New Hope United Methodist Church Names New Pastor

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The congregation of New Hope United Methodist Church, serving North Adams and Williamstown, this month officially welcomed its new pastor, Stephen Dale, appointed by Bishop Devadhar to lead the congregation.  

Dale joins the Northern Berkshire community after serving two years in Bennington, Vt. He started the Bennington AfterDark community in late 2018, and was invited to serve the Pownal UMC as pastor in July 2019.

Dale has been serving churches in New England for the past 11 years, beginning as a licensed local pastor and completing his master of divinity at Boston University in 2015. Dale was commissioned into provisional membership after a year in Northern Maine, and finally ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church at annual conference last year. 

Previous to Dale's transition, he spent 20 years working in information technology. 

"Tech is a big part of how I enter the world, and a big part of how I participate in the shared ministry of a United Methodist Church and its pastor," he said.

Dale said he is looking forward to this opportunity to join the church, particularly in bolstering the ongoing development of 192 State St., a North Adams property purchased by the church in 2015.

"God has begun something wonderful here at New Hope, and God is going to continue to move us forward into undreamt of avenues of service in love," he said.

Dale delivered his first worship service with New Hope on Sunday, July 12, at 10 a.m. on New Hope’s Facebook page and Youtube channel. His next virtual worship service is Sunday, July 19, at 10 a.m.

Previous to Dale, New Hope was served by Pastor Dan Randall and Pastor Courtney Randall, who were appointed by Bishop Devadhar to Global Ministries as Missionaries in the Methodist Liaison Office in Jerusalem. The congregation said goodbye to Dan and Courtney at a drive-by worship on June 21. They had served the church since 2013. 

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Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
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