Bethany Baptist Church

Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” Righteousness means virtue, doing good things, liberty and justice; a people, or a nation, practice righteousness when they are exalted before God and reap the blessings from God. Sin is a reproach and brings judgment from God. God help us in America to return to righteousness and exalt Almighty God. God bless America!

Sunday night Bro. Steve read the story of the father of the deaf and dumb child who offered a cry for help from Jesus and was blessed with healing for his son. The father expressed faith in Jesus that He was able to help his family in their time of need. We should exercise our faith in the Lord and pray, knowing that He is the answer for our needs.

Prayer List: Betty Biggs, James Bixler, Arnold DeLoach, Doris Glenn, Ernestine Hatch and Billie Neeley.

See you Sunday!

Bethsalem Church

Happy birthday this week to: Dawn Ellison, Kaitlan Potts, Stevie Boddie, Allie Fulmer, Danny McGee, Shirley Smith, Georgia Gay, Gary Elbon III, Gorgulia Carter, Robbin Crawford, Kevin Owens and Mark LeBlanc.

Happy anniversary this week to: Ralph and Marie Smith; Jay and Theresa Price; Crest and Amanda Arnold; Crest and Toni Ousley; and Mr. and Mrs. Tony Bird.

Pray for: Our pastor search committee, Sid Griner, Liliana Thompson, Hunter Moore, Charles Bryant, Debra Mims, Marshall and Hazel Green, Joe Wingard, Bill and Sandra Eubank, The Crawford Family, Roy Williams, Ruby Driver, Lula Spigner, Tyler Harmon, Ricky Easterling, Betty Bradford, Joe Wingard, Sylvia Wingard, Lanice Mobley, all who are facing cancer, all our homebound and all families who lost loved ones this week.

No Wednesday night service; next Sunday night Mission Fuge will share in service.

Calvary Baptist Church

Vacation Bible School last week at Calvary Independent Baptist was nothing less than awesome. The LORD was truly with us and the children were a blessing to be in the presence of. One young man that attended received Jesus Christ as his personal savior Sunday morning.

We are truly blessed to have Sunday School teachers who are dedicated to teaching the word of God. There may be a lot of things wrong in this great country in which we live, but the word of God is right. Our pastor brought a message Sunday morning on “Whose Mantel Do You Have On?”

He preached about the outward testimony that Christians should have today. Sunday night’s message was on how to kill a church. Which is simply by getting rid of God’s man and calling a preacher to preach what they want to hear rather than what the scriptures say and thus what the Lord says.

Hope you attended church services this Sunday. If not and you would like to come visit us Sunday, we would love to have you in our services.

Christ Independent Methodist

On this sweltering Sunday, it was still a great opportunity to go to the House of the Lord and we give thanks for his goodness.

With our nation’s birthday just a few days away, it was also an opportunity to hear our minister, Dr. Mac Stinson, bring us a passionate sermon on the many blessings we enjoy as citizens of this free land.

His sermon was titled “Independence Day: Something to be Passionate About.” His scripture came from Galatians 6:14.

It was good to welcome our church family members back from Beulah Camp Meeting. We are thankful for their safe return and pray for traveling grace for those who will be on the highways or in the air in the days ahead.

Our prayer list: Carl Glass, Mable Mitchell, Sue Martin, The Simms Family, Mikala Nall traveling to the Ukraine, our military and their families, our country, leaders, community church, each other, little Israel and Christians worldwide.

Our Wednesday night services will resume July 22.

Have a blessed week.

Friendship Baptist

We had a patriotic service during the morning service. Dianne Varden sang “America,” and Bill Davis, Ty Moore, Mary Martin and Doris Wyatt all had solo parts in “The Star Spangled Banner.”

We had the pledge of allegiance to the American Flag, Bro. Ken Daniel then had our patriotic prayer and we had the pledge of allegiance to the Christian flag. Bro. Dusty Dutton sang “Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb,” and we then had the pledge to the Bible.

Bro. Ken’s message was from 1 Timothy 2:1-7, titled “Freedom in Christ.”

During our evening service, we celebrated the birthday of our country with fellowship with family and friends. There was a favorite ice cream contest. Congrats to Dusty Dutton for his first place peach-strawberry ice cream. We also had a corn hole tournament and watermelon-eating contest. Jacob Ellison was the winner.

Weekly Opportunities:

Tuesday and Thursday: Men and Boys Basketball

Upcoming events:

July 7 – Children’s fundraiser at Winn Dixie 10-5 p.m.; 7 p.m. Squire Parsons in concert.

July 13-15 – Vacation Bible School

July 22 – Skating after evening service

July 23-27 – Chilton Baptist Association Kids’ Camp

July 29 – Church shrimp boil

Jackson Chapel

Bro. Gary Fant got the morning worship service started off with “America” and “He Set Me Free.” Bro. Dennis blessed us with a beautiful song entitled “If I Could Telephone Heaven.” Bro. Dennis’ text came from Romans 6:14-23. We as Christians don’t have to give in to sin because the Bible tells us that sin has no dominion over us. If we are the Christians that we should be we will not sin everyday but everyone makes mistakes and we have ask forgiveness for those mistakes. We should be able to lay down every night and know that we are Christians that are on our way to our heavenly home. We should also be very thankful that we as Christians that live in a land where we are free and we are able to worship God. The service ended with several coming to pray.

Happy Birthday to Gail Fant.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Kathy Waites, James & Marie Johnson, Shirley Burnett, James Earl Johnson, Ryan Scott, Juanita Wyatt, our lost loved ones Fourth of July cookout Sunday evening. We always use this as our evening service.

The Lighthouse Church

What started out as a regular praise and worship with some patriotic aspects worked in turned out to be a glorious day in God’s house. The service was a full-fledged Sunday with Communion, special prayer for healing, especially for those with affliction in their bodies, but also for the healing of our country.

Bo presented a video about the founding fathers of America.

It was good to see those back who have been out because of illness and want to express our sympathy to Beth and family in the passing of her father. A big welcome and thank you go out to our visitors; we hope you come again.

Upcoming events:

July 8- All leaders meeting after morning services.

July 11- Ladies lunch at the Hickory Chip, 11:30 a.m.

July 14- Men’s potluck supper, 6 p.m.

Sept. 14-15- Ladies’ Laugh out Loud conference

Quote for the day: “I’m too blessed to be stressed.”

Mars Hill Baptist

Freedom. What does it mean to you? We celebrate our freedom this week on the Fourth of July. We may shoot fireworks, eat barbeque, visit with family and friends and salute the stars and stripes on our flag. But what will we do with the scars and stripes of Jesus? He is the one who gives true freedom: freedom from sin, freedom from Satan and freedom from self. Bro. William Short’s message this week came from Romans 5:1-16. In this passage, we learn that we are justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We read that we can also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produce perseverance, character and hope. Yes, we can still have the joy of our salvation even when we are going through troubles and trials!

Our VBS was wonderful last week. Five souls were saved! If that does not light your fire, your firewood is wet, friend. This is what Christians live to see -others brought to salvation thru Christ. We praise God and give Him all the glory for those who came, for all glory belongs to God, not man.

If you hang your American flag this week in honor of our holiday, be sure to stand, salute and pledge! Thank God and pray for our soldiers, both at home and abroad, who are keeping us free from tyranny and oppression. No matter what you think about America today, the USA is still the greatest nation on earth and we need God back on His throne and in our schools and government.

Mt. Springs

Services started Sunday with Bro. Kenneth Moates leading the church in the following hymns: “Come Unto Me,” “I Never Shall Forget the Day,” “Fill My Way With Love” and “I Want to Know More About My Lord.”

Bro. Roger Cleckler gave a devotion from John 8:31-32. We are in bondage today because we have not accepted the truth of the word of God. Jesus will set you free!

After Sunday school, Bro. Kenneth led the church in the hymn “There’s Power In the Blood” and Mrs. Sherri Williams sang “God Leads Us Along.”

We were honored to have Bro. Arthur Davis and his wife, Mrs. Sandra, with us this Sunday. Bro. Arthur preached from Psalms 75:1-10. The devil will convince you that you have failed God when you have not. God is our refuge and strength; be still and know that He is God.

Sunday night’s services began with Bro. Kenneth leading the church in the hymns “The Old Gospel Ship,” “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” “Living By Faith,” and “Anywhere Is Home.” Bro. Roger Cleckler sang “I’m Happy With You Lord” and blessed the church with a wonderful song.

Bro. Kenneth Moates gave a devotion from Romans 8:1-2. We’ve been set free through Christ Jesus. Kellie Bice sang “Nail It to the Cross” and did a wonderful job.

Bro. Arthur preached from Exodus 33:12-23. God needs to be the only God we put in front of our lives. He will come alive in our life when we allow him too.

Samaria Baptist

What a wonderful God we serve and a wonderful country is America. We may not be perfect and we have folks who want to tear us down, but our values were built upon the faith of our forefathers and the power of Mighty God.

Our Pastor Bro. Charles took his text from John 8:31-36, on the wonder and freedom that God provides.

Our nation needs for us to be those kind of unwavering Christians today. Our nation is facing so many trials and tribulations today. We must not ever grow weary in well doing for the cause of Christ.

The wonderful Grace of God takes care of our shortcomings in life. Never allow Satan to take the freedom and joy that we gain from living our lives for Jesus. Jesus is standing, waiting for us to call on Him for all our needs. May God bless you and your family this holiday week. Please visit us at Samaria anytime, for a true country church blessing.

Shiloh Baptist

It was a beautiful morning this Sunday in the Shiloh community. Nelda Hester led the call to worship with “Holy Ground,” followed by “We Gather Together.”

Robert Pairrett read the Sunday school report, then Nelda led us in “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in recognition of the great country we live in and in honor of all our troops.

Next was the offertory hymn, “Trust, Try and Prove Me.”

Brother Ernest Fike led the message reading from Philippians 2:5, reminding us of how we are all like Iron Men of God.

We closed with “I Surrender All.”

Upcoming events for July:

-May everyone have a blessed Fourth of July; hope you enjoy time with all your family and friends.

-We will have softball games July 5 at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. For more information contact Chad Foshee.

-On July 29, we will have “Fifth Sunday Hymn Singing” followed by an ice cream social beginning at 5 p.m. All are invited.

Union Missionary Baptist

We will be hosting Vacation Bible School July 16th-20th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The theme will be “Bible Boot Camp: The Armor of God.”