Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1941-01-16

er and something is being dol
A Sunday school class of
three boys had trouble keeping
a teacher at First Church and
when it was found a young man
by the name of Gene Thomas,
who attended Bowling Green
State university the preceding
year but due to several conflict
ing incidents was unable to re-
turn, was in town, several men
of the church proceeded to get
him to take over this class of
boys.
Young Thomas didn't have to
be asked twice, and after one
visit to the class things started
to change. No strict discipline
is needed now. The boys all
work together in trying to ov-
ercome obstacles which crop up
in their lives as they go along.
Although the standard Sunday
school classbooks are used as a
basis of the work, they have
been adapted to present day to-
pics, such as smoking, cheating,
drinking, "petting" and for the
past three weeks the boys have
been trying to find out what
constitutes a Christian. 1t is
entirely a discussion class and
at the present time there are
18 members. Not a single boy
has missed Sunday school for
the past three months.
This fine class of boys is the
nucleus of the newly formed
recreation department of the
First Methodist church, headed
by Gene Thomas. Mr.. Thomas
maiored in physical education at
Bowling Green State university
last fall and intends to return to
school next September. The pro-
gram includes a basketball team
which has a 16-game schedule
including trips to Mt. Vernon,
Columbus, Granville, GAINESVILLE,
Cambridge and a week end trip
to Pittsburgh, at which time the
boys will attend sessions at the
University of Pittsburgh. They
will see a radio program broad
cast from KDKA, go through
the Pitt stadium and many other
points of interests, as we'll as a
tour of the museum.
To date the team has won
from the local YMCA team by
a score of 62-32; the Children's
Home 1926 and have lost to the
Mt. Vernon YMCA 10 year old
team) by the close score of
1926.
This week finds the team
playing at Central junior high,
where they meet the Columbus
Presbyterian church team. Next
Monday they will journey to
Columbus to meet the strong
Linden Avenue Methodist church
quint of boys who at the present
time are leading the YMCA
league in that city.
The church is in back of the
lads 100 per cent and with that
kind of cooperation from a
church organization the boys
want to make a good showing
even though the main idea of
the team is to play because they
want to play and win or lose,
like good sports.
Many people think of recrea-
tion as sports and that is the
wrong impression, according to
Coach Thomas. True, the pro-
gram at First Church has it's
athletics such as the basketball
team, boys gym classes, and
girls gym classes but it also
has it's cultural and educational
background. Several weeks ago
the department presented the
first in series of "Youth Hour"
programs which were designed
to take young people off the
streets and into the church
where an enjoyable evening
could be spent and no cost in
volved. At that time, the Shiloh
Baptist Church boys quartette
and the McMichael orchestra
thrilled some 200 people who
jammed the gym at First church.
Last Tuesday evening the Pharis
Glee club and a local music stu
dio were guests of the depart
ment. A capacity crowd again
attended. Future guests of the
youth Hour" series will be
a Major League baseball man
ager; the state champion Ma
rinlba Soloist who is attending