Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The CBS Christmas Eve service at 11:35 p.m. Friday will be conducted by the Church of the Brethren and will feature many area residents, including a children's choir from area congregations and many with ties to Manchester College.
The service, which continues a CBS tradition of featuring different denominations on Christmas Eve, will be broadcast nationwide in the David Letterman slot and will be aired locally on WSBT, channel 22 in South Bend, and WANE, channel 15 in Fort Wayne.
Themed "Enter the Light of Life," the Church of the Brethren service will focus on the story of Jesus' birth as told in Luke 2. The service was taped Nov. 23 at Bethany Theological Seminary, the Church of the Brethren graduate school in Richmond, and was produced by the church's General Board.
Christopher D. Bowman, pastor of Oakton, Va., Church of the Brethren and a 1984 graduate of Manchester College, will deliver the message. Bowman's family traces its heritage in the Church of the Brethren through 10 generations. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all served as ministers in the church.
The music is coordinated by Shawn Kirchner, minister of music at the La Verne, Calif., Church of the Brethren and a 1992 graduate of Manchester College, and features a children's choir from four northern Indiana Church of the Brethren congregations led by Manchester College organist Marilyn Sexton Mason, who also is the organist for the Christmas Eve service. The service also features soloists, the 51-member Juniata College Concert Choir of Huntingdon, Pa., and instrumentalists and readers from across the denomination.
Indiana voices in the children's choir are Erin Schwartz and Ben Schwartz of Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren in Fort Wayne; Deanna Beckner, Alaina Beckner and Tyler Johnson of the Columbia City Church of the Brethren; Rebekah Rich of the Eel River Community Church of the Brethren in Silver Lake; and soloist Derek Self, Tom Naragon, Kathryn McElwee, Claire Brumbaugh-Smith and Kristin Pittman of the Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester.
Manchester College students participating are Scripture reader Thomas Bimba of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria and litany reader Tobechukwu (Jenny) Ekwealor of the Richmond Church of the Brethren. Percussionist Ben Long is a 2003 Manchester graduate and setting the scene with decorations were Howard E. Royer ('52), Elgin, Ill., and Rosanna Eller ('85) McFadden, Goshen.
Two Manchester grads are consultants to the service: Stanley J. Noffsinger ('76), general secretary of the Church of the Brethren General Board, and Del Keeney ('77), executive director of the board's Congregational Life Ministries. Deanna Brown, pastor for worship at Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren in Fort Wayne and former Manchester College pastor and student, provides viola and sign movement. Bethany Theological Seminary officials handled local arrangements for the service, including Manchester alumni Eugene F. Roop ('64), president; Stephen B. Reid ('73), academic dean; Brenda J. Reish ('82), business manager and treasurer; and Delora Mishler ('64) Roop, administrative assistant.
On the Net:
Church of the Brethren, www.brethren.org (includes the program and photographs for the Christmas Eve service)
Manchester College, www.manchester.edu
