With a shirt saying "Some of us will have to set up front with the Lutefisk," Ernest Wilkins fits right in at the Swedish Supper in the Olsburg grade school Dec. 5. The annual supper draws more then 350 to the school as a fundraiser dinner for the Olsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Co-pastors Gordon and Sonja Sandquist greet church members following services.

Gordon Sandquist distributes communion to worshippers. The church offers communion twice a month.

Sonja Sandquist leads the children's church time during the regular church services.

Swedish Supper unites church and community

By Paula Glover
OLSBURG – Even the Christmas tree was decorated with the Swedish flag at the Olsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church’s 53rd annual Swedish Supper, Dec. 5. The celebration of Swedish heritage continued with the table blessing being said in Swedish and the Swedish decorations inside the Olsburg Grade School. Swedish or not, many people attended the event, which unites the church and the community.
The annual tradition kicks off the Christmas season for many in the town and region. Olsburg residents join in by decorating their homes. Becky Avery isn’t Lutheran, but she lives in Olsburg and loves the town and on Dec. 5, she was in the kitchen helping make lut fisk, the rather aromatic cooked fish stew Swedes are known for. She was joined in the kitchen by other volunteers, including Joan Schweer, a former church member who has moved away, but returns each year to volunteer. “It is a social event, and a tradition,” Schweer said.
Everyone is in their places to make the dinner work. “We are the desserts,” said Mary Rosell. The volume of food produced by the small church and volunteers is rather astounding, with 25 gallons of raw milk used for the Ost Kaka (rennet pudding), and volunteers making 800 Spritz, or butter cookies, 475 Rosettes, a deep fried cookie, and 650 Pepparkakor, or ginger cookies. The large volume of food continues, with 20 loaves of rye bread and 16 of white donated. All the cooking is done by church and community volunteers according to the Swedish Supper Recipe book, which is also for sale to the general public.
Coordinator Luellen Kasselman said that around 320 tickets were sold for this year’s event. The money raised is used for scholarships for young people in the church, and now, also to assist the pastor in completing his training for full ordination.
There are many traditions in how the supper is run. Among them, the men serve as dishwashers. Children are involved at a young age, with 4th graders working as runner for messages and such, and older students are allowed to carry food. Shelby Peter, age 12, said she helps out because “its fun and I get to be with my friends.”
The roots of the church go deep into the community. Rosell said her great-grandmother was the first child of Swedish descent born in Riley County. Laurine Catt worked on placing cookies on trays, and recalled that in bygone days, it was less popular to speak Swedish. “My parents spoke Swedish when they didn’t want us to know what they were saying,” she recalled. But later, her parents taught Swedish to her children. While the Swedish traditions and heritage are important, the women told co-pastor Sonja Sandquist that they consider one of the church's strengths to be its openness to anyone who wants to join the church, or come and help.
The Olsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church was established in 1881, with services being held in a frame schoolhouse, until the wind blew it down. A wood frame church with a steeple was finished in 1886 and dedicated the following year. At first, the pews on the left were for the women, those on the right, for the men. Originally lit by coal lamps, the lighting was modernized with the advent of electricity in 1919. As early as 1915, the congregation began considering a new building and they worked for 25 years, raising funds, and the new brick church was dedicated in 1939. The old church was torn down, but the bell, added to the original church in 1898, was kept.
Gordon and Sonja Sandquist are joint pastoral leaders for the Olsburg Lutheran Church.
“One of the things that make the church work well is that they are unapologetically Lutheran,” Gordon said, “but at the same time, there is not a strong delineation between church and community.” The church works on projects with the local Methodist church, for example, and welcomes volunteers from the community for the Swedish Supper. The Lutheran church and the Methodists have come into full communion with one another.
The Sandquists have been ministering in Olsburg for 18 months. “There is a lot of history here,” Gordon said, “it is important to listen to the stories of the families and acknowledge the history.” Sonja commented that “it seems that everyone is related.” Gordon noted that funerals are a significant part of the couple’s ministry, and it has been a way for them to also learn about, and honor, the close family connection.
It is unusual to have a couple who both work as licensed pastoral leaders in the same congregation.
“We are not a typical pastor team” Sonja said. “Whatever success we have is not due to us, it is what God is doing. We arrived at co-pastoring through divine surprises.” The couple met when they were working in churches in the Denver area.
Gordon has 27 years of pastoral experience in church settings and Sonja has 17. Gordon’s experience is as an associate in ministry, but he is currently preparing for full ordination through distributed learning with the Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. In June, Sonja will begin a Masters in Ministry with an emphasis in congregational mission and leadership at the same seminary. Now, in addition to her ministry in the church, she is a life coach and certified spiritual director.
“We always look and ask, ‘what is God up to; what is my call; and what is the Church’s call as community.’” Sonja said. “It isn’t about the answer, it is about asking the right questions. We’re not after a quick fix.”
The couple has two adopted children, Symone, age 11, and Monique, age 12, sisters the couple adopted from foster care.
“The children have been accepted here,” Gordon said, in part because of the area’s history, with the orphan train coming through the area. Between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children were placed into adoptive families throughout the nation in what is known today as the orphan train movement.
Gordon said the Swedish supper is tradition, but it also helps the people of the congregation open doors to new members and to make new friends. “This time, there were more first-time people from outside the community,” he commented.

Article appeared in Manhattan Mercury, Dec. 11.

Swedish Supper Recipes
Cookbook published by the Anna Group of the Oldsburg Lutheran Church. Call 785-468-3500 for information on purchasing the book.

Sill Sallad – Herring Salad
1 cup pickled herring
6 medium potatoes cooked in jackets and diced
6 apples, diced
½ t. pepper
1 ½ T. vinegar
½ pound beef roast, ground
2 cups beets, diced
2 T. dill pickles
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 T. sugar
Mix all together, mold and chill. Serve chilled.

Kottbullar – Swedish Meat Balls
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 cups bread crumbs
1 to 1 ½ cup milk, depending on how bread absorbs the milk
1 t. salt
¼ t. allspice
¼ t. cloves
2 eggs
Soak bread in milk. Beat eggs slightly and add to milk and bread. Combine all other ingredients with above, mix well. A ¼ measuring cup works well to get a nice size meatball. Put in refrigerator until chilled, then reshape balls. Brown in skillet, if making large quantity, brown in oven. After browning, pt into roaster and bake at 325 degrees for half hour.

Joe Carpenter discusses the way the stock pond on the Downey Ranch, near Wabaunsee, is built to reduce damage to the watershed. Around 150 people attended the annual event, sponsored in part by the K-State Extension Service.

Joe Carpenter demonstrates gentle cattle handling during the Ranch and Range tour.

Ranch and Range Tour features Downey Ranch;
Speaker encourages participants to defend their way of life

By Paula Glover
ALMA – It is time for ranchers and food producers to stand up for themselves, Ben Wileman told around 150 people assembled for the 16th annual Wabaunsee County Ranch and Range tour, held Oct. 3 at the Downey Ranch, south of Wabaunsee and at the fairgrounds in Alma.
Wileman, with the Beef Cattle Institute in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, said ranchers should form one organization dedicated to the well-being of animals that would serve as a self-regulatory agency and combat those who oppose ranching and farming over concern about the treatment of animals.
Karaline Mayer, the extension agent for Wabaunsee County, said she heard a presentation similar to Wileman’s and realized it would be perfect for the Ranch and Range Tour.
Wileman was the final speaker in a day that began with a tour of the Downey Ranch, just south of Wabunsee. The other afternoon speaker was Larry Hollis on calf health management.
Wileman explained that farmers and ranchers used to sell their products in a variety of places, from local markets to small grocery chains, but now there are fewer outlets. The top 10 retailers supply 75 percent of the food. The result of this has been that those private environmental groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the National Humane Society can effectively apply pressure on only a few retailers to achieve their goals.
“Our industry is under attack,” Wileman said. “We need to address this now, on our own terms.”
Farmers and ranchers “do a poor job of influencing others,” he said. He encouraged the participants to be pro-active in educating people on what producers are doing right in terms of animal welfare. He used the example of taking the time to chat with hunters the rancher might allow onto the property.
He said, in the days of viral videos and cell phone cameras, producers should “operate as if you are being filmed.”
“We need to start doing better and take ourselves to the fight, rather than waiting for the fight to come to us,” he said.
He argued for the formation of a U.S. Food Animal Well-Being Commission that would self-regulate to ensure that food animals are raised according to national standards, with training verification provided by veterinarians.
“We need to head off ballot initiatives, solve our own problems, develop working groups, challenge activist language, and condemn abuse,” he said.
Ranch Tour
Barb Downey and her husband, Joe Carpenter, led the tour which used hay wagons pulled by farm pickups to transport the participants around the 6,500 acre ranch that spans two counties. There are 550 head on the cow-calf operation, mostly spring calving. The tour included a stop to see range management, one for low-stress cattle handling, and one to see a controlled access pond.
The tour began with a stop at a pasture where one side of the road had been sprayed for weed control, and the other had not. Justin Kearns, with Dow AgroSciences in Parkville, Missouri, explained that the yield of grass was so much better on the sprayed field that it was profitable, figuring in the cost of the chemicals.
Carpenter noted that another important part of the ranch’s rangeland management was to move the cattle from pasture to pasture around every five weeks. This is better for the range, and helps to prevent scourers, he said.
The tour continued to the bunkhouse, where there are also cattle pens for a demonstration of low-stress cattle handling. Downey jokingly said that at first, the notion of low-stress cattle handling sounded like “voo-doo.”
“But it is easier on the livestock and you have the knowledge you are doing the right thing by your livestock,” she said. The goal on the ranch is that the cattle “never have a bad day.” They work with the cattle from the time they are calves, accustoming them to the presence of humans, and teaching them to respond to the low stress handling.
There are several principles to this type of handling, Downey said - including that cattle are uncomfortable when you are near them and they want to go back where they came from. The cattle are moved slowly and quietly, with no hotshots. The method also uses open sided chutes.
Now that the cattle are accustomed to the change in handling, one person can now do what it used to take five to do.
“We want to produce beef for a higher-quality market,” Downey said. “We want people eating beef that tastes good and is produced in a quality manner.”
Because water quality is an issue, the tour included a stop at a controlled access pond, where the cattle are allowed to the pond only in a small area. This reduces erosion and sedimentation in the pond.
“We want to give the cattle quality water so they will drink more and be healthier,” Carpenter said. He noted the access was built four years ago, and it hasn’t needed much work.
In the afternoon, Hollis, a beef specialist at Kansas State University, discussed low stress weaning of calves. He said low-stress weaning helps deal with problems such as pneumonia in the calves, which is aggravated by physical stress like dusty pens, psychological stress from being separated from the cow, and other factors like weather, dietary and water changes.
He said common methods of weaning – weaning on the truck, dry pen weaning, and pasture weaning – are too stressful for the calves.
He recommended a method called “fence line weaning” where the calves are left in a pasture and the mothers are moved to a pen just on the other side of the fence. “This is much better than any abrupt methods,” he said.
Peggy Schultz ranches west of Alma with her husband.
“We enjoy the Ranch and Range Tour,” she said. “We always pick up something. We do everything, so we were particularly interested in the low-stress cattle handling.”
Mayer said that over the course of the tour’s 16 years, more than 3,400 people had participated. The tour was recently moved to a Saturday to allow people who have out-ranch jobs to attend, she said, and it was combined with the ranch rodeo to allow for a festive cap to the day.
“We always choose a good operation to tour; one of the more progressive operations,” she said. “It is an honor for the ranch to be on the tour.
“We need to know what we are doing right as producers,” she said.

Appeared in the Grass and Grain.

Lesyle Haller, pastor of Louisville United Methodist Church, distributes communion. The first Sunday of each month is "communion Sunday."

Haller blesses the communion prior to distribution in the Louisville church.

At St. George United Methodist Church, were Pastor Haller also serves, the children are called forward during the services, prior to being sent to a "children's church."

Intinction is the method of distributing communion at the St. George United Methodist Church.

Woman pastor finds acceptance in rural churches
By Paula Glover

ST. GEORGE – It is all about responding to God’s call. Pastor Leslye Hailer heard God’s call to the pastorate six years ago, and she is now a pastor for two United Methodist churches, one in Louisville and one in St. George.
She would tell any woman who might want to be a pastor to “go for it. If this is something God is calling you to do, he’s going to make it possible.”
Hailer responded to a conversation with her own pastor at a church in Manhattan. She had approached him, asking to do more with the youth, but at one point in the conversation, she recalled, he leaned back, and said “I think you’re being called to be a pastor.”
It took her husband, Marvin, and children, Jason, 30; Brandy McDonald, 24; and son Daniel, 21, a little time to adjust. “Marvin was a little bit worried, maybe he’d have to change somehow, but people have allowed him to be who he is,” Hailer said.
While the notion of a woman pastor is still foreign to some denominations, it isn’t uncommon in the United Methodist Church. In 1880, a woman was ordained as clergy in a Methodist denomination that later became part of the United Methodist Church, according to the denomination’s web site. But women clergy didn’t have equal rights until the General Conference voted in 1956 to grant full clergy rights to women. About 10,000 of the approximately 45,000 clergy in the United Methodist Church are women. The United Methodist Church was the first to ordain a women bishop, add the denomination has elected 21 women bishops and 16 remain active, with four retired and one deceased.
Hailer has received a warm welcome in her two churches.
“Leslye is a strength of this church,” said the church pianist for St. George, LeRoy Johnson. “She has a lot of wisdom, everybody is pleased with her. She’s like a missionary.”
“Leslye keeps us invigorated,” said Don Gardner, a member of the Louisville church since 1958.
The two churches are different in their membership, but Hailer is clearly fond of both groups. “The folks in Louisville are a hoot,” she said. The Louisville congregation is mainly elderly, with the youngest man, Albert Menhusen at age 75, being the person to ring the church bell. There are currently 25 members of the church, but about half don’t come to the church, due to age or disability.
Darrell Larson, a member since 1964, confessed to converting from Lutheranism when he married. “We feel there is a real need for a church in this community; it helps keep the community together,” he said. The United Methodist church is the only one in Louisville proper.
Fern Worthing, a member since 1955, praised the church for its “sense of community.” She grew up in the church, and used to come to Sunday School and recalled when there was a sandbox in the corner.
There was some remodeling done to the church, originally built in 1878, but the real change came in the early 1960s, when the ceiling was lowered and Gardner recalled “the whole community came to help.”
People still pull together. “Everyone does their little things to make it work right,” said Betty Schumacher, who is the treasurer. “Everyone has their niche.”
There is still a strong sense of community at St. George United Methodist, but with 100 members and around 30 at Sunday worship, there are some young people in the mix.
Winnie Sharp, who is the assistant communion steward and a member for 30 years, said “the young people add a lot to the church. We have a good fellowship here, we love each other like a family.”
Church historian Phyllis Berges has compiled a complete history of the church, tracing the roots back to the circuit riding Methodist ministers that the Methodist denomination is known for. In some sense, that time has returned, with pastors like Hailer serving more than one church.
In 1866, Jacob Boucher was pastor of the Louisville Circuit, which encompassed Louisville, Wamego, St. George, some schoolhouses and Westmorland. The cornerstone of the present church in St. George was laid in 1879, the same time frame when the Louisville church was completed.
Since the 1980s, the St. George church has hosted a food pantry, which is a community food pantry. The members of St. George also reach out to the community in various ways, through barbecues, pancake breakfasts, and hay rides; and their fellowship hall is used for various community meetings, from senior citizens to Boy Scouts. A pancake breakfast is planned for Nov. 21.
On Nov. 1, Hailer began using a more modern style worship aid – with the Sunday reading projected like a power point. She wants to begin a contemporary evening worship service. “Young people know technology,” she said. “It helps draw them in.”
She works to make the church friendly, emphasizing that it is acceptable to come to church “as you are,” regardless of tattoos and no need for fancy clothes. “It is very important that we be centered in Christ,” she said. “We are all sinners, saved by God’s grace, striving for perfection.”
Throughout her journey, she has felt accepted and her decision for the ministry honored. “MCC’s people were very supportive,” she said. “It was a wonderful place to go to school. I just haven’t experienced people who have rejected me.”
Her training as a minister continues, through a course of study geared for Methodists who are unable to attend seminary full time. She is a part-time minister for the two churches, and has maintained a full time job with K-State’s Conservation Seedling Program.
She visits the sick and homebound following both church services, and said the congregations at both churches have been positive about respecting her time.
“The congregations are is used to a part time pastor,” she said. “They are very self-reliant.”

Appeared in the Manhattan Mercury Nov. 6.

Father Arul Carasala speaks with parishioners at St. Columbkille Church in Blaine before Mass recently. The native of India has come to the United States to help fill rural parishes that need priests.

St. Columbkille Church in Blaine stands landmark on Kansas route 99. The parish used to also have a school.

People attend the annual Soup Supper and Auction at St. Bede Church in Kelly. The annual fundraiser garners around $17,000 to support the parish.

Due to unseasonably cold weather, people wait inside the sanctuary for entrance to the soup supper at St. Bede's.

People enter into the church for the soup supper. St. Bede Church stands as a beacon on a hill in Kelly.

Four rural parishes united by faith – served by one priest

By Paula Glover
It is missionary work. Only in reverse.
Father Arul Carasala, a native of India, is one of 18 foreign-born priests in the Archdiocese of Kansas City who have come to the United States to help serve in the Roman Catholic Church.
Father Carasala, from the Diocese of Cuddapah, originally came to the archdiocese as part of his mission appeal on behalf of the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, based in Kansas.
“India was a mission country,” he said. “India is rich with pastoral ministries. Now it is time to help those in need in the United States.”
It is a trend common to most Catholic dioceses in the U.S. – countries where there are more priests than needed come to serve, sometimes specific immigrant populations, but sometimes, just to serve as a parish priest where otherwise, there might be no priest.
“I stayed four months and liked it here, liked the people, and found that the people liked me,” Father Carasala recalled. He spoke with his bishop at home and received permission to come and help out in the archdiocese and arrived in 2004. In addition to serving at four parishes, he continues appeals for the orphanage during the summer.
Father Carasala serves four rural parishes north east of Manhattan – St. Patrick in Corning; St. Vincent de Paul in Onaga; St. Columbkille in Blaine; and St. Bede in Kelly.
“This rural life is not what I grew up with,” he said. “It was a big cultural change for me. The food is different, the English accent is different, the driving is different … but the Mass is the same, unifying element all over the world.”
Father Carasala had stopped for a quick break amid the festivities of the annual parish soup supper and auction at St. Bede Church in Kelly. St. Bede towers over the Flint Hills like a beacon, and it is a beacon of faith for the 150 church members.
The night of the festival, Oct. 11, was so cold the hundreds of people who came for the festivities waited in the church sanctuary before the meal.
Fred and Kim Henry grew up in the area. The soup supper “shows a lot of spirit,” said Kim Henry. “Everybody knows everybody. People understand that faith is what keeps us strong.”
Janet Hermeach, a member of the church for all of her “50 plus” years said more people are returning to the parish because they want a rural lifestyle.
The Catholic parishes in the area are going strong, she said, pointing to the Kelly Youth Rally, held just after the school starts, which draws around 500 youth.
With one priest and four parishes, there is one Mass at each parish on the weekend and the schedule rotates quarterly, with two having Saturday evening Mass and two having Sunday morning Mass. It can be a little confusing when the schedule changes, but keeps it fair for each parish. Although there is one priest serving the four parishes, the parishes remain separate, with their own pastoral councils.
Kellie O’Shea, a parishioner at St. Columbkille in Blaine, noted that the 50 member families “pull together as a community to keep the parish alive. Each family contributes and we have a strong Knights of Columbus,” (the Catholic men’s organization). Although, as is the case throughout the United States, the parish school has been closed, students still come to the parish for religious instruction.
“I’m glad to have a priest who can come and say Mass,” said Michael Finan, who was born and raised in the Blaine area.
“The word catholic means universal,” said Father Brian Schieber, a priest at Most Pure Heart of Mary in Topeka, and the vicar for priests for the archdiocese. “The international priests bring the richness and diversity of the Catholic Church and we see the universality of the Church; whether Indian, African, or from the United States, we are all part of the same Church.” There are around 130 priests in the archdiocese, Father Schieber said. The international priests in the archdiocese mainly come from India, Korea, Ghana and South America.
With an upswing in the numbers of men studying for the priesthood, the use of foreign-born priests to help keep smaller parishes open could be just a temporary solution. “It has been a blessing to have these priests here,” Father Schieber said.
“We feel particularly blessed to have Father Arul,” Father Schieber said. “He’s been a great friend and has integrated into the presbyterate (the group of all the priests.) The archbishop is very grateful he is here.”

This story appeared in the Manhattan Mercury, Oct.23/24 issue.

Zeandale Community Church modernized country worship

Zeandale Community Church modernizes country worship

Story for Manhattan Mercury

By Paula Glover

The exterior of the Zeandale Community Church may be from 1896, but inside, worshipers participate in a modern worship service, complete with power point presentations and song lyrics displayed on a screen. At the same time the church with fewer than 100 members affords a sense of community.

“The components that make this church go are the people who are committed to keep it going and do what they believe God wants them to do,” said Wesley Paddock, a professor at Manhattan Christian College, who had led the congregation since 1999. “The church has always been very community minded as well as mission minded (concerned about the world at large). On one occasion we received word that a church had burned in Salina. They were asking for help to rebuild. The Zeandale church voted that night to send $5,000 to the church.”

Originally founded as a Christian Church, during the 1950s, it merged with the local Methodist denomination, and became a non-denominational church, Paddock said.

Together, the congregation supports overseas missionaries, with 40 percent of the church budget. The church members also participate in a variety of charitable efforts, including Angel Food, a program that helps provide groceries for those that might need it.

Carol Cowen grew up in the church, and said the Angel Food program is very gratifying. The women of the church also serve supper to various service clubs as a fundraising activity and that helps give a sense of community, Cowen added, recalling the women have done so since 1959. Marie McConnell coordinates the Angel Food program, and said of the 20 boxes recently brought to the Zeandale Community Center, seven were donated from the church. “It is a good community effort, and gives us fellowship in distributing the boxes,” McConnell said.

Such community efforts are important for a church, Paddock said, to develop a positive Christian experience.

Darrell Parks, who grew up in the church and has been a member for more than 50 years, said he thought people were drawn to the church because “it is definitely a Christ-based church. The Bible is taught here.” Over the years, there have been more young families than there are now. “The church needs to be rejuvenated with young families,” he said.

Paddock agrees. “The greatest challenge is finding young married people that want to be a part of the church. Our church is growing older every year and there are too few coming in to fill the gaps. As with all rural communities, the children grow up and move away.” He said the church has not come to grips with how to solve this problem.

Melissa Boutz leads the choir and the women’s Bible study. Her husband, Bryan, has family connections to the church. Members for 12 years and former students at Manhattan Christian College, they are among the youngest families in the church.

“We have a big sense of family here,” Boutz said. “But we also have a sense that the church community is part of our family.” She joked that the church set up a nursery area because of the birth of their child in 2002 in a corner of the fellowship hall.

As a leader of the women’s Bible study, she is instrumental in building that important fellowship within the church. During the Bible study, on Sept. 27, the women finished a book called “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.” With around ten women in the group, the women have developed friendships as they share their faith journeys. There are a couple of ladies in their 80s in the group, Boutz said, but most are between 40 and 60. In her 30s, she’s the youngest member.

Sean Warner, a freshman student at K-State who recently moved near Zeandale from Wichita, bucks the trend of young people not joining the church. “I saw the sign for the church (on Highway 18),” he said. He began attending and “I enjoy the sermons, Dr. Paddock is a great teacher. I thought this would be a good place to get involved.”

During the Sept. 27 service, Paddock began a series on knowing Christ, based on a book by Philip Yancy, “The Jesus I Never Knew” which featured a power point style presentation.

“MCC has provided leadership for the past 30 years,” Paddock said. With a Masters in Divinity in 1971 and a Doctorate in Ministry in 1995, he teaches Old Testament at the college. “I followed another MCC professor who had been there for a long time also.” The church has adapted its practices to the students. For example, they now celebrate communion every Sunday, because the students requested it.

Because of the participation of Manhattan Christian College students, Warner did not stand out due to his age. Students often come to the church, and while they might not be official members, they add a sense of vibrancy to the church. On Sept 20, students participated in the worship service, and the congregation then hosted a luncheon. The following week, members were still enjoying Paddock’s joke to the students that the luncheon would be food they were used to – noodles and mac and cheese.

“No,” said Cowen, “we fed them well.”

The pastor of the church was so kind as to send me a note saying how pleased they were with the story - and the exterior photo included a long-time member of the church, who was tickled pink to have his photo in the paper.

Historic Beecher Bible and Rifle Church in Wabaunsee

Beecher Bible and Rifle Church emphasizes storied past

By Paula Glover

WABAUNSEE - The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church has a distinguished past, and church members hope that by preserving the past, the future of the church might also be ensured.
Beecher Bible and Rifle was one of the first Congregational churches to be integrated back in the 1950s, and Ada and Don Whitten remember clearly when they moved to Wabaunsee, Ethel Morgan, a well known African-American woman in the area, invited them to church. That was in 1971, and the couple has continued to play an active role in the church ever since.
Don Whitten has a keen interest in the history of the church, which has become non-denominational, served by Rev. Lynn Roth, a retired school teacher.
Roth said he has found no indication that the common understanding of the church’s name as indicating that rifles were shipped west in containers marked as Bibles is true. But the real story is as interesting.
The origins of the church go back to 1854 when the question arose if Kansas would be a free or slave state. Two years later, there were 60 people living in the Wabaunsee area, and it was there that a group of 60 or more men from New Haven, Conn. moved to help Kansas become a free state, sacrificing their comfortable lives for their ideals.
Before the group left, Henry Ward Beecher, then a well-known minister from Brooklyn, N.Y. pledged that his congregation would give money for 25 rifles, if the audience would give money for another 25. Along with the donation, came a gift of 25 Bibles from a parishioner.
Visitors to Wabaunsee can still see the efforts of the organized settlers, in the well-laid out streets. Soon, families joined the men, and of the 28 charter members of the church, nine were women. The church was dedicated in 1862.
Although the church struggled through difficult times beginning in 1927, with the last official entry in the record book, the memory was kept alive with the “Old Settlers Association” in 1932, and the church was renovated in 1948. By 1950, residents formed a new church group, and services resumed. The church was renovated with a modern heating system, new pews and a tile floor. In 1992 the George Thompson Christian Center was built, providing rest rooms and facilities for Sunday School, and other activities.
Today, between 14 and 28 people routinely come to services.
In January, Tina McIntyre and her daughter, Elizabeth, age 10, decided to return to the church where Tina was raised and where she was married 14 years ago.
“When I was a child, we came here, and we came to be part of the community,” McIntyre said on Sept 13. “This church has so much history.”
Ray Songs agreed, and said that “I grew up here and we live close. It is important for us to be here as part of the community.” He has no interest in any “virtual” community on the internet.
Building a sense of community – face to face – an important element in keeping the church alive, said Ada and Don Whitten.
“For families that stay here, it takes involvement in the church community,” Don Whitten said. To that end, the church sponsors a vacation Bible school, “which gets several children from the community” if it isn’t the same week as other churches in the area, Whitten noted. Every month, the church sponsors potluck dinners with no program, just offering a chance for neighbors to come and visit. And the women of the congregation get together with women from other area churches for a monthly program. There’s a Christmas party as well, and historic programs generally draw a full house.
“We want to keep it open for people who want to come here,” Whitten said.
Despite its small size, the congregation helps support a missionary in Japan.
To help with the weekly Sunday services, there is a guest preacher on the second Sunday of each month. On Sept. 13, it was Jason Brent, a graduate of nearby Manhattan Christian College and an associate pastor at a church in Topeka.
“I believe God has a purpose for everyone,” he said, “just because the church is small, doesn’t mean there’s no purpose. The strength is in being connected to a community. I feel when I come here the people are united by their faith.”
Mark Alderman, who teaches Bible at Manhattan Christian College, generally presides on the second Sunday.
“People are proud of the history of the church,” he said. “There is a message in the history of the church, how a handful of pioneers came to make sure Kansas is a free state. That is part of the heritage of the church. They are good people, concerned about their faith,” he added.
“It is a fairly small church and fairly older and people are concerned about the next generation. But it seems like God will always send someone along.” Alderman attributed the smaller size of the congregation, in part, to just that there aren’t a many people in the nearby community.
The aging congregation is a concern, however, said Roth.
He, himself, is age 81, having conducted services in the church for more than 30 years and taught in the Wamego school district from 1973 to 1994.
“Our biggest problem is we’re old,” he said frankly. “We need young people.”
He said in the last year, younger families have joined, but noted that “the historical nature of the church has kept us going.”

This is the article that ran in the Manhattan Mercury today.

John Ebert guides his lawnmower driven, hand-made barrel train for children in front of the historic St. Joseph Church in Flush during the fundraiser to build an elevator, held Sept. 19. The church hosted a silent and live auction, games for children, beer garden and hog roast.

Aaron Jilka, age 8, does his best at the balloon toss, one of the games held for children during the elevator project fundraiser at St. Joseph Church in Flush. The prize for breaking a water balloon in the center of the target was a chance to blow an air horn.

Auctioneer Joe Wilson, directs the attention of the crowd estimated at more than 300 to a drill, held by fellow auctioneer Ron Walsh during the live auction at St. Joseph Church in Flush. The fundraiser netted around $17,000 for the parish's "Lifting All Up
To Share His Cup" project to build an elevator for the church.

Ron Ebert and his wife, Ruth, enjoy the action during the live auction. There were more than 250 items donated for the silent and life auction during the fundraiser.

Carol Lynn Eichman, center, enjoys the live auction with her friends, Glenna Lake, left, and Ellen Wilson, right. Wilson, the wife of the auctioneer, was bidding on an item made by Eichman.

Published in The Leaven, newspaper for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas

Lifting All Up theme of elevator project at St. Joseph Church, Flush

By Paula Glover
Every Sunday at the small parish of St. Joseph in Flush, older parishioners struggle up the limestone steps leading steeply up to the front doors of the historic church.
“My husband and I both need an elevator,” said Jerry Ebert. “One day, he almost fell over on the steps. We don’t want to fall.”
Ebert made her comments at a fundraiser for that very elevator, held at the rural parish east of Manhattan and west of Wamego. Her son, Dan Ebert, echoed his parents sentiments, “my mom and dad both need it.”
The hog roast, silent and live auction, and beer garden held Sept. 19 raised nearly $17,000, said organizer Dale Magnett. The donation of the hogs and much of the food, made the event even more of a success.
“It was well worth the effort,” Magnett said, even though volunteers cleaned the parish hall until after midnight that night and still attended Mass the following morning. “Everyone had a great time, and it made people more aware of the project.”
More than 325 meals were served. There were 250 donations for the silent and live auction from parishioners and from the surrounding communities. A raffle for a car donated by a local car dealer brought around 600 tickets. A hand-made quilt was also raffled off with far more than 600 tickets sold. Organizers have held other fundraisers, including a garage sale, dinner theater and a softball tournament.
The notion of building an elevator has been discussed in the parish for several years. But beginning early in 2009, a new push was begun to raise the necessary $275,000. The current project includes an elevator with three stops and remodeling bathrooms to accommodate the handicapped. Raising the funds will be no small feat for the registered 128 families.
To date, around 60 percent of the families have pledged to the project, but so have 10 families that used to be parishioners, along with 14 families that are not parishioners, and around $125,000 was pledged prior to the hog roast fundraiser.
The parish is steadily making progress toward the meeting the archdiocesan rule that all the money has to be pledged, with half collected prior to the start of the work.
Deb Jilka, whose son, Brian, is a seminarian at Conception Seminary, said it is important to support the project not only for parishioners, but for people attending weddings or funerals who need to get into the parish.
Father John Pilcher, pastor of St. Joseph, has been a strong advocate of the elevator project, called “Lifting All Up to Share His Cup.” He said his experiences in smaller parishes has been that people are likely to work together and take responsibility for efforts such as the hog roast fundraiser.
“It is our Christian duty to help people who can’t normally get into the church,” Father Pilcher said at the fundraiser. “The people who are doing this work are working very hard and doing a superb job.”
Anyone who would like information on the parish’s fundraising efforts can call Dale Magnett at 785-456-1300.

Wind Turbine on a farm north of Lindsbord generates about half of the farm's electricity.

Farmer Mike Patrick with his daughter as she shows him a kitten.

Mike Patrick can see the meter going backwards in a strong wind.

Published in the Grass and Grain

Wind power energy increasingly affordable

By Paula Glover

The next time you’re outside in a brisk breeze, don’t curse the wind – harness it.
Recent energy legislation brings Kansas in line with the nation in making wind turbines for electric generation more feasible through something called net metering, which allows these who generate their own electricity to receive retail prices for the excess electricity they generate.
Even for members of co-ops, where the rules are sometimes slightly different, it is possible to install a wind turbine on a budget. Co-ops follow a cogeneration and small power production rate schedule, which returns 150 percent of the utility’s monthly system average cost of purchased energy to the individual who produces the electricity.
Mike Patrick, who farms just north of Lindsborg, is one of a new wave of farmers who are installing wind turbines to generate some or all of their farm’s electricity.
“I just like building things,” Patrick said.
With plans from Prairie Turbines, www.prairieturbines.com , he mainly used items “bought off the shelf” and two years ago, he built a turbine on the farm.
He estimated he has $7,000 in the turbine, which he painted to look like a sunflower. At current electric rates, he figures it will take around 10 years to get a pay for itself. It is a 5.5 KW turbine, and if he did it again, he’d put up a 10 KW turbine, he said. It took him about six months of off-and-on work to build it.
The blades are 2x12’s that are more than 9 feet long and the tail is 20 feet long, he said. It is 80 feet tall to the top. One feature of the design is it allows for the structure to be lowered for routine maintenance. He hasn’t had to shut wind generator down due to high wind, which can be a concern to people considering building a turbine.
WIND GENERATION WAVE OF FUTURE
Bruce Graham teaches in the head of the wind energy technology department at Cloud City Community College in Concordia.
“Wind turbines are good for everybody because they help save on the coal that it takes to produce electricity and results in lower carbon dioxide emissions,” Graham said. In the past, people have undersized their turbine, so as not to generate more electricity than needed; but now, with the net metering law, there is an incentive to put back onto the electric grid.
“If you can show it will pay back, is reliable, you can show it is worth looking into,” he added. “If co-ops would join in with net metering, you’d see wind generators all over the state.”
The school has several instructors and teaches instillation and maintenance of turbines.
Cloud College’s web site notes several encouraging facts about Kansas’ potential for wind generation. Kansas is third in the nation for potential energy from wind. There are eight existing large-scale wind “farms” and 51 proposed wind projects. Kansas now has over 1,000 megawatts (MW) of wind-powered energy generation.
Wind energy in Kansas is a growing enterprise. Early in September, state legislators approved $5 million in bonds to help build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Hutchinson. German-based Siemans Energy chose Hutchinson as the site of it first U.S. factory to produce the electricity generating parts of the turbine.
For the individual interested in wind turbines, there are several sites on the internet, Graham said.
BEGINNING THE PROCESS
Information on wind energy is available through the American Wind Energy Association at www.awea.org and North American Wind Power a www.nawindpower.com
There are companies such as Bergey Wind Power, at www.bergey.com that will sell a landowner full package and come an install it, but the cost is between $45,000 and $58,000. It is also possible to purchase a system and install it as an individual.
There are several issues a landowner must consider when determining the type of system, including whether or not the farm is subject to frequent power outages and would need its own generators and a transfer switch so the landowner doesn’t send electricity down the power grid when maintenance is being done to repair the outage. There are also more expensive alternatives for those who are completely off the power grid and would require a generator and batteries.
There are many possibilities, particularly for a person who just likes to build things, but doesn’t want to scramble for parts.
Don Lott, who farms and operates a sawmill southeast of Minneapolis, recently put in a wind turbine from Prairie Turbines. He bought the entire kit and said it took about a month to build and he’s been hooked up for about three months.
“It seemed like a good idea, with the cost of electricity going up,” he said. “Besides, I like to build things.” He estimated the 10 KW turbine cost about $13,000 and would pay off in about 5 years. Because of the sawmill, it will produce about half of his needs. Normally a 10 KW would produce close to what is needed for a home or small farm.
Prairie Turbines is an independent operation started by two brothers-in-law, Tim McCall and Alan Plunkett. They challenged each other to create a simple, cost-effective homebuilt wind turbine fully capable of completely offsetting the average electric bill. It had to be simple, reliable, low cost, and easy to build and maintain.
“Plunket, who had several years experience with his own large 25 KW wind turbines, challenged that he could build the turbine and structure if I could build an electronic control to manage it. Well, it sounded simple enough,” McCall said on the company’s web site.
“Drawing on experience with his other turbines Alan knew that the cost of rotor blades and other essentials would leave him no option. He would have to build his own rotor blades, mounting structure, and find competitively priced off-the-shelf components if the cost were to remain within reach of a do-it-yourselfer.” The result was the Breezy 5.5. Connected in parallel with the electric utility it produces 5.5 KW with wind speeds of 21-23 mph.
PRACTICAL STEPS TO TAKE
There are steps an individual should go through when considering an individual wind turbine project.
Ken Maginley, general manager of Bluestem Electric Cooperative said the co-op will work the members who want to do wind turbines. Because each unit has different characteristics, the co-op requires an application, which has a fee, from members to make sure it will not impact the system.
“We’ve had very little problems,” he said. In terms of buying the power back, they follow the state of Kansas rules.
“The true payback is avoiding that they would buy in electricity,” he noted.
While net metering sounds like a good deal, many co-ops have concerns. Shana Holsteen, director of communications for the state electric co-op organization, Kansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. has raised several issues about net metering. The main issue of the co-ops revolves around paying retail prices back to consumers, rather than wholesale prices. This does not allow the co-ops to recover costs for the transmission lines and other fixed costs.
Co-op representatives are careful to note they don’t oppose alternative electrical generation.
Patrick said Don Helwig at DS&O electric was extremely helpful and encouraging during the planning process for his wind turbine. Helwig said that the co-op is glad to work with customers who seek to generate their own power.
Another consideration for landowners would be to contact their local zoning department, said Greg Webster, Pottawatomie County zoning administrator.
“We allow wind generators for personal use, but there are considerations in height limits and property-line setbacks,” he said. A wind farm, however, would require a conditional use permit.
“We want to allow and encourage all types of alternative energy,” he said, “but at the same time, lessen the impacts on neighbors.”
“We’ve had more inquires lately about wind turbines for farm use,” he said.

The line for chicken dinners stretches past the parish hall and to the historic St. Joseph Church in Flush as nearly 1,200 people stand in line for the fried chicken dinner, cooked by the women of the parish. Around 1,600 people came to the church for the evening’s events, which included games for the children.

Dalton Whitwater, 5, of Westmorland, eagerly awaits his ride on a train with John Ebert as engineer. Ebert made two trains out of barrels and donated materials. The trains are pulled around the parking lot by lawn mowers.

George Ebert encourages Larry Bach of Flush while Bach throws a ball in order to win one of the many hats donated by area businesses for the “hat stand.” The stand was begun many years ago by Kenneth “Pete” Ebert.

Mary Siderewicz helps one of the 1,200 people who came for a fried chicken dinner choose a piece of pie. The picnic has been held annually since 1934.

Ramona Stueve of Wamego and Louise Dieter of Maple Hill shop for home-made jams at the Annual Flush Picnic held July 29. All the items on sale were donated by area residents and members of the St. Joseph church.

This time I had a real assignment - from the Manhattan Mercury - to cover the Flush community picnic, sponsored by St. Joseph Church, my own church. It worked out well, since I was planning on being there anyhow! The people in the parish are so welcoming and it was a pleasure to do the assignment.

Barton County Fair

Total concentration - This young woman at the Barton County Fair in central Kansas on July 11 displays the total concentration that marks success in the ring.

Simple joy - This little girl enjoys the carnival.

Miniature success - A grandmother points out features on a miniature farm scene at the fair.

Mutton busting - This young rider can get his full ride if he just hangs on for a moment, in the mutton busting event for children.

Preparing to show - An exhibitor prepares his sheep just prior to the final sheep show of the day.

The Barton County Fair was our destination on Saturday, July 11, and once again, I gave myself an assignment to shoot the fair and see what interesting things I could come up with. Here are five examples. One of the joys of shooting for myself is I don't have to get IDs.

In the swimming hole

Kids and a swimming hole just seem to go together, as this trip up the Hopkins Creek at the Wiexelman Family Reunion on the Ebert farm, just south of Flush shows.

Fourth of July

At the Fourth of July parade in Wamego, I decided to treat it as a mini-assignment, and ended up with a couple of photos I thought were worth posting. On a real assignment, I would have been more aggressive and pushed through the crowd, but without press credentials, nor a "real" reason to be out front, I held back. But it was still a lot of fun.

Kansas Renewal

I'm finding the Flint Hills to be an inspiring place to live, and each day leads be out at dawn to see what photos I can find on the farm.

Kansas

Since moving to Kansas, I've been enjoying renewing and refreshing myself with images from the west.