Church news

Sonlight Church

Hello Everyone,

How in this world have you all been? I am so sorry that I no longer have the time to write this column every week, but that is just the way it has been. You know I am a nurse and I take care of our wonderful senior citizens in their homes and I just love what I do. I have been so blessed with the best people in the world to take care of, but I have missed all of you. Listen I have news for you. Our little church is just growing and growing and let me tell you there is such a wonderful bunch of giving and loving Christian people in our community. I thank God for all of you; you are more than wonderful. We had a fall festival in October and it was a great success and there was approx. 200 children there having fun. It did not cost those children nothing to come and have all that fun. Isn't that wonderful? Then we had our Great Celebration Party in December and brought covered dishes to eat. We are the eatingist (I wonder if that's proper!) bunch I have ever seen. Anyway then we had our Easter singing and eating in March and that was a smashing success. So many have been given the gift of singing and it is so wonderful. As you all know I sing like a frog!! But I sure know how to make a joyful (croaking) noise. The Lord is so absolutely magnificent and awesome, that sometimes it just boggles my mind of how great He is. I am absolutely awestruck by His love, mercy, and grace. This past Saturday night we had the most wonderful singers, REVIVED from Zavalla come and join us for our yearly fish fry and they were sooooooo wonderful.

We have a great band and we really appreciate all of them. I will try to write more often and keep you all caught up on what's going on with us, but I am never sure when I can. I hope you all have all of your planting done, and it should all be coming up now. The good crappie fishing will end in a couple of weeks too. It time to sit back and relax and wait for everything to come up. We are having an excellent Bible study every Thursday night at 6:30 and we eat while we study. You all know you are all invited to come. Our Sunday morning worship service starts at 10:45 A.M. God is really blessing us; you all come and join in. If you have any questions, just call Bro. Bobby Oberlechner our Pastor at 829-4811 any time. You can reach me at 829-5353. I will try to have a few bits and pieces ready for you the next time I write. Bye now.

Huntington United Methodist

Church News

You are welcome to the Huntington United Church where the people have open hearts, open minds and open doors.

Thought: When we feel that we have denied Jesus, we can experience what Peter did we can meet Jesus. He is alive, offering us hope, love, restoration and new life.

April Birthdays: Kimberly Jordan, the granddaughter of Polly Trinkle the 29th; Shianne Marie Conner the great-granddaughter of Jean Nass and Aaron Jacob will be five years old April.16th.

Anniversary Blessings to Jessica and Lacus Greenly, April 17th.

Kids in Christ and Xtreme Teens continue to meet on Wednesday Evenings at 5:45.

The "Prayer Chain" has been revised and you will need to pick up a new copy in the Narthex.

United Methodist Women meet every 2nd Monday of the month. Priscilla Circle meets on the third Thursday. We appreciate all the work these two groups do. Priscilla focuses on local missions while U.M.W. focuses on global. Both groups have a hand in helping our youth go to Camp Lakeview in the summer.

Sympathy is with the family of Donna Clark, too. She was the wife of Paul Clark, the daughter of Lester and Othal Lowery.

Easter Lilies given in memory of:

W G (Bill) Cowart, by Merlene Cowart; Evie Hopson and Cora Lee Jones, by Juanita Hopson; Wally Nass, by Jean Nass; Our Family and Friends, by Byford and Sandy Sheffield; Bess Sims, Erica Stone, Elsie Hewitt Cora Jones, Jonnie Terry, by Debra Bashaw; David and Ida Creason, Vale Thomas and Orva Boucher Cody Holland, by Jim and Janet Thomas; Ron Maberry, Ted Maberry and Emmett Zimmerman, Sr., by Chuck and Lynda Zimmerman; Heath Hopson and Gene Jones, by Kippy Hopson and Ruby Hurlburt; Mr. and Mrs. Howard Drake and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Nerren, by Paul and Sue Nerren; My children, Randy and Kelly, by Jean Martin; Roberta Dorsey, by Omega Lout; Bill and Orrin Felice, Wayne Felice, JoAnna Felice, Phillip Attebury, by Ricky and Betty Sammons; Lynette Billeck, Charles Billeck, Rebecca Taylor-Steveson, by Leonard, Billie, Sissy and Chris Billeck; and Doris Tease, by Jim Tease.

Jubilee Church

Over my 35yrs of ministry there have been quit a lot of folks tell me they are a good person and don't need to do anything different. They are fine just like they are. I have then wondered just how good is good enough. I looked through the Word to find the best person I could in the Bible. Best I can tell it must have been a man named Cornelius who was a Centurion in the Roman Army.

His story is in Acts Chapter 10. This is a character reference from God on this man and we have 7 character traits mentioned here. He was a devout man. That means a man who really did what he believed. He was reverent before God and lived that way before men. Translate that into Deep East Texas English; here was a man that practiced what he preached. All the rest of the character traits verify this first statement about him.

He feared God with all of his house. This is actually two character traits. He had a personal reverent respect for God. Cornelius was not afraid of God any more than he was afraid of his superior officer. The faithful servant is not afraid of his superiors. He also taught his entire household to respect and worship the Lord God of Creation. Here is a doer of the Word, a teacher of right living, and an example of what he taught.

He gave much alms to the people. Cornelius was a very benevolent and generous man even on a soldiers pay. He helped those in need even though he was a soldier that was commissioned to keep the Jews in line with the Roman law.

This was also a man of prayer. He prayed always, every day, and I suspect over everything he was responsible for in his duties as a soldier. A soldier that must obey the orders of a superior who may not be a Christian but wants to please God in all that he does probably needs an answer from heaven to be able to get that job done and still please God.

Way over in v.22 we find the last two traits. He was a just man. He did not take a bribe from those who were guilty and let them off easy or completely. He did not use his position to take advantage of those less fortunate. Here was a man that everyone liked. He was well spoken of as a ruler over those who had been accustomed to being treated badly by the Romans.

As good as this man was he knew he still needed to hear the Word of God. He was "WARNED from God by a holy angel" to send for Peter & "hear words of thee." The best behaved man I can find in the Bible needed to hear the Word of God.

If you are a really good person (or maybe not so good) and know you need to hear the Word of God, if you have a church home be there this Sunday. If you do not have a church home we invite you to visit with us at Jubilee.

Jubilee Baptist Church is located on FM 1818 right at the city limit sign. We are a country church with a heart for ministry. If you do not have a church home Jubilee will welcome you to our worship services. If you have some trouble of life that is so big only God can help you with it, we invite you to Jubilee & we will ask the Father in Heaven to give you an answer.

Sunday School is at 10 a.m. Worship is at 11 a.m. Mid-week worship is Wednesday at 7 p.m. We welcome you.