Blog Archives

‘We can be bound together even if we are different’

12/24/2025

Wednesday night was hopping at the First Baptist Church in Franklin as three congregations representing three Protestant denominations celebrated Christmas under the same slated roof.

Since the fall, parishioners of the Baptist parish, Christ Church of Franklin (formerly the Christ United Methodist Church) and the more recently formed Redeemer Anglican Church currently all call 1041 Liberty Street home.

Christmas Eve was no different.

Rev. Randy Powell of the Baptist Church and Darrell Greenawalt of the Christ Church joined together to lead services at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the sanctuary.

In between, Rev. Eric Phillips led the Redeemer congregation in a more formal service in Clark Hall.

“Darrell, Randy and I have been working together, have been friends, meeting together but also helping each other with different ministry needs and stuff like that,” Phillips said. “We already had a relationship and friendship as pastors, so it’s been kind of neat having all three of our congregations here.”

Phillips came to Franklin about four years ago seeking to start an Anglican congregation and approached Powell about his knowledge of available spaces that could be used for worship.

Powell offered him room in the century-old Baptist church.

Greenawalt and Christ Church came to Powell, as well as a few other local churches, seeking temporary digs as his congregation split from the United Methodist denomination in October. Powell again laid out the welcome mat.

It is the second time the Christ congregation has set up shop at the Baptist church. The first was in the 1980s after the Christ U.M. building on Buffalo Street burnt down.

“The board and the (Baptist) congregation didn’t bat an eye,” Powell said of the requests to share.
“It’s kind of a juggling act,” Powell said of the new routine between the three groups. “I’m happy to have them.”

The churches are in distinct positions as far as membership size.

Christ Church regularly has more than 200 congregants on Sunday mornings, down from more than 400 before COVID.

Redeemer has been steadily growing over the last few years, drawing about 80 attendees each week, including more than 30 college students from Grove City.

The Baptist church has been declining over the years with only about 30 regulars.

“We used to have three services over there (Buffalo Street) and now we are doing one, but the congregation loves it because they are experiencing greater community,” Greenawalt said of their current schedule.

Many of his members, who formerly gathered in a modern building, also enjoy the opportunity to worship in the Baptist’s historic building with vaulted ceilings.

The three churches have different worship styles and some theological variations. But Powell, Greenawalt and Phillips say the divergences are smaller than their similarities.

“Our congregations, worship style aside, are not much different,” Powell said. “We are in the same evangelical space … it just looks different.”

On Wednesday night, Powell had a chance to introduce on of the Franklin Baptist Church’s longtime Christmas traditions – moving out the pews to make a figure eight through the sanctuary to pass the candlelight while listening to a recording of former member Lois Ann Schaeffer (deceased) belt out “O, Holy Night.”

It presented a visual of community that was also evident when earlier Powell followed up Greenawalt’s homily with remarks of his own, joking that those in attendance got the holiday surprise of two sermons in one night.

Two preaching styles and two messages inspired by the same passage from the Bible. An unplanned but welcome turn of events for the pastors.

“What I do love is our congregations … represent the spectrum of expressions of Protestant Christianity,” Phillips said. “We are all three very different expressions … (yet) we work together and are close friends and worship in the same place, it’s kind of a cool story to tell. We can be bound together even if we are different.”

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Zen Dads inspire community through Christmas Bash

12/17/2025

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More than 300 people gathered at the Rocky Grove fire hall Saturday for the inaugural Zen Dads’ Christmas Bash. The event was designed as a place for families to have fun, share some cookies and hot chocolate, visit with Santa and the Grinch, dance, make crafts and, most importantly, share some holiday spirit as a community.

The party was an add-on to a toy drive conceived by Andrew Shipwash, Tim Tobin and CJ Hellem, who created Zen Dads in October after Shipwash came upon a large number of Halloween costumes that he and Tobin gave away.

The effort was a huge success and got them thinking about what they could do next.

“I wanted to do a toy drive for Christmas and Shipwash was all in," said Tobin, whose calm temperament as a parent inspired the Zen Dad name.

To get started, the trio put donation boxes in area stores and spread the word through Facebook.

They also asked around to find families in Venango County who could use a little help providing gifts for their kids.

“We thought we’d help five to 10 families,” Shipwash said. “We got over 1,500 donations and were able to help 33 families and over 70 children.”

Then they wanted to do a little more, so they decided to plan a party opened to anyone who wanted to attend.

More than 300 people took them up on that invitation.

“We had the idea, but this wasn’t just a Zen Dads’ event; this was a community event,” said Shipwash. “It’s been a beautiful thing. In just four weeks, we got 1,500 items. That was the community, not us. This community really showed up.”

The event is the latest in the recovery journey for the single dads, who have similar troubled pasts that they have inspired them to now focus on service to others.

“We’re positive people. We just push each other to do better,” said Tobin.

“Andrew helped me. We’re super close. It’s amazing where we’re at,” Hellem added.

Shipwash said his daughter was eight-months old when he found himself in jail.

“I said something has got to change. I don’t want to be this person that is locked up away from my daughter,” he said. “And then a my probation officer said something to me that really stuck - 'you know if you don’t get your life in order some other man is going to be raising your daughter.’ That broke me."

"I got out (of jail) and I have been clean ever since," Shipwash shared. "That was 12 and a half years ago. I have learned a lot of life lessons that I want to now share with people through the Zen Dads.”

The first year success has the group looking forward, including the task of seeking non-profit status and and maybe starting an LLC to expand their idea further. For now their focus is on Venango County, but they see the potential for greater reach.

Their main message - by supporting each other we can provide people the opportunity to rise above their struggles and know they are not alone. "You can do anything and that’s what I want to convey to people,” Shipwash said.

“We want this to blow up across the country. We want to share as much knowledge as we’ve gained and pass it on to others. We want to show families the importance of being present in their kids' (lives) and to support their friends' families, their neighbors' families and anyone else that needs help," he explained.

The three Zen Dads emphasized they've had a lot of help so far and will need more to grow their idea. In other words, the idea of community can be contagious. Community builds community.

“If you stay positive, everybody else around you just wants to be positive and they want to pitch in and do what you’re doing. People want to have a purpose, and this gives the community purpose,” Shipwash said.
“Life’s great today and it’s only going to get better.”

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Franklin's Old Fashioned Christmas brought family shopping downtown

12/14/2025

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Franklin Retail Association once again hosted the annual Old Fashioned Christmas Saturday draw 100s downtown for some fun and games while shopping local for the holidays.

Santa was on hand to listen to children and adults wishes for this holiday season, lots of hot chocolate was handed out, songs filled the area and inside businesses, kids took home their own homemade crafts and the streets were abuzz with activity.

A walk in any shop and people were having conversations and wishing each other Marry Christmas and good cheer.

Franklin Retail Associate gift cards are still available at The Chamber office. The gift cards can be used at several downtown restaurants and shops year round and are a great gift to give to support Franklin's businesses and thriving downtown.

Editor's note: Eight & 322 does maintain a business relationship with the retail association by sharing resources and advertising.

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A Touch of Grey Karma

12/4/2025

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Billy's Karma Concert Series, a winter fundraiser for the Lyric Theatre project that has raised of $50,000 in it's nine years, kicked off its December lineup with the Meadville based Touch of Grey Thursday.
This holiday shortened month will also feature Gary Bickerstaff, a former singer for the popular Lawyers, Guns and Money on December 11 and Braincloud on the 18th.
All shows are $5 and begin at 7 p.m.