Maxwell 58: What Will Anna Do? Plus Anna Marie Gives Birth

[HereticHick]

I thought Sam might be listed somewhere on The Church of the Open Door's website by now, but I don't find him under leadership, or missionaries.  Although they don't list the church secretary, building manager, choir director, etc. either.

https://opendoorinfo.org/our-leaders

[ClareDeLune]

2 hours ago, HereticHick said:

I thought Sam might be listed somewhere on The Church of the Open Door's website by now, but I don't find him under leadership, or missionaries.  Although they don't list the church secretary, building manager, choir director, etc. either.

https://opendoorinfo.org/our-leaders

He was mentioned in the newsletter but I don't think he is there in a leadership role, more a missionary-in-preparation being looked after while doing pre-mission field work in their community.  

In most secular industries someone with just a first degree would be in a graduate trainee role, or probation year teacher or whatever, so I doubt the church would elevate him higher than 'the world' would elevate someone with his age and qualifications!

Presumably he and Mary will be on this page, and there will be special prayers and collections for them in missions week? https://opendoorinfo.org/content.cfm?id=3123

edit

*on that page in a couple of years time

[Hellothere]

Does anyone know if Christopher and family attend the same church that Nathan and family go to?This is the same church that Teri (and presumably Steve?) and the girls attended after the Covid nursing home ministry shut down.  Teri is volunteering there as a member of the Missions ministry.  I hope she has plugged  into other volunteer capacities there so she can meet other people and get out of the house. Mary and Sam are now there.  I can’t imagine Uber pious Steve volunteering and joyfully participating in any church activities since he would be too busy judging others and lecturing them.

[theologygeek]

On 7/25/2023 at 10:50 PM, marmalade said:

Sadly, I think Christopher runs a very tight ship. 

I do too.  His daughters always look sad.  I also think that Steve has religious OCD.  His family should research it.  I knew someone who had it.  It is very real.  

[Bethy]

9 hours ago, Hellothere said:

Does anyone know if Christopher and family attend the same church that Nathan and family go to?This is the same church that Teri (and presumably Steve?) and the girls attended after the Covid nursing home ministry shut down.  Teri is volunteering there as a member of the Missions ministry.  I hope she has plugged  into other volunteer capacities there so she can meet other people and get out of the house. Mary and Sam are now there.  I can’t imagine Uber pious Steve volunteering and joyfully participating in any church activities since he would be too busy judging others and lecturing them.

I've been scanning through old church bulletins on the site to see if evidence of C&AM ministry involvement shows up. (Nothing so far.) I did find "The Mahers" listed as greeters several times - as greeters' first names are not listed there's no way to know if that's Mel's parents, one of her brothers, or no relation. Is there any possibility this is the same church where Nate met Mel before Steve went all the way off the deep end with the nursing home church stuff?

[Bethy]

On 7/31/2023 at 10:58 PM, Bethy said:

I've been scanning through old church bulletins on the site to see if evidence of C&AM ministry involvement shows up. (Nothing so far.) I did find "The Mahers" listed as greeters several times - as greeters' first names are not listed there's no way to know if that's Mel's parents, one of her brothers, or no relation. Is there any possibility this is the same church where Nate met Mel before Steve went all the way off the deep end with the nursing home church stuff?

I found some answers to my questions as I was searching the blog for hiking posts as discussed in the Seriously thread. As of 2020 when it folded up because of covid shutdowns, they had been doing their nursing home church for 18 years. Prior to that, Teri said they had been driving 30-40 minutes (variable distance as the church itself changed locations) to a church in Kansas City.

 

I had been trying to figure out what had precipitated their leaving, if they'd been at COTOD in the past, other than doubling down on "keeping their children's hearts" and avoiding evils like youth group. I wondered if they'd had conflict with a prior pastor at COTOD, but the timeline really didn't fit with when I thought they had started the nursing home church (i.e. if they left COTOD in like 2002 because they didn't like the pastor, then why would they go back now since this is the same one that's been there since 1999?) but it seems they had been going to a church much further away prior to the nursing home days. 

I'm still curious as to which Mahers are at the current church, and if they're related to Mel or not. 

[Coconut Flan]

One more time, it was NOT a nursing home church.  It was a retirement and assisted living facility.  I don't know why it has stuck as "the nursing home church" when it's a misnomer.  Probably because it keeps getting repeated and it sounds bad.  

[SPHASH]

1 hour ago, Coconut Flan said:

One more time, it was NOT a nursing home church.  It was a retirement and assisted living facility.  I don't know why it has stuck as "the nursing home church" when it's a misnomer.  Probably because it keeps getting repeated and it sounds bad.  

I kinda like calling it "Church of the Elderly"

[theologygeek]

I have been reading the COTOD bulletins since the Maxwells started going.  Anna Marie volunteered in the baby room a few times, so they do go to that church.  

[Jana814]

56 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

I kinda like calling it "Church of the Elderly"

So do I.

[Bethy]

2 hours ago, theologygeek said:

I have been reading the COTOD bulletins since the Maxwells started going.  Anna Marie volunteered in the baby room a few times, so they do go to that church.  

I feel like they showed pics on the blog of them - including Christopher's kids - in the parking lot for an outdoor service on Easter Sunday in 2020, but NR-Anna would've still been on the west coast doing chemo then. I think Teri's August 2020 post announcing the official end of the Church of the Elderly stated that they (which at that point would have included their adult daughters) as well as Nathan's family were attending there, but that Christopher's family needed to stay isolated because of Anna's health. Maybe after a certain time had passed from the end of chemo, she was less immunosuppressed? (Though if I were at all concerned about catching germs, the church nursery is approximately the last place I'd want to get involved in a church!) They stated that Joe and Jesse were attending another church closer to where they had both moved, and I don't think she specified about John's family on that post, but Chelsy showed up on the church website pretty quickly so we knew they were there.

Do we know if John and Chelsy ever attended Church of the Elderly after marriage, or did they just jump straight to traditional church? I can see both of them really craving friendships with other folks at their same age/stage in life, something they wouldn't have found in a church where everyone is retirement-age.

[theologygeek]

Sarah's church sang happy anniversary to her.  

 

 

[Bethy]

20 hours ago, theologygeek said:

Sarah's church sang happy anniversary to her.  

 

 

I like that they're so low-key about their celebrations. Like oh hey, nobody here for the birthday song, if somebody comes in we'll sing it again, oh look, toddler, definitely singing it again for her! And the joke about there being so many anniversaries, so make sure you end up with the correct spouse at the end of the song 🤭 The perfect contrast to Steve's uptightness.

[marmalade]

Can someone point me to where this is in the video? I'm not inclined to watch the entire thing. TIA! 

[Black Aliss]

On 8/2/2023 at 9:29 AM, Coconut Flan said:

One more time, it was NOT a nursing home church.  It was a retirement and assisted living facility.  I don't know why it has stuck as "the nursing home church" when it's a misnomer.  Probably because it keeps getting repeated and it sounds bad.  

Didn't Poor Sarah describe it as a nursing home in the blog? I do remember wishing people (not just here, it's really common) would stop calling assisted living facilities "nursing homes", which are only for people in need of round the clock skilled nursing care.

[Xan]

17 minutes ago, marmalade said:

Can someone point me to where this is in the video? I'm not inclined to watch the entire thing. TIA! 

Go to 12:10.

[Coconut Flan]

13 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

Didn't Poor Sarah describe it as a nursing home in the blog? I do remember wishing people (not just here, it's really common) would stop calling assisted living facilities "nursing homes", which are only for people in need of round the clock skilled nursing care.

I don't remember her doing that. Even if she did, it's no reason for us to continue it since we know better.

I, too, obviously find it irritating since words have meaning and they are two different kinds of places as you say.  In fact the term nursing home is outdated.  They're now known as rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities.  

Edited August 11, 2023 by Coconut Flan

[marmalade]

46 minutes ago, Xan said:

Go to 12:10.

Thanks! 😃

[Bethy]

6 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

Didn't Poor Sarah describe it as a nursing home in the blog? I do remember wishing people (not just here, it's really common) would stop calling assisted living facilities "nursing homes", which are only for people in need of round the clock skilled nursing care.

I was thinking about this since it came up last week. In my area growing up (late 80s/early 90s) we pretty much referred to any housing/care for older folks as a "nursing home." Used in a sentence: "On Sunday afternoon a group from the church is going caroling at a couple nursing homes." "Oh, which ones?" "[Names two homes at least one of which had the word "care" in the name.]" To the best of my memory, these were residential facilities that served a range of needs - we'd have a group of folks who were mobile and with-it who would assemble in the community room to hear us sing, and that looked almost identical to the Maxwells' Church of the Elderly, except that we were a one-off and not a weekly event. After that performance, I remember we would go down the hall to a longtime church member who was totally confined to bed, and sing at his room. So there were definitely differences in the amount of actual "nursing" being needed/given, but we called every facility a "nursing home." IDK how much that was a regional thing and how much it was a product of the times, but it was never a pejorative use of the word as far as I can remember - a nursing home was just a place some people lived, and they liked it when we came and sang. 

[SassyPants]

4 hours ago, Bethy said:

I was thinking about this since it came up last week. In my area growing up (late 80s/early 90s) we pretty much referred to any housing/care for older folks as a "nursing home." Used in a sentence: "On Sunday afternoon a group from the church is going caroling at a couple nursing homes." "Oh, which ones?" "[Names two homes at least one of which had the word "care" in the name.]" To the best of my memory, these were residential facilities that served a range of needs - we'd have a group of folks who were mobile and with-it who would assemble in the community room to hear us sing, and that looked almost identical to the Maxwells' Church of the Elderly, except that we were a one-off and not a weekly event. After that performance, I remember we would go down the hall to a longtime church member who was totally confined to bed, and sing at his room. So there were definitely differences in the amount of actual "nursing" being needed/given, but we called every facility a "nursing home." IDK how much that was a regional thing and how much it was a product of the times, but it was never a pejorative use of the word as far as I can remember - a nursing home was just a place some people lived, and they liked it when we came and sang. 

Where I live most of the senior living facilities also have nursing home capabilities within the property. In my past experience (retired RN) most “nursing homes” serviced a range of care needs; not every client was near death or bedridden. I think senior living centers are a rather new concept- Bottom line, Steve found a non church venue to hold his own services.

 

[Jana814]

Steve wanted to control the services he did. I think he did let the boys preach at some point. I seem to remember a thanksgiving post & a few said they were grateful for their pastor who was Steve. 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Jana814

[kpmom]

3 hours ago, Jana814 said:

Steve wanted to control the services he did. I think he did let the boys preach at some point. I seem to remember a thanksgiving post & a few said they were grateful for their pastor who was Steve. 

Yes, and I recall Teri referring to herself as a pastor’s wife when she registered for a women’s retreat, or something similar. 🤮
 

In a way I’m kind of surprised Steve gave up on his non- church venue services (thanks @SassyPants!) as it seems right up his control freak alley. 
 

 

[Jana814]

I’m surprised he gave it up also. I think he loved the fact that the residents hung onto every word he said. 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Or else they didn't and the facility asked him to leave

[Jana814]

4 minutes ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

Or else they didn't and the facility asked him to leave

I can see this happening.