Men's 710 of 2008 Each second Tuesday of the month, Zion Lutheran Church hosts a Men's Fellowship, which includes a complimentary breakfast and a special guest speaker beginning at 7:10 a.m. in the Fellowship Building to last about an hour. Visitors are always welcome to leave early if work schedule requires. Photos of some of the past Men's 710 Fellowship. - Click to Enlarge. Men's 710 - December 9, 2008 Pastor Jake Brady of Marlow United Methodist Church shared breakfast and building discussion with us. He posed briefly in front of the Marlow congregation's new fellowship hall which is under construction. The historic Marlow United Methodist Church was constructed in 1926. "We hope that our new building will enable Marlow United Methodist Church to foster community ministry," he said. "The project started as a conventional fellowship hall, but we have customized it to better respond to possible 'multi-purpose' emerging needs," Pastor Jake Brady added. He has been with the Marlow congregation since 2006, about when this project formally commenced, although planning and saving had started a long before. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - November 11, 2008 Ned Owens was the special guest of Silverhill's Zion Lutheran Church's "Men's 710" this month. Ned Owens, Lutheran Habitat for Humanity advocate, brought us the vision for the "2009 Lutheran Build Project" in Baldwin County. "Lutherans worked together in a Habitat for Humanity Build project last year," Ned tells Zion. The Lutheran version of Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County and Thrivent Financial are teaming up to build a home for another "qualified" family in 2009. Building takes dollars. "And fund-raisers for the project are underway," Ned tells us. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - October 14, 2008 Ray Heathcoe was the special guest of Silverhill's Zion Lutheran Church's "Men's 710" this month. Heathcoe has been configuring and fabricating trucks and trailers in Road House Truck Conversions for about a decade in Silverhill, first with components from Elkhart, Indiana, and now from components assembled in Silverhill. Road House Truck Conversions is off the beaten track, just west of Silverhill's Bohemian Hall Road. The company's sign shares space with Silverhill's Eternal Pet Cemetery and Crematory. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - September 9, 2008 Captain Peter Midgarden was the special guest of Silverhill's Zion Lutheran Church's "Men's 710" this month. Silverhill's Captain Peter Midgarden has fabricated a 26 foot scale model "Viking ship." In true Viking tradition, the hull of the boat is crafted before the ribbing and support structure is placed within the hull. The bow of the ship (on Midgarden's right) will eventually have that traditional Viking dragon head. "I haven't fabricated that yet, but they only used those for 'dress occasions.'" There are plenty of pictures of Viking ships, but not many plans around. He started collecting information and discovered a teacher up in Maine who had a schematic labeled in German. From these metric plans, Captain Midgarden did a scale model in 1997-1998. It took two years and 200 hours of research to get beyond this point. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - August 12, 2008 Dr. Chuck Flowers, new veterinarian in Silverhill with 26 years of experience, discussed the "family pet as a true family member" when he was the special guest this month. Dr. Chuck explains that his practice is planted in a growing area - that's Silverhill, an area desirable in a growing area of Baldwin. Yes, Silverhill is still rural, but the area is moving toward suburban. Whether rural or urban, our family pets need an appropriate vet with a "Family Practice" focus. Dr. Chuck is associated with the Silverhill Animal Clinic, 16150 Silverhill Avenue (Highway 104), in Silverhill. Specific questions regarding his veterinarian practice can be directed to him at 945-3300. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - July 8, 2008 Our July speaker and hotrod enthusiast, Frankie Kucera, relishes his 1946 Ford with Corvette engine and a variety of internal modifications. He shared a complimentary breakfast and some car stories with men at Zion, and yes, he brought his cars along! "There were 12 of us boys," Frankie Kucera said. “It was '57. I was just out of school. That's when we formed the 'Gear Jammers.' We were into cars for about five years or so, but then we got married, moved, did the service--you know." No car club for 50 years! Then those car buffs came back together in January '08 and started again. "We call it the 'Gear Jammers of Baldwin County' now and we have 73 members! We expanded beyond Silverhill." Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - June 10, 2008 Dr. Gregory Funk was the special guest of Zion's June Men's breakfast meeting. Healing is a noble calling and Dr. Funk has been practicing the healing arts in Gulf Shores since 1981, a transplant from Indiana. "I started off my college training in Social Science and Pre-Law, but I always wanted to be a doctor," he says. Death of a father and business concerns each came together to lead him into General Practice Medicine. This father of two daughters and three sons, notes that one of his children is in medical school now and one is planning in that direction. He will be putting things in a spiritual focus, discussing subconscious, conscious, and interaction components of thinking and their effect on healing. There is a power related to our focus or intention in life. "My physician intention is to heal, but for healing to take place my patient has to accept and look to be healed, his intention," Funk notes. Interaction of body, soul, and spirit, of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual, ultimately defines how healing takes place. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - May 13, 2008 Steve Vasko, a crop-duster in Baldwin for 22 years, shared his retirement dream of building an experimental airplane. Vasko sent for a kit of a GP-4, a 1984 design by George Pereira, and has been building many of its components this past winter. The plane is literally fabricated and built, piece by piece. His best estimate is that it will take 2000 to 3000 hours to complete. When he is done, the two-seater will fly at 240 miles per hour and get about 20 to 25 miles per gallon. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - April 8, 2008 Fairhope pharmacist Darren Billiot discussed medication issues with the April Men's 710 breakfast group. Darren Billiot's pharmacy practice is in the Fairhope Wal-Mart. Darren Billiot grew up in Raceland, Louisiana, 55 miles southwest of New Orleans. He did his pharmacy studies at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (aka Northeast Louisiana University). He has practiced in a variety of pharmacy settings including hospital, nursing home, nuclear, as well as retail. He was attracted to Baldwin County by the job climate and lives here with his wife and two children, a daughter nine and a son seven and a half. Men's 710 - March 11, 2008 Starr Shackelford was the special guest of the March Men's 710 breakfast. She is not only a mother to eight year old twins, but also the Real Estate Agent in Silverhill's Ward Realty. Miss Starr grew up in Robertsdale, went to school at USA, graduated and did not go into real estate. She wanted to, but she got into other things, including that medical equipment supply business that she sold a couple years back. It was October two years ago that she entered the real estate market place. "Bad timing, I guess, but I had wanted to do real estate ever since college, and now I'm doing it," she noted. Besides twins, she lives in a mixed household - husband Phil is an Auburn grad! He works at Flowerwood Nurseries in Loxley. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - February 12, 2008 Becky Vasko brought her background of 30 years of farming here and in Florida to the February Men's 710 breakfast. She shared her knowledge, wisdom, and insight into agriculture. A "farm girl" at heart, Becky Vasko farms. She has a wealth of agricultural information to share. She is presently raising cattle and cultivates a mighty fine garden. Friends and neighbors know her wares, because she shares produce. Miss Becky has lived in Silverhill for 28 years. She's married to Steve, a native son of Baldwin. And of course, there are children and grandchildren. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Men's 710 - January 8, 2008 Patrick Collins presented the vision for Baldwin's Home of Grace at Zion's Men's 710 this month. "'Home of Grace' is this ministry," Collins explains. "It is not just a property in Elsanor. Nor is it the people here. It is God serving people. The target audience to be helped are female substance abusers. Our youngest so far was 19 and our oldest was 67. We are a Christian-faith-based program. We have a 12 to 16 week twelve-step recovery program. With the Lord's help we bring scripture and recovery tools to bear on problems as we care and nurture the recovery process." Zion's Men's 710 is inviting men and women to share an hour with this interesting speaker AND a complimentary light breakfast at Zion Lutheran Church. Click here to read more about this fellowship meeting. Click here to see past Men's 710 from 2007. Click here to see past Men's 710 from 2006. Click here to see past Men's 710 from 2005. Click here to see past Men's 710 from 2004.