Mother's Day is always interesting around EBC. The median age of our church is coming down, so we have more families that travel to be with mom each year. So, while it is not a "big attendance" day, it is a very special day. We started the service with a video of "momisms." They were great and brought back many memories, like what mom taught us about religion... "You better pray that comes out of the carpet," or what she taught us about time travel... "I'll knock you into next week."
Like most churches, we always give away awards to a variety of mothers. Most churches recognize the oldest mother, mother with most children, etc. At EBC, we make it fun! Last year, we recognized the mom who killed the biggest buck (deer) with ammunition or their car. This year, we recognized the mom who has accumulated the most traffic tickets, the mom with the most friends on Facebook, the 15th mom to text in, the mom whose child could convince us that she deserved an award, and the mom who had been married the longest... to the same man! Congratulations Ms. Hoffman on 67 years!
A highlight of the service was to show the picture of the first baby born with the help of the Carolina Family Planning Centers and then interviews with two of the moms and several of the volunteers. It obviously struck a cord, because our folks took 75 baby bottles to use as coin banks between now and Father's Day to benefit the CFPC.
We gave away tote bags to the moms and we gave them encouragement by looking at four moms in the Scriptures: Jacobed- the example of protection, Hannah- the example of prayer, Eunice- the example of teaching, and Mary- the example of persistence. We prayed for those who desire to be mothers, but are struggling with infertility. We closed the service by encouraging all of our ladies to be mentors to other women. IT WAS A GREAT MORNING!
Since so many local churches don't hold a service on Mother's Day evening, we started hosting a local concert. Last night, we hosted Lumber River and had a great crowd! It's a good reminder that people like all types of music and we need to minister to all types of people.
1 comment:
Hey Gary. This is Taylor Knock, former member who had to move away about a year ago. Glad to see your still keeping up with this.
Just wanted you and all those we knew at Emmanuel that my wife, Ashley, and I are doing great. We're currently living up in Charlotte, and attending the awesome Elevation Church.
That's all about to change, however, because we're moving to South Korea next month to teach English. I have felt a calling to go overseas for reasons the Lord has only somewhat revealed to me at this time, and I am excited to be making my way down the path God has set before me. Whether the Lord wants me to meet certain people, do missionary work, be there for a certain event, learn something I wouldn't have otherwise, or do any number of other things I have no idea. I have some ideas, but little concrete. All I know is I've been told to go.
Before I went I wanted to get back in touch with you, and let you know how much Ashley and I enjoyed our time at your church. The experiences of our lives had taught me and Ashley there was little good at small town churches, and I believe God led us to Emmanuel to show us there are some churches in small towns that are still trying to do things right. We're happy for the time we got to spend there, and are glad to be making steps down the path God has set before us. Thanks for being our pastor, and I wish you all the best!
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