As the busy Church year of 1996 was drawing to a close, attention was focusing on preparations for a very special event in 1997, the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Church in 1797. A Bicentennial Committee was appointed in the Fall of 1996 and its members began work planning special events for the 1997 celebration.
The planned schedule for 1997 was as follows:
| January 15 Opening Night | Pot Luck Supper at Church |
| February 11 | Valentine Dinner |
| March 2 | Old fashioned church service |
| April 13 | Walk through history including Seneca St. Church |
| May 17 | Coffee House with historical theme |
| July 4-6 | Homecoming Weekend |
| Friday |
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| Sunday | Worship with Rev. William Carlsen, John Baker and Frank Clayton |
| September 27 | Pig Roast “sow”lebration at Clark’s Reservation |
| October 22 | Pot Luck Supper and Historical Program |
| November 22 | Old Fashioned turkey dinner |
| December 28 | Birthday Party and Reception after Church |
All of the activities were carried out as planned. The support of the Church members and guests was excellent.
In addition to the General Committee a Directory Committee was chosen to oversee the Olan Mills publication of a Member Directory with a brief history of the Church, a list of past Church Pastors , historical pictures of past members and events and up-to-date pictures of all current members. Barbara Richardson was designated Chair of the committee with Mindi Ackerman , Judy Morningstar, Nancy Sanders and Elwin Richardson assisting.
Rose Huffaker, Gertrude Mawson and Margaret Vermilya prepared a Time Line, a list of the important events of our Church History, the village of Manlius and the USA during the 200 year period from 1797 to 1997. Copies were presented to Church members as an attractive booklet with a large decorative colored logo on the cover, prepared by Ken Bex, who also prepared wall plaques featuring the logo. The time line illustrated the fact that the Church does not exist in a vacuum. We find changes and events in the outside world and its people are shaping our ideas, policies and priorities and causing us to make adjustments to meet new challenges.
Prudence Slentz, cousin of the Church member Lloyd Slentz, was commissioned to paint a picture of today’s church accompanied by smaller pictures of our church building on Seneca Street and the old schoolhouse on Seneca Street used by our earlier congregations for church services. The pictures, which are now hung in the church library, were used on the covers of the Directory.
The Women’s Fellowship compiled and anniversary cookbook, A Taste of Tradition, 200 Years of Pot Luck Suppers- First Baptist Church of Manlius, filled with recipes as furnished by men and women of the Church. The women also prepared an
anniversary quilt with blocks embroidered by women of the Church. It was hung in the corridor leading to the elevator at a later time. An exhibit of interesting and old church historical artifacts was displayed for a time in the Manlius Library display cases and also on a Church bulletin board reserved for the Church Bicentennial Celebration.
A history of the Church was written by Elwin Richardson. Monthly chapters were sent to all members of the Church. Rev. Paul Bailey did some invaluable research on the life and works of our first minister, Elder Nathan Baker. The Church is very fortunate in having in its records original minutes of most Church Meetings starting September 4, 1813. Another source of historical information was the Fayetteville Library’s microfilmed collection of early Fayetteville newspapers. The reporter for Manlius found our Church a fertile subject for many of his articles on Church life in Manlius. The availability of this source was not known when the histories of most of the early ministers were first published. New histories will be made available soon that will include the new information. We are indebted to Church Secretary Hannah Whittaker for her excellent work in typing the histories and making them available to our Church members.
An important part of the 200th Anniversary Celebration was Homecoming Weekend, July 4 to 6th, 1997. On July 4th Jim and Jesse Kerr-Whitt presented a concert of songs and worship in the Sanctuary. A free-will offering was taken to benefit the Church’s Scholarship Fund. A reception followed the concert. On July 5th the Congregation and guests met at 4:00 at the church for a chicken barbecue. The group participated in games at 4:00, ate at 6:00 and listened to conversations about the past at 7:30. On Sunday morning July 6th at 9:30 a worship celebration was held with Reverend William Carlsen (ABC/NYS), Reverend John Baker and Reverend Frank Clayton participating, followed by a reception.
The festivities continued as planned in the fall of 1997 with a “sow”lebration (a pig roast) at Clark’s Reservation in September, a pot-luck supper and historical program in October, an old-fashioned turkey dinner at the church in November and a 200th birthday party held at the close of the Church Service on December 28th, to mark the end of an extraordinary year for the Church and a thank you to the Bicentennial Committee for planning and carrying out an impressive program of events.
In his State of the Church report for 1997, Pastor Paul Bailey wrote “no Church has celebrated 200 years with more joy, enthusiasm and food and that the year 1997 will ever be remembered for its Bicentennial Events, i.e., dinners, talks, videos, programming, parades, guests from the past and a 200th birthday party.” He commended the Bicentennial Committee under the leadership of Ken Bex for doing a remarkable job. Reverend Bailey himself as Pastor deserved a large part of the credit for the successful celebrations. He spent much time and effort in working with the Committee, not only in the planning but in the execution of the plans.
While the Bicentennial Celebration was the major program of interest for the Church in 1997, other facets of Church life continued. On January 12th the Youth Leadership Team accepted with regret the resignation of Andrew Carlsen as Minister of Youth. Due to job changes Andy and his wife Jen could no longer devote the time necessary for youth leadership. The Youth Team agreed to incorporate the Carlsens’ work with their on-going responsibilities. Ellen Everly agreed to act as the Youth Team leader, and as a result all of the Youth Programs continued as before with adult leaders partnering with Youth to organize and implement the special monthly events.
Church projects of a more physical nature were completed as planned in 1997. One special project was the kitchenette, built on the main floor of the Education Wing so that food could conveniently be served to groups in the Chapel. According to Pastor Paul it was being “used like crazy,” including church members and guests confined to wheelchairs.
A decision was made to have Architects create designs for the future construction of a multi-level elevator to be installed on the parking lot side of the church. The original plan to build the elevator in the education wing of the church with parking on the north side of the church was rejected because of the limited space for parking.
One of our newer members, Wendy Mapstone, saw the need for a program designed for pre-school children to serve young parents in the area and worked with Pastor Paul to start a new Church program. Pastor Paul wrote in his 1996 Pastor’s Report that, “Wendy Mapstone is giving leadership to Playgroup Plus, a weekly preschool program.” In his 1997 report he wrote that a Play School Nursery School began its first year of operation under the direction of Wendy Mapstone, along with a Stay and Play Program. For the 1997-1998 school year the preschool program was to be in session two days a week from 10 A.M. until 1 P.M. The school grew slowly, but surely, and by the end of the year there were nine children in the program on Tuesdays and six on Thursdays.
There was an important change in our music staff in 1997. John Spradling joined us as Church organist in October. Joyce McCartney stepped down after many years of valued music ministry.
Kings Kids reported canceling its morning kindergarten program because of dwindling numbers. Financially the group had problems and because of losses with the summer program ended the year with a deficit, which was covered by retained earnings from previous years.
The Unity Fellowship (for older adult Church members) and the Lively Folks (younger adults) reported active programs for the year. The Unity Fellowship enjoyed a busy program with a breakfast in February, a visit to the Old Country Buffet, a Chicken Barbecue and corn roast, the Church pig roast, and a New Years Party postponed to January 4, 1998, because of a major snowstorm. The Lively Folks program included musicals, pool parties, a road rally, volleyball and progressive dinners.
The American Baptist Women’s Ministry enjoyed another active year with Shirley Mapstone serving again as President. Meetings included a program concerning the Cuban refugees resettlement program, a mother-daughter banquet with 120 present, and several others highlighting the group’s program priorities for the year. With love-gift offerings and several money raisers, the women were able to disburse $3108.03 for various Church funds including $1,648.00 towards the Kitchenette Fund. The Trustees were appreciative of the support of the ABW members for the installation of the kitchenette on the main floor of the educational wing of the church.
There was concern that our traditional worship services were no longer what many people wanted because of the amazing success of the Eastern Hills Church with their “contemporary” worship style, which in part consists of very loud music led by a Praise Team and a more evangelical style of preaching. Starting in the fall, the third Sunday of each month was designated to be held with a “contemporary” worship style led by a Praise Team. Cathy Payne-Ferris was the Music Director at that time.
Cub Scout Pack 215 enjoyed the use of the gym and other meeting rooms for its den and pack meetings. Vacation Bible School with “The Sonrise Balloon Adventures” as its program was held for two weeks in the summer of 1997 with Marge Shepherd as director aided by a staff of 35. It was attended by 107 boys and girls- 31 from our Church, 44 who did not know which church they were from, if any, and 38 from 13 different area churches. It was a big success and the Director was looking forward to the next summer’s VBS adventure.
While 1997 was devoted to the 200th year celebration and regular activities, the Church took some time out of the festivities to look ahead and to create visions of what it would like to accomplish in the future. Vision 98 was the name given to the programs and activities the members desired to be part of the life of the Church in 1998. A line item of $5,000.00 was added to the 1998 budget to be available to Boards, Committees and individuals for the purpose of making the visions come true. Reverend Bailey remarked, “I believe the combination of dreams and the availability of resources are a potentially powerful combination.” Some of the visions were: to establish more small group meetings in homes; provide an opportunity for contemporary worship and music; increase family programming; upgrade church facilities; complete the elevator project; improve the parking lot; establish a memorial garden; increase mission activities with mission awareness trips; provide outreach to the local poor and homeless, clothing drives and Habitat for Humanity; enhance the spiritual growth of youth; implement the long-term planning process; and promote Church growth with home visitation and a better assimilation of new Church members.
Although a Capital Fund had been in place in the Financial Reports for several years as a repository for special gifts assigned for the purpose of helping to fund special Church projects, mostly of a physical nature, the Trustees formally came up with an
official Capital Fund plan for which Church members were asked to make yearly contributions. A special Elevator Fund was created at the same time. The Capital Fund has been generously supported over the years by the Congregation and has been very useful in covering the costs of many moderately priced needed improvements. Large improvements like the elevator and the paving of the parking lot have still required special fund drives. A new carpet installed in the Sanctuary insured that the church would look its best for the year long celebration.
An aura of peace and quiet settled over the Church after the remarkable celebration of its 200 years in existence. It was a memorable year, one in which we learned of the struggles of our forefathers as they sought to worship God in the wilderness that was upstate New York in 1797, and how they kept the Church alive through bad times and good times.
