Features

In the early 1950s, McIlwain Road was a sleepy dirt road community that wasn’t much more than a short cut from Lancaster to Heath Springs.

But about half way down it, something was happening, a group of dedicated church members from the area led by the Rev. J.L. Maloney were hard at work.

When they weren’t working on their area farms or waiting for the mill whistle to blow, they were busy laying bricks to build Oak Ridge ARP Church.

It might have taken a decade to build the mission church, but it was a labor of love.

The TV and radio news reported all day that Hurricane Hugo would hit the South Carolina coast near Charleston, but there was no mention of it coming inland. The order was given for the coastal areas to evacuate.

The symbol for Autism Speaks is a blue puzzle piece.

If you don’t understand the significance of it, just ask Evelyn Springs.

She’ll tell you about Malik, 7, and how the disease that few understand has affected her grandson.

Diagnosed with autism at age 2, Malik doesn’t talk much about it.

That’s because he doesn’t talk.

The late Lester Robinson, former managing editor of The Lancaster News, said it better that I ever could in the Dec. 13, 1995, edition.

In a column about the death of Lavoy Darlington Bauknight two days prior, Robinson wrote, “When the Rev. and Mrs. P.L. Bauknight moved into the First United Methodist Church parsonage in the mid-1930s, little did Lancaster people know then what an impact their son would have here.”

To be honest, that might be an understatement.

Looking for something to do with your family Saturday? 

Bring them to the Springdale Recreation Center for the 2009 Pregnancy Care Center’s Walk for Life.

Amy Vincent, executive director of the Pregnancy Care Center, said its volunteers have worked hard to make this a family-friendly fundraiser. 

“We have added activities for the children, including several large inflatables, volleyball, face painting, balloons, refreshments and door prizes,” she said.

It’s easy to take part in the walk.

The cross is there. If you look for it hard enough, you’ll find it. It’s in the most unlikely of places.

It’s nailed to the roof line, hanging beneath a tin shed at the Riverside Rodeo Arena. It’s above two sets of old gym bleachers painted blue and flanked by a portable welding machine.

There are two old church pews against one side of the shed, but at Carolinas Cowboy Church – a place where the offering is collected in a cowboy hat – the padded benches look out of place.

Forty-three years ago, the sparse landscaping of Frank and Ann Ferguson’s yard at 962 Anderson Road consisted of a few small trees and rocks.

Most weekends, the Fergusons could be found picking up rocks until they could plant grass.

All that work has finally paid off. Now, six large oak trees form a canopy covering the entire front and back lawns. 

The Fergusons gradually added shade-loving plants to transform their yard into a neighborhood showplace. 

The significance of the fire that damaged the Lancaster County Courthouse fire on Aug. 4, 2008, wasn’t lost on Walter Lee Tillman.

But Tillman’s feelings for the 181-year-old structure that Robert Mills designed go well beyond its role as a house of justice.

For Tillman and the 160-plus members of St. Paul AME Church, the courthouse is the house of worship they trace their religious roots to.

While St. Paul AME will celebrate its 114th anniversary on Aug. 29-30 at its Pleasant Hill Street home, its tie to the historic courthouse remains binding.

When it comes to inspiration and sound biblical teaching, women often turn to the ministry of Beth Moore.

Now women across the nation will get a chance to hear the best-selling author firsthand without having to leave town during a simulcast that will be broadcast live via satellite Aug. 28-29.  

Lancaster’s Second Baptist Church, 1426 Great Falls Highway, has been selected as one of 650 churches in the United States to host the women’s event, said Kathy Stepp, leader of the Women’s Ministry Team there.