New Sign Completed

On Tuesday, November 15, 2011 the lettering on the new church sign on Mineral Point Road was mounted on the stone.  This completed the sign portion of the new front landscaping.  Becoming much more visible as cars pass on Mineral Point Road was a primary goal of the new sign.

Great care was taken in selecting the large stone to match the stone on the front of the church. The following letter from Tyler Anderson gives a bit of background on where the "Northern Pink-Buff Minnesota Limestone," provided by Madison Block & Stone, came from.

"Our first thought was that the material on the building was Tennessee Sandstone. After further research we determined that the best match to the existing church building was actually Northern Pink-Buff Minnesota Limestone from the Vetter Quarry in Kasota, MN.

"Minnesota Limestone is a very hard and dense limestone. It was formed under inland seas which covered the face of Minnesota during the Ordovician period of the Paleozoic era. This dense limestone is actually a Dolomite which is similar to limestone, but differs in that it has partial constituency of magnesium carbonate. This makes the stone's compressive strength harder than a significant number of marbles and some granites. Northern Pink-Buff Minnesota stone comes from a specific layer in the quarry. The stone got its unique coloring when it formed; pressure and different minerals on the sea bed helped give the stone its unique appearance.

"Vetter Stone Company, a third generation family business, has been quarrying stone in the US for over 100 years. Madison Block & Stone has been selling and fabricating Minnesota Limestone from the Vetter Quarries for 30 years. You will notice that many University of Wisconsin campuses have Minnesota Limestone on the exterior and interior of the buildings. Minnesota Limestone has been a favorite for many of the local Architecture firms.

"We appreciate the opportunity to provide the stone for the Bethany United Methodist Church. We hope that the Congregation will enjoy it for many years to come. Please pass on our gratitude to the Church."  (Construction Photos)

The Cross on the Front of the Church

The cast aluminum cross, designed by Howard Packard and made by Madison Brass Works, was given in the memory of J. Stewart by his wife Constance, the P.E. Teegardin family and an anonymous donor. The cross was installed in 1958.  The March 1958 issue of the "Fellowship Letter" (the name of Bethany's newsletter at the time) had the following statement: "The cross...will stand as a witness to a Way of Life to all who pass by. While the interior cross stands as a challenge to us who are committed to its Way, the outside cross presents the same challenge to the whole community."

The Cross and Flame

(Pastor Brad's message in the December 8, 2011 Banner)

The first church Becky and I served was a large church in Arlington Heights in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. To get an idea of how big the church was there were three full time clergy, as well as a full time music director, a full time Christian education director, and two full time administrative assistants. Picture a post office during the Christmas season and that's what Arlington Heights was like twelve months a year.

One day shortly after we arrived, while making hospital calls I met a church member who shared with me that he had recently retired. I asked him what his profession had been before he retired and to my surprise he said that he had been an art designer for the United Methodist Board of Communication, as it was called back then. I asked what kinds of things he had designed and got an even bigger surprise. "You may not believe this," he said "but I designed the church's insignia. I designed the Cross and Flame."

"Wow!" I replied and asked him to tell me more. In 1968, he said, after the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church to form "The United Methodist Church," it was decided that the new church should have a new symbol. The guidelines called for the logo to be "simple, bold, instantly recognizable and clearly Christian and uniquely Wesleyan." After drawing more than two dozen design concepts the Board chose the one we know so well. The logo is meant to say that our church is united with God through Christ (the cross) and empowered by the Holy Spirit (the flame.) As for the two tongues of single flame... well, they represent the union of the two denominations.

Over the four years that we were in Arlington Heights my path crossed often with Ed Mikula. He was a man of simplicity and grace, just like the logo he designed.

Sign Construction Gallery

Laying the Foundation	The Stone Arrives	Ready to Lift
Moving A 4-Ton Stone	Carefully Aligning the Stone	Easing the Stone Into Place
Sidewalk Superintendents	In Place	Ready for the Lettering
Completed New Sign and Old Sign in Background