On Sunday, September 12th, the Transition Team for our Intentional Interim search was commissioned by Rev. Halley. This team consists of Dana Bilby, Evelyn Jones, John Kinsey, Billy Wyatt, Joyce Trump, Vickie Wilson and Curtiss Johnson. The team has reviewed applications and continues to search for the person God is calling to be our leader in the Intentional Interim role for the next several months. This is not a short process. It requires our church to complete a self study and this method is highly recommended after a long term ministry. As a congregation we need to know where we see ourselves going in our next phase of church ministry and down what path God is leading us. Every member of the congregation will be involved. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team.
My Dear Friends, November is upon us and we now turn to other events in the life of our church. Founders Day, ThanksgivingDay, Advent, and then Christmas are just ahead. "We had hoped" that things would have returned to something near "normal", but that is not to be yet! Your church leadership and staff have worked diligently, consistently, and with much vigor over thes...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, As I go about doing various errands bank, groceries, fuel, etc. all on a limited basis of course I often ask clerks, "Are youtired of this yet?" I need not tell you the response(s) I receive! Years ago, Dr. Robert Schuller commented on a tornado which destroyed his boyhood home in Iowa,"I learned from my father that tough times never last. Tough peop...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, Baby step by baby step we are following the guidelines for re-opening and are making progress, all the while keeping good safety practices in place. Our "Coronavirus Task Force" (Calvin Jones, chair; Tom Ashcraft; Priscilla Bunch; Robert Boyce; Dana Bilby; Jim Judkins; and Curtiss Johnson) has been diligent in carefully mapping out each step of the proces...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, As I write this it is Monday morning of the week we are able to open our church building for worship! Our task force has been diligent about making things as safe as possible. As you know from the guidelines you received last week, we will do our best to follow "best practices". It will be a joyous occasion to come together, but at the same time a bit sad...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, I have spent a long while pondering how to begin this latest newsletter message to you. I started well, don't you think, addressing you as "dear friends"? That's the truest and best thing I can say! We've all, from time to time, hoped that our current troubles are just a passing nightmare, that we will wake from our slumber to discover it was but a bad d...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, Lent and Easter are fast approaching! Yet another opportunity to learn about and practice our faith; In our church, the premier Pre-Lent event is our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, February 25. There is no charge for the meal, but donations will be accepted to support the various mission projects of the Adult Bible Class. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday,...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, This morning I was reading a devotional based on the 23rd Psalm. As we all know, it powerfully begins, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." The writer went on to say that even before God created the first man and woman, already He had prepared the earth for human life. He had positioned the earth at the optimum distance from the sun; He made sure...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, Though this will be my final newsletter greeting to you, you will always be dear friends to Carmen and me. It has been twenty-five plus years of working together and experiencing some of the greatest "highs" I've ever known . . . and, of course, some "low" times as well. I never knew as a young eighth grader at McKinley Junior High School in St. Albans, ...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends, Last Sunday I told both services that "it feels almost like normal". I said that with just a little trepidation, because from the news we keep hearing, the battle is not over just yet. So, I . . . and also you, must remain vigilant. Thinking about this "battle" we all have been fighting, I am reminded once again to say a huge, I mean a HUGE "Thank you!"...
Keep ReadingMy Dear Friends,It seems like only a short time ago that I received a phone call from Jack Chapman, who was chair of our Board of Deacons, asking me to come to Suffolk to interview for the position of Supply Minister. It was, in fact, in March of 1996. The pulpit of Suffolk Christian Church was to soon be vacant upon the resignation of the Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens, who had ac...
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