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Families, friends celebrate Super Sunday at church
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FAMILY AFFAIR: Youngstown 2nd Ward Councilman DeMaine Kitchen, right, enjoys Super Bowl 44 at a non-alcoholic, family-oriented party at Rising Star Baptist Church, with his family. From left are: Leslie, his wife, and their children, Savannah, 4, Olivia, 6, and Amber, 1.
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GAME ON: Attendees of Rising Star Baptist Church’s Super Bowl party Sunday root on their favorite team. The nonalcoholic, family-oriented party is an annual event at the church, located on Wardle Avenue in Youngstown.
YOUNGSTOWN — Getting down with friends to watch the Super Bowl, laughing and getting loud and having fun, sipping coffee and soft drinks.
What, no Bud Light?
Not, at least, at the annual alcohol-free, family-oriented Super Bowl party at Rising Star Baptist Church on Wardle Avenue.
It’s a chance for Christian fellowship while watching the Super Bowl in a safe environment, said the Rev. Kenneth Donaldson, pastor of Rising Star.
“You can let your hair down and get loud ... and we eat too. So that’s good, said the Rev. Mr. Donaldson, a graduate of The Rayen School and who, along with his brother, Anthony, played football for Middle Tennessee State University.
The Super Bowl party grew out of the Men’s Ministry at the church, headed by Harry Wilson, said the Rev. Ron Thompson, assistant pastor.
The first Rising Star Super Bowl party, in 2006, was for men only, but the next year it was expanded to include families, witnessed by a number of women and children at Sunday’s affair, Wilson said.
“One of the things we wanted to do was establish fellowship with our brothers and sisters outside the formal Sunday service,” he said.
Rev. Donaldson, accompanied by his wife, Rosalyn, and 11-year-old son, Kenneth II, rated the two Super Bowl teams, the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, pretty even. He said he usually roots for the underdog when his team, the Dallas Cowboys, isn’t playing.
“New Orleans might be my underdog team,” he said before the game started.
Kenneth II, also a Cowboys fan, said he thinks there needs to be more kids at the party.
Draye Ersery, one of several Youngstown State University football players, sat in the front row to watch the large screen projection of the game.
A “Tennessee Titans fan all day long,” Ersery said he believed the Colts would win the game. “I’d love to see Peyton Manning [Colts quarterback] win.”
Ersery, who played middle linebacker at YSU and is “confident” he will catch on with the San Francisco 49ers as a free agent, said the family non-alcoholic aspects of the Rising Star party attracted him.
“I live my life for Christ,” he said.
One of the women of the church, Belinda Corley-Thomas of Campbell, said she and her husband don’t drink and can have fun and fellowship without alcohol. She also admitted she likes the food.
“One of the things we wanted to accomplish with the Super Bowl party was establish fellowship with our brothers and sisters outside the formal Sunday service,” Wilson said.
alcorn@vindy.com