The Visitor » The Visitor – January 1, 2012

Here and There
Happy New Year! We extend these greetings to all our members and to their families and pray that this will be a prosperous year in every respect. And, in the words of the apostle John, “I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2) Now I would have you notice the position of the specifics in his prayer, first there is his prayer for good health and then his request that it be equal to the prosperity of your soul.
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In many respects, we have had a good year. We have had new members come to bless our fellow- ship for which we are very thankful and we have had others who have asked that we pray for them to be more faithful. The sad part, is that we also have had to say goodbye to dear ones, both by death and by the necessity of some having to move to be near their children for care in their advanced years. We thank God for all of the opportunities to be of service to members of this good church and for unique opportunities to teach the good news too.
One of those sad occasions is upon us today as we say goodbye to Rita Wood who has served the congregation for the past seven and a half years as our secretary. We have appreciated her loyalty to her duties and to her willingness to always be available to do extra duty. We wish her well, along with her daughter, Cathy. They will be attending the congregation in Midlothian. I have every confidence that we will see her often as a visitor for I’m sure that she will not be able to resist coming to visit just to stay in touch.
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Today, Roger Owen will be preaching and putting emphasis on our new effort to be regular readers of the Bible. If you have not gotten your copy of the “Daily Bible,” please let me know as well as the notebooks that we will be using for our continued studies in the scriptures each Wednesday night during 2012. We are indebted to him for preparing the materials that will be distributed each week.
And while I am at it, let me tell you how very grateful I am for Roger and Linda being part of this church family. Not only have we profited by his excellent teaching and preaching, but his other abilities in carpentry, our sound system and for the genuine joy these two bring to our lives. We thank God for these two precious souls.
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Our usual custom Is to have our annual stockholders meeting on the first Sunday of the new year, but due to that date also being a holiday, we have postponed it until next Sunday, January 8, following the afternoon service. We encourage all of you to be present for this important meeting to satisfy the state requirements for being a non-profit organization. We will have details of our financial statements for the year for you to review as well as our proposal for the new year.
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We urge you to keep up your habit of watching In Search of the Lord’s Way every Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. on Channel 27, KDFI-TV. Phil’s message for January 8, will be “Speaking the Truth.”
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Join us this afternoon following our worship service for a delightful meal of black eyed peas, cornbread, and ham. Bring a friend if you have one.
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Let me close by mentioning a special trip that Rick Ramsey, Ben Perkins, Roger Owen and I made last week over to Terrell to see our dear brother Daniel Ho. We couldn’t tell who got the best end of the visit, us or Daniel. We know that he is looking forward to being back with us. We will continue to keep tabs on his progress and keep you posted about his progress.

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PRAYER LIST
Mary Ruth Percival – Grace Presbyterian Village, Room 1001, 550 Ann Arbor Dallas, TX 75216.

Larry Armstrong; Jack and Oleta Armstrong; Addie Bennett; Charlie and Nadine Brown; David and Mary Jean Calvert; Betty Choate; Dr. J. Coats; Don Costin, brother of Faelyn Watson; Jim and Ada Couch; Tom Duvall; Ruby Faas; Virginia Flanagan; Doris Henry; Helen High; Bill Hinton; Ed Horn; Catherine Jayroe; Nancy Lindley; Wanda Maloy; Billie Morgan; Bobbie and Vince Muirhead; Lula Murray; Vernon Percival; James & Ann Schoolfield; Dan Sherbit; Elvira Solis; Nancy Spurgeon; Shirley Thomas, sister of Billie & Jean Thompson; Treva Traylor; Rick and Sissy Wallace, nephew-in-law and niece of Agnes Nelson; Stan White; Fran Womelsdorf; Marie Works

Prayer List – Military
Kevin Bruce, great-nephew of Rita Wood, in Afghanistan
Agnes’ Family Military:
Cpl. Gray,Timothy C.;A1C Meredith,Ryan S. PFC Vincent, Nathan (Addresses for these men are on the bulletin board in the foyer.)
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Vital Signs Dec 25, 2011 Bible Class No Class
Offering: $2,111.25 Morning Worship: 50
Budget: $2,864.62 Wed. Evening,12/21 NC
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“Looking Forward”
We are all looking forward to the time when our pews are filled up, and there is a turn around in our country and folks will all turn back to our Lord, and live as he would have us do! Return prayers in our schools and in public places, as it used to be! May love and friendship prevail once again in place of apathy, and the don’t care attitude lots of folks have today. The odd part of it is, it’s much easier to have a big smile on our faces and to be friendly to all than it is to scowl and act ugly!
Our preacher is a good example of this in the way he lives. I have never heard him say a derogatory thing about any one, and always has a friendly positive attitude about everything! Even after all the months he was laid up in the hospital a while back, he always had a good outlook on things. Like we’ve said before I’ve never seen so many people praying for an individual as Wes was, which just shows the kine of influence he has, and folks who love him!
We are all looking forward to the January 1st get together, and the cornbread and black eyed peas, and some of our ladies good desserts.
Don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging but our ladies are the best cooks we’ve ever had the privilege of being around. I remember when our dear old friend, Grady, used to bring the coconut pies that were so good.
Roger said in the last column to let him know of any funny incidents connected to the church, and I thought of one that I heard… A mom and her little 4 year old were sitting on the first row listening to the preacher that was walking back and forth on the podium when he got caught up in his mike cord, and the little boy said… “Mom if he gets loose will he hurt us?”
Well, folks we’ll sign off and pray we will see you on the Lord’s Day!
We love you all. Jack and Oleta