A rendering of the courtyard view of the Provo MTC expansion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the rendering Tuesday night and announced it has finalized its plans to begin construction in the summer of 2015. When complete, the MTC's capacity will rise from 2,800 missionaries in training to 3,500.

LDS Church

PROVO The LDS Church released renderings Tuesday night of its final plans for the expansion of its Missionary Training Center in Provo.

A site plan also shows the new oval that will change the way families drop off their missionaries at the MTC, one of the church's 15 training centers around the world.

Construction will begin in the summer. When complete in 2017, the MTC will be able to train, house and feed 3,500 missionaries at a time, up from 2,800, according to a news release.

The Provo MTC has been in flux since October 2012, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lowered the ages at which men and women can serve missions. The age change led to a flood of new missionaries that overwhelmed the Provo MTC.

To accommodate the rush of new elders and sisters into the mission field, the church leased an apartment building and nearby housing at BYU about a mile away from the MTC. It also closed a church school in Mexico and converted it into an MTC.

The Mexico City MTC, opened last year, now hosts many of the church's Spanish-speaking missionaries during training, easing pressure on the Provo MTC.

Also, the number of missionaries is normalizing after the boom caused when LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson announced that men could leave at 18 instead of 19, and sisters could serve at 19 instead of 21.

Those men who were between 18 and 19 and women who were between 19 and 21 who decided to serve immediately created a bottleneck that now is abating.

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LDS Church releases renderings of final Provo MTC expansion plans

By TAYLOR M. LIER

Staff Writer

HOWELL A half-century of worship is being celebrated as a house of worship rings in its 50th anniversary.

The Church of the Master, 110 Salem Hill Road, Howell, will celebrate 50 years of serving the community at 11 a.m. Nov. 23 with a special worship service to be followed by a luncheon at Our House Restaurant.

For Howell native Phil DeFusco, the 50th anniversary of his childhood place of worship is exciting.

I grew up in Howell and still live here today, and I have been going to the church since I was about 4 years old. I am so proud of what it has become, DeFusco said.

The Church of the Master began as a mission church of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, Newark, in 1961, according to DeFuscos wife, Kathie.

At the time, Howell was a growing community, and money was approved to begin a church in this area, she said.

The churchs first service was held at the Land O Pines School on Jan. 6, 1963. The congregation grew and plans were eventually made for the construction of a permanent home. On Nov. 24, 1964, the Church of the Master, being approved by the Board of Missions, was opened.

In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church combined to form the United Methodist Church, according to DeFusco. The Church of the Master became part of the Southern New Jersey Conference.

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Church of the Master to celebrate 50 years

A construction worker allegedly stabbed his co-worker to death in a church in Sampaloc, Manila yesterday.

Police identified the victim as Mario Gorpedo, 27, stay-in at Flashbuilt Construction Inc. and of Northern Samar.

Case officer PO3 Marlon San Pedro disclosed that the incident happened at around 4:30 a.m. at the construction site of Grace Gospel Church on Mangga Ave. corner Buenos Aires St. Initial investigation said that the suspect, Jonard Caberte, 35, of Negros Occidental, stabbed the victim while he was sleeping. A witness, co-worker Anito Galias, saw the suspect fleeing.

Galias saw Gorpedo gasping for breath on his wooden bed. The victim was taken to the Ospital ng Sampaloc where he died.

Police are eyeing revenge as the motive of the killing.

(The reason for the killing) may be out of revenge, because last Friday, the victim, along with his unknown companion, ganged up the suspects brother (who is also their co-worker), San Pedro said. (Rachel Joyce E. Burce)

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Laborer stabs co-worker

THE property developer behind the multi-million pound conversion of a 189-year-old church into luxury studio apartments has opened its doors to the public.

Trinity Court on the site of the former Holy Trinity Church next to Bolton railway station was officially launched by Bolton Mayor, Cllr Martin Donaghy.

The Grade Two Listed building within a building now has 82 apartments divided into three sections The Church, The Knave and The Gatehouse. Twenty-one of the flats have already been taken.

The apartments are being let by Primo Property Management, the sister company of Bolton property developers Forshaw Land and Property Group founded by Lyndon Forshaw in 2008 and run with director brothers Glenn and Jonathan.

The Forshaw company was born out of Forshaw Demolition, founded in 1921 by their grandfather Walter Forshaw and run by their father Harry, who rang bells at the church as a youngster.

The full refurbishment has been carried out by Haslingden firm Colbre Projects Ltd and has taken 16 months to complete.

Project leader was construction director Bob Misell. He said: If the building had been left much longer, it would have started to collapse. Our initial objective was to prevent the shell of the church from deteriorating while the plans for the development were drawn up.

It has been reroofed and the parapet walls have been rebuilt. More than 50,000 concrete blocks have been used in what has been a major structural project.

Great lengths have been gone to by the developer and ourselves to preserve the character of the building and there are some beautiful features which remain from the original church.

Holy Trinity Church was one of the so-called Waterloo Churches built with a government fund set up in 1818 as a token of the nations thanks for victory in the famous battle against Napoleon. It cost 13,824 - 1 million in todays money to build and had been empty since 1992.

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Multi-million pound church apartments conversion opens to public

SAN JOSE -- Holy Cross Catholic Church, a century-old center of a beloved parish, where Mass was still recited in Italian, burned down Sunday afternoon in a four-alarm fire.

"This was home, and now it's gone," said Catherine Ventimiglia, who attended the Italian Mass that ended minutes before the fire broke out around 2 p.m. "We are stunned. My legs are numb from this."

San Jose Fire Department Capt. Mike Van Elgort said the cause of the fire was not known, but the blaze did spread rapidly through the second floor and then to the roof. More than 100 firefighting personnel were still struggling to control the blaze in the late afternoon. By then, the roof had collapsed and two minarets had tumbled.

"It's made of heavy timber, old construction methods and old dry wood," Van Elgort said. "It's a beautiful building. It's a tragedy to see it demolished."

However, the fire had spared the rectory and a meeting hall.

Hundreds of local residents and parishioners -- speaking in Italian, English or Spanish -- stood at the corner of Jackson and North 13th streets and watched their neighborhood and spiritual institution crumble before their eyes.

"I can't believe I'm not going to see my church again," said Debra Cancilla, who was baptized there in the 1950s. "You get to know people and where they sit every Sunday, for years and years. That's not going to happen anymore."

Special crucifix

Holy Cross was founded in 1906 to serve working-class Italian immigrants settling in the Northside, one of San Jose's oldest neighborhoods. The church gained special recognition five years later as an Italian National Parish.

The newcomers that followed the Italians over the decades remained largely Catholic and working class, but they came from Portugal, Texas, the Philippines and Mexico. The waves of newcomers helped the church remain a Northside anchor.

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Big blaze at Holy Cross Church destroys a beloved structure in San Jose

THE CENTURIES-OLD Taal Basilica in Taal, Batangas, stands tall amid a feud over expansion plans by the priest in charge of the church. MARICAR CINCO/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

TAAL, BatangasA centuries-old Catholic church here, famous for its Baroque architecture and trompe loeil (deceives the eye) painted ceilings, is at the center of a lingering battle between art and the churchs need for more room.

Renowned glass sculptor

Ramon Orlina had asked the court here to permanently stop all construction at the St. Martin de Tours Basilica, popularly known as the Taal Basilica, spearheaded by the parish priest, Msgr. Alfredo Madlangbayan.

Both parties, accompanied by their legal counsels, had presented evidence in a pretrial hearing at the Taal Regional Trial Court (RTC). Judge Juanita Areta, of Branch 86, set the start of the hearing in February next year.

We will fight them. I will not take it sitting down, Madlangbayan told the Inquirer in an interview.

The structure being questioned in the case is a one-story events venue outside the basilica. The construction of a 280-square meter events hall started last year but it was ordered stopped by the Taal RTC in November 2013. A temporary restraining order was issued based on the petition of Orlina.

Its been a year already. We dont have a place where meetings could be held. Just imagine a church without a hall for meetings and seminars, Madlangbayan said.

It was Orlina who called the attention of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) in October 2013 to the changes made at the basilica since Madlangbayan was installed in 2010.

Among these are the re-painting of the altar in shades of gold and the construction of an arcade, eight vendors stalls, a small ossuary, bird coops and a small fountain around the church yard.

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Some homeowners living near Maranatha Adventist Fellowship church off MD 564 in Bowie are concerned that a new church renovation project will clog roadways, endanger pedestrians and harm the local ecosystem.

While the Prince Georges County planning board unanimously approved the churchs new 29,000 square foot building Nov. 6, many neighbors are still uneasy about the sudden growth and what they call a lack of transparency. The new building will be nearly six times the churchs current structure, according to Maranatha pastor Uzooma Erondu.

The Bowie City Council heard community concerns about the church expansion on Oct. 20 and recommended several conditions to the planning board, including the request of a public construction design plan. While planning board members attached several conditions to their decision including the addition of a sidewalk and path alongside the property the public site plan was not approved.

Robert Koelsch of Bowie, who lives in a neighborhood adjacent to the church, said a site plan would have enhanced communication between the church and its neighbors by fully informing residents of the churchs plans.

I would like to see more of the details, he said. They keep saying the [plans] are all preliminary, but my concern is once its all approved, details may not matter too much.

Rebecca Sunday of Bowie testified at the planning board meeting on Nov. 6 and said that, without a site plan, it would be difficult to tell how the church expansion would affect her property.

We are very concerned about the size of the church in its proposed location as well as many aspects of the proposed design, she said. Weve invested a lot of money in our property, basically renovating the entire house and the yard. The placement of the church so close to our property line looming over us just doesnt seem like the best design.

William Mayah, a county planner, said that planning board staff did not deem it necessary for the church to present a public detailed site plan, but that the church could produce such a plan on its own.

Kenneth Burruss, project manager for the church expansion, said the church is unlikely to do so.

It would not be cost effective to the client to do all these things, he said. Its not an issue of trying to satisfy the whims of everybody because thats unreasonable.

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Bowie church, community still at odds over new building -- Gazette.Net

Some homeowners living near Maranatha Adventist Fellowship church off MD 564 in Bowie are concerned that a new church renovation project will clog roadways, endanger pedestrians and harm the local ecosystem.

While the Prince Georges County planning board unanimously approved the churchs new 29,000 square foot building Nov. 6, many neighbors are still uneasy about the sudden growth and what they call a lack of transparency. The new building will be nearly six times the churchs current structure, according to Maranatha pastor Uzooma Erondu.

The Bowie City Council heard community concerns about the church expansion on Oct. 20 and recommended several conditions to the planning board, including the request of a public construction design plan. While planning board members attached several conditions to their decision including the addition of a sidewalk and path alongside the property the public site plan was not approved.

Robert Koelsch of Bowie, who lives in a neighborhood adjacent to the church, said a site plan would have enhanced communication between the church and its neighbors by fully informing residents of the churchs plans.

I would like to see more of the details, he said. They keep saying the [plans] are all preliminary, but my concern is once its all approved, details may not matter too much.

Rebecca Sunday of Bowie testified at the planning board meeting on Nov. 6 and said that, without a site plan, it would be difficult to tell how the church expansion would affect her property.

We are very concerned about the size of the church in its proposed location as well as many aspects of the proposed design, she said. Weve invested a lot of money in our property, basically renovating the entire house and the yard. The placement of the church so close to our property line looming over us just doesnt seem like the best design.

William Mayah, a county planner, said that planning board staff did not deem it necessary for the church to present a public detailed site plan, but that the church could produce such a plan on its own.

Kenneth Burruss, project manager for the church expansion, said the church is unlikely to do so.

It would not be cost effective to the client to do all these things, he said. Its not an issue of trying to satisfy the whims of everybody because thats unreasonable.

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Bowie church, community still at odds over new building

A new $4 million addition to Legacy Heights and Memory Lane in Van Buren meant specifically for the care of residents suffering from Alzheimers was dedicated Thursday at the First Assembly of God Church.

About 300 attended the dedication of the new Alzheimers special care unit, during which city and church officials spoke on the quality of the facility and thanked those who helped bring it about.

Rev. Bobby Johnson, senior pastor with the church, presided over the dedication.

The people who are going to reside in this facility will not realize how beautiful it is, but their families will. It will be a great comfort to them, Johnson said during the ceremony.

Able to house 40 Alzheimers and dementia patients, the unit has two separate pods each with 20 private rooms, a courtyard and walking trail, nursing quarters, salons and spas, separate dining rooms, a movie room, activities room, and saferoom. The unit will be staffed with about 25 nurses and assistants.

Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman said the facility will help fill the growing need in the community for Alzheimers patient care.

This is a contribution, not just for this church, but for our community and the entire region, Freeman said. We know weve got an aging population and with that comes particular challenges. This facility and this church have reached out to meet those challenges.

Doug Clay, general treasurer for the General Council of the Assemblies of God, said during the dedication that 1 in 8 people 65 or older are expected to be diagnosed with Alzheimers and more than 5,500 Americans become 65 each day.

An anonymous donor granted the church $5 million to build the 34,000-square-foot Alzheimers unit. About $4 million went into construction of the new addition, with the other million going for operation costs, equipment and decorations, said Darron Ming, executive director of Legacy Heights and Memory Lane and director of mens ministry with the church.

Living areas have been decorated with leather rockers and sofas and Norman Rockwell paintings, while display cases around the courtyards hold memorabilia from the first half of the 20th century.

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Memory Lane addition dedicated

They didnt feed 5,000 people, but members of the Fremont Church of the Nazarene saw a miracle nonetheless.

It happened on a mission trip in Ecuador. The Rev. Tom Shaw, his wife, Becky, and 10 parishioners had gone to the South American country to show the film The Story of Jesus for Children in Spanish.

During the trip, group members were asked to erect a pre-fab church building on a portion of a cleared-out jungle area. Mission team members had brought enough food for about 15 people.

But then there was about 30 or 40 Ecuadorians around and we thought, We cant eat in front of them, so we shared and there was enough and with leftovers just like the miracle, said team member Patty Smith, referring to the Bible story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people.

It was just one of the miracles that team members said they witnessed during a memory-making fall trip.

One of the first miracles occurred in a South American airport. Team members were concerned about questions they might get in the foreign airport or that some of the new equipment such as a projector, sound system, screen and portable generators might be confiscated, thus thwarting their plans to show the 60-minute Gospel film.

That didnt happen.

We were getting ready to go through customs and the man flagged us through without checking any bags. We walked through without being processed basically, said team member Kathy Johnson, noting that doesnt often occur.

Team members later were taken to a Work and Witness site where they stayed.

The next morning they worshiped in Spanish with their Ecuadorian brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Church members see miracles on mission trip