The Bangor Liberty Bell

Sharing the News and Views of

Bangor Liberty Friends Church

 

March 2003   Volume 24, No. 3

Keith Haisch, Pastor

 

Special Spring Services

 

Nikki & Doug Krull

will be sharing their musical

 talents & testimonies at

Bangor Liberty Friends Church,

Sunday, April 13, 2003

10:30 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.

Monday, April 14, 2003

7:00 p.m.

Everyone is invited to join us for these special meetings featuring this young couple from Marshalltown who are committed to reaching others through the musical gifts God has given them. Their musical repertoire ranges from reflective ballads to rousing praise & worship songs. A free will offering will be taken for Nikki and Doug. Fellowship & refreshments each evening after their presentation.

 

Bangor Liberty Friends Church

150th Anniversary Celebration

July 12-13, 2003

 

Family Tree Pictures

            The 150th Celebration Committee invites those who would be interested to display pictures of their families dating back to Bangor Liberty’s early beginnings. Please contact a member of the celebration committee if you would like to be part of a display of family tree pictures at our celebration, July 12-13.

 

Concert Under The Stars

 Team Leaders & Members Needed

-Ice Cream Team

-Cookies & Punch Team

-Entertainment Team

-Equipment & Grounds Team

-Programs & Marketing Team

 

If you could serve on one of the concert “teams” please contact Sharon Sparks Johnson or Pastor Keith Haisch.

Thanks in advance for your support!!!

 

Called Meeting of IAYM Reps

            At a called meeting of the Iowa Yearly Meeting Body of Representatives,

Saturday, March 1st, Ron Bryan, currently pastor of LeGrand Friends Church, was approved as the new Iowa Yearly Meeting Superintendent. He will take over these duties July 1, 2003. Please be in prayer for Ron and his family and also the LeGrand Friends Church as they will be seeking a new pastor.

 

Missions

The Missions Committee is planning to bring to you next month the mission we have decided to send our monthly pledge to for the next year, starting in April.

            Patrick Nugent and Mary Kay Rehard are now serving as Principals at the Friends Theological College in Kenya. Patrick comes from the facility at Earlham College where he was the director of the center for Quaker Thought and Practice and the Project on Faith. His expertise includes Quaker studies, New Testament Church History and world religions.  Mary Kay has been active in local youth ministry, co-authored a religious education

curriculum on the Bible and Friends' testimonies. They have two daughters age 7 and 10.

            The Friends Lugulu Hospital is a 110 bed Quaker affiliated hospital which began as a First Aid station in the early 1900's. It is one of three hospitals in the district and performs the bulk of surgical procedures in the area. It has approximately 6,000 admissions, 25,000 out- patient visits, and over 750 babies delivered annually. The hospital staff is mostly Kenyan.

The patients are often unable to pay and as a Mission Hospital, it does not want to turn away anyone. The financial needs of patients led to the establishment of the "Adopt a Bed" program. Beds at the hospital are "adopted" by churches or individuals within the Friends United Meeting and other organizations. Just over half the daily bed rate is provided thru this program (about $3.30) which allows patients to receive care they otherwise could not afford.

            There is a new Friends Mission Field opening near Bemidji, MN, on the Red Lake Reservation with the Ojibwa Native Americans. It is sponsored by Northwest  Yearly Meeting and Evangelical Friends Missions. Bruce and Jewel Martin are the missionaries there. Most of Bruce's childhood was spent with the Ojibwa people, and he feels this is where God is calling him. They ask for our prayers, encouragement and support for their vision to serve Christ and

the Ojibwa people. Bruce will be giving a presentation of the new mission work with

the Ojibwa Native Americans at the Honey Creek New Providence Friends Church on Monday, March 10th at 7:00 p.m. All are invited.

                              BLF Missions Committee

 

Children’s Church

          Children in grades K-5th are welcome to participate in Children’s Church during part of our worship service. March dates are the 23rd and 30th.

 

-Always keep your words soft and sweet

just in case you have to eat them.

-Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that

can be recalled by their maker.

 

HOC Supply Closet

            March is one of our months to help provide items for the Supply Closet at HOC. Items most needed at this time include: Wet One wipes, adult shampoo, headache & cold medicine and laundry detergent. Items will be collected the last two Sundays of March – the 23rd & 30th.

 

Looking for Heroes?

        We live in a world desperate for heroes. Yet deep within the pages of the Bible, we meet real, flesh-and-blood people like us, with both weakness and strengths, who provide us with genuine models we can imitate. We observe that God uses common people to make history. The powerful of society often form a background in which the little people, the faithful, honor God and transform the world. God loves to use the unassuming people. He only requires us to say with Mary, "Let it be to me according to your word." The Monday Night Bible Study will begin a new book about Old Testament heroes on Monday, March 24. All are welcome to participate as we learn together

 

House of Compassion

February Report - We served 48 people their choice of liver & onions or BBQ pork sandwiches, with scalloped potatoes or macaroni & cheese, green beans & bacon, pears, applesauce, brownies, ice cream, sugar wafers and milk. The liver was a big hit again! Many said “I haven’t had this in years!” Several others appreciated the pork option, however. One little girl only wanted mac & cheese, but came back twice saying “Thank you it is really good!”

I thank Phil Gould for willingly filling in as shelter monitor at the last minute. Connie Miner of LeGrand Friends Church joined him.   When I left there were 12 men and 1 ladies staying. 

March Report – 41 people were served a pizza rice casserole, mixed vegetables, biscuits, Jello with pears, leftover lettuce salad, cupcakes, and milk.

            Ann Nichols and Wayne Tuttle were overnight monitors for the 7 men and 2 women who stayed at the shelter. Thank you to all who volunteer and pray for this ministry.

                                    Margaret Good

 

Liberty USFW

            The Liberty USFW ladies will meet on Wednesday, March 12, 7:00 p.m. at Marilyn Willits’ home in Bangor. Members are reminded to bring their Thank Offering and any Box Tops for Education you have collected. Colleen will give devotions and Rosalee will have the program. All ladies of the church are welcome to join us.

 

Bangor USFW

Our next gathering will be a workday held at the church on Tuesday, March 18th at 9:30, or later, to finish work on baby quilts for Blank Hospital, the Stork’s Nest and lap robes for a nursing home. (19 were completed last month.) We’ll also make tray favors for a local nursing home. Bring your own sack lunch and scissors. Betty and Miriam will provide dessert. Anyone who is interested in helping with the work is welcome to join us. Our USFW meeting will be held at 3:00 with Margaret bringing the devotional lesson.   The Thank Offering, which will provide a vehicle in Turkana, will be collected this month.

 

Library Ledge

          Thanks to the USFW reading course and other generous donations, our church library has a large selection of books specifically for women. Here are just a few: Women with a Purpose, A Christian’s Guide to Working from Home, Friends Through Thick & Thin, Chonda Pierce on Her SoapBox, The Power of the Praying Wife, Inspire Your Kids to Greatness, Boundless Love Devotions - by Women of Faith, and many more. Find these and other books or tapes to encourage women on the library ledge or in the 238.8 section of our library. Ladies, check them out!

 

 

 

LADIES SPRING

CONFERENCE

 

April 12, 9:30 a.m.

Middle River Friends Church

Theme: The Patchwork of Life

 

Mission Speaker:  Dean & Freeda Johnson of Friends Disaster Service

 

Luncheon tickets will be available shortly from Sharon K Johnson or Margaret Good

 

 

Get Ready for VBS Fun!

JONAH: An Overboard Adventure!

 

            The first week of June we’ll begin an adventure through the entire book of Jonah to give our kids an opportunity to learn how to walk in God’s ways.  The story is exciting and something kids will love.  Jonah’s journey is not just an Old Testament story!  It also contains values that Jesus taught throughout his ministry.  Each day, kids will learn “What Jesus Teaches” about the godly values found in Jonah’s story.  By focusing on Jesus’ teachings, kids will understand more in-depth the values they learn, plus have a chance to develop their own personal relationship with the Savior.

            Micah 6:8 is the theme verse.  “He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”.  Micah 6:8

            Many volunteers will be needed for our Overboard Adventure.  Contact Margaret if you can help as a group leader, Bible story leader, or with crafts, snacks, games, music, opening or closing, skits, transportation, decorations, etc. 

            We ask everyone to be in prayer during the next weeks that volunteers will come forward and that children’s hearts will be prepared for learning about walking in God’s ways.

 

Do Not Worry

    Don’t worry about the future; worry quenches the work of grace within you. The future belongs to God. He is in charge of all things. Never second-guess Him.

                                    -Francois Fenelon

 

Dear Bangor Liberty Friends,

Thank you for your generous December gift for our “support” account. We are excited about moving into the YMCA Compound facilities. There is much more room for the boys to exercise and use up their extra energy without (Sharon K. Johnson) being on the street. Also the teachers have more room to organize their classes to make it more student friendly and interesting for the boys. We have one more soccer game before the play-offs. Our record is 1 win, 1 loss, and 2 tie.  

                     Love in Christ, Mike & Kay Cain

 

IAYM Spring Body of Representatives Meeting will be held April 25-27, 2003 at Sturgeon Bay Friends, Wisconsin. Steve Pedigo of Chicago Fellowship of Friends will be guest speaker.

 

Non-Biblical Proverbs

-A day without sunshine is like…night.

-Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

-It is hard to understand how a cemetery raised its burial cost and blamed it on the cost of living.

-Honk if you love peace and quiet.

 

BLFC Historical Item

The Society of Friends in Iowa

            The Society of Friends, often called Quakers, started in England about 1660. William Penn began his work in America about 1675 with territory in the state of New Jersey and eventually controlled all of the present state of Pennsylvania. Friends were attracted southward to the Carolinas by the more moderate climate, and also became strong in the New England states. Throughout the 1700’s they increased, and the flow of migration was mostly southward. They pushed across the state of North Carolina and there was a slight move after Daniel Boone into Tennessee, but about 1810 the new lands of Ohio and Indiana were opened up and the flow started in that direction. Also many started coming over the mountains from Pennsylvania and the eastern seaboard. In less than fifty years, these lands were filled up and Iowa was opened for settlement. The southeast part of the state was settled first, then in 1850, the complete tide from all sources converged on Bangor. In five short years the government land was gone.

 

(From Wilbur Jessup’s historical notes)

 

Western Plains Meeting

            The first group of Friends to explore the Bangor vicinity is recorded by Abel Bond. He writes: “In the following fall (1850) Wm Hobson, Nathan Bales, myself, Elam Jessup, Fred Cavinis, and others went north to find cheaper lands.” After considerable exploring several of the group decided to locate near Bangor, where there was plenty of timber for fuel and prairie land nearby waiting for the plow.

 

The early settlers and their families arrived in the fall of 1851 after spending two summers and a winter in the Friends settlement near Salem and Richland and other communities of the southern part of the state. Abel Bond also mentions David Davis, John Hockett, some of the Harris families and others.

 

Meetings for worship were held by the early settlers from the beginning. Abel Bond states that he and William Hobson “made a couple of benches and what Friends were there commenced holding meetings in a house that William Reece had rented.” After meeting in the homes for a time, a site on a hill near the John Hockett residence, east of the present cemetery, was selected for a meeting house and a log house was erected. It was a splendid location for the Meeting House, with a view extending for miles to the east and south. Here Western Plains Preparative Meeting of Friends was set up by members of Pleasant Plain Meeting in 1853, and this was the regular meeting place for some two years afterward. But the cemetery, started north of the Meeting House, was on a steep north slope and was found to be an undesirable location.

 

The next year, Abijah Hodgin platted the village of Bangor, and pressure was felt within the meeting to move closer to the village. There was opposition, but it was accomplished, and on April 4, 1855, he deeded the site of the present Meeting House to William Hobson, John Hockett and Elam Jessup, who were the first Trustees of the Bangor Meeting.

 

Another log Meeting House was put up and it was used until June 1858, when the first Quarterly Meeting was held. About the same time the cemetery was changed to its present location.

A new frame structure was being put up for that first Quarterly Meeting, but it had been damaged by wind and could not be finished in time for the meeting. To prepare for the occasion, a shed was added to the old log building, which was estimated to increase the seating capacity to about 300 and since it was a nice day, it was filled.

 

            In 1860 the “Western Plains” was dropped and the meeting was then known as Bangor since it was located at the eastern edge of the new town of that name. The congregation worshipped for the next 60 years in the oblong wooden structure.

 

            Although the first arrivals in Bangor Meeting were from North Carolina, they were soon followed by those who came from many other states. A study of the birthplaces of early members of Western Plain would include those from North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, one from Canada and two from England. Many came to Indiana from the Carolinas and other places, then came on to Iowa. Some in their early twenties were born in the earlier settlements of Iowa. Most them had a religious background and expected to locate within the limits of a Friends Meeting.

 

            Some of the names prominent in early Bangor are William Hobson, John Hockett, Abijah Hodgin, Elam Jessup, David and Delilah Macy, David Davis, Charles Davis and several families of Harrises. By 1860, the Greens, Willits, Whinerys and Hollingsworths had arrived. Also Kinzers and Lancasters were prominent in the community. Marshalls had been here several years. There were many others who lived and labored to promote God’s Kingdom at Bangor during this time, but lack of space and knowledge prevents giving a true story of endeavors and their accomplishments. In 1860 Bangor is said to have been the largest Friends Meeting in the world, but as other Monthly Meetings were “set off” in the 60’s and 70’s, the numbers dropped drastically.

 

            The activities of this period were many and varied. Bangor was well organized as a station of the underground railroad, but it is not known how many negroes went through, if any. Several negro families lived in the community for a time, but only a couple, the Warrens, stayed. They are buried in the Bangor Cemetery, and their tombstone records the ripe old ages of 109 and 116 years.

 

            Bangor, like all Friends meetings, was interested in education from the beginning. Safrona Hodgin taught a group of younger children for a time in the meeting house. Some of the other early teachers were John Schofield, Rebecca and Tura Williams, and Margery Kinzer. We have the old school records with the names of the pupils from Dec. 1863 to the summer of 1865. Teachers were Isom P. Wooten, Rachel U. Beeson, Josiah Dillon and Teressa Gidley. Attendance ranged from 48 in the winter to 20 when school was held in the summer. A Friends Seminary was started by Stanford Preparative Meeting about 1866, and a very successful school was maintained for many years. Early Bangor Meeting maintained a small library, distributed many tracts, and had a debating club for a time. For many years there was an active literary among the young people.

 

                                          (to be continued)