Music is, by one definition, an art form whose medium is sound. We enjoy various genres of music and are compelled at times to search for particular forms of music to fit our moods. Music has always been a means to bridge gaps and has been used over long periods of time as a means of communication. There is a quote that says, “Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.” It is this expression of what music is that defines a group of people in our community that have devoted
their lives to the ministry of music. The Lewis Harden Community Choir has just such a love for music. It is their belief that ministry comes in many forms and that God leads us to work for Him in the gifts that He bestows upon us. It is the gifts of voice and song that this group ministers to others.
Once called the Effingham Community Choir, this group was founded in February 1995. It is made up of family and friends that enjoy praising the Lord through music ministry. Shelia Harden, one of the original members, states that she had always grown up in the church singing and had a desire to reach out to the community with song.  She noticed that the area church choirs did not go out and just fellowship and she wanted to address that. She talked her idea over with her sister and then with the help of her father-in-law, Mr. Lewis Harden, she was able to get the necessary suggestions for reaching the area churches with her idea. At their first meeting there were approximately twenty-five members with the youngest being only thirteen. “Our first song together was ‘Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory’ and we all felt it just fell into place”, said Shelia. It is their love for praise and worship that they are called to this particular type of ministry.
“When we practice it turns into more of a worship service”, Shelia states. Their motto is Psalm 96:1, “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.” Shelia goes on to say that they try to reach out to people in spirit and in truth
through song.
When asked if they have any CD’s available she is quick to point out that their mission is to sing for the Glory of God and to minister to others. “It is more about the ministry of the music than performing”, she says. “We are hoping to reach
someone when we sing.” However, they do travel to sing at various functions and services. They have ministered in the surrounding counties, as well as Effingham, and are now working on a trip to Naples, Florida. They were also asked to sing on a program with Evelyn Agee, a well-known gospel singer, and under the direction of James B. Flowers of Mass Production, a singing group in Savannah.
In addition to traveling about to sing, they are also a visible part of Effingham County. As stated before, Shelia sought guidance to achieve this goal through her father-in-law. He passed away in 1996, and it was at this time that the choir decided to change its name from Effingham Community Choir to The Lewis Harden Community Choir.  They have since been involved with the City of Guyton Tour of Homes, various functions at the Veteran’s Park in Springfield, and at various other functions throughout the county, including the MLK Day Celebrations where her husband is the president of the activities. “We try to make sure that where we are, there is a belief in God. We try to go where we can in order to minister to others”, Shelia explains. “The door is open to all of God’s children who really want to praise the Lord in ministry.”
It is easy to see that this group is family oriented. Shelia, along with her husband and oldest daughter, sing in the choir. Each of them has brothers/sisters in the choir as well. There are also cousins, mothers and daughters, and husbands and wives. “It is an atmosphere and a place that we can come together and worship and raise our children”, says Shelia. There are several churches in the community that are represented through the group members – Macedonia Missionary Baptist, Royal Temple Holiness, and New Hope AME to name a few.
Shelia feels very blessed to have so much support from the community for their group. She feels that there was a need for something like this in the community and that the Lord opened the door for them to begin this ministry.  It has been going strong since its inception and they will be celebrating their 15th Anniversary on the second Sunday in February 2010. “I am always amazed at the support we have when we hold our anniversary celebration”, she says. “You can feel the Lord moving throughout the people as they join us in song and worship.”
For more information on this amazing group of Effingham Citizens, you can contact Shelia Harden at 912-772-3505, or the group’s secretary, Roxanne Moon at 912-661-4519. “We know things are not going to come easy in life. But we continue to press on and do what God will have us to do.” And that is the philosophy of this choir of dedicated members who believe that it is the ministry of music that “flows from heaven and reaches the soul.”

The Springfield Revitalization Corporation is bringing family entertainment back to Effingham County. The committee is in the process of restoring Springfield’s Mars Movie Theater, and when it’s completed the refurbished building will do more than just add to the historical beauty of Effingham’s little city. It will be a place for family entertainment and a cultural center.

It’s hard to believe that in the 1940’s and 50’s Springfield had two movie theaters: the Mars Movie Theater in downtown Springfield and the Sky-Vu Drive-In Theater on Hwy 21. Very little remains of the Sky-Vu, which was next to the present day Saint Boniface Catholic Church, but the Mars has been luckier. Over the years, it has been used by various businesses, and its original structure is intact.

The Mars Theater was a successful business. It could seat about 350 people, and during the week two movies were shown at night, and about 100 attended each movie. On Fridays and Saturdays they averaged about 200 for each movie. On Sundays the theater was closed. Business was good, but during the 1950’s most families had acquired a television, and families spent more time at home.

In 1955, business had dropped so drastically that its owner, Jack E. Ramsey, wrote an open letter to the community. In it he asked that people reconsider the value of patronizing the movie industry. An excerpt from the letter says: “You know it is possible to habit yourselves to staying at home – this means not mixing with your fellow citizens –this is bad for grown-ups and, more especially, for children….Let’s not grow old sitting at home – come to the theatre and meet your friends.”

Despite Ramsey’s efforts the movie business continued to decline, and the Mars Theater closed its doors in 1959. Gussie Nease and Butch Kiefer have talked about restoring the theater for years. Neese remembers that although her family was poor, she could still afford to go to the movies – “It cost 15 cents for kids to get in and 10 cents for a coke and popcorn,” she said. What a deal! And one movie she especially remembers seeing there is “Love Me Tender” staring “The King”- Elvis Presley.

Now those years of wishful thinking and talking about memories are in the past – through the efforts of the Springfield Revitalization Committee, work on the Mars Theater Project has begun. In 2007 they purchased the theater, and their plan is to “rebuild the Mars Theatre and establish a Foundation for the Arts and Education in Effingham and Coastal Georgia”.

The Mars Theater always had a double function. It was built with a stage so people could enjoy live performances as well as movies, and the committee plans to put that stage to good use. As a cultural center, the stage will be used for plays and concerts, and for a place for The Effingham County Orchestra to perform. Nease would also like for them to become part of the Savannah Movie Festival. “That’s just another of my pipe dreams,” says Nease. “I’ve got a thousand ideas of what I’d like us to do with this project!”

These are big plans, and a special event has been organized to raise money for the project. The fund raiser is called “A Matinee of Movie Music”. It will be held on Sunday, September 20, at 3:00 in the afternoon in the auditorium of the Effingham County Board of Education. The “movie music” theme relates directly to the Mars Theater. “Many of the original movie posters were found stored away in the theater,” said Nease, “and The Effingham County Orchestra will be performing the movie themes from those movies.”

When the revitalization of Springfield’s Mars Theater is completed, family entertainment, both in the form of movies and live productions, will be available to Effingham residents- all without having to fight the traffic to get to Savannah. But it will go beyond that. People will be able to walk down a quiet street, in a quiet town, and experience a bit of the quiet times that people enjoyed before the lure of television drove them indoors.

Let’s not grow old sitting at home – come to the theater and meet your friends!

When I arrived at Dave Sanderson’s home in Rincon for our interview, he was dressed for biking. His blue jersey had “Bicycle Ride Across Georgia” written on the front of it, and a red racing type bicycle was close to the front door.

Sanderson told me that before I arrived he had been watching the Tour de France on television, which is the world’s most grueling, month long bicycle race. He talked about Lance Armstrong, who despite battling cancer, has won the race seven times. He gave me details on Armstrong’s position, strategy, and the rigors of the race, and said he hopes Armstrong wins again, for the eighth time. His admiration for Armstrong’s talents and efforts was easily apparent.

“I once rode with Lance Armstrong,” he said, and he showed me an autographed picture of Armstrong riding in a race.

It’s clear that Sanderson’s life is intertwined with serious bike riders – those who race and those who ride ten to a hundred miles a day and call it “recreational riding”! But it hasn’t always been that way.

When Sanderson turned 65 he became blind in one eye, and he had cataract surgery to hopefully correct it. The surgery was successful. He regained his sight, but with this good news came some bad – his doctor told him that the degeneration in his eye was caused by diabetes, a disease for which there is no cure. Doctor’s orders were that he would have to exercise regularly and control his diet to keep his diabetes in check.

Sanderson is a pro-active person, and he didn’t wait for further complications to arise before taking action to control his disease. He began the Atkins Low Carb Diet and an intense bicycle riding program.

Bike riding was his immediate choice for exercise even though he hadn’t ridden a bicycle much since grade school. So why did he decide to begin a bike riding workout? – simply because he just happened to have one in his garage. Ironically, when he and his wife, Virginia, had lived in Houston, Texas they had entered a drawing and won two mountain bikes. They rode them a few times, but then stored them in the garage where the bikes were apparently forgotten. The old adage to “keep something because you may need it someday” certainly worked in his favor.

His actions showed results. In six months he went from 235 to 185 pounds, and his diabetes was in check. It wasn’t his plan to be a serious biker. He just wanted to control his diabetes, and in the beginning his bike rides were mainly around his apartment building’s parking lot.

Shortly after, he rode his bicycle in the Tour de Cure, a bike riding event in Savannah to raise money for The American Diabetes Association. “I saw all these guys in fancy clothes, riding bicycles with skinny tires, and I wanted one. And I told my wife, ‘I need a new bicycle,’ and she said ‘You already have a bicycle.’” Well, we know where that conversation was going, but he got a new bicycle, and it was the second of four he has owned so far. Since then, his bike riding has kept him healthy, and it has led him on adventures that most people his age would not begin to take.

He joined a biking club in Savannah, and on a ride to Wilmington Island he couldn’t ride his bike across the bridge- he had to get off and walk it across. Soon after he joined a gym to improve the strength in his arms and legs.

His biking soon became serious. He pushed himself to ride further and faster in recreational rides as well as competitions.

One of his most memorable biking events was participating in the National Senior Games. They were held at Disney in Orlando where 10,000 competed. He had to qualify for the event at the state level by competing in 5K and 10K time trials, and only the top four qualified for the nationals.

At the time, he was 75 years old, pumped up and ready to win. “It was the fastest 10K I’d ever done,” he recounts with excitement, “and some skinny guy from South Florida beat me by four minutes. He had shaved his eyebrows, his arms, and his legs! He wore one of those teardrop shaped helmets and his shoes were taped. He was all leaned over his bike………he shot by the rest of us like a bullet!”

Well, Sanderson may still be disappointed that “the skinny guy from South Florida” won the race, but it’s obvious that the retelling of it always brings great pleasure to him, just as many of his biking memories have.

He also told me the story of when he traveled to Austin, Texas to participate in Lance Armstrong’s “Ride for the Roses”. This is a one day biking event to raise money for the American Cancer Society – 8,000 bike riders participated. Sanderson’s wife had died from lung cancer, and this was his way to help raise money for research.

For the event, Sanderson had raised $2,700, and in appreciation, he was given the autographed picture of Armstrong. He was also given a jersey and a messenger bag, which he uses as his briefcase. Both carry the “Lance Armstrong Foundation” insignia. Perhaps they will be inspiration one day when it’s needed.
Sanderson rode 25 miles in the event that day and hoped to meet Armstrong, but it didn’t happen. “I waited in a tent for over an hour where he was supposed to come, but I didn’t get to see him,” he said with disappointment. He was silent for a moment, perhaps contemplating a champion’s efforts, and not recognizing his own.

In addition to participating in biking events, Sanderson has also organized them, and for a couple of years he also organized and led five-day Florida biking tours. He just doesn’t seem to run out of energy.

The Florida tours were enjoyable, and one father and son who rode tandem on the tour were unforgettable. “The son was autistic; he couldn’t speak,” said Sanderson When we’d be eating out, he’d sit at the table and just rock back and forth.

Everyone was real nice to him. I had a big trophy made, and I gave it to him on the last night of the tour. It said “Honor Rider of the Week”. When I presented it, the father cried. They were real happy with it, and we’re still good friends.” He quietly contemplated the memory and said thoughtfully, “That father drove with his son all the way from Massachusetts and back.” Again, he was silent for a moment, perhaps contemplating a father’s efforts, and not recognizing his own.

It’s been sixteen years since Sanderson began his biking journeys – he’s now 81. “I’ll be 82 on November 13,” he tells me. Just as little kids are excited about getting older so they can do more things, Sanderson is happy about getting older and still doing things he loves.

“Does bicycling get harder as you get older?” I ask.“No, it’s not harder, you just get slower,” he replies, “and that’s the reason I don’t ride with a bike club anymore – they’re faster than me.” But that doesn’t keep him from riding.

“I ride about ten miles a day, several days a week, and on weekends I ride 15 to 20 miles. My goal is 30 to 50 miles a week,” he says. That’s not bad for someone 81 years young, but then, he used to average 100 miles a week – but that was when he was only in his seventies!

Sanderson seems to be one in a million, but he has some “biking buddies” who also go along for the ride. The youngest of the group is Ed Jewell, also of Rincon – he’s only 70. “He’s married to his bicycle,” says Sanderson, “He rides 10,000 miles a year!” Harry Hutson lives in Sun City – he’s 82, and Pat Mango lives on The Landings – he’s 91! His goal is to win the National Senior Finals in his age division, even if he has to outlive his competitors to do it! Now there’s another story!