The Centennial Celebration of First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton has been a wonderful experience with events beginning with our September 7, 2008, Connections Expo held in the Ministry Center during the Education Hour and our annual picnic with games for all ages and a terrific dinner, and culminating with our Centennial Sunday Celebration on April 19, 2009.  First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton was accepted as the 100th congregation of the Chicago Presbytery on April 20, 1909.

None of this would have been possible without the tremendous amount of work done by our church members and staff, all of whom deserve our thanks!

Our Centennial Committee, co-chaired by Diane Easter and Robb Frank, began planning in early summer 2007; and all of the members have done a terrific job!

Left to right the members of the Centennial Committee are Kathy Suhr, Jeff Alvis, Andie Alvis, Robb Frank, Kathy Paradise, Diane Easter, Rick Tampier, and Knox Williams. 

A great many other people also worked very hard to make our Centennial Sunday Celebration such a success.  Just a small portion of them include:

David Lincoln, our Director of Music, spent countless hours working and rehearsing with the Westminster Choir, the Humble Singers (men's chorus) and the Humble Singers Instrumental Ensemble, the Celebration Ringers, and the church Orchestra in preparation for Centennial Sunday, in addition to his usual duties which included planning and preparation for Easter on April 12.

David also spent a lot of time practicing with the Audio Video Ministry Committee so that the service could be heard in the Sanctuary, Rotunda, and Ministry Center, regardless of where each speaker or musical segment was originating.  This included his completing multiple updates to the full-script bulletin since some microphones were being controlled by AV personnel who could not see the spealers and had to depend upon word cues from some of our visiting pastors and seminarians.  David also had the most vigorous role during the Centennial Worship Service, with multiple trips up and down the stairs between the Sanctuary and Ministry Center including one trip after playing the organ upstairs to participating with the Celebration Ringers in the Ministry Center, which was the next piece in the pre-service music.

Dr. Paul Kirbas also spent a lot of extra time on at least two different occasions practicing with the AV Ministry Committee, speaking in the Ministry Center and then walking up the stairs to the Sanctuary while continuously speaking or reading the Bible so that all the problems in doing this and being heard in all locations could be resolved ahead of time.  He was using a wireless microphone transmitting to the balcony receiver with the sound then being transmitted back to the Ministry Center as well as to the Sanctuary and Rotunda speakers.

In addition to his usual careful detail in planning for the service and his sermon, he was also involved in coordinating the parts the different guest ministers and seminarians would have in the service.

Our Celebration Ringers also did a wonderful job.

Our Audio Video Ministry Committee deserves a lot of thanks for the hours spent preparing, practicing, and implementing the sending of audio from the Ministry Center to the Sanctuary and the Rotunda, which had never been done before, with the innovative use of just the equipment and cabling we have as adapted by John Herndon's knowledge and creativity.  This was in addition to sending both audio and video from the Sanctuary to the Ministry Center, making it possible to have people in three locations worshipping together as a unit. 

Pictured are Tate Wayland (standing helping to coordinate microphones with the script), John Herndon (operating the balcony soundboard), Ed Ballard (wearing headphones) adjusting the sound for the CD recorder, Rotunda, and the Ministry Center, and Bob Stevens (on the right) capturing the Sanctuary video being transmitted to the Ministry Center.  Not pictured are Bill Wetteroth and Susan Miller, who were running the soundboard in the Ministry Center, adjusting the audio that was transmitted from Ministry Center microphones to the speakers there and to the Sanctuary.

Our Deacons serve as greeters before worship services; and our ushers meet, greet, and seat our worshipers each week.  All of them did an outstanding job on Centennial Sunday, having people complete and wear name tags and making sure all the 668 people in attendance were seated. 

Pictured on the left are Deacon Kathy Hailman and Usher Thomas Breitzke.  Additional ushers can be seen in the photo above.