| Ministry Update Saturday, June 12th at 6:00 P.M. is a big night here at the church. It will be our annual Father, Son, and Friend banquet. Tickets are $8.00 and are available for purchase from Tom Hodge, Rich VanNatter, or Bill Gable. The theme is getting in the yoke with Christ, Matthew 11:28-30. Our guest speaker is Steve Christenson, Chaplain at Sunday, June 13th, is our youth Sunday. I hope that all will be here to see the work that God is doing in our youth program. We will celebrate some accomplishments as well as give some of the youth an opportunity to lead in some parts of our worship service. Sunday, June 20th is also a big day here at church. We will celebrate Father’s Day with a special sermon focused on Biblical manhood and will have a gift for all the men who attend. June 27th at 6:00 P.M. will be our Family/Friend Day Picnic and we will have a special concert from the bluegrass group Coast Line. Please come and be a part of this family event. |
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Women’s Missionary Another Big Thank You to all who participated in helping with the Mother-Daughter-Friend banquet in May. This year’s banquet had the largest attendance ever with 91 ladies present. I think it was a big success and we are looking forward to next year and hope you are too. Coming up on Saturday, June 12 at 6:00 P.M., another “BIGGY;” this time for the men. Let’s see if we can have another big turn out of fathers, sons, uncles, cousins, and friends. The ladies will be sponsoring this event to honor the men at A great dinner of ribs and chicken on the grill prepared by our famous chef, Jimmy, and helper John will be served. They always do a great job and the food is delicious. Also, good musical entertainment and a few other surprises! Come out and “get your socks blessed off!” Also on Tuesday, June 15th at 7:00 P.M., the ladies will be having our annual “salad supper.” Amazing what wonderful salads our ladies come up with to bring. This will be our final meeting until September. We would really like to have you join us whether you attend our Missionary meeting or not. Just bring a salad to share with all of us. There will be a very brief informal meeting after supper. If you work late and don’t have time to make a salad and would like to come, that’s OK, come anyway. There is always an abundance of food! See you soon! |
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Band of Brothers The Band of Brothers is a men's study group that meets Monday nights at 7:00 p.m. All men are welcome to join. |
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Recovery Group Friends in Recovery is a Christ centered Biblical 12 step program. Our goal is to help those in recovery from their hurts,habits and hangups. We have groups to help with chemical and sexual addiction as well as those who struggle with codependency or divorce recovery. We meet at 7:00pm Saturdays. Recovery News : I am thankful for the way God has worked in our recovery ministry. We started last year with 6 people and now have been averaging 30. We have been reaching both men and women who are in recovery for various reasons. We have recently partnered with Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Center as becoming part of there recovery program. |
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Pardoned By God The Testimony of Pastor Atley Hall I'm writing this in the hope that you will see what God has done for me, He will also do for each and everyone who reads this. It doesn't matter how much you have done in the past, He will always be there just waiting for you to ask Him into your life. Some may say it is too late, but if you are reading this, it isn't too late. I pray God will in some way through my story touch your heart so that you will allow Jesus Christ to be your Savior. I was born and raised in Nassawadox, Virginia and by the age of nine, I was out of control. The year my father died was the beginning of a downward spiral for me. I started to drink and smoke dope. I thought I was the man of the house and could do what I wanted. No matter who tried to talk to me, I knew everything. I had a number of problems with the police growing up, but always got out of it. At that time, I thought I was "just that good," but as I would come to find out, it was God looking over me, even then. As the years went by, I just got worse. I was looking for something to fill the empty space inside of me and would try anything. I was searching for something that I wouldn't find for many years. It took me getting tired of the life of alcohol and drugs, and finally deciding I wanted more out of life than one big party. That's all life was from the time I was nine years old until at the age of nineteen, when I decided that there had to be something better. I decided to leave home and move to Alabama, but little did I know, if you don't deal with your problems, they will go with you wherever you go. When I got to Alabama, I got a job and a place to live, I gave up drinking and drugs, but there was still an empty spot in my life. I decided to get married to see if it would be what I was looking for. After six months of being married, I was arrested for eight bad check charges. I thought I could get out of this like I had everything else in life, but God had another plan. I was put in jail with no bond because I wasn't from Alabama. I had so much hate in me at this point because I had lost my freedom. I didn't want anything to do with anyone. I was so out of control they had to put me in a cell by myself. On the first Monday night, a man came to my cell by the name of Harold Smith from a local church. This man was so full of joy and wanted to tell me about the Bible and how I could have joy even in jail. Over the next two months, I cursed this man, spit on him, and even threw water on him, but he never stopped smiling or coming. One night he didn't come and that was the night God started to work on my heart. The next week when he came back, I gave my life to the Lord. I started to read the Bible and pray. When I did go to court, the judge gave me one hundred and sixty years in the state prison for the eight checks. Everyone thought I was going to give up, but it didn't matter because I had found what I had been looking for. I went to prison and there is where God let me know He wanted me to become a pastor, so I began my studying. After three and a half years, God allowed a lawyer to have my case overturned and I was released from prison. No one could believe what happened, but I knew it was all God. I continued my study and became ordained August of 1983. I worked and preached every chance I got to tell people of how God had worked in my life. As the years went by, I pastored and worked as often as I could. Then after twenty-five years, I got to the point where I felt I had done enough and wanted to do things my way again. That was the biggest mistake I ever made. After only six months, I started using crack cocaine, and from that point on, everything went downhill fast. While on crack, my mother passed away and I didn't even know until two weeks after she had died. It was at this point I knew I needed to get help and I knew what I had to do. I got on my knees and prayed. I asked God to forgive me for leaving Him. The next day, I got on the bus and came back to Virginia where I checked into the Salvation Army and started to devote my life to God again. While there, my wife died in a car accident due to drugs. I had to give that to God, like I had everything else. I completed the program in June of 2009. But God healed me in December of 2008, when I had prayed and stepped out in faith and got on the bus to come back to Virginia. God blessed my life with a caring and dedicated pastor. A lot of friends, and a program called Friends in Recovery. Today, I praise Jesus for all He is doing in my life. He has blessed me to work with people in recovery. This is a call He has put on my heart and I am going to do it until he leads me down another path. I'm only writing this so you can see that God is still at work. The same things He has done for me He will do for you and maybe, even more. If you will turn your life over to Him, you will receive healing from your hurts, habits, and hang-ups. You will be able to have that empty spot in your life filled. My prayer is that in some way, my story will give others hope for a future. A future with Jesus at the center of your life. Your Brother in Christ, Pastor Atley (A.J.) Hall |
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