University Baptist Church

 According to the signs outside the building, the University Baptist Church building is now occupied by "Exodus Church" which looks like another version of Central Community Church, targeting young people and families.  At least someone sees Carbondale as an area of growth.

University Baptist Church Closing

University Baptist Church on South Oakland has announced it will shutter the church at the end of October with an open house on Oct 25 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. It appears the church will no longer hold services and will turn the building over to Good Samaritan Ministries, allowing Good Sam to move its operations under one roof, while still maintaining the food pantry and clothes closet.

Central Now

 Maybe I am blasé but I do not really think a new church is what Carbondale is looking for. By my count we have at least 20 of them in Carbondale proper and a couple more out on Old Highway 13. All serving a community of about 25,000. That's a lot of churches per capita with none of them paying property taxes

Methodist Church Parking Lot

 I have noticed the Methodist Church at the corner of Main and Univeristy has taken to chaining off the entrances to its parking lot most Friday and Saturday nights. I figure they do not want a repeat of the shooting incident that took place last June when 200+ people gathered in the lot late Saturday night  and two people wound up shot. Carbondale Police still have a camera installed at the intersection focused on the lot and the church also has security cameras installed.

Vintage Soul Donation

Vintage Soul will be donating over $5000 next week to the Carbondale Underground Network. Apparently we just did not have enough churches in town. From the press release:

In August, Vintage Soul was able to sell lots of furniture to students returning to SIUC as well as community members.  This allowed them to set aside $5,364 to be donated to the Carbondale Underground Network.

On Thursday, September 25th, Vintage Soul will be hosting an Open House and Donation Ceremony where a check will be presented for over $5,000!  Vintage Soul will also have staff on hand to discuss how the business operates, future plans, partnership opportunities, as well as the amazing work the Carbondale Underground Network is doing.

Walnut Street Baptist Church

According to the sign, the Walnut Street Baptist Church building and parking lot are for sale.  Unfortunately, due to its location in downtown at the corner of Walnut and University, there is not much that can be done with the building as it currently stands.  Large churches such as this are notoriously hard to repurpose.  My guess is that eventually the city buys it and pulls it down for additional downtown parking.

Cooling Center Open

Cooling center was opened in the civic center last week, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., though, since the building is usually open until about 9.p.m. anyone needing cooling in the evening could certainly duck in there.  I spoke to a couple of city staff yesterday and was told a grand total of zero people had made use of it, as far as they knew.  During last year's heat wave (and there was one), two people made use of it.  Generally, the civic center cooling area has seen little to no use when opened up during heat waves.

While it is certainly a nice offering, the civic center is also too far away from the east side of the city were most of the residents live that would best make use of it.  Churches on the near eastern side of the city opening their doors to those without air conditioning would help much more.

Church Damage

Sombody last Wednesday night took a dislike to two churchs  located on South Poplar.  A window was broken in one and graffiti written on the walls of the other.  Though the police report doesn't specify, from the locations given it looks as if Calvary Campus Church and St. Francis Xavier were the targets.

Update:  Just received this email forwarded from Fr. Bob Flannery, pastor at St. Francis Xavier:

Unfortunately I need to let you know that a large pane of glass in the entrance way to the front of Xavier Hall had a brick thrown through it shattering the window. Also, the large wooden cross in front of church with a long purple cloth for Lent was moved around and disturbed. Finally, the Fish Fry sign attached to our church sign was removed. Actually, we had the church sign toppled over a couple of months ago as well. Just wanted to let you know. A heck of a way to celebrate Ash Wednesday! We reported to the police, but a report was not written up (at least on site) nor were any pictures taken.

Vigil Becaue People Are Stupid

In case you're not busy the evening of the 22nd:

*In Respect of Sacred Space*
In response to the recent vandalism at First Presbyterian Church and the increase of theft and vandalism this year at houses of worship throughout Southern Illinois, the Carbondale Interfaith Council is hosting a candlelight vigil in solidarity. The community is invited to meet in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22 for the interfaith service "In Respect of Sacred Space," followed by a candlelight vigil outside First Presbyterian at 5:30 p.m.

What: In Respect of Sacred Space: A Candlelight Vigil in Solidarity
When: 5-6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22
Where: First Presbyterian Church, 310 S. University Ave. Carbondale
Contact: Rev. Janice West, 549-2148 / Carbondale Interfaith Council,

More Churh Crime

This time, it was the Christian Fellowship Church on West Monroe. Nothing of value was taken, apparently.

Church Vandalism

There's a spate of church vandalism going on in the downtown area. St. Francis Xavier and First Presbyterian had rocks thrown through their windows in March. First Christian Church got burgled around March 1 and someone just shot BBs through the windows at Faith Temple Church of God in Christ.