Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Good morning. Super busy week so I am going straight to the kids stuff. I will not be at church tomorrow night because I have to go out of town with the twins for a quiz bowl competition but Katie Smith will be leading the kids. The youth will be leaving at 6:00 so the kids will be in the gym and I know they will be having a fall treat! Make plans to have your kids there!! Starting Sunday the children ( 4 yrs thru 5th grade) will be in full Christmas musical mode. We will practice during children's church and at 4 pm. every Sunday. The Sunday afternoon practices will last until 5:30. PLEASE make every attempt to have your child at the afternoon practice. We only have the month of November to prepare The Christmas musical will be Sunday night, December 7 at 6 pm. I had to move breakfast with Santa to Saturday, December 20. I am in need of a Santa if you know someone who would like to volunteer.

Catherine McBurnett posted this morning that Josh's mom, Lewana, passed about 4:30 am. Please continue to lift their family up in prayer. Thank you for those who prayed for me last week. I felt the prayers and had a great week. I hope you have a great week and I'll be looking forward to seeing your child Sunday!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Good morning! It's Trunk or Treat week! I had a nightmare last night that due to the Al and Au games both being shown T or T night that nobody showed up. As soon as I woke up from that horror I started praying. 

So let me run thru a few T or T things then I'll get    to the kids. Thank you to Derrick, Dakota & Ryan for putting up our signs Sunday. Thank you to Diane for getting our donations together. We have been blessed with lots of donations and as soon as this week is over I'll get a list together so as we shop those places we can thank them for donating.  
to WBBC. Thank you to the youth who have          
volunteered to work the games and the social committee for getting some people to help in the kitchen. I will be at church Friday night by 6:00 for anyone who wants to come help decorate. We will need some help with heavy items Saturday so if there is some men free to come help move a few items and help with the stage, we will be there by  9:00. Please remember to be at church no later      than 5:00 pm Sat night if you are doing a trunk, working a game or working in the kitchen. We  need to be set up, eat and be ready to go a little before 6:00. People will arrive early. The T or T will be over at 8:00 and we will clean up quickly. We need to make sure the parking lot and church are  clean  for service the next morning. This years bake sale money is going towards the youth's Winter Extreme trip so if you can bring  any bake sale item that will be great. You can drop it off Friday night if that helps you. I am excited and I hope you are too. I look forward each year to seeing your costumes and trunks. Y'all always do  a great job! If you have questions please call me.  

Now to the kids. Serving is what we did Sunday in Sunday school and children's church. After the huge turn out at the McBurnett's Sat night, I thought about how this church serves others. I didn't get to stay long Saturday but what I saw was a church who put the needs of others first and   served them the way Christians should. Just meeting their needs. So I got to thinking about our kids and do they really get to serve much or learn
about serving. I threw the Sunday lesson out the window (not really but you know what I mean.. I would never litter). So I went into SS and said  today you are going to help me prepare for T or T.  I explained them as they worked at separating candy, moving items downstairs and assembling goody bags that doing the work they were serving the children who will come to the T or T, and they  were serving me. They always have the best hearts and were glad to help. I told them you'll get to the T or T and be able to say I helped with this or that   and feel good about helping out. As Christians we can talk all day long about Jesus but many times action is what people need to see. Those actions touch hearts and helps people see that Jesus is 
alive and lives in His people.  This Wed. night the kids will be in the Kidz Zone. Next Wed. night the youth are going to the judgement house so the kids  will be in the gym once they leave. Katie will be  leading them and they'll have some Halloween snacks. I will be gone that night. Christmas musical practice will begin Sunday Nov. 2 during Children's church. We will also meet on Sunday 
evenings at 4:00 for practice. We will be finished  at 5:30. This will be every Sunday except Nov. 23.  We only have the month of November so these extra practice times are very important. I would like a few moms each week to bring a snack and drinks to the Sunday evening practice. Let me know if their is a date you can help with.  The Christmas musical will be Sunday night,6 pm, 
December 7 and the Santa Breakfast will be at 9:00 am December 13. More info on them as we get on into November.

So as we move forward into this week I ask for prayer for the McBurnett's & Lewana, prayers for Candace's mom as she continues to improve,
 Sherry Runyan's mom, prayers for a special family  trying to adopt, and for prayers for those that come to the Trunk or Treat. I pray we will serve them with love, compassion, and friendliness, that visitors will feel welcome in our mist, conversation will be generated that leads to invites back to church, hungry stomachs will be filled and children and adults will leave our premises knowing that Christians love to love each other. Serving is what this week is about. I hope you have a fabulous week!!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Trunk or Treat Memories

The babies are snoozing & I have been multitasking, ordering flowers for my step grandfather who passed while trying to price hot dogs & pop corn for the trunk or treat. So I guess i am feeling sentimental or nostalgic but I got to thinking about trunk or treats of the past and just thought I would share with you. I was thinking maybe at the end you could comment on memories you have or maybe not.. This might be your first time at WBBC's trunk or treat. Let me take you back to my first one.

I am sure I am going to flub some dates but the first trunk or treat. It would have been about 17 yrs ago. Jami and I had been married for about a year and a half and we were not wholeheartedly looking for a church. Joey was leading the 3 youth at WBBC. Okay.. Maybe 4 youth, Mr. Carr's granddaughter, Al Ashley's (past music minister) 2 daughters and I think 1 more teenage girl. My parents were at WBBC and we had visited.  June White decided that omething needed to be done for the community and there needed to be a little fall gathering. There was a few trunks, hot dogs and chili & a fire where the 4 teens hung out over where the gym is. There couldn't have been a handful of people there. What I remember most was how welcoming June was. I distinctly remember her telling us to come on in, make ourselves at home and get some chili. I don't remember if they had a trunk or treat the next year or 2. By that time I was pregnant the next year and very sick, had a miscarriage in Dec & then was pregnant & delivered the boys the following Sept. Both were in the hospital that Oct.  So fast forward just a few years and the trunk or treat had grown as the church had grown. When Gene Mince came to the church the trunk or treat became more of a festival. He is a a great carpenter and he built games for us so the kids would have more to do then just go around to the trunks and get candy.  We still use many of those games today and several schools have used them for their fall fests too. For several years we had a chili cook off. One year my mother won. Our family got a huge kick out of that and several folks were sure the judges had been paid off. Lol  we started the bake sale many years back as a fundraiser for the children's dept. I can see Valencia Carr walking thru the fellowship hall door now carrying her apple cake she made every year, Mr Carr following her      carrying the chili. I can see my grandmother and Neal (step grand father who just passed) getting out      of their car and making their way to the bake sale. They didn't come to the church much but they always came to trunk or treat when they were able. Mawmaw always bought a cake to put up for the holidays. Neal just loved the fellowship.

The trunk or treat has always been an opportunity to invite others to the church and it has worked as an opening for others to come back to the church.  I remember seeing The Garmon family at the trunk or treat and it opened the doors for them to visit the church and now we have watched their children grow up at WBBC. I remember seeing Tyla Hood's kids walk into the parking lot for the first time. I guess I should say carry because Tessa was a baby! I remember Shay Layton's first trunk or treat. I don't even know if she has visited the church yet but I do know we were talking about her visiting & she was talking to Joey about building her a house and her she rolls in with her bug and decorated the trunk. I was so excited. I remember one of the Bacchus's first times. Big David had built a mummy and made it into a game to have by his car. I remember crazy adult costumes. Mary Pruitt stands out     because I remember her being static cling and making her hair stand up. Mary is a beautiful lady both
 inside and out but she was gorgeous with her hair standing up. I remember great trunks, one with real  gold fish! I remember my Dad year after year saying, " you want me to cook how many hot dogs?" Eventually saying, "I guess I need to bring the larger grill. " I remember my mom calling me saying so and so is donating this. I have seen men who would barely walk thru the church doors volunteer to drive the hayride, and men work all day long just to get a screen made to show a ball game on. I have seen youth drag the games up and down the stairs each year and people bring in donations of drinks, candy or mums that was huge blessings. I remember going food shopping for trunk or treat with Amy Martin and Kendra just going into someone's field and cutting down cornstalks. Yes I said someone's field.. She new we needed some so she got us some! Lol I have seen church members who have passed  & some who are still with us be so glad to see their children and grandchildren come to the trunk or treat. Faces light up when they see their grand kids in costumes. After a long day and long night, I have seen Jami haul kids to go roll yards. I have spent many Friday nights at church with mom, Debbie and other women decorating for Saturday. I watched my twins go from full costumes, to a Halloween shirt & camo to just regular clothing as they have aged  at trunk  or treat. When they   were little they would tear holes in their costumes by playing so hard that night and I would have to go buy a new costume or make something up for Halloween.  I have so many memories, good thoughts, surprises, excitement to see others type of moments that I can't include them all. I know God has blessed me at with many happy times so just thought I would put my thoughts on paper as we prepare for another trunk or treat. I would love to see some old pics of people dressed up or even a comment. You might have had family show up or an old friend you were happy to see. There might have been a family show up that you invited and from that invite you have seen God work in their life.

As we move thru next week, I'll be emotional thinking about my mom not being with us. I know it is just a trunk or treat to many but  for many years to us it was a family affair,  I guess like a holiday. Pray  for great weather and pray that this year we reach families who do not have Jesus in their lives. Pray that when people step onto the pavement at WBBC that they feel the love that we have for them. I look forward to seeing your costumes and trunks. Your friendliness and welcoming hearts at trunk or treat is what makes it a success. People look at y'all and they see the love of Jesus and I thank you for that!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Good morning. I hope you are having a great Monday. Church was packed yesterday with lots of visitors and I heard from several people that Shane Barksdale delivered a wonderful testimony. I wanted to give a big Thank you to Clif and Vickey Redden for volunteering to teach a few songs to our little ones. Some of you might wonder about the Hokey Pokey song and how that relates to God. Vickie had taught the children that God created everything including the parts of their body. What a great way to make a fun, traditional kid song relate to God. I love it!

Sorry I had to cancel the pumpkin patch trip. It was already so wet & I thought we were going to get more rain Saturday, but it cleared up. Jack was so upset. For the rest of Oct. we will have regular Wed. nights in the Kidz Zone. We will start Christmas play practice during children's church Sunday, November 2. I will be getting your child a Cd before then to start learning the songs.  The Christmas musical will be Sunday night, Dec. 7 at 6:00 pm.  ( I know that is early in the month but I have learned over the years that if we don't get it done early then we compete with everyone's Christmas family parties) Breakfast with Santa will be Saturday, Dec. 13. I think we only have about 10 weeks until Christmas so it will be here before we know it.

Trunk or Treat is very close. Please go ahead and bring in 2L drinks and bags of chips. Leave them in the fellowship hall. I am so thankful for our football parents who got the youth games changed on t or t day to earlier game times!!!!  The youth are planning on working all the games so we need y'all parents to do a trunk, help in the kitchen or help clean up after t or t is over. We will be decorating and trying to set up what we can Friday night, Oct 24. If you can help do that it would be appreciated. I will be at church by 6.  I am excited and looking forward to t or t. I hope you are working on your costume and trunk ideas!! Gonna be a great night for our church to welcome visitors in!

I have to say our church is just the best. During the welcome yesterday I had a church member slip me money as we were shaking  hands and said buy something for the t or t. Wasn't that sweet? So thankful for giving hearts!

Please continue to pray for Josh McBurnetts mom and Candace Harwood's mom. Hopefully, they will have a positive report for us. Continue to lift up Sherry Runyan's mom too. I hope you all have a fabulous week. Get out and invite someone to t or t.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Good morning! Wasn't this past weekend fabulous? God blessed us with some wonderful fall weather! This is my favorite time of the year. I think the great weather encouraged others to get out and get to church yesterday. We had a packed house which was great! I had a great turn out in Sunday school and Teresa had many more kids in Children's church than I did the past week. I am thankful for Teresa's servant heart. She allowed me to get out of the classroom and get a little preaching in. Anyway, it was a great Sunday to be in church!

Trunk or treat will be here soon. Remember it is October 25 from 6-8. Those working or doing a trunk need to need to be at church by 5:00. We need you to do a trunk. Dress up! Youth, I'll have the list back in the gym Wednesday night for those of you who did not get to sign up for a game. There is lots of games open and we need those filled!!!! Thank you to Diane Robinette for getting donations. Thanks to her we will have lots of great door prizes!! I plan on emailing the local radio stations and the papers today to run our T or T info, we'll also have an ad on the digital signs in Southside and RBC, but word of mouth is the best advertisement soooooo start telling people about it now. They'll be a Facebook event so share it too.

Ok let's get to the kid stuff. This Wednesday night the children will not be upstairs in the Kidz Zone. They will be in the gym. Katie will be teaching and Ashley will be teaching the little ones. Thank you to those who were able to come out for Family Movie Night. We had a great time! Jack has not stopped talking about the huge rabbit & wants to set a trap in our yard to catch one. He was also so excited that he got Rolos and Dr. Pepper. He said that was delicious! This Saturday is the pumpkin patch trip. I plan on meeting at the church at 9:30 and we can follow each other or if you know where it is you can meet us there. It is called Green Pumpkin Patch and it is on Green Rd. which is off Slasham Rd. in Southside. I have never been to this one so who knows what we will find. Cost is $10 for kids, $5.00 adults and babies under 2 are free. This does not include the cost of the pumpkin if  you chose to get one. They also have concessions. Let me know if you think you are going because   right now the weather is showing some rain for Saturday so I'll text you Sat. morning if we need to cancel trip due to rain. I hope we have a great, cool Sunny morning! Y'all start praying for that.

Vickie and Clif Redden have been working on music with the 4 & 5 yr olds for several weeks. They will sing a few songs for us this Sunday. Well you never know with little ones, they might stand there and never open their mouths and Vickie will sing! Haha Thank you to Vickie and Clif for serving our little ones!!

I wanted to talk about my lesson in SS yesterday I taught on kindness. We learned the story of Ruth and how she showed kindness and in return it was shown to her. Naomi was married to her husband who died, her 2 sons died so that left her and her 2 daughter in laws. One went back home to her family but Ruth stayed with Naomi. They were poor and Ruth worked in the field and took care of her mother in law. Ruth had lost her husband, was poor and lived in a foreign land but she still   showed kindness to others. Boaz was a wealthy land owner. He saw Ruth working in the field one  day. He had heard of the kindness she showed others. He asked his workers to leave extra grain for Ruth and invited her to lunch one day she took part of her lunch back to Naomi and lots of grain. Boaz was showing kindness to Ruth. He ended up marrying her.  So when I talked to my kids in SS we discussed kindness, those who are kind and those who aren't kind. We need to think about our actions at all times and show kindness to others. They all knew kids who were not kind and to be honest those kids nobody wanted to play with but the ones who are kind  seemed to have many friends. God showed kindness to us by sending  Jesus to die for our sins . We should be extended kindness to others. Are you? Something to think on, especially since our children learn from us and see how we treat others.

Please remember to keep Josh McBurnetts mother in your prayers. The family too. Candace Harwood's mom will have her 2nd brain surgery Thursday. Remember her in your prayers. Sherry Runyan's mom is still sick too. Let's continue to pray for Trunk or Treat and that God will bring those to us who do not know him or who have strayed for Him. I pray that doors will be opened for us to strike up conversations with our visitors and that our kindness to them will make them feel welcome and wanted.  I pray you have a great week!