After eight years as director of the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce, Fred Steiner is stepping down and that position is now open, according to Phil Zimmerly, Bluffton chamber board president.
Steiner said that while he enjoys his involvement with the chamber, the Bluffton and Ada Icons, two online websites he owns, continued to grow and take more of his time.
The Bluffton chamber launched several new programs in the past eight years. It spearheaded a new Christmas downtown garland project now used by 45 businesses.
Janeen Bertsche Johnson, Campus Pastor of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., will preach during the 10:30 a.m. worship service Sunday, Jan. 10 at First Mennonite Church, 301 N. Jackson St., Bluffton. Her sermon title is “Seeing Ourselves in the Other.”
During the 9:15 a.m. Sunday school hour, Bertsche Johnson will reflect on a learning tour of Israel/Palestine in which she participated in November 2015. She was one of six pastors from the Central District Conference of the Mennonite Church USA who attended the tour led by the Mennonite Central Committee.
Bluffton Family Recreation will hold a Columbus Crew SC winter camp for youth ages 6 to 18 on Monday, Feb. 15. The camp takes place at BFR, 215 Snider Road, Bluffton, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Joseph Beagle, BFR director, said, “Crew SC winter camps series focus on player development through a core foundation of soccer skills in a challenging and fun learning environment. Each camper is sure to walk away with a positive experience and high quality training from the only professional soccer club in the region.”
Nettie Mae Ferrall, 93, died Jan. 2, 2016 at Mennonite Memorial Home, Bluffton, where she had been a resident. Nettie was born March 15, 1922, in Pandora to the late Homer and Ella (Badertscher) Basinger.
She graduated from Pandora High School and was a graduate of The Ohio State University with a nursing degree in 1946. On Aug. 28, 1949 she married Rex W. Ferrall who preceded her in death on Dec. 3, 2010, after 61 years of marriage.
