By STEVE EIGHINGER

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

URSA, Ill. -- Ursa Christian Church is in the stretch run of its yearlong 175th-anniversary celebration.

Three of the final highlights will come Sunday when the Rev. Dennis Voth preaches and the contents of a time capsule are put on display. In addition, an old-fashioned church membership picture will be taken.

"Dennis was ordained in our church, and he is coming back to preach," said the Rev. Linda Hunsaker, who is in her eighth year as pastor at UCC.

Voth is currently pastor of a church in Bartlesville, Okla., and a graduate of Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla.

"This was a second career for Dennis," Hunsaker said. "He used to be a farmer but always had a calling for the ministry."

The contents of the time capsule will be on display at the church. The capsule was opened recently, said Hunsaker, who is not sure exactly how old some of the contents are.

"But it looks like a lot of the things are from the 1950s," she said.

The church picture figures to draw a big turnout.

"It will be like the old-fashioned pictures ... when everyone would line up in front of the church in one big group," Hunsaker said. "It should be a lot of fun."

The 175th-anniversary celebration will conclude Sunday, Oct. 5, with a church homecoming.

"Part of the activities that day will be an old-fashioned turkey dinner, the same kind the church used to do a long time ago every year around Thanksgiving," Hunsaker said. "It was tradition for many years."

The Rev. Stephen Fisher, who lives in Indiana and is a former UCC pastor, will be back to deliver the sermon that day. There will also be a community open house from 2 to 4 p.m.

The church was founded in 1833 as Bear Creek Christian Church and is one of eight original churches in Adams County.

More information is available on the church Web site, www.ursacc.

-- seighinger@whig.com 221-3377