East Cobb Faith & Religion

PHOTOS: Mt. Zion UMC celebrates 125th birthday

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Mt. Zion UMC
Staying cool in the dunk tank at the Mt. Zion celebration. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

After an inspiring sermon message and a picnic lunch, members of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church dived into an old-style summer carnival Sunday afternoon as they celebrated the 125th anniversary of the church’s founding.

Mt. Zion UMC

Mt. Zion UMC

The carnival atmosphere included cotton candy, snow cones and hitting the bell.

Mt. Zion UMC

That’s where long-time Mt. Zion member Dayle Thompson was volunteering.

Mt. Zion UMC

Thompson said she and her family began attending Mt. Zion around 30 years ago, when her children were young, because of the church’s strong youth programs.

They had come from a bigger church where they felt they didn’t quite fit in, and found that for them, Mt. Zion “was the right size.

“They really try for a family appeal,” she said. “Especially as you get older, you find your church family becomes as important as your own family.”

She is involved in the adult Sunday School program and has been a part of Mt. Zion’s participation in the Family Promise of Cobb County outreach program, which includes 13 faith communities in the county.

Mt. Zion UMC

Mt. Zion’s first service took place on Aug. 19, 1892. The congregation moved to its present location on donated farm land at 1770 Johnson Ferry Road in 1964. Historical messages were pinned to the walls of the gymnasium, with deeply-researched answers underneath.

Mt. Zion UMC

The church’s original location was on Post Oak Tritt Road near Johnson Ferry and where the Mt. Zion Cemetery is still located. The current sanctuary was opened in 1976, and the Family Ministries building opened in 1985. More renovations were made in 1997, not long after Mt. Zion marked its 100th anniversary.

Mt. Zion UMC

Mt. Bethel UMC to hold six-week caregiving workshop

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Press release:

Caregivers are encouraged to register for the free six-week educational series designed to support a parents who are caring for a child, minor or adult, with developmental disabilities. The “Powerful Tools for Caregivers” workshop provides caregiver support while focusing on the unique challenge parents face caring for a child with health or behavioral challenges. The workshop will be held 1-3 p.m., on Mondays from Aug. 7 to Sept. 18, at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church. It will help you:

  • Reduce stress, guilt, anger and depression and improve emotional wellbeing
  • Manage your time, set goals and solve problems
  • Master caregiver transitions and make tough decisions
  • Communicate effectively with the child needing care, family members, doctors and paid helpers
  • Develop greater self-efficacy
  • Develop awareness and use of community resources

Registration for the educational workshop series is required and space is limited. Register at mtbethel.org/event/powerful-tools-caregivers/2017-08-07/.

EAST COBB THIS WEEK: Summer library events; tax millage town hall; blood drive; business luncheons; greenways and trails meeting

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It’s not quite back to school—though it is hard to believe that’s exactly two weeks from today, on July 31—and the four branches of the Cobb County Public Library System in East Cobb have plenty of activities scheduled for the next two weeks.

We’ve included a good sampling of them in our East Cobb Events Calendar, and there are plenty more to peruse on the library system website. In addition to regular storytimes, this week’s events include a picnic at the Mountain View Regional branch, monthly adult book discussion groups at East Marietta and East Cobb, the monthly Gritters STEAM team event and so much more!

On Saturday, the East Cobb branch will feature a presentation on how to grow your own mushroom garden, with some expert advice from the Mushroom Club of Georgia.

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce is taking some heat for proposing a tax millage increase, and on Wednesday he is holding a town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center to solicit more input.

The Cobb school board is holding a final public hearing Thursday before voting on setting its tax millage rate for 2017.

The East Cobb Business Association and Northeast Cobb Business Association are holding their monthly luncheons on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. On Wednesday, the Ashley Homestore on Roswell Road is holding a Red Cross blood drive, and the East Cobb Lions Club will be offering free vision screenings.

If you missed last week’s public input meeting on the Cobb Greenways and Trails Master Plan at East Cobb Library, there will be another meeting Tuesday from 5-6:30 at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Canton Road and Piedmont Road.

Another end-of-summer event for kids takes place Thursday at Terrell Mill Park. The Fairy House Workshop, presented by the Cobb Water System’s Watershed Stewardship Program, includes story-reading before kids ages 3-13 create their own fairy houses.

The Marietta Campmeeting continues every day this week through Saturday, with services at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. and an ice cream social after Tuesday’s evening service, starting at 9:30 p.m. The final service takes place at 11 a.m. Sunday.

We’ll come back later this week with a preview of weekend events in East Cobb, including live entertainment and other community activities.

Please feel free to send your items—including photos, flyers, maps and PDFs if you wish—to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and we’ll post them promptly.

Have a great week, and please stay in touch!

 

EAST COBB THIS WEEK: Tax millage rate hearings; women’s networking; Marietta Campmeeting; Bradley’s car show

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The Cobb Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Board of Education this week are holding required public hearings as they prepare to set their 2017 millage rates.

The commissioners will hold hearings tonight at 6:30, and at 9 a.m. on Tuesday and at 7 p.m. on July 25, the date they’re slated to vote on the millage rate. Those hearings will be in the board’s 2nd floor meeting room at the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.

The school board is holding hearings Tuesday at 10 a.m., during its monthly work session, and again at 6 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District main office, 514 Glover St. in Marietta. East Cobb events calendar

The school board will have final hearings on July 20 at 1:30 p.m. and at 7 p.m., when it’s scheduled to vote on its 2017 millage rate.

State law mandates the hearings if local property tax digests rise and millage rates aren’t rolled back, prompting a tax increase (here’s a year-by-year chart of Cobb tax digest totals dating back to 2012, when the county began rebounding from the recession. Here’s the BOE’s millage rate notice and 5-year history of its property tax levy).

Elsewhere in this week’s East Cobb Events Calendar, there’s a new women’s business networking group meeting Thursday at Red Sky Tapas Bar that pledges a “no compete” atmosphere. Friday marks the 180th renewal of the Marietta Campmeeting, with an opening picnic and service scheduled from 6-9 p.m. The venerable tradition continues through July 23, and if you haven’t been, or even if you’re not religious, it’s a tremendous experience. I covered this years ago during my newspaper days, and I highly recommend it.

On Sunday’s Bradley’s Bar & Grill on Lower Roswell Road is holding a summer fest and car show from 3-7 p.m., and if you want your car to take part, you have until Wednesday to register. It’s all for a very good cause.

We’re just getting our engines revved up here at East Cobb News and want to make our calendar listings are simply the best in the community. Please feel free to send your items—including photos, flyers and PDFs if you wish—to editor/publisher Wendy Parker at: eastcobbnewsnow@gmail.com.

Have a great week, and please stay in touch!