by Joseph Masilamany, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 23, 2014, Sunday

THE old rugged Church of St James which sits on a hill in Kam-pung Quop, no longer sings a liturgical song.

The muted sound of its now choirless sanctuary is deafening. Its once thunderous pulpit from which sprung fire and brim-stone is desolately silent.

But there is something mesmeric about a derelict old church building as St James. There seems to be a certain kind of compelling charm about it. In its woodwork, its tabernacle in the numerous crafted decorative embellishments and its lone stained glass, the old St James still retains a palpable aura of its erstwhile epiphany.

On the same hill, next to the old St James of 1865 is the new St James built in 1986 and consecrated in 1987. A new wellspring from the fountain of old, the new Church of St James, blessed with an exceptionally talented choir, continues to shine with the Anglican brand of missionary zeal while the old rugged church, now mellowed in its quaint and sublime hallowedness, has become a sedate piece of arcane history.

A prefabricated building made of belian wood, it was among the few such churches built in Sarawak during the early years of Anglican fervour to nurture the gospel in the state, and is the only one still standing.

According to a page from the past, the assembling of the prefabricated parts for the church started in 1863. The components were assembled in Kuching, 20km away, and transported upriver to Kampung Quop via the Sarawak and Quop Rivers.

The construction of the church was initiated by Fr William Abe, a pioneer missionary who, among others, pastored the rising new Anglican community of Kampung Quop in the 1800s. Renowned carpenter TA Stahl supervised the carpentry work.

A souvenir magazine of the parish published in 2010 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Quop parish community reported that the heavy pre-fabricated woodwork was borne by villagers on their shoulders.

It was carried from the jetty at the Quop River through dense jungle to its location on the hill. It was an arduous task as belian wood (ironwood) is heavy and burdensome.

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The old St James the epiphany of Quop Hill

Curtis Johnson / The Herald-Dispatch

High winds ripped off the roof and steeple from Open Door Baptist Church shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, at the intersection of 19th Street West and Madison Avenue in Huntington.

Feb. 22, 2014 @ 12:00 AM

HUNTINGTON Justina Adkins spent time decorating her church for a sweetheart banquet Thursday, hours before high winds ripped off the building's roof and steeple causing hundreds of thousands in damage and a broken heart for the woman who called Open Door Baptist Church home since 1985.

"This is amazing, this is sad," said Adkins, of Lavalette. "It's just hard to believe."

Cabell County 911 received word of the incident at 1:25 a.m. Friday as a frontal system swept through the Tri-State with heavy rain and gusty winds. That combination brought down trees, knocked out electricity to thousands and caused increased water levels on Fourpole Creek at Ritter Park in Huntington.

But no where was the damage as significant as it was at Open Door Baptist, located at 19th Street West and Madison Avenue in Huntington.

The peeling away of its roof left the church open to flooding and subsequent damage, said Chase Ward, an estimator at Classic Construction. He estimated 3 inches of water stood in the basement as the church's walls retained pockets of water and its ceiling started to buckle.

George Adkins, 65, lives two doors from the church. He listened to the howling wind early Friday as tired to fall asleep. He heard a loud bang, followed by a moment of quiet, then interrupted by the sound of fire trucks that stopped instead of passing by 19th Street West.

"I didn't dream the church's roof would come off," he said. "It's been there forever. You can see that's solid wood. It was constructed good. I guess it caught it just right."

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Church hit hard by powerful storm

When the Santa Rosa de Lima Mission was built 85 years ago, those who helped construct the church in the Old Pascua Village embedded a time capsule into its adobe walls.

On Saturday, the contents of the time capsule, will be revealed and those who attend the opening are invited to bring their own item or add their names to the capsule that will be re-sealed.

The opening, which will also feature traditional Yaqui dancers and traditional Yaqui food, is meant to help kick off the church's efforts to help raise money for much needed restoration work and also so elders in the community who helped build the church have the chance to see what's inside.

There are only about two people who helped with the construction of the church, 2015 N. Calle Central, that are still alive, said Patricia Noriega Romero, vice president of the church committee.

"I know that there's documents in there with the names of our elders who built this church and I'm hoping I'm going to find my great great grandfather's name," she said.

Aside from the documents, it's unknown what else is in the capsule, she said.

Longtime members of the church described it as a special place in the community.

"Our ancestors and family members built it when they were young. They built it for the community so we could have religion and things going on for the benefit of the community and the people of the neighborhood," Touch Romero, president of the church committee, said.

He recalled attending a learning center at the church led by nuns who taught the children reading, writing and arithmetic. When kids completed their lessons, they would earn points that could be exchanged for prizes, like toys or gifts that could be given to their parents.

After weekly Catechism lessons the nuns would give the children doughnuts and chocolate milk, treats they rarely got at home, Romero said.

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Time capsule at Yaqui mission to be unveiled

A Dunedin structural engineer and church leader has questioned why international seismologists and engineers are analysing up to 29 Dunedin churches to gauge their seismic fitness in the event of an earthquake.

The two-year project, funded by the Earthquake Commission, will involve scientists from New Zealand, Italy and Portugal developing a seismic vulnerability index for unreinforced masonry churches and historic buildings to help with decisions on retro-fitting to prevent damage in future earthquakes.

However, St Paul's Anglican Cathedral vestry and works committee, and Opus Dunedin earthquake risk management and strengthening consultant Thomas Moore had several concerns about the research.

While he welcomed the funding of the international study to explore rationally the seismic vulnerabilities of Dunedin's heritage churches, he asked the research group to focus closely on the practical issues of seismic upgrading by presenting a library of construction details acceptable to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, rather than merely running a scoring system.

Dr Moore said the New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineers (NZSEE) recently upgraded the initial evaluation procedure (IEP) to give substantial credit for previous strengthening work, such as that performed at St Paul's in 1968 when a new apse was constructed, enlarging the cathedral substantially, with new reinforced structural elements.

Under the IEP scoring system adopted in 2014, the work improved the seismic capacity of the cathedral significantly, he said.

''We would like to know if the new study will replace the 2014 scoring system.

''St Paul's is required to present an engineering evaluation of the cathedral by July 31, 2014.

''It is unlikely that the new scoring system will be in place by this date.

''Perhaps the real challenge is to design affordable strengthening measures or stiffening measures that limit building displacements, instead of focusing on another scoring system,'' he said.

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Seismic vulnerability church study queried

02/21/2014 09:20 INDONESIA South Sumatra, hundreds of Islamists block the construction of a Protestant church by Mathias Hariyadi An armed mob has occupied a plot of land owned by the Christian community Huria Kristen Batak Protestan. Raid motivated by lack of building permit. The leadership of the Hkbp lodges IMB application in 2011, to no avail . The Minister for Religious Affairs orders the termination of the project.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Late yesterday afternoon, hundreds of armed men, led by local Muslim leaders, stormed and forcibly occupied a plot of land owned by the Indonesian Christian community Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP). The incident occurred in the village of Talang Kelapa , located in the sub-district of Alang -alang Lebar in the regency of Palembang, South Sumatra province. The raid was motivated by an attempt to build a place of worship. In fact, on February 17 the ceremony of laying the first stone was held, amid protests from local residents. A decision that has created discontent among Muslims, who organized a task force to occupy the land - two acres in all - and to send a strong message to HKBP leaders: churches are not allowed in the area.

The process for building a church in Indonesia - Catholic or Protestant - is quite complicated and may take five to ten years to obtain all permits required by law. The procedure is governed by the Izin Mendirikan Bangunan (IMB), a species of written protocol that allows for construction to commence and is issued by local authorities.The story gets more complicated if it is a place of Christian worship: permission must be obtained from a number of residents in the area where the building is to be constructed and the local Group for Interfaith Dialogue. And even if the permission is granted "unspecified reasons" can come into play that will lead officials to block the projects. Often, this occurs after pressure from the Muslim community or radical Islamic movements.

Since 2011, the Christian community has initiated procedures to obtain the necessary permits, without any concrete results. Moreover, the lack IMB provides a legal foothold to the Muslim majority, who can enforce breaches and irregularities in the procedures to stop the building and forcibly occupy land. Junaidi Alhafidz, a local Muslim leader who headed the mob in fact declared the raid was motivated by "the Hkbp's lack of IMB permit" reflecting the fact that "the authorities in Palembang have not yet authorized the building". He also reiterated opposition "to the construction of a church".

The Islamic leader points to the fact that the signatures of 60 residents of the area are missing, as well as the minimal number of faithful (90) necessary to get the go- ahead for the construction of the building. This is confirmed by the head of sub-district Sulaiman Amien, who states that the local Protestant community "has not yet received the permits". The Ministry for Religious Affairs of Palembang has also weighed in ordering the HKBP to "halt" the project until all legal procedures are completed.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has seen a rise in the number of attacks or acts of intolerance against minorities, including Christians, Ahmadi Muslims and others. In the province of Aceh - the only in the Archipelago to apply Islamic law ( Sharia ) - following a peace agreement between the central government and the Free Aceh Movement ( GAM ) , the application of a radical form of Islam among citizens is becoming more extreme. In addition, certain rules such as the building permit - the infamous IMB - are exploited to prevent the building or close down places of worship, as was the case in West Java against Yasmin Church. The constitution provides for freedom of religion, but the community is the victim of incidents of violence and abuse. Local sources report that in December alone , at least five Christian places of worship have had to close their doors due to pressure from Islamists.

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INDONESIA South Sumatra, hundreds of Islamists block the construction of a Protestant church - Asia News

A mission trip to Mexico gave Tim Howard a chance to see how a local church is making a difference.

While in Mexico, Howard met a family who shared their story: The couple had marriage problems and one of their sons was getting beat up daily in the public school. The family was on the verge of imploding.

Life began to change, however, through the dads interaction with Fremonter Darrol Prusia, who began working in Puebla, Mexico, as a missionary for Camino Global in 2010.

Within a short time, the Mexican man and his wife became Christians. Their marriage began to heal. The son transferred to a Christian school, where hes making academic progress.

Its really cool, Howard said. You see the real-life impact of what the Prusias are doing down there you see the real human face of what our missions are accomplishing.

Howard was just one of seven members of Fremont Alliance Church who recently went to Mexico, where they did various jobs from assembling and distributing wheelchairs to working on church buildings. Yet more than working on structures, team members were building and strengthening relationships with the people they helped, and each other.

The group spent time in two different cities visiting and helping missionaries who call Fremont Alliance their home church: Tina Barham and the Prusia family.

Deb Mellema, FACs adult ministry assistant, organized the wintertime trip. Church members making the journey were Randy Brand, Ken Meier, Tim Howard, Willie Jamison and Jo Preitauer of Fremont and Dan Ruwe and James Newkirk of Arlington.

Ruwe had long wanted to make such a trip.

Darrol Prusia is my friend and we were in a small group together for quite a while and he always said, When are you coming down for a mission trip?

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Church members make memories on mission trip

IF YOU GO

What: Aztec Presbyterian Church 125th Anniversary

When: 11 a.m. Sunday

Where: Aztec Presbyterian Church, 205 North Church Ave.

More info: aztec-presbyterian.org

AZTEC In 1888, 10 people got together in Aztec to form a church. They met in a little schoolhouse where the American Hotel now stands on South Main Street.

These 10 people came from as far away as London, England, and were from a variety of denominations including Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian. They are now considered the charter members of the Aztec Presbyterian Church.

A year later, the Aztec Presbyterian Church expanded to its own building on North Church Avenue in Aztec, where it still stands.

They built the church out of adobe and used rocks from the Animas River for the foundation.

Mrs. Austin, one of Aztec Presbyterian Church's charter members, is seen in this undated courtesy photo. Mrs. Austin and her husband, John Hovey Austin, were from Canon City, Colo. (Courtesy of Aztec Presbyterian Church)

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Aztec Presbyterian Church celebrates 125 years

The Michiana Meltdownhas givenone South Bend Church abig problem - a $100,000 dollar problem to be more precise.

Lead Pastor Andy Lauer says The First Church of the Nazarene saw a tiny bit of water coming from the ceiling last week. Now, there's water everywhere, and part of the ceiling is coming down.

"Once it started melting this week, all the ice damming on the roof, and with the rain today... it's just been more than we can handle," says Lauer.

Not only is the water a lot to handle, so is the price tag. Lauer says, "Over $100,000 in damage. If we have to do some roof work and all that... it could be that much." The last 48 hours, Pastor Lauer has traded in his snow boots for rain boots, which he says is a bit ironic, saying, "Funny enough, this past Sunday I actually preached on Noah and the flood."

The congregation is made up of 175 people, and about a third of those people been flowing in to help. One of those volunteers is Jay Thornburg who says, "It's my church. It's my family. I'm between jobs in construction right now with the weather and what it is, so I feel like I should help now while I can give the time."

The church is doing all it can to keep the water out. They've set up a sump pump outside the walls where the most of the water is seeping through, placed buckets underneath wet ceiling tiles, and Thornburg says he's done more vacuuming in the past 24-hours than he has in his entire lifetime.

Lauer says although this is devastating to the church, they're determined to remain upbeat and keep in good faith. "We talked about having a walk through baptismal where people could walk underneath the drips and be baptized that way," he said."We've had some fun with it so it's not all negative. People have a good spirit about it."

The Church says they're looking for more volunteers to help keep the water out. By the way, the church isn't canceling any worship services.

For more information on The First Church of Nazarene, click here.

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Church stays positive after flooding damages cost $100,000

Guanaja, Honduras 2012 - Armadores church construction project
Description: Mission trip to Guanaja, Honduras 2012 to finish the Armadores church construction started during the previous 2011 missionary trip. Organized b...

By: Steve Bland

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Guanaja, Honduras 2012 - Armadores church construction project - Video

Published on February 19, 2014 Church members to teach English, take part in church services during nine-day visit

TRURO - Scrap metal houses cobbled with tin roofs and dirt floors crafted the grimy streets. Chickens roamed the ground, invading outdoor kitchens and outhouses of the village of San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua.

Baillie Saunders - Special to the Truro Daily News

Chantal Melanson, left, April Banks and Ken Banks of the Central Nova Wesleyan Church in Truro, reveal three suitcases filled with Spanish/English Bibles they took with them as part of a humanitarian mission trip in Nicaragua.

To many Nicaraguans, this was home. To Ken Banks, it was a trip that would change his life forever.

"I didn't know what to expect," said Banks, a pastor at the Central Nova Wesleyan Church in Truro, who along with local church members, visited the country on a humanitarian mission trip in 2011.

"Being exposed to people who have nothing makes you realize how blessed we are, not because of anything we were doing, we just happened to be born here (in Canada)."

Their group's first project was to help build a church, which was a frail shell, when they arrived.

"When we went to the church it was a tin roof stuck up with poles, that's what they were using, it was open air," he said.

"What we did was dig trenches, build a foundation, mix cement by hand, a lot of old-school construction. We also helped fund a well," Banks said.

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Truro team off to Nicaragua for mission trip