Why does Johnson City need another church? I would like to tell you our story. The Lord started this journey when I was a child and would visit my family in Johnson City. Oh how my heart would sink when we would leave. Fast forward a few years and my wife and children would have that same feeling.
For a young educator it was a dream job. I had the privilege of supervising ten private elementary schools located along
Mexico’s west coast from Tijuana on the U.S. border to Tapachula near the border with Guatemala. Three of “my” schools were located in the beautiful state of Veracruz. I also had schools located on the Yucatan peninsula and Puebla.
On February 26 many churches will be celebrating Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, culminating in Holy Week and Easter. During this service the participants may receive ashes on the forehead, with words similar to “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” These words are based on Genesis 3:7 where God creates man out of dust, and Genesis 3:19, where God tells Adam,”for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Because Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they lost the perfection God ...
My parents were out the evening the call came. The gentleman on the phone identified himself as N. Eldon Tanner, a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He left his phone number and requested that my father call him the next morning to make an appointment.
My father was born in Mexico and had become a naturalized citizen of the United States.
The early books of Holy Scriptures recounts the Hebrew peoples’ exodus from Egypt and their movements towards Palestine. Moses addresses the people before their crossing the Jordan river in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, in essence telling them to choose either life or death. If they choose to follow God and worship Him as their Lord and Savior, they choose life.
Ash Wednesday — the 26th — begins the Christian period of Lent, a time for reflecting on one’s spiritual self during the 40 days leading up to Easter, the Crucifixion, and Resurrection. The first traditional step is receiving a cross of ashes on the forehead, as a reminder of one’s own mortality: ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
I have just returned from visiting my daughter, Jillian, who lives in the Dallas area. She is confined to a bed after surgery to both legs. She expressed her gratitude at my visit during which we reminisced about years gone by and she helped me overcome some of my ignorance about the applications of modern technology.
Her gratitude for my brief visit reminded me of an account by Louise Lake, a beacon of courage and faith to many of my parents’ and succeeding generations.
By Pastor Richard Snyder, retired
The fifth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew contains the Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Beatitudes. These may be the most well known verses of Holy Scriptures, and they may also be the most misused and most misunderstood texts of Holy Scriptures.
Abraham Lincoln’s best known proclamation is the “Emancipation Proclamation” (January 1, 1863). Three months after that famous proclamation, March 30, 1863, he issued another, remarkable in its own right though lesser known—for a national day of fasting. In fact, it was the second such proclamation, the first having been issued August 12, 1861, after a joint request from both houses of Congress, and the latter in response to a Senate resolution.
While ministering to a small mission church in Georgia, we always celebrated Epiphany by gathering for a potluck supper, followed by a Service of Light in the back yard. Except for the lights in the yard and our flashlights, we began our service in darkness. Strange how that is, strange because we have just finished the amazing story of Advent and Christmas, the focus being the Incarnation of our Lord, the focus being on God, the Word from before time becoming flesh.
Now we come to a time i ...
