FIRST BAPTIST JOAN SAKALAS AS GUEST SPEAKER FOR FATHER’S DAY

The First Baptist Church of Bennington, Vermont, welcomes Dr. Joan Sakalas to its 9:30 AM worship on Sunday, June 21, 2009. Dr. Sakalas is the former director of the Project Against Domestic Violence (PAVE). She has returned to teaching, serving as an adjunct faculty member with the Community College of Vermont, Southern Vermont College, and online instruction with Johnston State. Dr. Sakalas will offer the morning’s sermon “Father: What A Concept!” This summer Sakalas is working on a book that focuses on a "Theology of Penology" developed by Miriam Van Waters, the superintendent of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women from 1932 to 1957.

The morning worship service will celebrate the civic holiday of Father’s Day and the end of the Sunday School year for children and adults. First Baptist celebrates another year of Sunday school, ably taught by Rhonda Harmon, Alyssa Gilleran, and the minister, the Rev. Jerrod Hugenot. First Baptist religious education is coordinated by Alycia Post, director, and the board of Christian education. Sunday school will resume after Labor Day, however, the board is preparing for “Vacation Bible Camp”, a children’s summer program offered jointly by First Baptist and St Peter’s Episcopal Church over the weekends of July 10-12 and 18-19, 2009. For more information, contact First Baptist’s office.

Located at 601 Main Street in downtown Bennington, First Baptist is “a place for healing, community involvement, and spiritual grounding”. To learn more, visit the congregation’s website (fbcbennington.org) or call 802/442-2105.