Operation Christmas Child

Message from UALC: We pray for each shoebox that will be brought to Mill Run this week, from our church and other churches in the area. We pray for the journey of the shoeboxes and the individuals involved in getting them to the children. May the contents of these boxes bring necessities, as well as items of joy and fun to each recipient. We pray for the children and families whose lives will be impacted by the contents, and the message of God and his love.

There will be many more, but this was the stack on November 16, 2024.

Fall Fest at UALC

Our church had a party to welcome autumn and invited the neighbors. We didn't go--it's difficult for us to stand for long periods of time, but it sounds like everyone had a good time on September 17. Here's Becki Bork's note:

"We give thanks and praise to God for a wonderful Fall Fest! The weather was perfect and the Mill Run property was filled with people both from the congregation and the surrounding community! Kids were bouncing on inflatables, running through a mountain of bubbles, making and flying kites, playing miniature golf; adults filled the pickleball courts and euchre tables in friendly competition; all ages were enjoying popcorn, cotton candy and sno-cones, and many took time to sit down for dinner from the food trucks, talking with friends and meeting new people. It was a beautiful time of being a welcoming Oasis. Praise God! "

Looking back over 22 years of arts ministry

Bob will be leaving the Visual Arts Ministry of our church as of June 15, 2023. He has been with VAM for over 22 years. On April 5 he will be 85 and can no longer do the labor required to put a show together. It's very heavy work which begins with getting the ladder into the car, and then out of the car and up to the second floor, pulling out the hanging supplies from the VAM closet, and then arranging all the artwork on the floor before the others arrive to help. Bob has many fond memories and will miss all of the current members. For about 10 years after 9/11 (a meeting night) our little group met at Rusty Bucket to start off the church year and celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.

The ministry was developed with the opening of the Mill Run Campus in 2000, and the second floor corridor became the Upper Room Gallery, with classrooms available for check-ins and pick up of art, and good spaces for a reception. A few shows were held at Lytham Road Campus, most recently the 7th Annual Seven-day Art Challenge, The Bob and Norma Bruce show, and the Ned Neely show.  VAM supported many unusual and exciting shows like Blue Shoes (mentally challenged); the school children from Highland Elementary (2004) with the UALC volunteers; Columbus Dispatch graphic artist (Greek Orthodox) Evangelia Philippidis display of religious themes; Sibylle Custis, local artist active in women's art groups; photography of UALC member Bill Keintz of the Amish of Holmes County, Ohio; local architect and artist Dave Schackne; local artist Judith Vierow; the wildlife and world travels photography of OSU Professor Charles Capen, DVM; the Creche society show organized by members Donna and Dave Hahm; also a group trip to Akron for a show of Charles Close, photo realist; creation of our special Sacred Art Corner at Mill Run with the eclectic art of John Kohn of Delaware, OH; four programs VAM facilitated for the Thursday morning Senior Bible Study group and lunch--John Kohn, Pastor Steve Marshall, the chalk artist from Arizona, the internationally known watercolor portrait artist Mary Whyte of South Carolina, and Cody Miller, a local artist who worked with Good Will Industries; a very large retrospective show of the work of Gordan Keith, well-known local artist (then deceased) who designed the cross, candle sticks, baptismal font, altar pieces and Mary window for UALC; many shows for local artists' groups including Central Ohio Watercolor Society, Worthington Art League, Upper Arlington Art League, Digital Artists of Central Ohio, Women's Art Guild of Central Ohio, Westbridge Camera Club, and the Pump House Guys; and of course, our first show was our own "archives" show from storage of banners for the inauguration of the hanging system and in 2003 we began the annual UALC quilt group show.

  

Cody Miller Three kings

 

Pump House Guys

 

Highland School first grade art

 

VBS shirts 

 

Chalk talk 

 

Mary Window,  Gordan Keith, Lytham Rd.

 

Creche show

Quilt Show, Cross with verses

 

 

VAM meeting at Rusty Bucket 2010

 

Hanging a show after mounting the art of kids

 

The church at Mill Run

Other blog stories about the Visual Arts Ministry

Collecting My Thoughts  Scripture and trees.  About a purchase made by VAM in 2003.

Collecting My Thoughts  Lutheran Churches in Columbus Ohio.  This was a plug for our church mentioning the activities including VAM.  I think I wrote it because I couldn't find a listing on the internet. Interesting because a lot has changed.

Collecting My Thoughts  Blue Shoes Art Show in 2008

Collecting My Thoughts: Blue Shoes returns to Mill Run  Blue Shoes show in 2010.  These artists are all mentally challenged, and the social worker from the agency came to one of our meetings to talk about the artists.

Collecting My Thoughts   This blog was about Mother's Day, but last 3 paragraphs are about UAAL show at Mill Run in 2008.

Collecting My Thoughts  Ohio Artists Show, 2009 at Lytham Road Campus.

Collecting My Thoughts  Colored Pencil Show, mention of 168, Hilltop artist, and UAAL. 

Collecting My Thoughts: Fall Art Show at the Church at Mill Run  2009 show by members of UALC.

Collecting My Thoughts  The 2006 quilt show, with some history of the guild.

Collecting My Thoughts  Quilt show photos.

Collecting My Thoughts  This is about a photography show in 2003 by Joe Wagenhals, who had huge shows, and was either a member or regular visitor at UALC MR.   Also mention of an advent show, the quilt show coming up and the new hanging system. To Enter Press The Area Buttons (aworldofpictures.com) this is a link to Joe's photographs

Collecting My Thoughts  VAM show by watercolorist Jeri Platt of her paintings of Haiti  in 2008. 

Retired Old Men Eating Out--ROMEOs

Actually, this group is The Pump House Guys, a group of artists, but they are retired and they go to lunch together. I just thought it was a cute name, but I think it belongs to another group. They are seen here at the art show currently at The Church at Mill Run, honoring one of their deceased members, Fritz Huffman, called "Fritz Huffman and Friends." The show runs from November 12 through January 5, 2010, Sunday-Thursday, 8:30a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Mill Run is closed Friday-Saturday.) Fritz' family provided the t-shirts at the reception.

Fall Art Show at the Church at Mill Run

One of the campuses of UALC, the Church at Mill Run, has the best hanging space for art in Columbus. The halls are the width of a high way, there is natural light, and the hanging system is Arakawa. The UALC members are having an art show this fall. The building is closed on Friday and Saturday to cut utility costs, but if you like to attend art shows Sunday through Thursday, this might be doable. And I'm in it. I don't enter many art shows. First, mine are always NFS, and some shows have rules that something has to be for sale. Second, I'm not competitive. If I like it, fine. I don't care what someone else thinks. I'm the same way with sports, link exchanges to up my stats, committee appointments and board games. Winning is not for me. But I stopped and looked at it last Thursday, and I think it is a very strong show. One of our pastors, Dave Drumel, has put some of his work in, Bev has entered some nice things (forgotten what that's called), my neighbor Joan has a lovely display of her photography of their most recent trip to Italy, and there's a variety of media.




The two on the end are my husbands, three in the middle mine. All are of Lakeside or Marblehead.




Our missionary to Haiti and pastor's wife, Pam Mann, is a very talented artist. These are some of her t-shirts, especially designed for our programming.

It's a God thing

That's what serendipity is called at our church. I was asked to help with a new member breakfast (they don't usually let me in the kitchen, so maybe everyone else was busy), and I thought it might be a good way to meet new people, so I agreed. I'd fogotten that UALC offers chef quality meals--it wasn't just your usual Lutheran coffee and donuts--it was home made biscuits, crisp bacon, egg casserole, coffee cake, mounds of fresh fruit, three kinds of juice, coffee and tea. So leftovers will be our supper tonight!

I joined one of the tables and met 3 people joining 2 services at Lytham, and 4 people joining 2 services at Mill Run. While I was asking David (whom I know from exercise class) about the memory problem with my almost new computer, Gary, one of the other church servers, over heard us and handed me his card. He owns a computer parts and repair service, CPRS, Inc.! How great is that! After chatting a bit while cleaning up, I found out he does the computer work for a lot of individuals and businesses I know--some of whom I thought would be doing their own. Also, he served in Haiti with my husband on the mission team.

I haven't even called him yet, but since I don't know anyone else to recommend, his e-mail is gbollinger@myvideopal.com. His card says he'll remove viruses, setup a custom arrangement or network, hardware and software upgrades, databack up and recovery, HDTV setup and calibration, and if you go to his web site, www.myvideopal.com, he has a free video for the technically challenged. And he's pretty darn good in the kitchen, too.