Articles

When the city redtagged her church after an earthquake, Bethany Brix had a choice: "Whine or shine. " She had known First Church of Christ, Scientist, Beverly Hills, California, as her church home since her earliest memories.

Shortly after being awarded a Fulbright scholarship that would send me to Eastern Europe for a year of teaching, I attended a meeting held in Washington, DC, for all the recipients. Although excited, I was also fearful.

I HAVE DONE MANY THINGS I'M NOT PROUD OF. But the lessons I've learned from my trespasses have become priceless to me.

"DO YOU WANT A DRINK?" my friend asked me one night last summer in the basement of his house. Two girls were there, and I didn't want to seem like a loser.

MY DAD WAS A MARINE . He was a fighter pilot who fought with VMF 121 at Guadalcanal in World War II and earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor as an aviator in that conflict.

NEW YORK CITY POLICE OFFICER KRISTA HANNESSON no longer works a neighborhood beat, but she's keenly aware of what's happening on the streets of midtown Manhattan's East Side. As a crime analyst for the New York City Police Department's 17th Precinct, which covers East 30th Street up to 59th Street, from Lexington Avenue to the East River, Officer Hannesson's duties include contacting complainants after they've filed police reports, analyzing trends in crime within the precinct, and preparing detailed reports for her superior officers.

With an earnest desire to attract more people to our church, our small membership voted to purchase expensive front doors and a new sign. At first, I was critical of the decision, knowing that those kinds of changes alone are not what bring people to church.

WHENEVER I'VE VISITED the United States, I have been so tempted to sell my apartment here in Mumbai, India, and settle in one of the lovely cities over there. But my first love always holds me back.

"WE ARE AN ACTIVE CHURCH IN A CHURCH-GOING COMMUNITY," says John Williams, a longtime member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Jerseyville, Illinois. Mr.

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, LARKSPUR, CALIFORNIA, prospered for half a century. But by the late 1990s, membership had declined to fewer than ten active members.