Now that the dam rehab is complete at the Marilla Reservoir at West Washington Street, the lake has started to fill up. It should be completed by mid-November, I took these photos a couple weeks ago. The lake is nearly half full now.

Click here to see the slideshow.

Part of the Elm Street project’s rejuvenation of neighborhoods is the Bank Street Community Garden. Take one dilapidated property that isn’t on the tax roles anyhow, add volunteers, creativity, and dedication, and what can be accomplished?

Thanks to Elm Street Project Manager Lisa Campogiani, Interns Kara & Rachel, and the volunteers who are donating labor and materials, the gardening project is coming together in one neighborhood. Hopefully it is just the first.

Rachel attends Penn State, and Kara attends Cornell. The are both Landscape Architecture majors contributing their skills (and labor) to the garden. Both chose to come to Bradford because of our location in the Allegany National Forest. They have created the Bank Street Community Garden Blog.

Council also approved a $200,000 loan to Zito Media for their on-going fiber optic project. This phase will continue work to include Bradford in the “fiber ring”. Jim Rigas and Steve Zwerin of Zito Media explained what the project involves.

For more details visit Anne Holliday’s 1490 News Blog.

Joshua Hatcher, representing the area’s Christian Churches, told Council the Christian community is ready to help the City, urging Council to call on them “if they can help in any way”. He also announced an email address designed to utilize the power of prayer. Requests sent to bradfordprays@openarmsbradford.org will be sent to area clergy, who will organize prayers for the senders.

For more details visit Anne Holliday’s 1490 News Blog.

If you see these kids out this weekend, please support them, and have a glass of lemonade at the same time!

‘Mission Lemonade’ to Raise Funds for Africa Trip

A few weeks ago, a handful of Sunday School kids put their faith in action, and that action is motivating others at Open Arms Community Church in Bradford to do the same.

“Before church, they were selling rocks for a dollar,” said Josh Hatcher, Outreach Coordinator at Open Arms. He said the kids had handwritten a little sign that said, “Rocks 4 Sale to help the Africa ‘Mishuns’ (Missions) Trip.”

Open Arms has been planning a trip to the city of Conakry in Guinea, Africa in the Spring of 2009 to do humanitarian work.

After church, while the some of the adults were in a leadership meeting, the kids took their passion to the streets, putting together a makeshift lemonade stand and attempting to hawk their wares to passing cars.

Children’s Ministry Coordinator Michelle Mahaney said, “I was really moved by what those kids did! They had that burning desire in their hearts; they were on a mission! They wanted to help and they did it the only way the knew. They had one hour to work with, and it got me thinking about how much they did in one hour.”

Mahaney was inspired to launch what she calls “Mission Lemonade.” She will work with all the kids from the Open Arms Children’s Ministry to put up a lemonade stand at the church this weekend. All of the money raised will go to fund the upcoming missions trip.

“It’s really the idea of a handful of elementary aged kids. I just want all of the kids to see that they can help make a difference. I want them to have a sense of accomplishment. If it works out well, we may sell lemonade once a month,” said Mahaney.

Hatcher said that the church’s trip to Guinea will be to help out a church and school comprised largely of refugees from Sierra Leone. “These are the refugees that you see in the movie ‘Blood Diamond’. Guinea is one of the poorest countries in the world. We’ve been in a close relationship with this church and school for about a year now, and we’re excited about meeting our friends there face to face.”

The “Mission Lemonade” stand will be open this Saturday, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM and Sunday form 10:30 to 12:00 PM in front of Open Arms Community Church on East Main Street.

Two Bradford Churches are working together to launch a new kind of church service in town. Grace Lutheran and Open Arms Community Churches are teaming up to start “The Remix” on Thursday nights at the Grace Lutheran Community Life Center.

“Hip Hop is at this point, a large part of our culture. There are a lot of people in our community who live the hip hop culture, and the church is not connecting with them,” says Josh Hatcher, Outreach Coordinator at Open Arms.

“The Remix” service will be rap worship music with local Christian Hip Hop Group Panic Attack, which is made up of Justin Willoughby, and Larry Petry, and then a “remixed” video version of the weekly church service from Open Arms.

“Rap music often gets a bad reputation,” says Hatcher, referring to the sex, violence, and drug use often portrayed in rap music, “but our goal here is not to revel in some of the things that the general hip hop market embraces, but rather to help people connect to God in their own language, from within their own culture.”

The Remix is something of a missionary endeavor, according to Hatcher. “When Hudson Taylor went to China in the 19th century, he went in as an Englishman with his top hat and hymnal.”

Hatcher says that Taylor found that the Chinese culture largely rejected him as an imperialist, which was not his goal at all. So he shaved his head, grew a traditional queue hairstyle, and changed the way he dressed, so that he could share the message of the gospel.

“The English mission boards were ready to stone him. They all pulled funding, because they thought what Taylor was doing was crazy and shameful. In reality, China Inland Missions helped to launch probably the largest and strongest group of believers in the world. It has survived communism, and there are currently millions of Chinese Christians,” says Hatcher, “I think that’s what we need to do to reach people in America, too. We need to enter their world.”

Grace Lutheran and Open Arms hope that “The Remix” can be an indigenous form of worship for a group of people that otherwise might never go to church.

“To be honest, a lot of these people wouldn’t understand out churches, and I’m not sure that our churches would understand them. We live in a community where people are separated into tribes- some like country music and hunting and fishing, some are pierced and tattooed and wear black, and others speak the language of hip hop,” says Hatcher. “I want to see all people be able to worship and experience God in their own language and style.”

“The Remix: Hip Hop Worship” will start April 3rd at 8 PM at the Community Life Center. More information is available at myspace.com/openarmsremix.

For More Information or for soundbytes, contact:
Josh Hatcher 814-362-2813 Mike McAvoy 814-331-1287 Justin Willoughby 814-331-2651

For music soundbytes, check out the Panic Attack Website at www.myspace.com/attackmypanic