Historical November 1979 report or notice. Original dates, prices, contacts and program details describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
It was one long birthday party.
Beginning with a square dance on Aug. 18 and ending with an outdoor music concert on Sept. 15, Grace and Peace Fellowship spent almost an entire month celebrating its tenth birthday. Hoopla, thanksgiving and reflection characterized the time. The scheduled events which involved members of the community-at-large underlined the fact that Skinker-DeBaliviere is “home” for the young church.
Ten years ago on August 17, 1969, Grace and Peace was only a group of thirty-five or so people meeting for the first time in the home of one of its future elders, Ted Smith. Today, 175 members and dozens of visitors worship in three different services each Sunday at 6003 Kingsbury, which the church bought in 1970. Two daughter churches created in 1978 are proof of rapid growth. So that faith might have down-to-earth results, numerous ministries such as youth clubs, tutoring, an emergency food program, a non-profit housing corporation and a food cooperative have been established. Church members have also become involved in the various neighborhood associations, the Neighborhood School, and the People’s Clinic.
The month-long birthday celebration invited recollections of Grace and Peace’s first ten years. It also prompted a look to the future. How would the church grow with Skinker-DeBaliviere during the next ten? But a church can’t be too serious on its birthday. Grace and Peace had its share of fun, much of which occurred at the children’s carnival on Aug. 25. Over two hundred children came to the Four Corners plaza to take it all in. Roaming clowns entertained them and maintained order at the same time. Several dozen children put their hands and feet in wet cement poured especially for the occasion and initialed their impressions. A game called “Hot Shots” challenged them to extinguish three lit candles in thirty seconds or less with a squirt gun. Five or six succeeded. Some watched a puppet show based on a Christian fantasy by C. S. Lewis. There was the traditional dunking booth. No one had to be a kid to enjoy the sight of Jim Kern, Egon Middelmann and others hitting the water. Free food and prizes for everyone insured a good time.
For about the last two weeks of the celebration, church members sported teeshirts displaying the words, “Grace and Peace.” This humble item of clothing symbolized the birthday-number-ten spirit as people looked back and said in a hundred different ways, “This is my church, and I’m glad.”
Originally published in The Paper, November 1979.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1979_11.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
