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Lime Springs United Methodist Church

Our Sunday School lesson continued to focus on the Hebrew names of God found in the Holy Bible. This week we studied Jehovah Ra’ah, “The Lord is My Shepherd.”

Bro. Shannon brought the morning message from Proverbs 33:10-31 entitled “The Ideal Woman.” He started by reminding us of how Americans are always searching for the ideal situation or product in life, such as the ideal vacation, relationship, vehicle, clothing, etc. The problem is we can’t find that which is idea in this world because it is full of imperfect people (Romans 3:23). Yet, we are told to be perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The key is to strive for perfection by following the blueprints given to us in the Holy Bible.

Being Mother’s Day, Bro. Shannon shared the blueprint for the ideal woman and stressed it could easily be the blueprint for all Christians to follow. According to Proverbs, the ideal woman is a valuable wife, vigorous worker and a virtuous woman.

Bro. Shannon encouraged all of us to be valuable in the role God chooses for us, vigorous in all our labors, and virtuous in our lives. He concluded with a moment for the congregation to reflect upon their own precious memories of their mothers and then read Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:1-3.

We observed Holy Communion at the end of the service.

Our evening Bible study was “The Holy Spirit and Miraculous Gifts, Part 2.”

Happy birthday to Ricky Burnett, Kelli Huffstutler, Peggy Thompson, Elmer Brant, Jana Harris and Mary Hurst.

Happy anniversary to Betty and Elmer Brant and Jennifer and John Crawford.

Lime Springs services are as follows: Sunday School at 9:30 a.m., Sunday service at 11 a.m., Sunday Bible study at 5 p.m. and Wednesday prayer meeting at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 755-6356.

Christ Independent Methodist Church

On this beautiful Mother’s Day, Dr. Mac Stinson was so impressed with his memories and studies of the day that he chose the title “Mother’s Day” for his sermon.

He took his scripture from 1 Peter, which was written by the Apostle Peter. This identification came late but eventually found its way into the epistle.

1 Peter 3:1-22 tells us explicitly, leaving nothing merely implied, the duties of wives are husbands. Verse 1 states, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands…” (3:6): “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are.”

1 Peter 3:7: “Likewise, ye husbands dwell with your wives, giving them honor as unto the weaken vessel, and being heirs together of the grace of life.”

Repeatedly we are told throughout the scriptures to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and God commands that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

The problem we face today in seeing God’s commands executed is the fact that we now live in an age of unbelief. Simple things are questioned such as the proper manner of baptism, which is a ceremonial use of water accompanied by the recital of words known as the baptismal formula.

In this age of non-believers, there are those who fail to love and honor their country. Note the spectacular disgrace when our flag is burned. Time and space demand an end to this subject, but the examples of non-believers are legion. God’s demands are simple: We are to love him above all others. We are to love each other and our neighbor as ourselves, always remembering that God is love.

Continue to pray for Everette and Robbie Bagby, Wilma Ellison, Dell Moody, Bonnie Headley, Marlene Deavers and Pastor Dr. Mac Stinson. Pray fervently for tornado victims everywhere.

We invite you to join us Sunday nights at 5 for our film presentation, “That the World May Know.” If you always wanted to visit Israel but never had the opportunity, take advantage of the program we offer. It is very informative and presented by a college professor at biblical sites.

Beulah Camp is fast approaching. Start making plans.

Have a blessed week.

Mount Bethel Baptist Church

Our day of worship began with a song of praise followed by prayer. Being in the Lord’s house with his people is such a wonderful feeling.

The adult Sunday School lesson for this week was “Keeping the Truth.” We first must be able to recognize the truths about Jesus Christ. We learn these truths by attending our Bible study classes and also by studying our Bibles at home. We must not forget these truths.

Next when we hear false teachings or read false doctrines, we are not to be taken in by them. We are to flat out reject them. We are not to add or take away from God’s word; it’s sufficient on its own.

The choir opened the morning worship hour with “Do You Know” followed by the special, “Somebody Loves Me.”

The Rev. Oneil Cleckler’s sermon was taken from Matthew 20:22-23 As all mothers, Salome wanted the best for her sons, James and John. She was thinking of when Christ would reign from his throne, and her request was that one of her sons sit on the right and the other on the left of the Christ. She wasn’t thinking of what would be involved. Jesus said, “Ye know not what ye ask.”

Salome made the request, but Jesus turned to James and John and addressed them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said, “We are able.”

Indeed, they both drank of the same cup. Both men died because of their faith. Salome worshipped the Lord and did what she thought was best for her children. As mothers, sometimes we have to make hard decisions.

We had no evening service so families could enjoy being with their mothers.

Visitors are invited to join us for worship and fellowship.  Sunday School is at 10 a.m.; morning worship at 11; Discipleship Training at 5 p.m. and evening worship at 6.

Bethsalem Baptist Church

The morning service began with lots of great songs. For the special music presentation, the Celebration Choir sang “Jesus Built This Church on Love.”

Bro. Brad preached from Ephesians 4:7-16 a message entitled, “God’s Measurement of Maturity.” We were blessed again, having Dustin and Wendy Glasscock and family joining our church.

No evening service was held due to Mother’s Day.

Wednesday night is family supper at 5:45, followed by choir practice for children and prayer meeting for adults at 6:45.

Pray for all the people in storm areas as well as Johnny Kelley, Diane Moore, Allison Spigner, Charles Bryant, Gene Mims, Dylan Collum, Kyle Pack, Chris and Sonja Cox, Hunter Moore, Lula Spigner, Roy Williams, Elza Enriquez, Ray Moore, Betty McGee, Jim Beck, Dee Dee Nicolau, Charles Owens, Mandy Mims, Wylladean Burns, Bo Gun, Paul Green, Larry Mays and Jeff Patts.

Also pray for our missionaries, all un-churched families, those who lost loved ones, and those in Japan.

Men’s softball will be going on through May 13 for their mid-season tournament.

Jackson Chapel

“Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her” (Proverbs 31:28).

Bro Dewayne Castleberry got the Sunday School hour started off with a good lesson entitled “Redemption and Blessing.”  Bro Gary Fant got the morning worship service started off with “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” and “I Love To Tell The Story.” Bro Gary Fant blessed us with a beautiful song entitled “Hello Momma.”  Bro Dennis’ text came from 1 Samuel 1:24-28 with a message entitled “Where Would We Be Without Our Mothers.”  We need to love our mothers unconditionally because one day they will be gone.  We as mothers should never give up on our children because God never gives up on us.  We should always guide our children in the ways of the Lord because if we do that when they are old they want depart from it.

Happy birthday this week to Cody Edwards.

All of our mothers were recognized in the morning service with Jessica Wilson being our youngest mother and Marie Rhodes was our oldest mother.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Devaughn Welcher, Janice Williams, Randy Gothard, Bro Wayne Cleckler’s daughter, the tornado victims, the service men and women and our lost loved ones.

We will have homecoming on June 5 with Heirline as our guest singers, and the singing will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Calvary Independent Baptist Church

Calvary Independent Baptist Church had great fellowship and services this past Sunday. The morning message brought by Pastor Rick Hatchett focused on mothers and compared unfavorable characteristics of certain women found in the Bible to the godly characteristics the Bible emphasizes women to have. Sunday evening services continued on the study through the book of Revelation, now in chapter 4, with our associate pastor, Oscar Mims.

The youth of Calvary chose to support the victims of our recent storms by buying and donating food supplies with money they had raised through recent events. We truly are grateful for and very proud of our youth. The work God is doing here through our youth pastor, Kevin Shaw, his family and all the teachers is awesome.

Come visit any of our services anytime. Sunday School is at 9 a.m., Sunday worship service and Junior Church 10 a.m., Sunday evening services 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday night services 6:30.

We are located in south Clanton right off Highway 31 past Dollar General on Fulmer Drive.

Jesus doesn’t dwell in a building made with hands. We call Calvary Independent Baptist Church God’s house and we go expecting Jesus to be present in every service. He never disappoints us, by the time even two people show up He is always there right in our midst. Don’t let a holiday or a canceled service keep you from fellowship or worshipping God. Come fellowship with us. We choose to honor God in all services and on all holidays so come expecting the doors to be open and Jesus to be there.

Mars Hill Baptist Church

Mother’s Day was a wonderful day to serve the Lord. If you have now, or had, a godly Mother, be thankful for her and the influence she had on your life. Not every mother is a godly mother.

The congregation joined the choir in singing “Awesome God.” Bro. Terry had his sermon from Matthew 7:24, 27. The choir special was “Keep On The Firing Line” from the old red book. The hymns in that book will be with us for a long time to come.

Please continue to pray for the storm victims, the sick, the injured and especially the unbelievers.

Our Homecoming will be May 22 with two groups coming to sing for us. Second Chance and Holy Destiny will be with us. Make your plans to attend. Homecomings are becoming a thing of the past. Do you remember as a child Homecoming was the event of the summer.

Enjoy a laugh every day, if life gives you 100 reasons to frown, you give life 1,000 reasons to smile.

Pray for my church this week and I’ll pray for yours.

Center Hill

God is still so awesome! The presence of the Holy Spirit was evident in our Sunday

morning prayers services, our Sunday School classes and our worship service.

We are thankful for the 15 who volunteered to spend the day in Cullman Saturday

working to remove debris. Danny Varden showed a few slides and gave a report of the

work they had done. Many of our youth made the trip and everyone talked about how

hard they worked. We are so proud of our youth and thankful for them and for Tim and

Deana, who lead them. Danny summed it all up with a statement that expressed the

feelings of the entire group when he said they received a much bigger blessing than those

they went to help. We will be making more trips and invite anyone interested to join us.

Also, note that Center Hill is a designated drop-off site for your donations. If you have

any questions, please call the church office.

Our mothers were acknowledged and we gave thanks for all of them. Deana Crist sang

a solo “My Father’s Eyes.” She chose this song in honor of their own little blessing who

was dedicated yesterday. Peyton Crist looked like a miniature bride in her beautiful,

white, beaded dress as she was presented for dedication. What a wonderful way to

celebrate Mother’s Day! Her parents are Tim and Deana Crist and her brothers are Chris

and Jordan Naugher. Little Peyton had lots of family and friends there to help her

celebrate. Bro. Jeff invited the church to come forward and lay hands on this family and

pray for them as he led in the prayer of dedication.

Charles and Celeste Elmore played a beautiful arrangement of Precious Memories during

the offering. Bro. Jeff continued his series of sermons in Romans. He allows the Holy

Spirit to lead him and does such a good job of making the Bible “understandable.” We

are so thankful for him and his wife Jackie.

Our Olympians program is growing by leaps! We began in January with about three to five of our own children and we have already grown to 33 children! We give God the praise and glory for all that he has done and all that he will do. We have three more weeks before we end for the summer, but we will be back in August! During the summer we still encourage all the children to continue coming on Wednesday nights. We have activities planned for the entire summer. Jackie Champion plans to teach the children a musical. The children will also be visiting in the community and learning how to serve those in need.

We want everyone to be in prayer and preparation for our unique Vacation Bible School,

which will be at Jemison Park June 6-10 from 6-8 p.m. Our theme is: Servant Soldiers: Servants of Christ/Soldiers of the Cross.

We kicked off our Baby Bottle Drive this week, and it will run through Father’s Day. We

collect money in our baby bottles, which is a reminder of the donations that will be given

to the Care Net Pregnancy Center in Clanton. They are performing a wonderful service to

the community in preventing abortions and offering Jesus Christ.

Bethany Baptist Church

What a wonderful service on this Mother’s Day. It was a pleasure to have our pastor’s

mother with us in our service from Hatley Health Care. How good it was also to be have the presence of Lillian Burkhalter from Opelika. Several family members also visited with us. It was a great time of honoring our godly mothers, singing and worshipping the Lord.

Bro. Steve’s message was taken from our favorite chapter in Proverbs (31) concerning

a virtuous woman. God declares the qualities of a virtuous woman, most importantly

her walk with the Lord. Let us praise those godly women, mothers and daughters in our

lives.

Sunday evening after our monthly business meeting, Bro. Steve brought a good message

from the book of Esther. God blessed the obedience of Esther to bring deliverance to

the Jews. Mordecai reminded Esther of how she could be used; he said, “Who knoweth

whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” At times we are placed at

a crossroads where we make a choice to honor God or not. We should be willing to take

that step of faith and be used of Him.

May birthdays: Jane Vines (8th) and Lillian Burkhalter (12th). May anniversary: Wanda

and Ralph Wilson (16th).

Prayer list: Lillian Burkhalter, Ellen Gray, Ernestine Hatch, our servicemen and women,

Larry Miller, Billie Neeley, Pvt. Josh Peppers, Jesse Wallace, James Bixler and Barbara

Neeley.

See you Sunday!

Mt. Carmel

It was such a blessing to have so many mothers in our worship service as we celebrated

Mother’s Day. Each mother was given a scripture key chain. Several special gifts were

given. The oldest mother in attendance was Elladene Mims; the youngest was Erica Jones; the mother with the most children was Mrs. Clara Campbell. There was a three-way tie for the one with the most children present between Sarah Scott, Missy Mandrell and Chanda Griffin.

Special music for our morning worship service was presented by Cheyenne Cleckley. She sang a beautiful song titled “The Climb.” Bro. Derrell’s message was taken from Proverbs 1:8. He titled it “Three Things My Mother Taught.” Those three things are: stay true to your word, you will reap what you sow, and God will not let you down. He reminded us that values passed on to us by our mothers need to be heeded. We need to take hold of her teachings and let them help us grow. Don’t miss the opportunities you have to let your mother know you love her.

Bro. Derrell’s message for our Sunday evening services was “Mother May I?” taken from

2 Timothy 1:5. As you may recall, this is the title of a game that children use to play.

This game could have been used to teach good manners to children. Paul could see that

young Timothy had received good teachings from his mother and grandmother. As we

look at Godly mothers there are three “May I’s” that we could gain from their lives.

We could say: May I have a faith like you have; one that is full of devotion to God and

family. May I have a heart like yours; one that loves without strings attached. May I

have hands like yours; hands that aren’t afraid of hard work. These “May I’s” can help

us win in the game of life.

Don’t forget that Sunday, May 15, our services are scheduled to be held at the Confederate Memorial Park in Verbena. Worship service will begin at 10:00 in the old church building with lunch following under the pavilion. Each family is asked to bring some hotdogs or hamburgers along with buns, drinks, and side dishes. Paper goods are being furnished. There will not be any services at the church on Sunday evening.

On Saturday, May 14 there will be a grass cutting at the church. All the men (and ladies) are asked to come out to help. It will start around 7 a.m.

Please continue to pray for the ones on our prayer list. We ask that you pray especially

for Hershel Scott, Cecil Franklin, Ruthie Jean Giles, Brian Childress and Minnie and Robert Childress. Also continue to remember Mr. Ricky Cofer and his family in the death of his mother.

Samaria Baptist Church

Mother’s Day 2011. What a marvelous day to spend together in the house of the Lord.  We were blessed with a song by Harold Fraser and Lois Shultz.  We were also blessed by the testimony and song of Darrell and Cathy Willis.  Their story of four years ago related to the birth of their baby girl three and a half months early.  They spoke of the trials and suffering they went through with months of hospitalization, for baby and mom.  The baby weighed 1 pound 6 ounces.  She is now an amazing little 4-year-old, that God has touched with his majestic Hand, and this child will always know she is a miracle from Him.

Our pastor, Bro. Charles Brooks brought his message from 2 Kings 4:8-18.  He entitled his message, “The Greatest Mother.” The Shunamite woman offered a place to stay for one of God’s greatest warriors.  She understood his mission, and spoke to her husband about allowing this man to stay with them, when he was in their territory.  She fed him, and they prepared a place for him to rest.  This was a blessing that was given unto God, as it blessed one of His servants. God blessed her with a child late in life as His reward to her.

Mothers battle for the growth of America and the world.  Mothers support the church and teach our children.  A mother’s love is the closest thing to God’s voice, that showers love on her family.  God uses mothers of faith to care for our families, and to show the care and unselfishness of God.  Our mothers dry our tears, correct our wrongs, and cure our illness by her caring touch, and treatments that she knew would work.  Mother’s hands convey God’s touch and love to a sad, angry, and hurting child, and brings change to a child who has gotten off the narrow path.

Old fashioned mothers who know how to pray for rebellious, and worldly influenced children are one of God’s greatest tools.  Prayers that prick the heart of God, and impress upon Him to bring our children back to Him, and back to us, make Mothers our greatest asset next to our Father God Himself.

God’s work calls for brightness in a dark world.  There is no place for pessimism, grumbling, complaining or disagreeable attitudes that expose selfishness and slow down or quench God’s Holy Spirit.  A mother’s knee is the memory of so many, especially when they are no longer with us. Thank God for the role of mothers.

God bless you today. If you need a church home, we are ready to receive you at Samaria. For more information, call Bro. Charles at the church office at 280-6949.

We welcomed home Lana and Jody Deavers and their boys as they united with us by letter. God is alive here.

Mt. Pisgah

We hope everyone had a happy Mother’s Day.  Mt. Pisgah honored their mothers with reading of some of their favorite scripture verses. The congregation sang a number of favorite hymns of our Mothers There was also a video tribute. Thanks to Nickie and Jason Baugh for the lovely video. The children gave a rose to all the mothers in the congregation. Congratulations to our ladies’ softball team. Their carwash raised enough money for the entry fee for the ladies’ softball team.

Brother Glenn Walker gave a message on “Being Aware of Jesus” based on the Emmaus Road text.  There were no evening services so that everyone could spend more time with their families.

Upcoming events: Jordan Cleckler’s baby shower on May 22 from 2-4 p.m. at Mt. Pisgah;  VBS starts June 11 with sign up and runs June 13-17. We hope to see you at all the events.