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Contributing Writers: David Mathis | Tim Perkins
Past Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard
Faith
July 29, 2016 - Blount Chapel Baptist Church of Center will be hosting Revival Services on August 3rd to August 5th at 7:30pm nightly. Everyone is invited!
Guest speakers are:
- Wednesday - Pastor Bruce Yarborough
- Thursday - Pastor Marion Osby, Smith Chapel Church, Timpson, Texas
- Friday - Pastor Bryan Owens, Sr., Pleasant Grove BC, Center, Texas
Homecoming service will be Sunday, August 7th at 12noon. Welcome home message by Pastor Byron Coutee, Jr.
July 29, 2016 - Beginning August 7th McMahan Chapel will hold its afternoon Worship Service at 1:30pm. For as long as anyone can remember, we have met for Worship Services at 2pm. For the past couple of years we have offered a lunch in the Event Center on 1st and 3rd Sundays at 12:30. And now it just makes sense to move the service up in hopes that those that fellowship with us at lunch will stay to Worship.
On July 3rd we welcomed Rev. Martin Doran as our new pastor. Most everyone knows Rev. Doran because he has been the pastor at the 1st United Methodist Church in San Augustine for the past 2 years. If you have not heard him preach, we invite you to worship with us. Join us for fellowship and lunch at 12:30. Again, 1st and 3rd Sundays.
McMahan Chapel is approximately 10 miles East of San Augustine on Highway 21, turn south onto Spur 35 and travel 2 miles. From Milam, stay on Highway 21 traveling west for 10 miles, again turning south onto Spur 35.
First United Methodist Church Welcomes Dr. Wesley Welborn
Sesquicentennial Celebration: 150 Years to Celebrate, 150 Ways to Serve
Center, Texas – July 27, 2016 – Commemorating their year-long sesquicentennial anniversary milestone “150 Years to Celebrate, 150 Ways to Serve,” the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) of Center welcomes Dr. Wesley Welborn on Sunday, July 31 at a combined worship service beginning at 10:15 a.m. Sunday School begins at 9:15 a.m. and a covered dish luncheon will be held immediately following the worship service.
Dr. Wesley Welborn is a Texan, born in Corpus Christi and graduated from Victoria High School. After graduation, he attended McMahon School of Stenotype in Houston. From there, Wesley was appointed Official Court Reporter of the 145th Judicial District Court in Nacogdoches. There he met Becky Lock at the Stephen F. Austin State University Wesley Foundation.
They married in Elkhart in 1970. In 1971, Wesley had a powerful experience of God’s grace and love in Christ Jesus. He prayerfully asked for and received the call to dedicate his life to preaching and teaching about that love and grace. Wesley was appointed pastor of the Smith Chapel Circuit in Mineola on February 1, 1972 and served ten appointments, including FUMC Center, Texas from 1994 to 2000.
In addition to Wesley’s pastoral responsibilities at FUMC Center, he found ways to actively minister to the community through his involvement as a member of the Center Noon Lions Club, the Ministerial Alliance, the Mallory Franks Foundation, and his weekly radio devotionals. After over 44 years of service, he retired at annual conference this year, but will continue to serve the Conference as an Intentional Interim Minister. Wesley and Becky are currently living in Elkhart and have two children and four grandchildren.
Additional information regarding FUMC’s 150th anniversary celebration plans for October 2016 will be announced as details become available or by contacting Rev. Karen Jones at FUMC (936) 598-2707.
July 27, 2016 - Wesley Welborn will preach at the 10:15 am combined service on Sunday, July 31st. Dr. Welborn was pastor of the church from 1993-1999. In addition to Dr. Welborn’s pastoral responsibilities he was also very active in the community and found ways to minister to the community through his involvement as a member of the Center Noon Lions Club, The Ministerial Alliance, The Mallory Franks Foundation, and his weekly radio devotionals.
He along with other former FUMC Pastors will be guest preachers as part of our 150th Anniversary.
Following the service, a covered dish luncheon will be held in the fellowship hall including a celebration of our 100th Anniversary.
Please join us for church to welcome back our beloved former pastor Dr. Wesley Welborn.
July 26, 2016 - The Youth Event is coming Saturday, July 30th, 2016 at 10am at the Lily of the Valley COGIC featuring The Lily of the Valley Sunshine Band & Purity Class, Mount Zion CME Puppet Ministry, Youth Choirs, Solos, Inspirational Speakers, and much more. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proberbs 22:6
Registration - Bring can goods or non perishable items. *All can goods will be donated to Shelby County Outreach*
Bible Drill - Make sure to bring your Bibles
Interested in participating - contact Sister Jennifer Ingram, Sister Debbie Tanner, Sister Brianna Suell by July 23.
Lily of the Valley COGIC is located at 620 Greer Street Center, TX 75935. Elder Cleon D. Williams is the Pastor.
For more information contact: Jennifer Ingram (936)598-5004, Debbie Tanner (936)462-9604, Brianna Suell (936)572-0036
July 25, 2016 - Sunday was the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel Lesson for this Sunday was Luke 11: 1-13. After Jesus had gone to a quiet place to pray, his disciples wanted Jesus to teach them to pray. The prayer Jesus teaches them is what we call the Lord’s Prayer. It is a very simple prayer that has become part of most Christian churches’ worship services. The request for the Lord to teach them to pray may seem an odd one. All of them had been taught as children how to pray the Shema, which was to be prayed three times a day. They certainly were taught the various prayers for the many high holy days of the Jewish faith. It was how Jesus prayed that intrigued the disciples, and they wanted to be able to have that connection to the Divine that Jesus obviously had. My sermon next week will be on the same Gospel Lesson and will look at the various petitions in the prayer and how the Luke Gospel’s Lord’s Prayer differs from the Matthew Gospel version.
Our Sunday school lesson continued Paul’s letter to the Romans. This letter was certainly thought to be crucial to Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and later John Wesley. In the first verse of Chapter 5, Paul says it is by Jesus’ trust in God that we are made one with God. Through Jesus’ faith, we have peace with God. Our lesson focused in on the word “hope” and how important hope is in one’s faith story. Troubles are real—sometimes too real and overwhelming. But the answer to trouble is hope. Joe selected hymns from the Cokesbury Hymnal. The first one I didn’t really know but it was a wonderful, musical song; we sang all five verses sounded pretty good! We always appreciate Hilda coming to worship with us at Paxton after having played the piano at Tenaha Methodist’s worship service—I guess we owe her overtime!
Last week several volunteers went to Holiday Nursing Center for songs, stories, and fellowship. It really seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. Sue read a Dr. Seuss story and Nora sang a patriotic song, a song about peace, and then her own version of “Take Me Home, Country Road.” Pastor Matt shared with the group about his plans for the coming week which includes a family get- together in Austin. One could tell that he was really looking forward to this special family time and also a break from all his studies. This coming Thursday we will head to Lakeside Assisted Living Center for our monthly ministry. Our program will begin at 2:00. We certainly missed Sylvia at Holiday and hope she is feeling better soon.
“Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here.” Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, Open Minds.” Sunday School starts at 9:30 and Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist you can send me your email address to the Paxton email address and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed!
July 25, 2016 - Gates Chapel Baptist Church of Shelbyville will host Homecoming services Sunday, August 7th at 3 pm. Rev Curtis Archie of the East Liberty Baptist Church will bring the message.
Also, Revival services Monday thru Friday August 8 - 12 at 7:30 nightly. Rev. Timothy Teel of the Bell Chapel Baptist Church of San Augustine, TX will be the evangelist. Everyone is invited to attend says Pastor Frankie Cooper.
July 25, 2016 - "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:2
A young preacher going to his first pastorate met with the Deacon Chairman to discuss his Pastoral duties. "You can't preach on tithing," the deacon began…"cause we don't believe in it."…"and you can't preach on lying or stealing because there's s lot of thieves and liars in the church". "And don't preach on gossip or drinking…well you get the point." The bewildered young preacher gasped, "Then what can I preach on?" "Preach on the Jews!" he answered. "There aint one within a hundred miles of here!"
That story is funny… and sad. When a deacon once told me not to preach on abortion, I asked him why. "Because someone in the congregation might have had one ", he bellowed. I told him that I always preached God's forgiveness for any and all sins and that it's no harder for God to forgive a person for an abortion than to forgive them for stealing s pencil. Aborting a baby can be forgiven like any other sin.
The answer to the young preacher's question is an easy one. Preach the Word…all of it… always with love…even when it makes some folks unhappy. A new convert will be so happy to have his sins forgiven that he'll thank the preacher for preaching the truth.
As Billy Sunday used to say, "If you skin your congregation…but do it with love…. they'll go to the tannery with you to get the hide."
July 25, 2016 - So many people are asking or lamenting; "what can I do to save America, I am only one person". It is true, we are all "only one person" but together we are a "bunch of persons".
I don't know what all people can do but I do know what all Christians can do, the Bible tells us not only what we can do , must what we must do if America is to be saved from God's wrath and destruction.
Every Christian knows of the Bible verse; (2 Chronicles 7:14) I suspect most can quote it from memory, but I wonder how many really understand what it says and why it says this: "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
God sent this message to King Solomon in a dream one night after Solomon had been praying for God to accept the temple that Solomon had built for Him in Jerusalem.
As the old radio show went; now, let us hear the "rest of the story".
God indeed told Solomon that He would not only accept and use the temple that Solomon had built, but even if the Israelite people disobeyed God to the point that He caused all sorts of plaques, droughts and famines to befall them, He would give them a way out of His wrath and back into His grace.
That route back to grace is the scripture (2 Chronicles 7:14).
For a better understanding of just what God demands as repentance for our disobedience let's take another look at the scripture.
Let us say it in this way; "if My people who are called by My name (Christians, those known as followers of Christ) will humble themselves (submit to God's will and not our own) and pray and seek My face, and turn From their wicked ways, THEN will I hear them from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land."
You see it's not up to Congress or any politician, no, it's totally up to the Christians of America to save her.
God hears all prayers but He heeds only the prayers of His children, those called by His name, we must do as He has commanded in His scripture if America is to be saved and returned to His grace and mercy.
So what did we just learn?
That no matter how vile and disobedient we may become, there is still hope, still forgiveness for our sins. God assured Solomon of this when He gave His acceptance of the temple and that assurance still stands today.
It is totally up to us to receive relief from the pains of sin that we are now suffering as a nation. Christians must pray, pray without ceasing as Paul directs us, pray for forgiveness and for strength to repent and refrain from our wicked ways, no other road will lead to forgiveness and healing for our country.
So there it is Christians, the ball is in our court, will you choose to play or will you choose to forfeit, God and Satan both listen for your answers. I pray for each of us American Christians to pray daily for forgiveness for ourselves and for our country, in time, if we do so, God will forgive and heal...
May God bless you and keep you each day.
July 22, 2016 - Dreka United Pentecostal Church will be hosting a Children's Revival and would like to invite the community to come. Kid's Evangelist Dan and Sarah Summers will be speaking. Revival will be hosted July 29th through July 31st. July 29th will start at 7PM and will include Kid's Service, games and songs, and puppets. July 30th will be from 6 to 8 PM and will include bounce house, food and games and prizes. July 31st will start at 10AM and will include Kid's Service, games and songs, and puppets. Dreka Pentecostal Church is located at 1193 FM 2427.
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