The Men’s Fellowship at North Church was formed in late Fall, 2007, and began its first series of breakfast meetings in March, 2008. These meetings have included speakers, tours, and various other activities designed to increase fellowship among the men in the church, and to provide them with opportunities to enhance their understanding of various topics. In addition, some of the events have involved all of the members of the congregation. A small planning group has been involved in arranging and promoting the various activities.
Note that these events are listed below, beginning with the most recent to the earliest meetings.
May 12, 2012 The Men’s Group, in cooperation with the Property Committee, provided a continental breakfast for those who turned up to give the church’s outside lawn and bushes a “spring clean-up.”
April 14, 2012 Men’s Fellowship Breakfast Meeting
“Changes in traditional role of women in Islamic society” Dr. Othman Shibly, who was with us for a six-part series on “Christianity and Islam” in January and February, spoke at the men’s breakfast on role changes as a result of recent political changes in the Middle East. Donations were also collected and used to purchase personal care items (toothbrushes, paste, deodorant, shampoo, etc.), for men and women at Friends of Night People.
March 10, 2012 Men’s Fellowship Breakfast Meeting
“Making Connections—the Live or Die Mission of the Church.” The Rev. Dr. Tom Yorty, Senior Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church (Buffalo), returned to NPC to help us celebrate our 4th anniversary. He helped us kick off our men’s group in March, 2008. Tom “…explored the meaning of community, why it is an ‘endangered species’ today, and why the church cannot survive without it. In former times, a certain community was ‘built in’ to our social relationships and patterns of life. This is not to say that the past was some golden age of community, or that technology cannot assist in building community today. Rather the combination of deep loneliness and numbingly busy lives drives the quest for meaning, value, and personal worth. The church competes for allegiance from members and potential members with everything from social networks to yoga studios and fitness clubs to food co-ops. Yet, the church is uniquely equipped to offer a profound sense of belonging and making a difference to the world.” (Donations of peanut butter were also received for the UPC Food Pantry.)
February 11, 2012 Men’s Fellowship breakfast meeting
Thirty men braved the snow, at which time they were invited by Dr. Jessie Poon from UB (and Singapore) to consider the many ways in which the forces of globalization have affected conditions in the 10 countries of southeast Asia. She outlined the ways in which the increasing interactions between the US and these nations have influenced the diversity of religions, agricultural production and trade, the activities of multinational companies, architecture, banking, migration, and urban and national competition. Also noted is that many of the people within these nations have not benefited equally from these international forces. (Donations of winter clothing were also received for Friends of Night People.)
November 12, 2011 The Men’s Fellowship organized a Men’s Breakfast. It is difficult to imagine, but a billion people on our planet do not have adequate and clean drinking water!! Charity:Water, founded by Scott Harrison, in its 5 year history, claims to have brought clear and safe water to 2 million people in developing nations around the world. For example, they are drilling freshwater wells, rainwater catchments, and sand filters for thousands of people in Africa. And they accomplish this with 100 percent of your donations going directly into their projects. Overhead is covered under a separate charity. The Men’s Fellowship viewed a video-media presentation, with follow-up discussion, on how this organization is making a significant difference. Imagine what would happen if you had to carry 80 pounds of water in yellow fuel cans for miles to your home, or dig with your children in sand for water, or line up at a well and wait 8 hours for a turn.
Sunday, October 9, 2011 Tour of the Buffalo Central Railroad Terminal
More than 40 North Church folks, on their good behavior, toured the old Buffalo railroad terminal on October 9. The Men’s Group organized the congregation-wide tour, Tony Link arranged particulars for the tour, and Don Boyer (our resident photographer) took 94 photos of the event. Below is a sample of Don’s photos of the event:
September 10, 2011 The Men’s Group hosted a breakfast to discuss domestic violence. Approximately 12,000 phone calls; 450,000 reported annually; 1 out of every 4; ages 18-44; 15 seconds; no boundaries; responsibility; and October, 2011. These data come from the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (DV) and from a very informative talk to the Men’s Group by Mary Travers Murphy, who is Executive Director of the Family Justice Center. In order, the above statistics refer to: the number of phone calls received in Erie County in 2010 related to DV; approximate number of such incidences reported annually to police in NYS (only 48% are reported); ratio of women touched by DV in their lifetime; DV is the leading cause of injury to women in the U.S. between the ages of 18-44; every 15 seconds someone in the U.S. becomes a victim of domestic abuse; DV occurs across all socio-economic strata; the victims often believe that DV is their fault; Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Erie County (sponsored by the Erie County Committee on the Status of Women). A very informative and alarming breakfast meeting!!
June 26, 2011 The Men’s Group organized a congregation-wide trip to the Bison baseball game. Take a beautiful sunny afternoon, a crowd of people in the Coca-Cola Field, excellent pitching, and 36 shouting & clapping North Church folks (women & men, young & old, short and tall), it was inevitable that the Bisons would win the baseball game. It was a time of great fun, and thanks to Tony Link for arranging, as he did a year ago, reserved seats along the first-base line, hot dogs, and soft drinks at reduced prices. Go Bisons!! Go NPC!!
May 21, 2011 The Men’s Group, in cooperation with the Property Committee, provided a continental breakfast for those who turned up to give the church’s outside lawn and bushes a “spring clean-up.”
May 14. 2011 For a variety of reasons, a hoped-for, congregation-wide tour of the old Buffalo Central Railroad Terminal had to be cancelled. An effort is to be made to reschedule the event for the Fall, 2011.
May 7, 2011 Roger Gross, a member of North Church and an enthusiast of military history, make a slide presentation of his and his son’s travels through France where they visited many of the memorials, trenches, and other artifacts of World War I. Some of his remarks emphasized the enormous loss of life by all of the protagonists during that unfortunately part of human history. One of the fictional books that is based upon factual information (Birdsond: A novel of love and war) served as a background source for his very interesting and informative talk.
April 9, 2011 Professor Michael Stefanone from UB’s Dept. of Communication, emphasized the effects that continuously used, instantaneous modes of communication, such as Facebook, texting, and Twitter, are having upon our present-day social relationships. As he noted, we have become producers instead of consumers of news/entertainment, and we are revealing many facts of our personal lives and problems to millions of strangers, while giving little thought to the consequences of such actions.
February, 12, 2011 Rev. Lew Bigler provided the men with a talk that was focused upon the three-fold nature of God. He spoke of the Trinitarian understanding of God as Creator, Jesus, and Spirit. Trinity is an experience of God. Without experience it is impossible to comprehend the Christian, where the center is not man, nor the Church, but God. He emphasized the point that it is not whether we believe in the Trinity, but rather that we believe in a Trinitarian way. He described that people experience God in a variety of ways, using the example of light passing through a prism yields a variety of colors. Each time we encounter God, we encounter God in different ways, and these experiences certainly differ for individuals.
November 9, 2010 Peter Fremming, who is a master coffee roaster at Premier Gourmet in Buffalo, discussed the ethics and ecological conflicts of coffee production in the global economy. Based upon his 15 years of experience, he talked about the role of coffee as a commodity traded worldwide, and about the ethical choices, ecological conflicts, and ramifications of that trade as it applies to consumers, roasters, multinational corporations, and farmers.
October 9, 2010 Unfortunately, the October meeting had to be cancelled because of the death of a church member. The event, which was to be a tour of the old Buffalo Central Railroad Terminal, will be re-scheduled sometime during the coming spring, 2011.
September 11, 2010 Dan Kolundiz, the Chief Political and Economic Officer at the Canadian Consulate General in Buffalo, presented his views on “Canada and the U.S.: A Canadian perspective on bi-national issues.” He identified some of the key economic, political, and policy issues that affect the relationships between the two common-border nations.
June 20, 2010 BISONS LOSE, BUT NPC HAS WINNING DAY: Unfortunately, the attendance and cheering of 38 North Church folks at the Bison game on Sunday, June 20, did not enable the team to win. Nevertheless, a beautiful, sun-filled day with hot dogs, popcorn, soft drinks, and especially great fun and fellowship with friends resulted in a winning outing for kids, women, and men of the congregation.
May 8, 2010 The breakfast meeting was a joint event sponsored by the Men’s Group and the Property Committee. Following a pancake breakfast, and, in anticipation of spring time in Western New York, Jeff Weaver, a member of our congregation, showed a DVD titled “The Adirondacks,” which had been prepared in 2008 as a “PBS Home Video”. Around 9:00, some of the men retreated to the church lawn where weeding and dispersing mulch occurred—in an environment of pelting rain and 40+ mph winds!!!
March 13, 2010 Hoyendahonh. Al Parker (aka. Hoyendahonh) of the Seneca Nation (Heron Clan) shared some of the traditions and contributions to the U.S. Constitution of the Six Nation Confederacy in New York State. He emphasized the Nation’s world view, the sacred role of the turtle and the white pine tree, a 13-moon calendar vis-à-vis the 12-month year, the key role of clan women, and the contribution to the Women’s Right movement that began in NY State.
February 13, 2010 Twenty-six men went on a tour of the Pierce Arrow Museum in downtown Buffalo. Before admiring the vintage automobiles and other transportation modes at the Museum (including a red 1957 Ford Thunderbird and a black 1934 Pearce Arrow), the men attended a breakfast at the Towne Restaurant on Allen Street.
November 14, 2009 Following a pancake breakfast, Dr. Gerry Rising, a weekly writer for the Buffalo News, engaged the men in a question-and-answer session on various topics related to the WNY environment (e.g., the effects of wind turbines on bats, the spread of diseases to local trees, how not to get rid of moles, and the “art” of bird watching). Some members from the Amherst Presbyterian Church also attended the breakfast.
October 17, 2009 A Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] who is a member of North Church, presented, with understandable limitations, an insiders view of the history, priorities, organization, recruiting, and common misconceptions of the FBI.
September 12, 2009 Following a time of fellowship, where the men discussed three “ice-breaking” questions, a visit from a “mystery” guest “appeared.” Turns out that the mystery guest was Johnny Carson—woops, the “late” Johnny Carson. Unfortunately, Carson was not able to attend so we viewed some of Carson’s clips from his 1960-1970 TV shows. For many of the men, the clips brought back fond and funny memories of days gone by. Although some of the younger folks didn’t recall the shows, they did participate in the laughter.
May 16, 2009 “Pancakes Galore, Senior Highs, and Women.” Thirty some people, including eight Senior High youth and nine women, were treated to Tony Link’s and Ed Eisenlord’s buttermilk pancakes, along with Bill Clark’s sausages, at the Men’s Group breakfast on May 16. The event was co-sponsored with the Property Committee and its annual clean-up-day around the outside of the church.
March 14, 2009 The impacts of the current recessionary and economic environment upon Western New York relative to the country as a whole and to Upstate NY in particular, were highlighted by Dr. Richard Deitz, who is the Regional Economics Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
February 14, 2009 The Men’s Group had a Valentine “Party.” On Valentine’s Day, 28 adults, 3 young girls, and 4 young boys, had fun talking about what it means to be a father. Helping us sort through this question was Rev. Dr. Howard Boswell, Jr. , Pastor of Kenmore Presbyterian Church. Among the questions that the attendees considered was what is one of the things they recalled that their fathers always said when they were growing up, and what did the fathers mean by that saying?
November 15, 2008 A very educational and entertaining tour of the various exhibits at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society, with our own Jeff Weaver as one of the one of the docents. This event was followed by the men having lunch at the Family Tree Restaurant, and sharing in a time of fellowship.
October 18, 2008 An overview of UB’s basketball operations was the topic, and Kevin Heck, a member of our congregation and an Assistant Coach at UB, our speaker. He provided insights regarding the ongoing recruiting efforts at the university. After a hot breakfast and Kevin’s enthusiastic talk, the men spent some time renewing fellowship and finding out some very “juicy” things about each other’s past.
September 13, 2008 Rev. Bill Hennessy, our new senior pastor, led us in a discussion of our own personal and family histories and what it means to be a “pretty good person.” As he noted, all of us have ups and downs in our personal and family histories, and these varying paths and ambiguities impact us as we strive to achieve the qualities of courage, gratitude, humility, integrity, and compassion. Preceding the breakfast and after, the men talked about the history behind their middle names—of course a few of the men did not have middle names, which was interesting in itself!!!
May 10, 2008 After recalling who our earliest heroes were, the men listened to Dr. Claude Welch (UB’s Political Science Department) as he highlighted some of the major economic, political, and humanitarian issues facing African nations in the present decade.
April 12, 2008 Professor Colin Drury from UB’s Dept. of Industrial Engineering provided an overview of security issues facing the U.S. since September 11. A time of fellowship focusing upon some of our earliest memories of attending church.
March 8, 2008 Twenty-three people braved the snow on Saturday morning, March 8, to kickoff the newly formed Men’s Group. After spending some time getting to know each other better, the group listened to Rev. Dr. Tom Yorty (Senior Pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, and a former Associate Pastor of our congregation) as he shared some thoughts on the topic: “I came away stronger: Why men’s groups make a difference.” He talked about how difficult it sometimes is for men to share their feelings (they want to be “human doings” not “human beings”), how increasingly important it is for small church groups to respond to the need for deeper spirituality, and why men’s wives are correct—men do need to be in a church-related men’s group!! He also warned us that men’s groups in churches do not endure for any long period of time. So, since that time, we decided to try and make Tom “eat his words”!!!!!!!
