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Richard Irvine, left, president of the House of Life in

Kenmore, was guest speaker last week at a meetiDg


Irvine speaks of the Kenmore Kiwanis Club. Mr. Irvine discussed
the House, which is a 'temple to Jesus,' and told
Kiwanians of the beliefs of its membership. With him,
to Kiwanians left to right, are Gary Wilson, Kiwanis preSident, and
Tom Vazzi, program chairman.
A BUFFALO FESTIVAL-Some of the 75,000 spec-
tators who toured Buffalo's 14th Annual Allentown Art
Festival in Sunday's 85-degree heat stop to view a

raws
By MIKE McKEA TING stripe took advantage of the saijl Karen Fraunheim, 25, a
The 14th Annual Allentown Art Show ended Sunday crowd to hawk their wares reading disabilities teacher in

f
in an atmosphere more subdued than last year, but and/or philosophies. At one West Seneca.
point, all four corners of the Mr. and Mrs. Earl Solomon
just as colorful as ever. Delaware-Allen St. intersection 9f Orchard Park, who entered
An odd potpourri of people, contingent, estimated the
includ ng hippies, middle-aged crowd at 75,000 persons each we e oc~eg.~m sculpture exhibit in this
On one corner, a Krishna ear's festival, approved of the
couples, devotees of Krishna day. Consciousness devotee was derly atmosphere.
Consciousness', New Left pam- The 1970 festival attracted
"Allentown Reprieve Vindi-
cated." EDITORIAL PAGE
500 artists and an estimated
300,000 spectators, and was
hawking the group's magazine,
"Back to Godhead;"
other corner,
on an
enta iv
"I think its very well con-
oIled. I'm very happy with
"Mrs. Solomon said. i
1:;~
sprawled cut all over the many of a Christian commune rno
Pictures on the Picture Page narrow streets and alleys of ex 1\F State University of Buffal
the city's Allentown district. On j§ tU~..,J;;\ouse.2:;..LIre \V~L - /Executive Vic e Preside
phleteers, and even a few art
closing night, police had to use ri utl.ug,. a new~1!'t' olt"a lbert T. Somit, who toured tilt
connoisseurs, walked shoulder
to shoulder along Delaware tear gas to quell a disturbance 't'l'iir'd cor~er, a young person festival with his wife told a
was ~assmg ou! a leaflet de- reporter: '
Ave. for six hours in Sunday's which spilled over from ~
tavern brawl. mandmg equal rights for homo- "What's really interesting is
s eltering heat. sexuals, and on the fo?rt~ what you can do when you
The show was limited this This year, the Allentown
Village Society and city offi- ~.orner, a youth was h~Wkmg'l block off traffic and create a
ear to Delaware Ave. between Undercurrent, Buffalo s on~y pedestrian mall like this. We
1" pper and North Sts., where cials agreed to limit the size
underl?,round newspaper, ~5 should do this more often."
pJlice cordoned off traffic to of the show and subject it
form a pedestrian mall. to stricter controls. cents. Patrolman William J. Mul-
Festival hours were also But for the student of Ameri- MOST SPECTATORS seemed len of the Southside Station,
restricted to between noon and cana, it was just as colorful as to approve of the smaller crowd one of 75 city policemen as-
6 Pl\l, Saturday. and Sunday. ever, if quieter and more se- and more controlled atmos- signed to traffic control, said:
date. phere. "I like it much better than
BOLT 300 artists took "I like it. The quality of the last year. It's not so hectic. I
the show. Franklin IN ADDITION to the artists art seems higher than last walked the length of the street
~pt. Carroll Lyman, and sculptors, the modern ver- veal'. There's not so much junk once today and it \w 11 ceo I
- anded the police SIC n of soapbox orators of ev...
,e_rv a""TJ....19 it's not so spread out," enjoy things like this. -
NEW COMMUNITY IN CHRIST
PUBLISHERS OF TOGflHU
POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY COFFn Moun

2791 DELAWAU AVI.

KENMORE N.Y. '42'7·


PHONE: 716-873-8262

If the Son of God ,~ .., you f, •• you .hall b. fro. Ind •• dl John 8: 36

June 1971

Brothers and sisters and co-workers in the Lord Jesus Christ,

Greetings in the Name and Love of our Lord! The brothers and sisters at The
House of Life and the staff of TOGETHER are thankful to be able to share in
the recently o,rganized_"~e.~us News Service International". We wish to open
communication between ourselves and other members of the body '·by an exchange --.
of publications and news happenings in our local communities. We have found
that this type of open sharing in what the Lord is doing is not only exciting
and encouraging, but very helpful. It's like what Paul said about Christ's
body; "Let all things be done unto edification" (I Cor. 14:26). Edification
is just a big Christian word for being built up and strengthened in the faith
as members in the body of Jesus Christ~ We feel that a vital part in
Christian fellowship is close communication and upholding one another in
prayer before the Father.

The Lord has raised up the ministry for Him here very quickly. Last
December 15 we found ourselves moving into a large 3 story house located
just outside the business district of Buffalo, N.Y. and only blocks from
the area's largest college campuses. The Lord has really blessed and we
now hold Bible Raps and studies on Tue sdays and Thursdays; prayer, 6harin~:
and testimonies on \-J'ednesdays;
and, Friday and Saturday, the Power and Light
Company Coffee House is open to communicate the Gospel to the area youth.
Sundays we gather for praise and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The brothers here work to provide bread in a construction company that we


started called "The Carpenter's Men". The Lord has provided jobs and needs
- are..beLng met. Praise our wonde rful Lord. for t.he.way..
He provides __for _His
Family! The sisters here have found an apartment close by and will be
working harder than ever this summer.

The Lord has richly blessed our newspaper. TOGETHER with much fruit in a
harvest of new lives for Him and a growing ou t reech, Circulation is now
over 60,000 per issue and the Lord has helped us grow to be able to reach
more people for Him each issue.

We have seen the Lord Jesus work in many wonderful ways in the lives of
many people here in the Buffalo area and we are anxious to hear what He
is doing for you and other parts of the country. Please keep' in touch.

May the peace of our Lord bless.you richly. Maranathal

- Brother Marty Irvine


and all the brothero and
sisters in the Forever Family
at The House of Life
House of Lite
1·ew Community in Christ
2798 Delware Ave.
Kernnore, ~,Y

Dear frothers and Sisters in Christ,

On December15th, we celebrated the second anniversary of the


House of Life ministry. It has been some time since many of you
have heard from,us, so nowwe would like to share with you some of
the blessings of the year.
The Lord has been taking us through many changes, molding us
to be better used by Him. They take into consideration our
personalities and the ministry God has given to us. Each week our
schedule continues to include prayer meetings Bible studies,
i.Jorship service and the Power and Light Coffee House. Ue praise
the Lord for the many new brothers ar.d sisters that He has brought
to us this year .
.A.l though many nev faces have been added, we are missing a
few brothers and sisters. Bob and Candy Stains are studying at
J.lyackCollege, where the Lord has been blessing and teaching them
much. Joe Turcer is at Roberts \iesleyan College in Rochester
studying for the ministry. Dave Derk, Jim Carroll, and Jim Irvine
are praying about continuing their educations at christian colleges.
Roger Dill is in Costa 1iesa, California fellm1shipping with the
c .ristians at Calvary Chapel. liarty Irvine was married to Bonnie
}riedburg last month and will be continuing his studies at the
University of Duffalo.
One unfortunate event of the year was the discontinuation of
the "Dust" newspaper. Due to lack of assistance in canpiling the
paper' and some financial troubles. the newspaper has been set aside.
Pray for Marty and direction concerning that ministry.
On December14th, in celebration, a vorsbap service 'Has held
here to gather together to praise and thank God for these past
two years. Our meeting room vas completely full and yet it
represented only a small fraction of the people '-Ie have come to
through the ministry here. l'iany of those present uere not christians
uro years ago. I t just thrilled us to see all the beautiful
faces and to recall the wonderful experiences that God has given to
us through His ministry here.
',':e continue to praise and thank God for the House ministry.
for allOWing us to be used by Him , Thank you for your part.
Please continue to uphold us in pr~er and come visit and fell~~ship
with us soon I
Love in Jesus,
Brothers and Sisters
at the House of Lite
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL GUESTS FROM THE

BROTHERS AND SISTERS AT THE HOUSE OF LIFE

Welcome! We h9pe that your stay here with us will be helpful to you.
Just a few words about what we believe:

The House of Life is a Christian Discipleship Community and


all the brothers and sisters here have given their lives to
serving the Lord Jesus Christ and sharing Him with people
in any way we can. We simply believe that a personal rela-
tionship with Jesus as God's Son is the solution to any
human problem. \-Ie know that we have experienced a new life
given to us BY the Lord Jesus Christ. We just want to share
it with you. All we can do is say, "It's real, and it works
- there is a living, loving God and He cares about you. If
you want to know His peace and love, just co~e to Him thru
Jesus and accept what He has done for yo~."

To help all of us out, we've come up with a few simple agreements


that we wish you would abide by while you're here.

1. The length of your stay will be two days. If you plan


to stay in Buffalo longer, please look into other
accommodations while you are here, Don't hesitate to
ask the elders about any problems that you may have.
They will be glad to help in any way they can. The
elders are:
Brothers Steve -Ensmenger, Bob .Stains,~
Marty Irvine, Dick Irvine and Roger Dill

2. While you are here we ask that you would not use
tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Don't bring any dope
into the House.

3. Please be in by 10:30 P.M. as the door gets locked then.

4. Living quarters will be assigned to you. Keep your


things together. The kitchen. basement and 2nd floor
are off limits.

5. Please eat all meals with us at the regular meal times.


6. You are invited to attend all meetings, studies and
raps with us.

7. A few simple jobs will be assigned to you so the you


can help o~t around the House.

8. Please sign our "Guest Book". This will be helpful


because we have to keep track of who's been here.

9. Let us know when you're going to leave so that someone


can see you off.

10. All ministering and teaching will be carried out by


the brothers at the House.
Suicide Prevention and Crisis
Service, Inc.
560 Main St. Suite 405
Buffalo, N.Y. 1420~
November 11, 1971 I.

Hamburg Town Youth Board


Hamburg Town Hall
Hamburg, New York

Attn.: Mr. Robertson

Dear Mr. Robertson:

The House of Life in Kenmore, N.Y., has informed me that they are
exploring with you ways of developing programs to help young people,
with the possibility of including their approach to youth as one of
the means to that end. They have asked that I write to you a letter
explaining and endorsing their goals and methods, of operations.
,
I will speak of the experience' that I, several of my clients,and
our agency has had with the House of Life. We operate several twenty
four hour telephone emergency sercices under contract to the Erie Coun-
ty Department of Mental Health, including a Crisis Line, a Teen Hot
Line, a Problems of Living Line and a Drug Hot Line, receiving in the
aggregate about two thousand calls a month. Additionally, we operate
a twelve hour a day Crisis Clinic that sees between 250 and 500 dif-
ferent clients every month, and a night time storefront counselling
center that sees about 300 different clients every month. From all
of these services, we have had need to use the kind of help that the
House of Life is willing to give on many occasions.

Specifically, we find we are able to call the House of Life at


any time of the day or night to secure temporary lodging for homeless
young (or even older) people, or runaways. This service has provided
us a breathing space so that the following day we are able to contact
the significant others involved and begin a counseling process that
will resolve the crisis that led to the runaway. In this regard, the
House fo Life itself has a policy of encouraging :unaways to return
home and work things out. We have used the services of House of Life
people to supply a "crash pad" for a person on a bad trip, or to other-
wise see a young person through a bad drug experience when no other
such help is available. I want to emphasize that the House of Life
has a strict and well disciplined rule against drugs on their prem-
ises. My knowledge of this comes through one of our most trusted
interns at SPCS, herself a former heroin addict, and a counselor for
two years in the David Wilkerson program (of "Cross and Switchblade"
fame) who has recently received her Masters degree in Rehabilitation
Counseling. This counselor, by the way, has made her Church horne at
the House of Life, and functions competently and harmoniously with the
fifteen other psychologists, clinical nurses, social workers, lawyers
and clergy at SPCS.

_j
Finally, on several occasions I have referred troubled and non-
functional young people in my therapy groups to the House of Life
for the purpose of having a warm and accepting socializing experi-
ence. All have reported back to the group that they have,had a very
productive experience and found they were able to get something that
started them functioning again. Some found it in the free-form rel-
igious services, ot~ers in the warmth of the social interaction after-
wards, or at the coffee-hcJse type of gathering.

Perhaps it should also be mentioned that in addition to my pro-


fessional social work and psychotherapist functions I am an Episcopal
priest, and as such am a member:of an urban clergy group who took it
upon themselves to investigate the House of Life. Though we find
their expression of religion different from ours, the clergy solidly
approved of the House of Life from both a religious and a human point
of v i.ew~

If you have any further questions about my experience with the


House of Life, I would be happy to answer such questions as you may
desire, or meet with you to discuss it further.

Very -truly yo~rs7)


~.-)I ....
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// ,irohnA. Russell, M. Div., M.S.W.
/ /Director of Education and Consultation

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