The Virden and Girard United Methodist Churches with Pastor Mark Doane

By Cindy Ladage

The United Methodist Church in Virden Illinois is located at 203 S. Church St. Pastor Mark Doane has been at the church for eight years, since June of 2017. “I grew up in southern, Illinois, my dad was a United Methodist Church Pastor,” Pastor Doane said, continuing his story. “I was born in Fairfield, Illinois, then the family moved to Georgia where dad finished Seminary.  Then we came back to Valier, Illinois, then Shawneetown, then we moved to Carmi.”

In the United Methodist ministry, Pastor Doane said that they moved a lot, and he got to know many southern Illinois towns, but Carmi became home. “Dad went on, but I stayed and graduated then I went into the ministry.”

It was 1994 when Pastor Mark Doane began following in his father’s footsteps, Pastor Doane also lived in a lot of towns before receiving the call to come to Macoupin County, and pastor the Virden, and Girard United Methodist Churches.  The Methodist Church in Girard is located at 401 W. Center Street.  “We have services here, in Virden, at 9:00 a.m., and at 10:30 a.m. in Girard.”

The first place that Pastor Doane served was Mill Shoals and Springerton, Illinois. “From there, I went to Flora for a short time, then Martinsville, then to Bluffs by Jacksonville.”

Next came Centralia, Illinois then on to Virden.  While here in Macoupin County, Pastor Doane has the two churches, which he called a “charge”. They have been united together since 2001. The largest “charge” he served was in Centralia where he served five churches. While the Girard United Methodist Church is a little larger than the Virden one, the parsonage where the Doanes live, and the church office is located is at the Virden church.

Both are lovely churches with a few distinctive architectural and artistic touches that make them special. “We have a mural in our fellowship hall,” he said about the Virden church, that was donated and in honor of Nancy Talkington.  “The mural depicts family members, kids gathered around Jesus, with a girl (Nancy Talkington) on Jesus’ lap.”

The sanctuary also has a few lovely stained-glass windows that were in the old original church. “We are proud of our sanctuary, the walls are light brick, and we decorate at both Easter and Christmas especially,” he added.  During services he said candles are lit, and his vestments coincide with the church season.

Pastor Doane’s wife Karen has an extensive collection of nativity scenes that sometimes are displayed during the Christmas season. “My wife has over 300, and her mother has at least that many.”

Besides Pastor Doane, Gena Barham also serves as the secretary for both Macoupin County church locations. “She is here (at the Virden office) from nine to noon Monday through Thursdays. She creates power point bulletins, and newsletters,” he said sharing a few of her duties.

Both the Virden and Girard churches work well together. “They are good at reaching out to the communities,” Pastor Doane said mentioning some of the outreach they provide.

“We do an annual bazaar; it is a fundraiser we have here in Virden in September. It is called the Unique Sale. It is held here at church, and in Girard, it is in July,” Pastor Doane explained. “We work with missions; we have what is called a connectional church. The United Methodist Church supports children’s homes, hospitals, Methodist colleges, hospitals, and some money from each church is apportioned here through our conference, the Illinois Great River’s Conference.”

Besides assisting those missions aligned with the United Methodist Church, Pastor Doane added, “Locally, we do a lot with Contact Ministry, and when someone comes to the church for help, we help when we can. In Springfield (just outside of Glenarm) is the Midwest Distribution Center. The Girard church had volunteers that worked there.”

“From within,” Pastor Doane said, “we do funeral meals and help with Meals on Wheels. I also do a daily devotion on Facebook, and our 10:30 service is on Facebook, and later YouTube.”

Both churches, the Virden First United Methodist Church, and Girard United Methodist Church have Facebook pages. In the summer, churches in Virden combine their resources to offer Vacation Bible School. “In conjunction with other churches, the Baptist, Brethren, and Presbyterian, and 1st Christian, we offer Bible school. Normally, we divide kids by age groups,” he said and that will decide what church the child attends.

Along with these churches mentioned above, Pastor Doane said that the Prairie Temple church has a puppet ministry, and they do puppet entertainment for the kids. This working together is part of Pastor Doanes fabric. “I’ve always been about no walls,” he shared loving how the churches work together. “Virden is good about tearing down walls.”

Both the Virden and Girard Methodist Churches have women’s and a men’s group that work with missionary projects.  Helping in the community, they also work at the Food Pantry, and with Panther Parks, a food program for the school. “It provides food for kids that don’t always get fed.”

Taking care of people, they also help by offering meals, prayer and more when a member is in the hospital or in need. “We take care of each other as best we can.”

Pastor Doane is a family man.  His wife Karen works at Savmor, and they have two grown children. “My daughter Bethany is a teacher, she subs in Centralia, and my son Jacob works in Mt. Vernon, IL for Continental Tire.”

A musician, in his office several guitars are about, showing his musical interest. “I play in three bands,” Pastor Doane shared. “One is a clergy band, The River of Life Clergy Band we play here and many other places throughout our conference. I’m also in Rev-d Up, which mostly goes to NASCAR races. This year there is one in Iowa in August, and one is at the Worldwide Technologies near Granite City. We play classic rock and roll. We use music as a draw.”  Rev-d Up pulls people in with the music, then the ministry he said happens one on one. “We have a campsite and feed people both physically and spiritually.”

Then he added, “We also play at different fairs and festivals. This year we will be at Keyesport, and it will be combined, I will be playing with both Rev-d Up, and the Clergy Band.”

The 3rd band that he is part of is Bitter Creek V where he added, “I play mostly in Carmi where I spent most of my life. We get together and play old Classic Rock and Roll.

Pastor Doane welcomes everyone to come to either the Virden, or Girard churches. “We are a welcoming church, and we accept whoever comes through the door. We offer a blended service with both traditional and contemporary music. We have a keyboard and drums, I play the guitar, and they really like to sing. We utilize all call, a prayer chain, to send out prayer requests.”

To contact the church, or Pastor Doane, call 217-965-3674.  This number is for both the Virden and Girard churches. Pastor can also be contacted by email, ritla@yahoo.com, which means, “Rejoice in the Lord Always”, an appropriate choice of words for a church and community that is interested in Praising the Lord.