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Tag: Brian Marl

→ Headlines in 2026 July 24 issue

¶ Osprey tiltrotor aircraft: “It’s what they’re engineered to do ¶ Advice for future data center projects down the road ¶ First Tuesday in August, vote up or down on the “Wayne County Public Transportation Millage” ¶ International impact of Canadian wildfires and numbers here in the Tri-Community ¶ Sumpter Township to vote on “Police Protection Millage Renewal” proposal August 4th

One church that bridges from Van Buren Township to the Philippines

The third edition of Water Under the Bridge: A History of Van Buren Township dates the building at 960 East Huron River Drive to 1962. It was a new construction begun the year prior by the congregation of Emmanuel Baptist Church, a 1958 mission of North Prospect Baptist.

In 2014, an unrelated Baptist startup based in Canton had raised enough money to acquire its own building. As founding pastor Aaron Tanap recalled to the Tri-Community, “We were praying for guidance, and thought we should be looking around there.

“But God had different plans for us.”

At a State Convention meeting, Reverend Tanap and a few members of his leadership team were seated with Reverend Doug Sarver, then-current lead pastor of Emmanuel. His congregation was older, but steadfast in their attendance and stewardship. This weighed heavily upon Pastor Sarver, who felt himself past the point at which it appropriate for him to retire, but unable to see a path for that.

Hence, when the two clergy and those at their sides met around that table a dozen years ago now, both saw the clear answer to what was revealed to them as a mutual prayer.

Pastor Aaron and his congregation would purchase the most generously-priced building and bring its “Bethlehem Baptist Church” congregation here to worship on Sunday mornings and hold prayer gatherings on select weeknights between. The remaining members of Emmanuel would become a part of his flock.

“I did not know if they would be our stepchildren,” he mused. “Maybe we were their stepbrothers and stepsisters. But I know certainly that it was not very long before no one could ever tell the difference. It was as if we had always been one church family in The Body of Christ.”

In most other circumstances this might be taken as gracious sentiment. Cynics could insist it cliché.

But substantive critique requires more than either. Aaron Tanap is himself a native of the Philippines, came to the America as an adult, and subsequently naturalized as a citizen of the United States. Moreover, the majority of his congregation was (and is) Filipino. And they are not alone here.

For the past four decades, area Philippine International Churches in this part of the Michigan area, along with some in Windsor, have gathered for an annual family camp at the Bambi Lake Retreat in Roscommon, a facility wholly owned and operated by the Southern Baptist Convention.

“It began very informally,” Bethlehem Baptist Deacon Ronald Sarmiento told the Tri-Community. “It was like a simple picnic, with very few people in attendance. The idea came from Pastor Juanito Lesada, who started the original church in Taylor. The next church from that was planted in Windsor, and then we (Bethlehem) came as the grandchild, to Canton in the beginning, and then to Belleville after that.

Like many of his peers in this local congregation, Mr. Sarmiento remains committed to helping those who have remained in the Philippines — to grow in their personal walks with Christ and to make outreach to others.

When he, himself, was in-country just last month, he was given the opportunity to deliver a sermon before one of the local congregations, in Tagalog, a national language of the country and, along side English, an official language.

“We continue to support them as well,” he added. “We help bi-vocational pastors with monthly stipends, where as little as one hundred dollars can help establish churches where congregations are too poor to provide financing. Free Saturday night classes are offered; they cover compressed topics like homiletics and Bible history to train layman pastors who cannot afford a formal theology degree.”

Back here at home, of course, all Sermons and studies are exclusively in English — “because that is the way in America.”

As it continues to grow, so, too, does its new culture of a blended church. “We still always have a full lunch after services,” Reverend Tanap assures. But the food choices continue to expand.”

→ Headlines in 2026 July 17 issue

¶ Willow Run offers two views of V.T.O.L. technology this month ¶ An experience with asking more from data center execs ¶ Water over roadways: Some questions had straightforward answers; others, not so much ¶ Seeds of “our community garden” have been planted for the season at hand ¶ Blue Angels F/AC Hornet display

QR Codes can extend newspaper reach into mobility and dynamic content links

Ink-on-newsprint remains unmatched for deep comprehension, providing a tactile permanence that screens cannot replicate. However, a physical page is inherently static. To thrive today, modern print publications have turned to Quick Response (QR) codes, utilizing what is effectively a “physical hyperlink” to extend the reach, utility, and accountability of the printed newspaper.

Consumers now scan these codes with smartphone cameras to seamlessly call-up web content. Introduced in 1994 by Denso Wave to track automotive parts, original QR Codes were engineered to hold 200 times more data than standard bar-codes. While free to use, initial software barriers slowed consumer adoption. By 2011, 14 million Americans scanned codes, but still viewed them as novelties.

The turning point arrived in 2017 when Apple and Android integrated QR reading directly into native camera tech. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic served as a massive catalyst; the necessity for touchless menus and ticketing transformed QR Codes into need-to-have, everyday tools, driving active U.S. use to 89 million by 2022.

Newspaper implementation will requires navigating web-offset printing realities. Newsprint is highly porous, causing ink to spread — a phenomenon known as dot gain, typically expanding printed mid-tones by 26 to 30 percent. To prevent consequent smartphone camera reading errors, publishers must enforce certain production standards.

First, use of a URL shortener minimizes encoded character data; fewer characters mean a simpler, less dense grid patterns with larger pixels less prone to running together. Second, maintain a minimum physical size of at least one inch square, surrounded by a clean, white “quiet zone.”

Publishers must also secure the digital integrity of these links. Relying on anonymous, free online shorteners and generators introduces vulnerabilities; nearly two percent of scanned QR Codes globally redirect to malicious or corrupted destinations, or hit surprise expirations. Newspapers can minimize these liabilities by contracting with enterprise sources. Paid platforms eliminate traps and allow custom domain configurations to explicitly brand destination URLs.

This branded styling functions as a vital “quality seal of assurance,” with research finding that up to 29 percent of consumers hesitate to scan a print code unless it features some sort of recognizable publication branding.

For community newspapers, these standards unlock powerful commercial opportunities. Roughly 40 percent of a publication’s value proposition now relies on delivering content poorly suited to static ink. Consider time-sensitive events: A newspaper could profile the upcoming Thunder Over Michigan air show, but printing a rigid flight schedule is impractical due to real-time weather adjustments. An embedded QR Code solves this, in real time.

Similarly, a QR Code replacement of a locked-down church directory ensures take-it-with-you mobile access to choices well-after the prompting physical paper has been left behind on the home coffee table or at Sam’s Place after breakfast.

Finally, this integration redefines print advertising economics.

What ink-on-paper gains in message retention is often compromised by the inability to click upon prompting. QR tech levels the media playing field, creating better advertiser accountability by backing up traditional R.O.I. anticipations with hard digital metrics that tie back to the physical eyes on creative.

→ Headlines in 2026 July 10 issue

¶ Happy Semiquincentennial! America 250 [special edition]

¶ Remember the Bicentennial when “1976” was all new ¶ Our (second-largest in Michigan) data center will be less than thirty minutes from the largest, 25 miles west of here ¶ Fifty years ago, this community had a widely-respected newspaper called the Belleville Enterprise ¶ Whole-house generator maintenance ¶

Issue of Importance—

“Semiquincentennial,” “Bicentennial Quarter,” and “Sestercentennial” are words, we’re told, that say “America250,” or “the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States.” They tie to our Declaration of Independence, signed July 4th, 1776.

Appropriately, then, this issue of the Tri-Community covered that here, feet- on-the-ground, from a variety of perspectives. Taken as apiece, they encapsulate what this time was like for those who call this place home.

Importantly, mechanically, that includes consideration of a first-world issue of timely attention to whole-house generator servicing.

“Freedom” was ostensibly raison d’état for holiday celebrations this past weekend; certainly some form of brand and packaging. But at least insofar as this neck of the woods is concerned, it relies upon civility — or “common courtesy,” if you will — as part and parcel of that. An indispensable element of same, were anyone interested in solving an equation for key variables.

Locals on the city-side of Belleville Lake who watched fireworks Saturday evening can attest to that. There was every reason to complain twenty-six-plus hours sans electricity. A symphony of generators cycling in and out of phase with one another served as reminder lest anyone forget.

Yet one obviously intelligent and quite creative young shutterbug noted that a lack of juice to power lights meant less “light pollution,” and thus a more enjoyable fireworks experience for photographers. Others around her, too. Like magic: She had made that the conversation.

It would seem that the same could be said of this Special Issue. Consider as part of that the interaction between government and newspaper in the days when the Enterprise was our written voice. Or the way in which Mayor Marl took the fait accompli that his neighbor had invited AI into its township.