Shiloh Baptist Church

It was a beautiful day to be in the Lord’s house.

Bro. John Parrish led the call to worship with “God Is So Good,” followed by “Have Faith in God” and “It Is Well With My Soul.”

Steve Latham read the scripture from Ephesians 4:17-24, followed by “Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus.”

Jenny Mims delighted us all with “When Momma Prayed.”

Bro. Ernest Fike brought our message from 1 Corinthians 12 starting at verse 31.

“Sweet Flight with the Sweet Spirit,” God gives us all gifts.

We can’t all sing or preach, but we each have our own gift that is unique to each of us. We should use that gift for the glory of the Lord.

It’s out of love for one another that we build and strengthen the body of Christ. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, it was out of love that he gave his life. We should use our gifts with that much love for him.

The invitational hymn was “Wherever He Leads I’ll Go,” followed by announcements and prayer requests.

Also Sunday night, we had our Singing and Social. We were blessed with the joyful spirit led voices of Diane Bean and Amanda Furlow (The Chosen Two), followed by some of our homefolk talent Chris Johnson, Sue Buckalew, Jenny Mims, Blake Mims, Alex Martin and Nelda Hester, followed by some of the finest homemade ice cream and desert you could ask for.

We sugared all the youth up and left them with Bro. Chad Foshee for their lock-in, which from what I hear made for a fun, not-so-sleepy night.

Happy birthday to Nathan Smith. Happy anniversary to Nelda and Charles Hester.

On Aug. 4, the youth will be having a carwash at Clanton Tire and Auto starting at 8 a.m. Our main focus on this event is to love the people of Clanton and show them the love of Christ.

On Aug. 5 are Prayer Walks at your local schools.

On Aug. 11, the youth will go to Ignite Pell City! For more information, contact Chad Foshee.

On Aug. 25, the youth will go to En Fuego! For more information, contact Chad Foshee.

Come join us at 9:45 for Sunday school, 11 a.m. worship service, 5 p.m. discipleship training, 6 p.m. worship service, and on Wednesday, we meet at 6:30. All are welcome.

Christ Independent Methodist Church

On this perfect Sabbath Day, we began morning worship with the congregation singing “My Savior’s Love,” Wonderful Words of Life” and “How Firm a Foundation.”

Dr. Mac Stinson’s provocative sermon title was “God is Here.” His scripture reading came from John 6:1-5. Verses 6:1-2 says: “Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of the Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.”

5-6 tells us: “When Jesus saw them, he lifted up his eyes and said unto Philip, ‘Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.”

This scripture reading is one of several that deals with one of the most spectacular miracles that our Lord performed while living on earth: the miracles that deal with his miraculous ability to feed multitudes of people with a few small fish and a few small loaves of bread. For those people who were present to partake of the fishes and the loaves, do you suppose they entertained any doubt that “God is Here” as Dr. Stinson’s sermon title stated?

Suppose someone asked you this question: How have you ever experienced God in your life or observed him in action inn the life of another? Would you have an instant answer? Or would you need time to conjure up an answer?

Many books have been written by people who chose to tell of their experience as such. Today our pastor, Dr. Stinson, related the true story of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker whose B-17 Flying Fortress ran out of gas and the plane and crew spent three awful weeks on small rafts lost in the vast far south Pacific Ocean. When asked how they survived, Captain Rickenbacker replied simply, “We prayed.” He also related how a sea gull landed on his head one day providing food for him and his crew. They used the gull’s intestines as bait for the fish hooks to catch fish for food. Suddenly it rained and gave them fresh water to drink. Two weeks later they were spotted and rescued after surviving the scorching sun, hunger and exhaustion. Captain Ricken backer said he continued to pray until he and his inexperienced crew were rescued.

We may not all have such dramatic stories to relate, but I believe that most of us could relate similar events in our own lives to prove beyond doubt that God was there. What say you? I believe in prayer and believe in the presence of God here on earth.

Our prayer list: Dr. Mac Stinson; his son, Mac Stinson III; Carl Glass; Dwight Sammons; Cathy Lufta; Mable Mitchell; little Israel; all church congregations; our military and their families; our church, community and each other; Shea Simms in Kuwait; and Christians worldwide.

On July 29, we begin a new study of the book of Daniel. Join us each Sunday night at 5 p.m. as we learn what God has for us from Daniel.

Our youth enjoyed a day of bowling and eating out on Saturday. Have a blessed week.