The next Missions Circle Meeting will be on Tuesday, November 14 at 10:30 a.m. in the Gathering Room. We are receiving numerous requests from nonprofit groups for help. We will be discussing those needs. Anyone who is not a member is very welcome to join.
All Saints’ Day
Join us for a service of worship and remembrance
during our All Saints' Day service
on Sunday, November 5.
WMU Notes
GAs, RAs, Acteens and our new Mission Friends program have gotten off to a wonderful start for the school year. The leaders are especially full of love and energy this year!
The GAs had a wonderful camping trip at Standing Indian. Lots of fun and food along with a wonderful Bible study led by Sandi Allen on Sunday morning.
RAs have been learning about Jesus through their leader, Dr. Jeff Mathis. They have been watching an animated film about the life of Jesus. I have heard from the boys that they are loving it!
Acteens had a recognition ceremony for mothers, daughters, and WMU members. We had a wonderful lunch thanks to Pearl Hall and Carrie Nelson. The new members received bracelets and charms, while members received new charms for their hard work!
WMU members visited the Baptist Children’ Home in Clyde for their October meeting. It was very rewarding for those attending.
We Need Candy for Our TREAT STREET Event!
We are in need of candy for our Treat Street event on Halloween. Help us prepare for the annual event that reaches our neighbors! Candy can be dropped off in our Loving Kindness Center. And then make plans to join us for Treat Street on our front lawn from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 31! This is a great opportunity to love our community as we expect hundreds of children and their families to visit us.
1st Explorers After-School Ministry Update
Melanie Stokely, on-site coordinator for the program, reports that the children are thoroughly enjoying the new puzzle table gifted to them by the WMU Circle. Thank you!
And, thank you to those who have been keeping us supplied with snacks. What a blessing to receive these!
Lori Meservey awed the 1st Explorers with her knowledge of the organ and with her incredible playing skills. We always enjoy having her come visit us!
Curtis Collins from the Health Department incorporated sportsmanship in outdoor games that he played with the children. It was a fun week!
Mission Moment 10.25.23
Rick Burnette
CBF Field Personnel, Florida
About 20 years ago, while serving with CBF Global Missions in northern Thailand, I was given a book, The Man Who Moved a Mountain by Richard C. Davids (1970, Fortress Press). This biography of Rev. Bob Childress (1890-1956) resonated with me on various levels.
Childress was a Presbyterian minister born and raised in southwestern Virginia at the climax of a very violent period in Appalachia during the early 20th century.
From my time in western North Carolina, I gained an awareness of those days, learning about my dad’s great grandfather, an infamous moonshiner who shot and killed a revenue officer in 1920. I listened to Grandaddy Crawford’s accounts of witnessing drunken brawls. I also heard that the granddad of one of my classmates had been a local fugitive after taking someone’s life, although we knew him as a nice, old Holiness preacher.
My 1960s and 70s mountain community bore no resemblance whatsoever to those violent days and I’ve often pondered how such a change could have happened. The life and ministry of Bob Childress might offer a clue.
Childress’ impoverished turn-of-the-century community was soaked in alcohol, overrun by guns, stained by constant violence, unable to support a decent educational system and undermined by fiery, fatalistic preachers who failed to speak out and act against these evils.
Overcoming his own rough period of youth, with encouragement from a young Presbyterian preacher, Childress began to reach out to hurting neighbors while serving as a lay preacher. While in his 30s, he felt the call to be a full-time minister. Despite having only an eighth-grade education, the former blacksmith powered his way through high school and college, finally receiving a degree from Union Seminary in Richmond prior to ordination.
On June 3, 1926, Childress and his family moved to violent and impoverished Buffalo Mountain, not far from where he was raised. The next three decades of ministry were built on his neighborliness, prophetic voice and constructive action.
In addition to preaching and teaching, the pastor reached out to the most violent in the community. He convinced many of the futility of gun culture, persuading them to disarm, thereby gaining friends as well as church leaders from among former rogues. He also made inroads among local alcohol producers and dealers, as well as the uneducated Hardshell Baptist preachers, whose fatalistic theology had helped to perpetuate bloodshed.
To enable more children to attend the Presbyterian school and stimulate the local economy, the pastor advocated for bridges and improved roads. With an abundance of timber on Buffalo, he established a sawmill that employed local men. The pastor also engaged another local asset, rocks, using them to construct six sturdy and attractive stone churches around Buffalo Mountain.
Childress died of a heart attack in 1956, leaving behind a legacy of local cooperation, reduced violence and poverty, improved infrastructure, and a functional educational system, as well as healthy church communities.
While serving in CBF Global Missions’ efforts in northern Thailand and southwest Florida, the testimony of Bob Childress has inspired me. His example, in recognition of God’s loving presence, illuminates needed integrated and collaborative ministerial approaches in response to physical, spiritual and societal challenges around the world.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
WMU Leadership Team Meeting
After discussion, the Leadership Team voted to meet every other month. The next meeting will be November 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Table room. That will make it easier for Mission Circle members to meet following the Leadership Team meeting.
The Hospitality Table After Worship Is Back!
Sign up here to provide goodies and beverages on Sunday mornings after worship.
When we are hospitable, our congregation can become a church on the sidewalk after worship while munching on a cookie or sipping fruit punch. Click here and find a Sunday to host our Hospitality Table!
WNCBF Fall Gathering
Sunday, November 12
Canton First Baptist Church
5:00 p.m. Meal | 6:00 p.m. Worship
We will have our annual Fall Gathering on November 12 at Canton First Baptist Church. Following a fellowship meal, we will worship together as we remember the influence of saints around us and those who have gone on before us. Reverend Doctor Guy Sayles will be our proclaimer, and congregants will have an opportunity to light a candle prior to the worship service in memory of friends and loved ones. Child care will be provided.
Cost is $20 per person (12 and under eat free.) The meal is provided by WNC Baptist Campus Ministries (grilled chicken or pork chop, salad bar, potato bar, bread, and dessert.)
Click here to register now! Or register and pay in person. To register by phone and pay in person, please call 828-667-4541 (M – Th, 9 am – 3 pm).
We will be taking an offering that evening in memory of Rev. Dr. Tommy Bratton, to be given to CareNet Counseling in Marion, NC. If you would like to donate online now to that offering, click here.
Flowers for Sanctuary
If you would like to provide flowers in the sanctuary for Sunday morning services, please contact Gwen Messer at 828-506-8370, or Janice in the church office to be placed on the calendar.