Save the dates for two up-coming fall events at Boehm’s Chapel.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., we will celebrate 24 years of the Boehm’s Apple Festival.

On hand this year from 9 a.m. to noon will be local Chris-tian radio station, WJTL. Lisa Landis and the Kids’ Cookie Break will provide music and prizes for children and the young at heart.

For a pictorial look at last year’s Apple Festival, please see pages 3 and 4.

On Sunday, Oct. 25, at 4 p.m., Boehm’s Chapel Society will host Debi Irene Wahl ,of Act 1 Productions, as she pres-ents “Seeing in the Darkness,” the Fanny Crosby story.

The program will also include congregational singing of many of Fanny Crosby’s best-known hymns.

Born Frances Jane Crosby in 1820, Fanny was blinded at the age of 6

weeks by an incompetent doc-tor. In regard to her blindness Fanny said, “It seemed intend-ed by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for

the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beauti-

ful and interesting things about me.”

Fanny Crosby wrote secular tunes and poetry as well as 8,000 hymns, in-cluding the universally known, “Blessed Assur-ance.”

Debi’s

own published faith story is titled, “Jesus I’m Coming.” This story/diary relates Debi’s child-hood memories of her faith in Jesus as it chronicles 15 months of surgeries and therapy fol-

lowing a motorcycle accident that almost severed her foot.

The two-member cast of “Seeing in the Darkness” will perform on the elevated pulpit area of the chapel .

BOEHM’S CHAPEL SOCIETYFALL 2009 Newsletter 13 West Boehms Road, Willow Street, Pa. 17584

Apple Festival is Oct. 10;Oct. 25, Fanny Crosby story

Matt Robertson stirs a kettle of apple butter at last year’s festival.

For photos of last year’s Apple Festival, please see pages 3 and 4.

Debi Irene Wahl as Fanny Crosby.

WE NEED YOUR HELP AT FESTIVAL

Attendance for the Apple Festival continues to grow, which presents a need for more volunteers to cover food stands, direct traffic, act as docents for chapel tours and stir the much-sought-after Boehm’s Chapel apple butter. To volunteer, call Dolores Myers at 872-4133, e-mail, execdirboehms@dejazzd.com; or Marv Adams at 876-4333, adams45@comcast.net.

Long’s Barn, site of the great 1767 meeting between Martin Boehm and Phillip Wil-liam Otterbein, was dedicated as a Heritage Landmark of the United Methodist Church on Pentecost Sunday, May 31.

Those taking part in the ser-vice included Eastern Penn-sylvania Conference Bishop Peggy Johnson; Rev. Kevin Readman, EPA Archives and History, chair; Janice Sherick, Jurisdictional Archives and History, chair; Rev. James Todd, Southwest District Superintendent; Rev. Joseph DiPaolo, EPA Historical Society, president; Rev. Robert Williams, General Secretary, Commission on Archives and History; and The Rev. Tim Heitz, who provided the musi-cal accompaniment.

It was in this barn on Pente-cost Sunday, May 10, 1767 that one of the most remembered of the “great meetings” was held. This meeting led to the establishment of the United Brethren in Christ Church.

Martin Boehm, at the time serving as a Mennonite bishop, felt led to widen his outreach beyond his own congregation. He and his wife, Eve, opened their home to itinerant preach-ers along with members of a variety of religious groups. These gatherings often lasted for two or three days.

During this time, Martin also began to travel to shep-herd converts in areas outside his own district and to orga-nize “great meetings.” Long’s Barn was the location of one of Martin Boehm’s stations.

On May 10, 1767, a crowd estimated to be near 1,000 as-sembled throughout the large barn owned by Isaac Long and overflowed into the surround-ing orchard. Among the crowd was Philip William Otterbein, at the time a minister of the Reformed Church in York. Ot-terbein had previously served at Lancaster’s First Reformed Church.

Martin Boehm was one of several ministers preaching that Sunday 1767. It is believed that he spoke of his salvation

experience and his personal conviction to share his joy and faith with other persons.

Before Martin Boehm was able to return to his seat at the conclusion of his sermon, Phillip William Otterbein, filled with much emotion, approached Boehm, gathered him into an warm embrace and exclaimed, “Wir sind Bruder” or “we are brethren.”

Otterbein and Boehm recognized in each other this same spiritual awakening. This meeting at Long’s Barn began a friendship that was to continue throughout their lives.

It was not the intention of either Boehm or Otterbein to establish a new denomination but rather to bring forth re-vival within their own respec-tive churches. While Otterbein never severed his Reformed Church connections, Boehm was eventually asked to leave the Mennonite Church due to his inability to resolve arising differences between estab-lished Mennonite Church principles and his awakening spiritual convictions.

In 1800 Boehm and Otter-bein were unanimously cho-sen as the first two bishops of the United Brethren in Christ

Church.In 1946 The United Breth-

ren in Christ Church merged with the Evangelical Church to become the Evangelical United Brethren.

The Evangelical United Brethren merged with The Methodist Church in 1968 to become The United Methodist Church.

It was at the end of his life-time that Martin Boehm had his name added to a Method-ist class book. His son Henry Boehm became a traveling minister of the Methodist Church eventually being ap-pointed a traveling companion of Bishop Francis Asbury.

In 1791, Boehm’s Chapel was built on ground once owned by Martin and Eve Boehm as the first structure for Methodist use in Lancaster County.

Additional history on the spread of early Methodism throughout Lancaster County can be found in a book titled “How Methodists Spread the Word” by Ross I. Morrison Sr. You can contact Mr. Morrison directly at 1735 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA, 17601 to secure a copy of his. Cost is $8 includ-ing tax and shipping costs.

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At the Long’s Barn dedication, from left, Bishop Peggy Johnson; Rev. James Todd, Southwest District superintendent; Rev. Kevin Readman, EPA Archives and History, chair; Rev. Joseph DiPaolo, EPA Historical Society; Rev. Robert Williams, General Secretary, Commission on Archives and History; and Janice Sherick, Jurisdic-tional Archives and History, chair.

UPCOMING EVENTS IN NEIGHBORHOOD

Conestoga Area Historical Society

Phone 717-872-1699 —Sept. 20: Open Air Organ

Concert, 3:30-5 pm —Oct. 17 & 18: Annual Fall Fest

Saturday, 10 am-4 pm; Sunday, noon-4 pm

—Museum exhibit “Pequea Proud” continues through Dec. 13.

Boehm’s Chapel is included as part of this presentation.

Hans Herr House & Museum 717-464-4438

—Sept. 29: Historic Driving Tour, West Lampeter Twp. —Oct. 3: Snitz Fest

—Call the Herr House to schedule reservations for:

Colonial Dinner Parties Hearth Cooking Classes

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society

717-393-9745 —Sept. 12: Field trip, Anabaptists

in New Amsterdam. —Sept. 26: Field trip, Native

Americans/Susquehanna Valley. —Oct. 17: Field trip, trail of

Conestoga family homesteads en route to Canada.

—Call the Historical Society to schedule reservations for fall folk art classes on Fraktur and basket

making.

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APPLE FESTIVAL 2008

In top photo, the crowd walks the vendor-lined roadway to the Chapel. Just above, Boehm’s volunteers dish food. At left, Frank Moore cranks ice cream, and at right, Carly Rail-ing shows off her painted face.

Photos by Chere’ Fizer and Dolores Myers

FALL 2009

Above, the Chapel stands in the morning sun. At left, Dick Hackman, with an assist from Garrett Moore, produces apple cider. At right, Abigail and Marv Adams pose for a promo photo for the Apple Festival. Below, the “How-ard Simmons Orchestra Reunited” performs. In the middle are sisters, left, Doris Moore, and right, Jane Rhoads.

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Attending the annual Boehm’s Chapel celebration in June were the following Boehm descendants: First row, from left: Katherine Tribit, Virginia Keever, Marian Kurapka, Janet Wilson, Bethany Railing, Henry Harbage, Danielle Deibert, Pamela Deibert and her children Kyle and baby Abigail Deibert. Second row, from left: James Kurapka, Nancy Wilson, Dolores Myers and Joanna Hurst. Third row, from left, Robert Myers, Scott Wilson and Jim Galloway. Not pictured but attending was Roger Beam.

Society members, friends and Boehm descendants gathered June 28 to celebrate the 28th Heritage Sunday at historic Boehm’s Chapel.

Society President James McCullough conducted a brief business meeting.

Officers and directors elect-ed to serve for a 2-year term, 2010-2011, are as follows:

James McCullough, presi-dent (re-elected);

Marvin Adams, vice presi-dent (re-elected);

Barbara Cantey, recording secretary (re-elected);

Board members:The Rev. William Spiegel-

halder (re-elected);

James Jolly;Mark Kroehler (re-elected);Ronald Martin (re-elected).Honorary Lifetime Direc-

tor James Galloway intro-duced the Boehm descendants

in attendance.Dolores Myers, executive

director, presented the newly commissioned Boehm’s Cha-pel Fraktur to the society.

Framed reproductions were presented to James Gal-loway and the family of Nancy and the late Ross Frey for their dedication to the society.

The worship service was led by the Rev. Kenneth O’Neal, of Boehm’s United Methodist Church. The Men-nonite Children’s Choir of Lancaster, under the direction of Darlene Hein and accom-panied by Rosemary Blessing, provided the music, including a processional titled, “Praise,

Praise, Praise, The Lord.’’Marvin Adams, society

vice president, introduced the speakerRev. Joseph DiPaolo. Rev. DiPaolo is senior pastor of Wayne United Methodist Church and president of the Historical Society of the East-ern Pennsylvania Conference. Rev. DiPaolo’s message was titled, “Redigging Our Wells,” based on Genesis 26:18.

Heritage Sunday 2010 will celebrate the 300th anni-versary of the arrival of the Anabaptists in the Pequea area. Bishop of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conferce, Peggy A. Johnson, is expected to be the main speaker.

Jim McCullough is re-electedpresident of Chapel Society

Planning your estate?For those doing estate

planning, the Boehm’s Chapel Society asks to be remem-bered for its work, not only in maintaining the Chapel and preserving its heritage, but for the Society’s work in carry-ing on the word of our savior, Jesus Christ.

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Prints of the original Boehm’s Chapel Fraktur, which was unveiled on Heri-tage Sunday, are now available for purchase in two sizes.

The 11-by-14-inch repro-duction print is suitable for framing. The cost of $15, plus shipping and handling, includes a 4-by-6-inch book-plate rendition with a history of the fraktur. Framing, which duplicates that found on the original artwork, is available, at an additional charge, by Lancaster fraktur artist Julie Kohler. Please contact her directly at 717-392-2211.

Please send checks in the amount of $20 which includes priority shipping and handling to:

Boehms Chapel SocietyP O Box 272

Willow Street, PA, 17584

When purchased separate-ly, the 4-by-6-inch bookplate rendition on cardstock is $2 plus shipping. Please note Ca-nadian checks must indicate U.S. funds or the bank will return them. A money order in U.S. funds is acceptable. You can find an order form within this newsletter for your convenience.

The original artwork penned by Mrs. Kohler, will hang inside Boehm’s Chapel as a reminder of the impor-tance of the Boehm family, home and Chapel to early American Methodism.

In recognition of their service to Boehm’s Chapel Society, the first two framed prints were presented to Jim Galloway, honorary lifetime director of Boehm’s Chapel Society and to the family of Nancy and the late Ross Frey, caretakers of the Boehm

homestead.The Chapel fraktur was

inspired by the following statement made by Francis Asbury at the funeral service of his friend Martin Boehm:

“We are willing to hope that the children of Martin Boehm, and his children’s children to the third, fourth, and last generations, will have cause to thank God that his home for 50 years has been a house for the welcome reception of Gospel ministers, and one in which the worship of God has been

uninterruptedly pre-served and practiced.”

The Chapel fraktur begins with the large eye-catching illumi-nated letter “I.’’ The illumination and first verse of Psalm 89, written in German, are reproduced from an original fraktur penned in ‘Conastogen’ (Cones-toga) Township in 1763. The red, greens, blue and yellow hues of the Chapel fraktur are cop-ied from the original.

Loosely translated from the German, the first sentence begin-ning with “Ich will singen” conveys the meaning of Psalm 89:1: “I will sing of the mer-

cies of the Lord forever, with my mouth I will make known Thy faithfulness to all genera-tions.”

The first sentence of the Boehm fraktur is reproduced in German to acknowledge the practice of preaching in both German and English, which was used in Boehm’s Chapel. The Asbury quote, penned in English, follows. Francis As-bury is known as the foremost Methodist organizer in early America.

Fraktur prints are on saleBoehm’s Chapel SocietyP.O. BOX 272, 13 W. BOEHM RD.

WILLOW STREET, PA 17584

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