Michigan—Nearly 60 people attended the Feb. 15 Buchanan Area Chamber of Commerce Perc Club Breakfast, which was hosted for the first time by the Buchanan Seventh-day Adventist Church. Monroe Lemay, Chamber executive director and a Buchanan Church member explains: "The Buchanan Area Chamber of Commerce provides leadership in promoting the spirit of the community through increased communication and cooperation among businesses, organizations and individuals in order to enhance the growth, prosperity and quality of life in the Buchanan area. As a result, we provide Monthly Perc Club Breakfast Meetings, which are breakfast gatherings sponsored by a local business or organization for the purpose of introducing their business, either through a presentation or walk-through tour to other members."

At the Feb. 15 event, a vegetarian breakfast buffet, which included scrambled eggs, French toast, roasted potatoes and Morningstar Farms links and patties, was offered to the guests along with other vegetarian breakfast food for sampling. Recipes for the samples were available for the guests to take, and not one was left over.

Since the theme of the breakfast was "Putting Faith into Action," four presentations were given covering the church, its role in the community, and how lessons of faith and service can be used in business and at home.

The first presentation was given by Karl Tsatalbasidis, pastor, which included the Seventh-day Adventist Church's beginning, statistics about its institutions and information about its world-wide outreach programs. Ed Jackson, a church member and retired Wal-Mart district manager, gave the next portion of the program. Jackson talked about leadership and motivational topics, and how they relate to church, business and home. Also, church member Esther Jones gave a presentation on how the Buchanan Church reaches out to the community and beyond. Tsatalbasidis closed the presentations by emphasizing how important health and lifestyle is to our Church.

Display tables were set up to show the work of Adventist Community Services and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the Adventist Health System, Operation Christmas Child and CROP Walk. Each guest received a packet of information brochures about the Seventh-day Adventist Church to take home after the breakfast.

"This has been one of our largest attended Perc Club Breakfasts, 60 in total," stated Lemay. "By far, one of our most interesting programs, and I would have to say [the] most versatile in nature. Many of our corporate Chamber members have commented on how little they knew about the Seventh-day Adventists, and how pleasantly surprised they were to see how much involvement and dedication the Faith has abroad as well in our own community. ... 'I truly regret not making it to the last Perc Breakfast' is a common statement among those who didn't attend."

The Perc Club breakfast was the first of many ways that the Buchanan Church plans to introduce itself to the community of Buchanan. In August church members will take the Michigan Conference health van to the Old Mill Festival held in town, to continue the health topic from the breakfast presentation.

Judi Doty, Buchanan Church member and Lake Union Herald back pages editor