The BEACON. The Newsletter of Binkley Baptist Church HOLY WEEK AT BINKLEY CHURCH

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1 The BEACON The Newsletter of Binkley Baptist Church March 25, 2009 Binkley Baptist Church 1712 Willow Drive Chapel Hill NC Church Staff Denise Cumbee Long Interim Senior Minister Dale Osborne Associate Minister Beth Honeycutt Minister of Christian Education Leandra Merea Strope Minister of Music binkleychurch.org Duane Gilbert Bookkeeper binkleychurch.org Maureen Rosen Office Manager binkleychurch.org Bo Lloyd, Organist Not getting this newsletter by yet? What are you waiting for? us at and save a stamp and a tree! HOLY WEEK AT BINKLEY CHURCH Labyrinth, April 5-10: See newsletter page 3 for details. Lenten Devotional Guides offer reflections on the Church Covenant, and have an entry for each day of Holy Week. Palm Sunday, 11:00 am worship, April 5th: We will wave palms, join in the joyful rite of baptism, and celebrate communion together on this first day of Holy Week. Holy Week Class, 5:30-7:00pm: Bob Bratcher will be leading a class the weeknights of Holy Week, where we will study the scriptures of Jesus' last week. Registration forms are in the narthex, along with a limited number of books for the study to purchase at cost. Meet in the lounge and bring your supper with you, if you like. Maundy Thursday, 6:30 pm meal, communion and reflection, April 9th: Join us at tables in the Fellowship Hall for a simple candlelight meal of bread and fruit, accompanied by communion. You are also invited to walk the labyrinth in silence following this worship experience. Childcare provided. Good Friday, Noon, April 10th: Hymns, gospel passion readings, prayer and meditation in the sanctuary on the quarter hour. Attend one or all of these Good Friday remembrances around the labyrinth. Easter Sunday, April 12th: Behold, I make all things new! (Rev. 21:5) Sunrise Service 6:30 am: Join us early one morning in the Binkley Courtyard near the St. Francis statue as we welcome the sun and the promise of resurrection in Christ. Easter Breakfast: Be sure to make this Binkley tradition part of your Easter Sunday. Come to the Fellowship Hall at 9:30 for a tasty breakfast. We will honor the resurrection of Christ and place flowers on a cross. Bring blooms, buds and beautiful blossoms with you to celebrate new life! Please contact Sheryl Schrimsher at if you can provide or serve food that morning. Church School will resume the following week. Worship Celebration 11:00 am: Come to a festival of music and spoken word as we celebrate new life and the living Christ!

2 WELCOME NEW BINKLEY MEMBER! We re delighted to welcome the following new member to the Binkley Community: Mary Lee Tyndall (two young adult children, Leanna and Rik) 423 Hickory Drive, Chapel Hill NC PRIMETIMERS: APRIL 8, 12:30 pm At the Wednesday, April 8 th meeting of Primetimers, our guest speaker will be Jerry Whortan who is the executive director of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro YMCA. The Y offers a wide range of programs for people of all ages and is a Christian institution in its origin and values. Lunch is served in the church lounge at 12:30 followed by the program. Reservations should be made on the bulletin board across from Beth Honeycutt s office, and the cost is $7.00. Although this is primarily a senior adult fellowship, anyone is welcome. SECURITY AT BINKLEY Thank you all for your patience with the new security system. It is working well so far. We are asking that everyone who has a Binkley keycard get in the habit of using it, and that if you have an old key, and unless you need it to open doors other than the ones that now read the keycards, please turn it in to the church office. This will reduce the chance that someone will inadvertently unlock, and leave unlocked, one of those primary doors. And, as always, if you do unlock another door in the church, kindly ensure that it is relocked when you leave. If you need a keycard, call Mo. Thank you! TORO, TORO! You are invited to ride the Binkley Toro lawn tractor this Spring and Summer as you help to improve the look of our grounds. Not only that, you are invited to display your Big Bad Wolf skills as you blow the clippings off our sidewalks with the church s power blower. Contact Tim Ross (gainshare@aol.com) or Bob Phillips (rophillips@mindspring.com)to sign up for your adventures in lawn care. DEACON ELECTIONS Binkley Church has called nine new deacons: Eva Clontz, Chris McDougald, Susan Preston, Don Reinfurt, Matthew Ripley-Moffitt, Susan Rogers, Allen Smith, Carole Stevens, and Melinda Wilde. We are grateful to these nine and to all nominees who were gracious enough to put their names forward for the election process. Thank you to all members of our congregation who prayerfully voted in this deacon election process. The nine who have been elected will be ordained during worship on May 17. They will begin serving families after their ordination. Please express your support and appreciation for their willingness to serve in this important role. AUDREY PHELAN: After successful openheart surgery and 2 weeks in the hospital, 3-year-old Audrey Phelan is AT HOME!! Hooray! If you would like to contribute a meal to the Phelan family, please sign up on the on-line calendar created for them. Go to Choose "audrey" from the pull down menu under existing calendars. Password is "mwf2s". Click the date you can help. Enter your name (and a brief description of the meal you'll bring). Then click "save" at the bottom of the calendar. They would like a meal every other day (no food restrictions). Meals can be left (labeled clearly "for Phelan family" with the date) in the Binkley kitchen refrigerator. If you have questions, contact Nan Pardington by phone or nanpardington@bellsouth.net. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS LEANDRA? Minister of Music Leandra Merea Strope celebrates the arrival of her new daughter, Pasha Lynwen Merea Strope, born March 12, 2009 in Pensacola, Florida. Leandra is taking 6 weeks of maternity leave and some vacation days to enjoy time with Pasha at home in Pittsboro. She plans to return to Binkley on Sunday, May 3 rd, when we will recognize our choirs and musicians during worship. In her absence, organist Bo Lloyd is filling in with adult and children s choir rehearsals and working with other staff on worship planning. Janice Pope is also assisting with choir rehearsals. We wish Leandra and Pasha some happy together time, and extend grateful appreciation to Bo and Janice for their willingness to step up to the plate in her absence!

3 Join Us and Other Sponsoring Churches Chapel Hill Friends Meeting Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church of the Advocate Episcopal Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist St. Thomas More Catholic United Church UCC University UMC An Ecumenical Holy Week Opportunity Walking the Labyrinth in the Sanctuary of the Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church 1712 Willow Drive, Chapel Hill Times for entering the labyrinth are listed below. The walk takes at least 30 minutes. Sunday, April 5 Monday, April 6 Tuesday, April 7 Wednesday, April 8 4:00 PM 8:30 PM 6:30 AM 8:30 PM 6:30 AM 8:30 PM 6:30 AM 4:30 PM Thursday, April 9 6:30 AM 6:00 PM Labyrinth will remain open until 9:00 for Binkley people following the Maundy Thursday Service. Friday, April 10 6:30 AM 12:00 PM Good Friday Service 12:00 1:00 PM People may walk during the service and up until 2:00pm. Bring & Wear Socks for Walking ~ A Love Offering Will Be Received Velma Ferrell, Beth Honeycutt, and Janet O Neal are serving as Binkley s representatives for this project. Beth Honeycutt will meet with families with children who want an orientation to the labyrinth. Please contact beth@binkleychurch.org to arrange a time.

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5 HAPPY APRIL BIRTHDAYS! 6: ALEX SWANSON 7: LYNN MARSHALL 8: JONATHAN AVERY, RUBY PARDINGTON, ALEXA SAVELLI, BONNIE STEVENSON 9: ANN BROCK, SAMANTHA BURRIS, PEGGY KINNAIRD, SOPHIA PALMER, KAREEM SHAH, WILL WARASILA 10: CARYL PRICE, KAREN STEWART 11: AMY GELLATLY, RACQUEL GUY, JUDITH TASHNER, DANA TRENT 12: OLIVIA JOHNSON 13: LIN CROCKETT 14: NEAL CHEEK, CHANDLER ZIRKLE 15: LYDIA OSBORNE, MICHAEL TURNER 16: ALEXIS AVERY, JULIA AVERY, CAROL VANDER ZWAAG 17: BOB BRATCHER, MARCELLA BURK GROON, NANCIE MCDERMOTT, JULIE MCKENZIE 18: JOE CLONTZ 19: CHRISTOPHER SCHMID 20: MABLE STROWD, ZACHARY SZOSTAK 21: JACOB OSBORNE, ANGELA SWANSON 23: ABBIE DICKINSON, BOB WILLIS 25: PRISCILLA BRATCHER, GORDON DEFRIESE, JERRY SOLDI 26: ELLEN SORRELS, HARSHI TURNER 27: MIKE CHITWOOD 28: ERIC PEAKS, JR. 29: REED WILLIS 30: SUSAN CHRISTOPHER, CAROLINE LINDSAY, JACKIE O DALY, JIM WILDE HAPPY APRIL ANNIVERSARIES! 3 Martha Hamilton and Collins Kilburn, Mike and Pam Reed, 1999; Sam and Barbara Wilburn, Art and Gretchen Aylsworth, Sibyl Wagner and Adams Wofford, Michael and Harshi Turner, 2005 APRIL NURSERY DUTY 4/5 Buck Horton and Sheryl Scrimsher, Martha Hutt, Harry and Lynda Jensen, Carol Kille. Angela Snider, Greeter 4/12 Christine Jernigan, Carl Johnson and Anna Kirby, James and Geraldine King, Jo Lea. Julie Jennings, Greeter 4/19 Joe, Myra and Walker Knight, Rob Lewis, Camellia Lee, Karen Long. Kara Richards-Baker, Greeter 4/26 Caroline and Paul Lindsay, Kay Maltbie, Tom McCollough, Patricia McKenzie & Kathy Keyser. Tamara Dempsey-Tanner, Greeter UPCOMING CHRISTIAN ED EVENTS Alliance of Baptists Convocation: The 2009 Alliance of Baptists Convocation will be held at Park Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, April Information is in the narthex, and at Church-wide Beach Retreat! Sign-up starting April 5: on the Sundays of April, we will be holding registration for the June 5-7 Beach Retreat. Look for registration forms in the narthex. The retreat leader is Stan Dotson of Asheville, a pastor, gardener, husband and musician. Vacation Bible School July 6-10: Registration will not begin until late April, but please save the date now! Moral Philosophy Seminar May 8-9 at UNC Taught by chair of the philosophy department Dr. Geoff Sayr-McCord, this weekend seminar is sponsored by the Program in the Humanities. Moral Philosophy deals with "How do we know what is right and what is wrong?" and this course deals primarily with thinkers Mill and Kant. First-time registrants receive a discount of 50%. Contact or human@unc.edu for more information and to register.

6 Dear Friends, I write to express my thanks, and to share how much I look forward to joining you on May 15th to begin a new partnership in ministry... First the thanks! Let me start by expressing my appreciation for the work of your Search Committee over the past several months. The committee was thorough in questions; compassionate, searching and open with this candidate; and warm in hospitality to Lynn and me. I had many opportunities to visit in their homes, and to share at table with so many combinations of committee members. Four people actually made a weekend scouting trip all the way to Rochester. Lynn and I appreciated the tone of that visit as well. Beyond their conversations with me, the Search Committee thoughtfully created opportunities for meeting staff and elected church leaders, and then more recently arranged times for engaging in conversation with the whole congregation on our candidate weekend in Chapel Hill. Sincere thanks to all of you collectively for the powerful reception on that weekend of March 1. I appreciated your honest questions and concern as much as the warm affirmation you shared. It was good to get interviewed one last time by the children of the church (who know the best questions for really getting to know someone), and to have visits with so many different groups of you. A strong thank-you to your church staff! Thanks for working with an unfamiliar out-of town partner in putting together worship and helping to guide him through a first worship experience at Binkley. And thanks to each Binkley staff-member for the warm personal welcome. Finally I am very grateful for the work of Denise Cumbee Long, who has offered you dedicated service as your Interim Minister. It isn t easy stepping into a pastoral role after a long-term minister leaves a church. I know I am married to an Interim! I want to give a public and heartfelt thank you for the presence and leadership Denise has provided in her challenging role; for her willingness to share openly with me; and for the good work I hear she has done in paving the way for this new pastoral relationship. The two months between now and when I arrive to be your Minister promise from my vantage-point to move by swiftly. Lynn and I have taken the first steps towards selling our house, started packing boxes, and started bidding farewell to long-time friends. While some Lake Avenue Baptist Church members were not surprised to hear I will be moving, others have been caught off-guard. Every day has a lot of goodbyes and some sadness. However Lake Avenue members who have done research to find out about Binkley have said they feel this to be a good fit and a genuine call. I am grateful for their blessings. I trust their discernment even as I trust yours. The beginning of a new relationship between a pastor and a congregation is characteristically a time of great expectations, high hopes, and sometimes more than a little concern. A Lake Avenue member recently put it in typically blunt upstate New York style: Yeah. We know what you re like. But what s the next one going to be like? All the interviewing in the world won t provide a guarantee of what the future holds. We each long for the very best for the church, its ministry and life together. I too have high hopes, feel great excitement, and experience an occasional case of nerves. Yet deep within I feel assurance that God is in the mix of this new partnership. I know I am privileged to be moving from one adventurous, faithful, visionary community of faith to another! And I am sure that in the weeks ahead you will share openly with me your concerns, your dreams and your hopes for the extraordinary church you are. May you have a good final few weeks in this season of already/not yet ; plentiful opportunity for warm thanks to your Interim Minister; and a blessed, joyful Easter. In Christ s Peace, Peter JB Carman

7 SEARCH COMMITTEE WRAP-UP On Sunday, March 1, 2009 at the Church in Conference immediately following worship, the Minister Search Committee unanimously and with great excitement moved that the Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church extend an indefinite call to the Reverend Peter John Bodden Carman to serve as our new Minister. Our recommendation followed a multi-year process of committee and congregation-wide discussions regarding hopes and dreams for the future of Binkley, and where we felt the Spirit moving in our midst. In early 2008, our committee began soliciting applications, reviewing resumes, and interviewing candidates. After months of narrowing down the applicant pool, the committee reached a unanimous decision to move forward with Peter Carman, currently (since 1992) serving as Senior Pastor at Lake Avenue Baptist Church in Rochester, New York. Members of our committee traveled to Rochester to observe Peter s worship leadership and preaching, and Peter came to Chapel Hill to meet individually with Binkley staff, and with leader groups from the Diaconate, Church Council, and the Personnel Relations Committee. Out of 114 resumes, Peter s stood out for many reasons: depth and relevance of experience across all of our criteria, stellar references, religious Convictions, and a personal story that started with growing up in South India and most recently included the welcoming of hundreds of refugees from Burma to Lake Avenue Baptist Church. After a question and answer session following the proposal of the motion at the Church in Conference, the motion from the Search Committee was brought to a vote. The Minister Search Committee is extremely excited to report that the assembled congregation voted to extend the indefinite call to Peter Carman to serve as our Minister, and that Peter has accepted that call. Peter will begin his ministry with us on May 15, We on the Search Committee wish to express our deepest gratitude for all the prayers of the congregation throughout this busy and exciting time in the life of Binkley! Minister Search Committee members: Lori Cahill, Nancy Cheek, Joe Clontz, Wayne Price, Tim Pyatt, Fred Schroeder, Brennetta Simpson, Joe Templeton, Linda Textoris, and Jim Wilde. BINKLEY S NEW CALENDAR: we have begun subscribing to an online calendar that allows us to provide you with far more information about events at Binkley. Find it at the website (binkleychurch.org), on the home page. On the upper right, click on the interest group of your choice to see all, church-only, or guest events. This Week now scrolls up at the top. Take a look and let us know what you think! Saving the Earth: Panel Discussion on Faith and the Environment Monday, March 30, 2009, 7:30 p.m. Freeman Center for Jewish Life 1416 Faber Street, Durham, NC Free and open to the public. For information, please contact Emily Wilson-Hauger at emw17@duke.edu or at (919) WALK for NAMI Our Lord Jesus recognized, engaged and embraced people who were dealing with mental illness. Dale Osborne, sermon February 1, 2009 archived Binkleychurch.org A wonderful opportunity for us to embrace those affected by mental illness is coming up Saturday May 2 nd, 9:00 am. It s a walk for National Association on Mental illness (NAMI) that works to give a voice to families affected by mental illness through education, outreach and advocacy. Please walk even if you do not have a direct connection to mental illness to raise your own awareness and show your support in what Jesus would no doubt consider hugely important to social justice in our age. It s a shame churches have not been involved in the NAMI movement but now is the time to show God s love is meant for all. Sign ups and a table with more information will be in the Narthex March 29 th. Binkley folks are bringing their kids along to in this walk through the campus of Dorothea Dix Hospital. We will carpool starting at 9:00 am at the front door of the church. The actual march starts at 10:00. There will be interesting booths, a speaker, and a caring connection among walkers as we work to wake up the country to one in every four of its citizens that needs our help. Christine Jernigan Heartfelt Thanks to Carol Nobles who is retiring as the director of Meals on Wheels which operates at Binkley. Carol has done stellar work in recruiting volunteers, bringing the office forward technologically and making sure that the program feeds as many community members as possible. Carol and her family (Husband Larry, children Savannah and Nick) are making plans to move from Chapel Hill to Clayton in the near future. We pray God s blessings on them with these changes in their lives. We ll miss you!

8 Prayer Concerns in the Church Family: Denise Cumbee Long, Maggie Boyer, Mary Nash Pollard, Laurie Freeman, Painter Richards-Baker, Audrey Phelan, Bob and Betsy Kreutzberg, Beth Jukes, Mike Berkut (Britthaven), Carolyn Wallace, Nina Stein, Martha Henderson, Gladys Matthewson, Roma Harris, Phillippi family, Pam Swanson-Boyd, others seeking support. Prayer Concerns in the Extended Family: Tommy Clymer (friend of Judy Trent), Faye Cox (Billie s sister), George Zangaro (Hill-Wise family friend), Hunter and Frances Daughtrey (Heather Rabalais & Nathan Daughtrey s grandparents), Marie Long (Karen s mother), Shirley Weems (Marty Weems mother), Meg Kemper (Sybil Wagner s friend), Carley Pardington (Joe s mother), Ginny Busch (friend of Tamara Dempsey-Tanner), Jack Tapp (friend of Frank Smith), Sue Womack (friend of Doug and Susan McKinnon, Henry Hall (Howard Lee s brother-in-law), Alan Bibb (Barbara Nettles-Carlson s son), Carol Richardson (Bonnie and Laura Rogers mother), John Kent s father, Kim Archer and David Bouldin (friends of Allen Smith), Johnnie Johnson, (friend of Lillian Lee), Hope Conway (Kit Conway s mother), Karen Brock (Ann and Roy Brock s daughter-in-law), family of Thomas Barnett (Karen Long s friend), Tan and Scott Coats, Tara Hogan (Talmadge Walker s niece), Gayle Gordon (Ruth Nagle s sister), Don & Sally Weil (Doug and Susan MacKinnon s friends), Health Center Residents, and others who seek prayers. We offer prayers of sympathy to Anne Fishel on the death of her mother, Christine Hopkins, on March 24, and to Edith Wiggins on the death of her aunt, Mary Mayfield Eady, on March 19. Binkley Baptist Church 1712 Willow Drive Chapel Hill, NC (919) Nonprofit Org. US Postage Paid Chapel Hill, NC Permit No. 70 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED