Friendship Baptist Church

Our wonderful choir special was “That Old Country Church.”

Our message was brought by Bro. James Cleckler from Matthew 22:36-40 and Matthew 28:16-20. Bro. Cleckler preached on the two greatest commandments and the Great Commission.

During the evening service, Pam and Kim Jones sang, “You Are Worthy.”

Bro. Cleckler’s message was from 2 Chronicles 7:12-16, in which the Lord appears to Solomon.

A special thank you goes to the men who keep our yards cut here at Friendship. God bless you.

Happy birthday to Will Petty, Evie Pate and Jacob Davis.

Prayer requests: unspoken requests, our church, jobs, soldiers, Debra Mullins, Cameron Gunn, David Marcus, Frances Bailey, Sara McGee, Olivia Miller.

July 12: Baby shower for Brittany Jones Hicks in the fellowship hall from 2-3:30 p.m. She is registered at Target. The nursery will be done in John Deere. Gifts can also be purchased at John Deere here in Clanton.

July 27-31: Association kids’ camp at Shocco Springs.

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Church of God’s Word

We opened this summer morning in prayer. We studied 1 Corinthians 6:1-15. The focal verse was verse 4, “If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.”

We are to pray, talk and help each other always.

Happy anniversary this week to Jimmy and Linda Langston, and Brian and Ruth Lewellen.

Prayer requests: Etta Hayes, Joyce Davidson, Jimmy and Linda Langston, Janet Wutke and family, Willie Beasley, Shirley and Doug Langston, our country, service men and women, Dennis family, Thomas and Edna Edwards, unspoken requests, sick and shut-ins.

Sunday night’s message was from Genesis 26:1-4. The Holy Spirit fell and the altars filled.

We are located at 4964 County Road 7 in Clanton. Y’all come, and may God bless you this week. We may be reached at 755-4719 or 755-5017.

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Mt. Carmel No. 1

We had a good service Wednesday night. “What is Prayer” was the title of the devotion led by Chad Foshee. We must pray for each other and forgive those who have wronged us if we expect God to forgive us and hear our prayers.

Freeman Ray welcomed all our visitors Sunday morning and introduced Bro. Justin Nelson, who preached a very good sermon entitled, “We Are All the Prodigal” (Luke 15:11-32).

We have a pattern we follow. We choose to sin. We choose to waste our substance with riotous living. We choose to return to the Father and His house. We need to choose the right way of Christian living and follow the pattern of Jesus.

Vacation Bible School “Boomerang Express” will be July 12-17 from 6-9 p.m. You are invited to come and bring your little friends.

We invite all who will come to help pass out flyers for VBS on July 11 at 10 a.m.

Prime-Timers will meet Saturday, July 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall. Come join us for good food, games and fellowship.

A youth evangelism conference will be July 17. For more information, contact Jan Franklin.

Remember all the names on our prayer list and the needs of our church and country.

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Mount Bethel Baptist Church

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).

It was great to be in God’s house Sunday. You could feel the Spirit moving in the mist. We had a great day of worship and fellowship with our Lord.

The morning sermon was taken from 1 Peter 5:6-9. The Rev. Cleckler’s message was on the way Satan can control people. First, Satan has to get permission from God to do anything. The trials and tests that God allows Satan to put into our lives are there to strengthen us in our relationship with the Lord. Sometimes we use the excuse, “The devil made me do it.” That is not so; we have free will. When Satan sees a church prospering and growing for the Lord, he will do everything in his power to cause discord. We must be on guard for Satan when things are going well because Satan is close behind us.

We had a wonderful time in our afternoon service. We joined Lime Springs at the creek for an old-time baptizing service. As we sat on the creek with our fans, we sang hymns of praise to our Lord. We had prayer and a good message from Rev. Cleckler from Acts 8:26-39.

When we accept Christ as our Savior we are to do as Christ himself did. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

We had quite a few candidates for baptism, so it took a little while, but no one was in a hurry.

Happy birthday to Betty Dennis, and happy anniversary to Donald and Karen Barr, and Mike and Deleah Holcombe.

Visitors are invited to join us for worship and fellowship. Sunday School is at 10 a.m.; morning worship at 11; Discipleship Training at 5 p.m. and evening worship at 6.

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Christ Independent Methodist Church

On this beautiful summer day, we gathered for another wonderful message brought to us each Sabbath day by Dr. Mac Stinson.

The scripture reading came from John’s Gospel as he preached about the man from Galilee. One of the points he brought out was the irony of us living in the Bible Belt and yet many people among us have never seen nor do they own a Bible.

Dr. Stinson’s service was preceded by Ken Osborne’s singing preview of his concert Sunday night. Some of his songs were accompanied by Paul Moore from Alabaster on trumpet. It was a great night to be in the house of the Lord.

We request your continued prayers for Dr. Stinson, and for his son, Dr. Mac Stinson III. Both are facing major physical storms in their lives.

Pray for Horace and Mary Ann Carden, and for Mary Ann’s daughter, Cindy McCavitt; for Wilma Ellison, Opal Miller, Robert and Sally Cowart, Nora Smith and Nancy Rogers.

Also pray for the family of Dot Daily, who died this past week.

Our youth group will sponsor a yard sale Friday, July 3 from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. It will be held on Lay Dam Road in front of Cornerstone Fitness and Wellness in Clanton. If you would like to donate items for the sale, call Laurel Lee at 755-5587.

Bible School is coming up in July. Dates next week!

Have a blessed week.

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Bethsalem Baptist Church

Our service started off with a celebration of baptism for Hayle Wingard, Dawson Rohrbough and Beau Batting.

Bro. Brad preached his morning message, “Speaking the Truth,” from Matthew 5:33-37.

During the evening service, he continued his series on 12 extraordinary women, focusing on Sara.

Prayer list: Doug Mims, Charles Bryant, James Moore, Diane Wyatt, Hunter Moore, Myra Burnett, Margaret Price, James Lee, W.L. Broome, Eugene Smith, Maxwell Blalock, Jerry Smith, Charles Blow, Opal Stone, Debra Mims, Larry McCary, Carol Gore, Hilda Allen, Eloise Edwards, Mary Nell Cooedy, Monchi Eiland, Terri Bowin, Allison Bailey, Diane Hogman, Bobbie Smith, Betty Owens, Pete Burnett, Patti Legendre, Myra Headley, Matt Skinner, Sylvia Wingard, James Kelley, Glenda Cook, Dale Shackleford, all our shut-ins, those facing cancer.

Happy birthday to Tyler Harmon and Shirley Smith.

Don’t forget our family celebration Sunday, July 5 from 6-9:30 p.m. Everyone is invited. We pray for God’s wonderful power in answering prayers and saving souls.

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Walnut Creek United Methodist Church

Our huge cross was still adorned with the beautiful floral arrangements Sunday morning, reminding us of the very successful benefit for Raleigh’s Place on Saturday night. Thanks to those singers who gave of their time and talents to make it possible.

Diane Handley did a great job explaining to the children about their senses, especially touch. She let them feel in a bag for objects and identify them, then she told them the story about the woman who touched Jesus’ garment and was healed.

God’s message by Bro. Tony came from Mark 5:21-43. First, Bro. Tony asked someone to read this same story of the little girl being healed from Mathew 9 and Luke 8 as they both described the little girl as being “dead.” In Mark, however, she is described as being “asleep.”

Bro. Tony said, “If we take the scripture in its complete absolutism, we may have a problem. The father believed that Jesus could heal his little girl, and his ‘needs brought him to him to his knees.’”

Need a miracle? Let’s pray.

Youth corner: Remember Taylor and Jenson (TJ) during these hot days of football practice and camps. Hailey, you represented us well—way to go guys!

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Jackson Chapel

Bro Dennis sang “Glory Road” Sunday, and as he was singing, people began to come to the altar to pray. The Holy Spirit was surely present.

Bro. Dennis’ text came from Matthew 23:24-28. When we as Christians enter into the house of God, we should come with the inside of our hearts as clean as our outside appearance. Jesus Christ wants us to be the best we can be because of all he does for us. The service ended with several coming to pray.

Sunday evening, Bro. Dennis’ text came from Genesis 1:26-28 and Psalm 8:1-9. We as Christians are going to make mistakes in this life, and when we fail we should have the urgency to ask God to forgive us because if we don’t, there will come a time when God will quit pouring his blessings out on us.

Happy birthday this week to David Mitchell.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Geraldine Smith, Jean Littleton, Gary Fant, Patty Drake, Jeff Drake, Nathan Wallace, Rawlin Smith, Kevin Bavar, Juanita Wyatt’s sister, Glenda; Ralph Moore, Duane Chadwick, our service men and women and our lost loved ones.

We are located at 4020 Yellowleaf Road in Clanton. Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 10, morning worship at 11, evening worship at 6, and Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study at 7. We also have Kid’s Club on Wednesday nights at 7 for grades 1-6.

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Cedar Grove Methodist-Protestant Church

The Lord is really good to us at Cedar Grove. He is blessing us with new people coming, such good sermons, testimonies and singing.

We welcome all the visitors Sunday morning, and we hope you will come back.

Happy birthday to Heather Wood, Jacob Popwell and Olivia McGuire. Happy anniversary to Gary and Gwen Vines.

Bro. Jeff Carroll preached a good sermon this morning entitled, “When the King of Pop Met the King of Kings.” His text came from Revelation 19:11-16 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 and John 15:15-20.He will be judged just like you and I.

Sis. Sandra Carroll sang the invitation song, and many went to the altar to pray and be prayed for.

The evening service was canceled due to a power outage. We had a singing planned with Gaining Ground as the guest singers and had quite a crowd to come. We waited over an hour hoping the power would come on. We will reschedule the singers very soon.

The Kelleys will be here July 19 at 5:30 p.m. Come on out and enjoy some good singing.

Remember to pray for the sick, military, our country.

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Oak Grove Church of God

We all from time to time face trials in our lives because of health issues, financial problems, deaths in our families, and other family problems. There will be times when we or someone in our family comes under attack from someone who has some sort of issue with us our a family member. We often refer to these times as our being in a valley or perhaps a desert place. Satan would have us to want to blame God for allowing these things to come on us and turn away from God and our Christian faith. These are the times when we as Christians must lean heavily on God and allow our faith in Him to see us through. As Christians we are not immune to the troubles of life. Job, in the bible, was an upright man who loved God and we all know the story how that through all his trials he remained true to God. We all know that Job’s closest friends and even his own wife did not encourage him. Our friends and families may even bring into question what we might have done wrong that God would punish us so. Just as Job when we do remain true to God and our beliefs we will come through victorious and enjoy a time of refreshing by the Holy Spirit.

Our youth want to thank you for your support in purchasing fireworks from them last year at Love’s Travel Stop. These funds are used to support our youth projects in our community and also missions projects. Our youth are there again this week and would appreciate your support.

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.

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Bethany Baptist Church

Fifty Weeks To a Better You: Our Memory verse for this week is Psalm 119:99: “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”

Philippians 1:21-24 was the text for Bro. Aubry’s message Sunday morning, which he called “Dead or Alive.” “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain…for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” The Apostle Paul had no dread of death; he was ready to go. His desire was to go on to be with the Lord, but he had a burning desire to see people saved. He put the needs of others above himself. He was always willing to do what he could to bring others to Christ. Do we have such a passion for the lost?

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

See you Sunday!