the Sontown Family Celebration.
In September 1995 the Congregation received a Dear Friends letter from Gary Baker announcing with greatest mixed emotions his resignation as Associate Pastor,
effective September 30, 1995, to accept a call of the Westvale Baptist church to be their
Pastor. He expanded on his feelings in an article in the October 1995 Newsletter: “My coming as your Associate Pastor was a re-entry point for me in Pastoral Ministry. You helped in many ways that made my re-entry smooth, comfortable, and rewarding. Thank you. I well thank God all my days for bringing us together in 1992.” Westvale Community Baptist Church, October 1, 1995.
While Gary felt led by God to serve the Manlius Church three years before, he felt another call to re-enter full-time ministry at the Westvale Baptist Church. The Manlius Church honored Gary and Jeanne with a reception. The Church Members gave Gary a robe and a framed print of the Church as farewell gifts. Gary commented that it was his first very own robe and it would be an ever present reminder of our love and friendship. Flowers given to Jeanne were blooming cheerfully on the Baker’s front porch. He again thanked the Church for everything, including the memories. Their son Damon Gagnier remained as an active member in the Manlius Church (later joined by his wife Angela and daughter Megan). Gary and Jeanne Baker have remained our friends and were helpful during our long wait for an new Pastor after Paul Bailey left.
The Financial Drive for the 1996 Fiscal Year was called “Seasons for Sharing.”
Myrna Benedict as Chair, Bill Burt as planting steward, and Bob Doss as harvesting steward, were thanked for a successful campaign.
In the Fall of 1995 double services, as recommended by the Board of Deacons were continued. The early service as held in the Chapel. The Diaconate decided not to provide greeters for the early service.
In 1995 a new Caregivers in Action (CIA) Program was started, coordinated by Bill and Sally Lyon and Harry and Pauline Cole. Sixteen persons as couples agreed to provide caring and sharing for those in need.
The Church recognized the need for an Associate Pastor to replace Gary
Baker and appointed a new Committee to search for one: Murray Chesebro, Chair, Rev. Paul Bailey, Peter Shevchuk, Kathy Clements, Nancy Albanese, Joanne Mostar, Gordon MNoble, Kathy Shevchuk, Leah Stark. Gary Baker came back to appear in the Church Mice Players presentation of the Minister’s Aunt” on November 17, 18, and 19, 1995.
In other areas of Church life something was happening almost weekly. Not all of the Church sponsored activities involved worship or maintenance of the building or
hiring people to organize and supervise the activities. The Unity Fellowship was a group who met once monthly, usually on the fourth Saturday evening of the month for a pot-luck dinner at the Church with some kind of entertainment scheduled for the remainder of the evening. In 1995 a total of 368 people attended eleven meetings. Some of the 1995 highlights were an evening when Gamble Huffaker gave everyone rides in his newly restored 1931 Plymouth Sedan, Barbershop Choruses at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School, a turkey dinner at the Durhamville Church, a soup and slipper party at the Mapstone’s, a chicken barbecue at the Richardson’s home and the annual New Year’s Eve dinner party. Although people of any age were invited and welcomed, attendees were generally in the grandmother and grandfather stage of life.
For the younger and more active group an alternative to the Unity Fellowship was the Lively Folks. In 1995 one meeting featured a volleyball game in the Church gym- a lack of snow sent the group indoors. Other activities were a Fayetteville-Manlius musical production, “West Side Story,” the Balloon Festival as seen from the vantage point of Tom and Elaine Burt’s hilltop home, a swimming party at the Davison’s, a game night and a theater production of “The Ministers Aunt” at the Church and the Church Coffee House in April. The Coffee House was a musical event held in the gymnasium where members and friends of the Church sat around tables with food available and were entertained with musical numbers, comedy, and other assorted amateur routines.
The King’s Kids Program of Christian Child Care suffered through a difficult financial year in 1995. There was a marked decline in the summer program enrollment, probably due to the increasing number of public recreation programs being offered. The King’s Kids 1995 summer program earned approximately $14,000.00, about half of what was expected. A conservative budget, strong fall enrollment and the belt-tightening efforts of the co-directors, enabled the King’s Kids to reduce the expected deficit to a manageable $2,926.06. The King’s Kids report did not include information on the number of children enrolled. While the King’s Kids Program was designed to fill an important need in the community, not to make a lot of money for the Church, it was important that the Program received enough money to pay the staff and to cover the extra expenses that the Church incurred in hosting the program.
Another important Church organization had a full year in 1995. It was the American Baptist Women’s Ministries, often called the Baptist Women’s Fellowship. The elected Mission Board emphasized and had responsibility for informing the Congregation about the activities of our Baptist Missionaries, Baptist Colleges, and Baptist homes for children and the aged and their needs and for raising money for them in four major offerings: America for Christ, One Great Hour of Sharing, World mission Offering and the Retired Ministers and Missionaries. The ABW Ministries supported these offerings and also raised money for other projects, some involving the Church, others the community. While not an official part of the Church program listed in the Constitution, they have contributed greatly to t he benevolence program of the Church. They collected “love gifts” from their members, an “over and above” mission support offering. They were in charge of “blanket” Sunday, collecting funds to buy blankets for disaster victims. They met periodically to prepare ‘white cross” items for the Cameron Community Ministries in Rochester. They worked hard to raise money for the basement kitchen renovations with the annual garage sale at Ammann’s barn, the serving of lunches for the ABC/NYS Board of Missions and bake sales. In 1995 they were able to donate $2358.18 to various worthy causes.
Although the ABW Ministries is a relatively new name, our Church History tells stories of women’s contributions from the very early days of the Church when they (known as the Ladies Aid Societies) met in the Church to braid rugs for sale or sold extra produce from their gardens along the street by the old Church.
