Periodically, the ministerial staff will add a reflection or blog. Check back frequently to see if new blogs have been posted.
Friday, October 14, 2011 | Andrea Woolley I wanted to use this opportunity to thank all of you for your concern and prayers for me and my family during this time. Three weeks ago today, my dad had a stroke. I was able to go home a few days later to be with them when he came home from the hospital. It was good to be there, but it was very difficult to see my dad changed.
Thursday, October 6, 2011 | Andrea Woolley By: William Johnson
It started with a phone call asking for permission to set up a tent and spend the night on the church property. Seemed like a simple enough request, but with insurance coverage and liability issues, it was not. But we worked it out and by signing a release form, the four young men could spend the night on the church property.
Thursday, September 29, 2011 | Jason Crosby On Sunday evening, September 11, I was driving home from CHBC listening to NPR's broadcast of a "Concert for Hope" at the Kennedy Center. After President Obama spoke, a woman whose husband died in the 9/11 attacks read a reflection crafted by a British columnist in the days after the attack. Despite my best efforts to identify that woman's name and the author's name, I could not do so. Nonetheless, I want to share the essence of that message because it spoke to me so profoundly. Basically, what she read was as follows:
The 9/11 attacks were fueled by hatred and rage. The highjacking of those planes and the crashing of those planes into buildings and fields brought that hatred and rage before the eyes of the world. Those responsible for the attacks believed, at least in part, that their hate filled actions would prevail that day.
However, hate did not prevail. Many trapped inside the World Trade Centers that day knew the end was near. Many who found themselves in that situation used their cell phones or other's phones to say their last words to loved ones, friends, and family. Almost without exception every call from those trapped in the soon-to-fall buildings that day ended with the words "I love you." Even in the midst of that terror, hate and rage could not extinguish love. Ultimately, those calls out of the towers, as simple as they were, were more powerful than those planes crashing into the towers.
I live in hope, even in a world where 9/11 tragedies occur far too often, because I too believe that no amount of hate and terror can triumph over love.
Thursday, September 15, 2011 | Andrea Woolley By: Louie Bailey
Please note: The original blog was intended to be posted in June just following Father's Day.
This past Sunday was Father’s Day and it brought a flood of memories and reflections to my mind. My father, Mitchell Lee Bailey (“Bud” or “Mitch”), was a World War II veteran who lost a leg in the war in the South Pacific. He and I never talked about his experiences in the war, and my mother said that he never wanted to talk about it. I do know that probably one reason I am a minister now is because he had what some people call a “foxhole conversion.” Prior to going into the service, Daddy had been a Christian in name only. According to my mother, he had a life-changing experience as he suffered in the foxhole and promised God that if he got out of there alive he would serve the Lord all of his life..
Thursday, September 8, 2011 | Andrea Woolley By: Andrea Woolley
I over hear the teaching and the conversations most days from my office. I see the boys after their classes, at lunch, and during their breaks. They seem different this year –lighter (not as weighed down by the stress), happier, more content, but most importantly HOPEFUL. The Hope Academy, run by Annette Ellard and Steve Clark, with a few volunteers, Andy Bates, Mary Neal Clark, Carolyn Posey, and Jessica Johnson, has been in session for 2 weeks now.