Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

About 40 young people took park in a 30-hour famine project on Friday and Saturday, and raised more than $1,700 to feed the hungry. Their service project was to clean, weed, prune and work on the beds in the Project Pride Community Garden on Bank Street. Participants were from the Community Life Center at Grace Lutheran Church and Open Arms Community Church. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Williams Insurance Agency and Open Arms Community Church's Epic Faith Youth Group team up to raise money for the youth groups Mission Trip to New York City. "In New York City, the youth will be feeding the homeless, serving in soup kitchens, prayer stations, and working in a food bank.", says Assistant Pastor Justin Willoughby. The youth group will be washing cars as a fundraiser, hosted at The Williams-Agency, located at 509 E. Main Street in Bradford. Dan Williams, owner of The Williams-Agency says “The Williams-Agency will pay for the car wash of any Williams-Agency client who wants to stop by.” The fundraiser will be on Friday, June 27th from 11:00a.m-1:30p.m. All money will go towards the teens' mission trip. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

This Thursday, April 3rd at 5:30p.m-8:00p.m, Open Arms Community Church will be hosting Darkness to Light, Stewards of Children, brought to you by The Olean-Bradford YMCA and The McKean County Collaborative Board. The training will be held at the church which is located at 1289 East Main Street, in Bradford, PA. This is a one time, 2-hour evidence-informed training program that teaches adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The program is designed for parents, youth serving organizations, and other concerned individuals. “As a representative of Open Arms Community Church, I speak for all of us, we are excited to host this event and bring awareness to our community. We hope that as organizations and adults who care about children, you will join us in confronting this epidemic.” says Assistant Pastor Justin Willoughby. Open Arms Community Church desires to produce transformed lives by addressing spiritual needs, health, finances, education, and...

As the holiday season approaches, and Americans express their gratitude by spending time with family, one local pastor points out that even in tough times, thankfulness is important. "Thankfulness keeps you grounded in reality, that there is good in life in spite of the difficulties we face," says Mike McAvoy, Pastor of Open Arms Community Church. McAvoy says that taking the time to be thankful helps adjust perspective, "Thankfulness is taking a big picture perspective on life, enjoying the good as well as accepting there will be bad, rather than being imprisoned to a little picture perspective that life is all bad because of your current situation." As many are facing economic woes, personal and relational struggles, and a number of situations, he says it is important not to address those issues head on, without becoming a victim, "Thankfulness is not ignoring or pretending that you don't have problems, it's not allowing the pain of your problems ...

The Open Arms Youth Team will be holding a Kiddie Carnival as a fundraiser from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Phillip’s Auto Depot parking lot (39 N. Kendall Ave., Bradford) $5 admission includes: Yogi the Clown, the YMCA slider, and lots of games booths and prizes. Hot Dogs, Soda, Cotton Candy, Snow Cones and Popcorn will also be for sale. Proceeds Benefit Open Arms Youth Ministry. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Local boxer Charlie Fitzsimmons is the 2006 World Amateur Boxing Champion, and his story of overcoming the trials and hardships to win that title will be featured during the month of April at Open Arms Community Church, starting this Sunday, April 1st. Open Arms Pastor Mike McAvoy says, "Working with Charlie is such a privilege. To work with a guy who's real life story is about beating the odds is going to be such an encouragement to the many who are facing difficult times." "Overcomer: Beating the Odds" will kick off with the first discussion, "Preparing for the Fight" this Sunday. April 8th is Easter Sunday, and the topic will be titled "The Difference Maker". "Overcoming Adversity" is the featured discussion for April 15th, and the series rounds out on April 22nd with the a discussion entitled, "Live the Dream." Fitzsimmons, who will be featured in several vignette videos, as well as sharing in person, throughout the se...

Open Arms Community Church will hold its 8th Annual "Christmas Eve's Eve" service today. The event will feature traditional Christmas music in a rock music arrangement, drama, videos, and fun for the whole family. The church will host two services, at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Open Arms Pastor Mike McAvoy says, "This is our 8th annual Eve's Eve Service. We chose the non-Traditional Eve's Eve (December 23rd) for two reasons, 1) because we are typically "out-of-the-box" in our approach to ministry and 2) because we wanted people to be able to both celebrate together, but have Christmas Eve's to spend with their family. There is enough craziness that society has added to this season, we want to do our part to simplify and keep the focus on Faith and Family." McAvoy promises the event will be fun for the whole family. "I'm really excited about this years Eve's Eve Service! Every year we try to do it bigger and keep it fresh. This year i...

By Josh Hatcher Usually at 11:00 AM on Sunday mornings, Open Arms Community Church in Bradford is just starting their weekly worship service – but throughout the month of August – they’ll be headed out the door. They’ve decided to cancel their second church service each Sunday morning to host Free Block Parties at different locations in town, starting this Sunday with a picnic at the parking lot of Phillip’s Auto Depot on North Kendall Avenue from 12:00 Noon until 3:00PM. “The idea is something we've bounced around for quite some time,” says Open Arms Pastor Mike McAvoy, “My wife has always wanted to cancel service to go serve the community and some others in the church had a similar idea, and my thought is: one service isn't radical, but canceling service 4 weeks in a row is radical.” The church will instead hold one service at 9:15, and then start loading up supplies and preparing for the outreaches. Each of the four weeks in August, Open Arms will partner with individuals an...

Open Arms Community Church in Bradford, PA is launching a four week sermon series geared toward helping people strengthen their relationships this coming weekend. The series of talks, called "Relationship Rescue" will start Sunday, March 28 at Open Arms, and will address practical steps that can be taken to improve relationships from a biblical perspective. Week One of Relationship Rescue will explain that there is hope that even broken relationships can be restored, but it also has a cost. Week Two discusses the kind of attitude necessary to make a relationship function at it's best. Week 3 explains that love works best when it's put into action. Week Four addresses "building a better mate." Relationship Rescue is the continuation of a campaign at Open Arms to bring hope and healing to broken relationships, especially considering that the divorce rate in the US is over 60 percent. In February, Open Arms ran a four part series called "Finding Your Bella...

This Saturday, Open Arms Community Church will be hosting “Rock for Haiti”, a benefit concert with proceeds going to support famine relief in Haiti. The show –which starts at 6:30 in the evening at the church- will feature several local acts. The lineup includes: Josh Hatcher (acoustic rock), Ariel Campbell (acoustic rock), No Room For Nelson (alternative rock), Panic Attack (hip-hop), Marshmellow Overcoat (rock), and Horizons Open Wide (rock/ska). There will be a $5 cover charge, with funds going towards the Free Methodist Haitian Famine Relief Fund. The Famine Relief Fund has been a long-term presence in Haiti and is one of several branch organizations of Free Methodist World Missions, which has raised over $840,000 in post-earthquake relief funds (For more information, see www.helphaitiheal.org). Local artists Julia Allen, Denise Drummond, and Jennifer MacNeill have donated artwork that will be raffled off throughout the evening. Jennifer’s photography has been featured on the UN we...

along with Josh Hatcher and Ariel Campbell. They were on today's LiveLine for a preview of Saturday's "Rock for Haiti" concert. You can listen to the LiveLine here . The concert is at 6:30 Saturday at Open Arms Community Church, 1289 East Main Street. For a $5 cover charge you'll hear Ariel, Josh, Panic Attack (Justin Willoughby and Larry Petry), Marshmellow Overcoat, No Room for Nelson and Horizons Open Wide.

Monday -- Habitat for Humanity Tuesday -- Ariel Campbell, Josh Hatcher and Panic Attack Wednesday -- Cast members from the Fretz Middle School Production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr." Thursday -- Pastor Mike McAvoy will talk about "The Simple Life" 12:30 p.m. on 1490 WESB and online at WESB.com

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Volunteer fire departments are "officially" on the endangered species list. That's according to Foster Township Supervisor Jim Connelly Jr., who took time during Monday's supervisors meeting to address the dwindling membership of the Derrick City and Rew volunteer fire departments. "I'm going to put our Foster Township fire departments on the endangered species list," Connelly said. "We need help. It's got to be addressed." He reiterated what supervisors have been saying for months -- people don't have to fight fires to be a member of the department. Plenty of other jobs, such as maintenance and bingo, are available. Connelly acknowledged that the problem isn't unique to Foster Township. "It's a serious issue all over the United States of America," he said. "Our volunteers are falling by the wayside. Having a volunteer fire department is a luxury." "When we pick u...

By Josh Hatcher Bradford's "Biggest Loser" is 22 year old Justin Willoughby, who has reached an enormous milestone in his weight loss this week. Willoughby has lost 550 pounds. Forty-five of those pounds have been shed in the past year. "I made a resolution on January 1st to start a journey to lose 100 pounds by the end of the year, which will take me down to my goal," said Willoughby, who tipped the scale six years ago at 799 pounds. Within the first two years, Justin lost more than 200 pounds. "I have been working very hard, but to lose that initial amount of weight that I lost was only a miracle. You can't lose that kind of weight without some kind of hope and strength," Willoughby credits that source of hope to his faith, "I made a commitment to follow Jesus, and to trust Him to help me through this journey. Since that day, I've had a hope and a source of strength, and comfort, to get me through the times I want to indulge and over-eat...

On Thursday April 23 from 8pm-9:30pm, Open Arms Community Church will be hosting the "Town Hall for Hope" by Dave Ramsey. The event is free and is a live national event that is being hosted by Life Church and will be broadcast via internet to registered host locations. Dave Ramsey is a personal money-management expert, an extremely popular national radio personality, best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover, and host of the Dave Ramsey Show on Fox Business Channel. Dave will offer straight talk about the economy, recession, foreclosures and more. He'll carefully explain where we've come from, where we are now, and what we should be doing with our money during this time. Then, Dave will spend an hour answering your questions live! Dave will be taking calls, emails, facebook messages, and many other forms of live communication throughout the event. Pastor Mike McAvoy explained, "Our hope is that in holding this event it will be a blessing to the people of ...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Bradford City Council is asking the Department of Environmental Protection to revise the sewage facilities plan for a possible development on the former site of Micale Construction. The developer, Tarport Properties, has said possibilities for the development include a 73-unit hotel, a restaurant and an auto parts store. Bisett owns the land in question, and is working with the developer, who is new to the area. During Tuesday's meeting, Bradford resident Dave Newman questioned council about the proposed development. "I don't understand how the council can agree to this," he said. "Economic development is great, but that infrastructure in the whole area ..I don't know, right now, if this is such a bright idea." Mayor Tom Riel tried to explain that Forman Street would not be the only entrance to the property, adding that the map hasn't been made public yet because it's still in the very preliminary stages. ...

About 30 people showed up to help pick up the streets around Bradford on Saturday, including Mayor Tom Riel, and City Police Chief Mike Close. The event was organized by Josh Hatcher from Open Arms Community Church. "We really wanted to invite the community to come out and help out. This isn't just an Open Arms thing." In fact, while a lot of people picking up trash were from Open Arms, several people from Grace Lutheran, and even a few from the community came to help out. "I've had a lot of people thank me for putting this together. To be honest, it's not about that. I just thought that cleaning it up is better than complaining about it, and we worked together to make that happen," said Hatcher. The group filled a dumpster that the Department of Public Works had provided within an hour, and continued to gather trash along Maplewood, Jackson Avenue, Bedford Street, and others. "Our hope is that we can continue to keep these clean-up efforts goi...

Starting this weekend, Pastor Mike McAvoy will teach a four week series entitled "Stimulus - God's Bailout Plan For Your Life". "With all the talk about a bail out plan for the American Economy, I thought Easter a great time to kick off a series about God's bail out plan for our life," said McAvoy. McAvoy said that the Christian faith is about something more than just sitting in a church on the weekend, "God has a lot to say about stimulating our lives to go from nominal to great, ordinary to extraordinary." McAvoy said, that unlike the recently publicized bailout plans geared toward large corporations, God's plan is for everyday people."We all find ourselves facing difficult circumstances throughout our lives and it's good news that God has provided a bailout/stimulus to help us out. We don't have to try to do this thing called life on our own by our own means." The four week series starts this Easter weekend, during the regu...

Local residents will be working together to help clean up Bradford this Saturday, thanks to some initiative from a local church and Bradford Mayor Tom Riel. Complaining about the trash along the sides of the road was not an acceptable solution for Open Arms Media Coordinator Josh Hatcher, "I decided rather than complain about the trash strewn along the roads, that it would be better to just pick it up. But to be honest, it's a much bigger job than I can do." "No one of us can do it all, not as a person or an organization," said Open Arms Pastor Mike McAvoy. "but together we all can accomplish a much bigger work in our community to make it a great place to live." Hatcher contacted Mayor Tom Riel about a clean up of some problem areas. "Tom had already been in touch with area residents about their concerns, and he took my on a drive to show me what areas need to be cleaned up," said Hatcher. Hatcher invited members from Open Arms Community Chur...