Calvary Chapel Bible College

Club R.O.C.K., a community outreach event presented by Calvary Chapel Bible College, will feature entertaining activities on the first Saturday of each month at Holcom Park Rec Center, 2700 W. 27th St.

The first event will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and will include: a live Christian band; speakers from Kansas University; a basketball clinic; a chess expert; and pingpong.

Club R.O.C.K. is provided free of charge to Lawrence students in the seventh through 12th grades.

For more information, call 331-2774 or e-mail susbrian2@aol.com.

Central United Methodist

Central United Methodist Church, 1501 Mass., has started two adult small groups designed for Christian spiritual growth.

Great Discoveries is a class examining how Christian faith intersects with daily life. The other class, New Horizons, studies challenging passages of Scripture to discover the writer’s original intent.

Both classes are held at 9:30 a.m. Sundays at the church. They are open to the community.

For more information, call 843-7066.

Ecumenical Christian Ministries

A ceremony to dedicate the new Mount Oread Peace Pole will be held at noon Saturday at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries building, 1204 Oread.

The pole reads, “May peace prevail on Earth” in eight languages, plus Braille.

The Rev. Thad Holcombe of ECM will lead the dedication ceremony.

The event is open to the community.

First United Methodist

World Communion Sunday will be celebrated Sunday at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt.

Six times throughout the year, United Methodist congregations celebrate church-wide Special Sundays with offerings.

“Encourage One Another” is the theme for this day, and the offering will provide crusade scholarships for international and U.S. racial- and ethnic-minority students; scholarships for racial- and ethnic-minority persons seeking second careers in church-related vocations; and ethnic scholarships for undergraduate students.

Indian Hills Church of God

Ken Biron, a missionary to Peru, will be the guest speaker at 10:45 a.m. Sunday at Indian Hills Church of God, 601 W. 29th Terrace. Biron will share slides of his work in Lima.

Lawrence Aglow

Lawrence Aglow will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 12 at Vermont Towers, 1101 Vt. Guest speakers will be Jean Walker, president of Wichita Inner City Aglow; and her vice president, Mary Williams.

For more information, contact Janis Pearson at (785) 597-5520.

Messianic Israel

Messianic Israel, a new religious group in Lawrence, will meet at 7:30 p.m. Friday. For more information, call 842-9955.

Morning Star Church

Morning Star Church of Lawrence will host a SALT (Success and Life Training) Business Leaders Seminar at 7 p.m. Friday at the Lawrence Train Depot, 402 N. Second St.

The Rev. Ray McCollum, founder of Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville, Tenn., will lead the seminar. Topics will be: “How to Become a Level 5 Leader” and “How to Take Your Company from Good to Great.”

There is no charge to attend the event, which is open to the public. For more information about the seminar, call 749-0023 or visit www.morningstarlawrence.com.

Morning Star Church currently meets for worship services at Sunset Elementary School, 901 Schwarz Road.

North Lawrence Christian

North Lawrence Christian Church, 647 Elm St., will present Ed Bayless in a “Spiritual Awakening” at 7 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday.

Oskaloosa United Methodist

Oskaloosa United Methodist Women will hold its annual Dinner and Bazaar from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at the church. The event will start with the raffling off of a quilt made by the women of the church. A silent auction of baskets and crafts will also be held. Dinner will be served from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Overbrook United Methodist

Overbrook United Methodist Church will hold its annual Turkey Bazaar from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at the church.

St. James AME Church

The Honorable Bishop John R. Bryant, presiding prelate of the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, will be the featured speaker at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. James AME Church, 647 Maple St.

Bryant, who is listed on Ebony Magazine’s Honor Roll of Outstanding African-American Preachers, published a collections of sermons in 1997 entitled, “God Can: Sermons of Encouragement from the Life of Elijah.”

He has also received the Boston Jaycees’ Outstanding Young Man Award.

St. John the Evangelist

St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church, 1234 Ky., will celebrate its annual Oktoberfest from 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. today.

The celebration will feature German food, dancing and children’s activities.

For more information, call 843-0109.

St. Margaret’s Episcopal

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 5700 W. Sixth St., will celebrate its annual St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals at 10 a.m. and 10:20 a.m. Sunday. Pet owners are invited to bring their animals for a blessing.

Planning for the Harvest Hop will start after the 10:45 a.m. worship service. The “Harvest Hop Food, Fun, Future” will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday at the church.

The event will feature a potluck supper, live band, dancing and PowerPoint photo streams.

For more information, call the church at 865-5777.

Trinity Episcopal Church

Trinity Episcopal Church, 1011 Vt., will celebrate St. Francis Day with a Blessing of the Animals at 3 p.m. Sunday on the green space in front of the church.

All kinds of animals dogs and cats, exotic pets, even stuffed animals are welcome to attend with their owners.

Trinity Episcopal is also announcing the appointment of Zane Wilemon as the church’s new part-time youth director. He is a 2000 graduate of Kansas University.

Wilemon spent a year working as a missionary in Kenya and spent the past year serving in a hospital and studying at a Bible college in Montana.

The church’s youth group meets from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. each Sunday at Trinity Episcopal.

Trinity Lutheran Church

A “quilt blessing” will be a part of the 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday worship services at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1245 N.H.

The women in the church’s Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have made 25 quilts on sewing/work days held at Trinity Lutheran each month.

These quilts will be shipped to Lutheran World Relief Headquarters for distribution to refugees and others in need around the world as part of the organization’s “Project Comfort.”

Donations will be accepted to cover the cost of shipping these quilts. For more information on this project, call the church at 843-4150.

Unity Church of Lawrence

Unity Church of Lawrence’s Fall Faith Series will begin Sunday. Based on the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, the theme for the eight-week series is “Make Me an Instrument.”

Each week, the congregation will focus on one aspect of the prayer and feature a special “instrument” during the worship service’s musical offering. Services are held at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday.

Unity Church, Ninth and Madeline streets, will hold its Pet Blessing at 1 p.m. Sunday in the church parking lot. Special St. Francis prayer medallions will be available to purchase for pets.

For more information, call 841-1447.

West Side Presbyterian

Wes Buller and Gary Freeman, members of West Side Presbyterian Church, 1024 Kasold Drive, are in charge of this year’s CROP WALK, an annual event held to raise funds for soup kitchens, food pantries and community gardens across the country.

Walkers have signed up to participate in the fund-raiser. They will leave from West Side at 2 p.m. Sunday. The church encourages people to sponsor volunteers in this effort.

The first Sunday of October is also celebrated at World Communion Sunday, when churches around the world unite in “breaking bread together” as a symbol of oneness in Christ.

Worden United Methodist

Crystal Woodman, a student who survived the April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., will be the featured speaker at 4 p.m. Sunday at Worden United Methodist Church.

Woodman, a student at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colo., has been interviewed on NBC’s Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning America about her experience and how it affected her faith.

The church is located 3.5 miles west on U.S. Highway 56 from the Baldwin City Junction of U.S. highways 59 and 56.

For more information, call the Rev. Dale Lewis at (785) 594-3894.