Church News for July 9

Published Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Lime Springs United Methodist Church

Our Sunday School lesson was on atonement. Bro. Shannon brought the morning sermon from Galatians 5:1 on two forms of freedom. He reminded us of a Russian exchange student who attended school in our county last year. Bro. Shannon asked this young girl what was the greatest difference between Russia and America. The girl said it was the number of choices we have in America. Bro. Shannon reminded us that the ability to make choices is the real definition of freedom. When we come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are given freedom (the ability to make choices) as the children of God. This ability comes as a result of being set free from the bondage of sin. Sadly, many Christians make bad choices as Christians and find themselves turning back to a life of bondage. Our choices must be for the glory of God's kingdom. In doing so, we can truly celebrate our freedom as children of God.

Our evening Bible study focused on the Holy Trinity: God the Son.

Happy birthday wishes go out to Betty Frost.

Congratulations on those who were baptized last Sunday: Allie Belknap, Bruce Belknap, Alan Harris, Billie Ruth Harris, Jacob Harris, Joseph Harris, Kristen Harris and Stephanie Tollett.

Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 9:30 a.m.; Sunday morning worship at 11; evening Bible study at 5:30; and Wednesday night prayer meeting at 6:30.

For more information concerning Lime Springs, please call 755-6356 or 755-4950.

---

Christ Independent Methodist Church

As we go through life, the journey takes us through the valleys and across the mountaintops of life. Sunday we experienced both examples of emotional terrain. We began on the mountaintop with Dr. Mac Stinson officiating at a dedication service for infant Eileen Elisabeth Chambliss, who came to bless the home of parents, Heather and Richie Chambliss, along with brother, Lucas, on April 22.

Sunday was Eileen's first public photo op. She was christened with water from Israel's Jordan River while a host of family and friends gathered around her.

Eileen is the granddaughter of Cindy and Lyndon McCavitt and the great granddaughter of Mary Ann and Horace Carden. Others making up her party were Mike and Amanda McCavitt, Mary McCavitt, and friend, Brandon, and Charlotte Verren.

Then Dr. Stinson led us into the valley by announcing his mandatory absence from CIMC for the months of July and August. But we all know that God never closes a door without opening a window, so Dr. Stinson did likewise by introducing Dr. Ron Mensinger, who will fill our pulpit during Dr. Stinson's absence. Dr. Mensinger has served our church before and is a charismatic evangelist. He has many friends here, and we all look forward to and welcome him back. We so appreciate his willingness to serve us.

During morning worship, Dr. Mensinger took his scripture reading from 1 Samuel 1-16 and preached about how God often uses unlikely people to accomplish his goals.

We request continued prayer for Dr. Mac Stinson and his son, Dr. Mac Stinson III, and for Raybon Ellison, Hollis and Cecil Foshee, and the Carter family of Alabaster, whose son was killed accidentally this past week.

---

Friendship Baptist Church

We had a special recognition service Sunday for our service men and women.

Bro. Hitchcock preached from John 8:32-36. We have freedom from guilt and sin. We are free from power and control of sin. We will be free from the presence of sin.

During the evening service, Bro. Hitchcock preached from Matthew 9:37-38 a message entitled, "His Vision and Opportunity for the Church."

Happy birthday to Barbara Miller and Edie Crocker. Happy anniversary to Bill and Susan Davis.

Prayer requests: Unspoken requests, Ralph Sanders, Donielle Cleckley, Edgar Lambert, Betty Batts, Michael Wells, Doris Littlefield, Jennifer Patterson Ray, Ernie Moates, Amanda Littlefield, Connie Gray, Tori and Lindsey Griffin, Lamar Barrett, Mark Conradi, Dr. Christine Creus family.

Upcoming events:

July 12: A baby shower will be held for Brittany Jones Hicks from 2-3:30 p.m. at Friendship. She is registered at Target, and the nursery theme is John Deere.

July 27-31: Associational kids camp at Shocco Springs Adventure Camp.

---

Mt. Carmel No. 1

Vacation Bible School "Boomerang Express" will be July 12-17 from 6-9 p.m. Come join us as we reach out to children and adults in our community and county by sharing Jesus Christ. On Saturday, July 11, at 10 a.m., please meet at the church to parade and hand out VBS flyers.

Sunday was a great day in the house of the Lord as we turned our thoughts to the Fourth of July and Independence Day. Our guest speaker was Bro. Gary Kendrick of Calera, who brought the message from Psalm 46:1, 10. "God is our refuge and strength."

Sunday night was an interesting service. The storm put our church lights out, but Bro. Kendrick used his Bible-clip light and spoke to us from John 14:1-14. Everybody enjoyed Bro. Kendrick, and he will be back this Sunday.

Upcoming events: Tuesday nights at 7, Bible study and prayer; Saturday night Prime-Timers at 6:30 in the fellowship hall with singing by Pat and Jim Hayes; July 17, youth evangelism conference; July 26, homecoming at 10:30 a.m. with guest singers Four Given Voices (lunch will follow); July 31, church-wide pool party and youth campout at Brierfield Park at 6 p.m.

Nursery workers are: July 5, Donna Childress; July 12, Missy Mandrell; July 19, Pat Hayes; July 26, Mary E. Campbell.

Please remember to pray for those on our prayer list. See you in church Sunday.

---

Bethsalem Baptist Church

Sunday we celebrated the baptism of Jennie Baily Summers and Kathy Warrington. We also recognized our people who had served in the military. We were blessed again when David, April and Allie Stange were saved. Also, Angel Baker and Alivia Wright were saved and Syd and Sarah Griner came by letter joining our church. God is working in our church.

We had a great celebration Sunday night. Thanks to all who sang and did fireworks. We had over 1,000 people.

Remember, Wednesday night is prayer meeting for adults, choir practice and activities for all ages.

Pray for Jay Pierce, Doug Mims, Lois Blalock, Mable Ousley, Charles Bryant, Talon Hunter, Randy Martin, Myra Burnett, Pete Burnett, James Moore, Carolyn McClane, Nell Mims, Hunter Moore, W.L. Broome, Cleo Pack, Margaret Wyatt, Alexis Willis, Hilda Allen, shut-ins, those facing cancer, Jerry Smith, Katrina Owens, Rebecca Martin, James Kelley, Sylvia Wingard, Matt Skinner, Patti Legendre, James Lee, John Hollis Jackson, Jackson brothers, Blanghe Sands, Seth Berry, Carol Gore, Laura Smith. Also pray for our nation and for a revival.

Happy birthday to Shirley Smith, Dawn Ellison, Kaitlan Potts, Steve Boddie, Corgulia Carter, Mark Iane, Sheryl Smith, Vickie Moseley, Marshall Wells, Dylan Connel, Angie Carroll, Kennly Williams, Haiden Boyles.

Come worship with us Sunday.

---

Walnut Creek United Methodist Church

Missed Bro Tony and the family, but what a pleasant surprise! Bro Ollie Clyde Jones brought God's message, and bring the message he did!

Joys and Concerns: We were all concerned about Ben Handley and Ray Enfinger; both were scheduled to have surgery Tuesday. Lavada Attaway still needs our prayers.

Bro Ollie Clyde said for the day after Independence Day, Isaiah 6 was given him for God's message. He started by giving a great description of Isaiah's vision of God in the Temple: "The Lord was lifted high on the throne, and his train filled the temple. One seraphim cried to the other, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts."

What effect did this have on Isaiah? Isaiah said, "Woe is me for I have unclean lips."

One of the seraphim took one of the live coals from the burning altar, laid it on his lips and said, "Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged."

Isaiah then heard the voice of the Lord say, "Who shall I send for us? And then Isaiah said; 'Here am I, Lord send me!' Bro. Ollie Clyde said, "Every time I hear someone say 'I can't,' he's saying, 'I won't go into the fields to work for the Lord.'"

God is just as real as you will let him be!

A special welcome to our visitors, Pam and Eddie Trammel and family.

Youth corner: Remember Bennie on his surgery Tuesday.

---

Bethany Baptist Church

Fifty-two Weeks to a Better You: Memory verse for this week is 1 John 2:16: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Bro. Aubry's messages were on "Christian Certainties," Sunday morning taken from Psalm 103:10-12, and Sunday night from Hebrews 4:15-16. There is so much in this life that we are not certain of; things are not always what they seem to be. But there are many things that the born-again Christian can be absolutely certain of, and they include our certain forgiveness, our certain future, our certain friendship with the Lord Jesus, our certain fellowship and our certain family (the family of God). In the interest of space, we'll comment only on our certain friendship. Try as we may, we will fail and disappoint others, and we have all experienced the betrayal of someone we thought was a friend that we could trust. But there is One who will never, ever fail us. Jesus Christ is the One who is closer than a brother (Proverbs), and Hebrews 13:5 quotes Jesus as saying, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

The youth at Landmark, one of our sister churches, will be going to camp this week. In appreciation for our church members paying most of their camp fees, the young people will bring us a program one Sunday evening recounting their experiences at camp. We look forward to this.

Prayer List: Bonnie Burks, Lillian Burkhalter, Lela Mae Courtney, Doug and Helen Mims, Ellen Gray, Billie Neeley, Pastor and Mrs. Wallace.

See you Sunday!

---

Oak Grove Church of God

Bro. Northcutt took his text from Leviticus 23:15-22, and the title of his message was "Feast of Weeks." Israel was instructed as to how to observe the Feast of Weeks. They were to bring only their best as offerings to God. They were to give the first fruits of their harvest, which was to be bread made from the finest flower, and animals who were without blemish (physical defects). These were to be offerings out of love and gratitude for all of God's blessing on them. Do you remember how when you met your "first love" how you worked and planned to give gifts that would please them and how excited you were to bring these gifts to them because of the great love you had for them. God expects us to love Him so much that we want to give Him our very best. It is said that "you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving." We must give God our very best both if our money and our time. The Bible only instructs us to give our tithe but there is even a greater blessing when we give beyond that out of love for God. We willing give to God to support His church the tithe of our earnings but what about our time to His service? What percentage of our time do we devote to working for our God? Do we put God first in our life or do we tend to say by our actions, "If I have time I will"? God does not want our leftovers but our first fruits! We can never pay God the debt we owe, but we can put Him first in our life and give willingly of our time and money to advance His kingdom work. What have you done for God today?

If you do not have a church home we invite you to come worship God with us and be a part of our church family at Oak Grove. Service times are: Sunday School at 10 a.m., worship service at 10:45, Sunday evening service at 5:30 and Wednesday night service at 7.

Our church is easy to find. When you leave Clanton heading south on US 31 turn left at Peach Park and follow the signs to Oak Grove Church of God.

---

Cedar Grove Methodist-Protestant Church

I want to praise God for making me an American and for the blessings He's showered upon us.

We had good attendance for church even though some were out for the Fourth. We had several visitors, and we welcome them all. A special welcome to Tyler Jackson of the U.S. Marine Corps; we appreciate all our service men and women and pray they will return home safe. It was good to have Michael, Sachea and Lexi Crowe with us again.

We wish happy anniversary to Steve and Rita Price.

Please keep Jim and Ellen Ruth Scott, Corine and Durward Gray in your prayers along with many more on our prayer list.

Bro. Jeff preached a good message on freedom from John 8:31-36.

We had a cookout Sunday night at the old fellowship hall. Everyone left satisfied with plenty of hotdogs, hamburgers, Red Hots and all the trimmings (homemade ice cream too).

Remember the outreach at the nursing home every second Saturday at 2 p.m. Bro. Alton and several others go sing and sometimes preach. From what I hear they all have a great time.

The Kelleys will be here July 19 at 5:30 p.m.

James Earl Davenport is teaching from the Book of James, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Come on out and study with us.

On the first Sunday in August, Bro. Roger Vines will be guest speaker for both services.

---

Jackson Chapel

Bro. Dennis' text came from Numbers 12:1-10 with a message entitled "The Lord Hears You." When we make commitments to God, he hears us, so we need to make sure as Christians that we strive to keep those commitments.

We also need to be very careful about what we say because God hears every word that comes out of our mouths, so when we began to speak something we need to also make sure that those words would be pleasing to God.

Sunday evening, Bro. Dennis' text came from Luke 12:37-44. We as Christians need to be vigilant and stand on the word of God. We also need to be faithful in our walk with the Lord because he is always faithful to us, and we need to always be watching for the return of Jesus Christ because we don't know when Jesus will come back.

Happy birthday this week to Billy Burnett and Gail Fant. Happy anniversary to Dewayne and Janet Castleberry.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Billy Waites, Gary Fant, James and Marie Johnson, Corine Gray, the Julie Nance Brown family, Nathan Wallace, Dianne Wyatt, Rowlin Smith, Juanita Wyatt's sister Glenda, our lost loved ones and our service men and women.

---

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

---