Presbyterian Church Celebrates 250 Years

By Rob Johnson rob.johnson@roanoke.com 981-3234

A Lexington-area church will celebrate a total of 250 years of worship on Sept. 14.

Oxford Presbyterian Church’s pastor, the Rev. Horace Douty, said that church doors will open at 9:30 a.m.

There will be a number of displays of historical photographs and other memorabilia. Copies of a book written by Douty, “Rockbridge, Virginia: History Lessons from a Country Church,” will be offered for sale.

The location of the brick-and-stone church hasn’t changed, but the building has: the original was made of logs, Douty said.

The church is at 18 Churchview Lane, about seven miles west of Lexington. For more information, call (540) 463-5849.

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The various Orthodox Church branches broke away from Catholicism many centuries ago, but a fledgling congregation in one of those denominations is getting start-up help from St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church in Northwest Roanoke.

Members of St. Philoxenus Syriac Orthodox Church have been worshipping at St. Elias and are saving money for a sanctuary of their own.

“They’re sort of a sister church,” said the Rev. Claude Franklin, pastor of St. Elias. “They support our stuff. We support their stuff.”

Tonight the cooperation will be even deeper when the St. Philoxenus faithful hold a fundraising dinner party with a Middle Eastern menu, starting at 6 p.m., at St. Elias — which is widely known for its annual Lebanese Festival, featuring ethic cooking, held in May.

The St. Philoxenus dinner menu will include kabob, spinach pie and fattouch — a baked dish of flatbread and vegetables. There’s a children’s meal to be offered, too, with that old American standby – - hot dogs and fries.

Adult tickets for the dinner are priced at $25 and $3 for children under 12. There will be live entertainment by a Middle Eastern band. Take-out meals will be offered for $12.

For reservations or more information call 537-8278 or 537-8896.

And in the spirit of cooperation, according to the Catholic church’s news bulletin, “A portion of the proceeds will go to the St. Elias church building fund.”

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A new faith-based board game developed by a Salem couple is supposed to teach lessons about making the right choices on the road to prosperity.

And one thing that Alvin and Shirley Everett have learned is that creating and successfully marketing a board game is financially daunting.

The cost of developing the game, called “Living Life Abundantly,” was about $125 per unit for the initial batch of 500 that have been made so far, said Shirley Everett, who had a 34-year career as a public school teacher, guidance counselor and administrator in Roanoke County.

But the game, offered for sale at what the Everetts said is a break-even price of $125 apiece on their Web site, www.prosperitysigns.com, has drawn only three or four buyers since unveiled publicly in July. The Everetts have given away about 20 of the games to church groups and evangelistic ministries. They’re thinking about approaching stores that sell Christian books and other items, but haven’t yet done so.

The game is nondenominational in nature, and in tests by the Everetts it takes about two hours to play. The object is to correctly answer questions on Bible trivia and Scripture that lead players to a space on the board called “The Land of Abundant Living.”

Each player is given a budget with which to make everyday life choices.

For more information about the game, call (540) 354-5565.

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