Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2B
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2009
Mission serves 294 at Christmas Day dinner
LOADING PLATES ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Members of the Jefferson First United Methodist Church busily load takeout
plates during the Christmas Day missions project. At the left is Rev. Mickey
Kirkindoll, music minister. Facing the camera are (L-R) Krista Martin, Betsy Bryan
and Nancy Hayes.
THEY ARRIVED at the
church at mid-morning on
Christmas Day, bearing gifts
of warm turkey, dressing,
green beans, macaroni and
cheese and desserts.
The fellowship hall was set
up with take-out plates, big
cardboard boxes and tables
properly aligned.
Close to 100 people gath
ered. A youth from the church
sang a couple of songs, accom
panied by his guitar. The
youth minister spoke briefly.
He said, “God so loved the
world that He not only gave
his Son for our sins but also
to show us how to love oth
ers.” And, he continued, we
can show our love to others by
sharing as the church is doing
on this day. There was prayer.
And then it was time to start.
People took stations alongside
the three tables, quickly fill
ing the take-out plates. Others
filled the cardboard boxes
with plates, according to the
number needed for each of the
17 routes.
“We need someone to take
a route to South Jackson,”
announced one of the two
young women organizers. “We
need someone to take a route
to Commerce,” she contin
ued. Volunteers were quickly
found. Young men picked up
the big boxes and loaded them
for the volunteers.
And then there were no
more plates. All 294 had been
filled and dispensed within
an hour.
It is a relatively new mission
project for the Jefferson First
United Methodist Church.
The project was begun in
2008 for Thanksgiving Day
after several couples in the
church had aided an Athens
church for several years in a
similar project. It was decid
ed that the Jefferson church
could provide meals in its
own community not only on
Thanksgiving Day but also on
Christmas Day.
And so it did.
Kim Bost and Carrie
Sommers were the coordina
tors but as they said, it was
“a team effort” and took a lot
of work by a lot of people,
not only on the days involved
but also on many days during
the planning stage. The Rev.
Carey Gibson is senior pas
tor of the church and Spencer
Arnold is the youth minister.
The perfect gift
W HEN IT
came to
Christmas
shopping, this year
was a little different for
me than years past. I
usually have all of my
shopping completed no
later than October 1.
This fall had been
extra busy. I was sick
with pneumonia for
three weeks, and one child
had chronic bronchitis for a
couple of weeks following
my illness. To top things off,
my son had surgery sched
uled for December and ended
up having complications.
Due to all of the unforeseen
circumstances, it was the week
end before Christmas and I had
only purchased two gifts with
48 more to go. With list in hand,
my first stop was the local mall.
I hurried from place to place
making purchases. I found
some wonderful bargains, some
neat gifts and was proud as I
marked each name off the list.
In one store I saw a pretty
sweater for family member,
but thought that since she
and I wore the same size that
maybe I should try it on to
make certain it would fit her.
As I quietly stepped into
the dressing room which was
located in the middle of the
large store, I found
that I was surrounded
by noise. Funny, how
I had not noticed this
before. When I exited
the dressing room, I
started observing the
people around me.
I began to notice
that instead of people
smiling, they all
looked stressed as
they stood in long lines. A
lady bumped right into me
knocking my bags to the floor
and didn't say a word as she
kept walking. Nobody wished
anyone a Merry Christmas.
As I wrapped up my shop
ping, I thought about how
stressful the holiday season
had become for many espe
cially when gift shopping.
Don't get me wrong...I
LOVE to shop and LOVE to
give, but agree that it has got
ten a little out of control. There
is so much emphasis on getting
and giving material items.
In the future we should be
reminded that the reason for
celebrating Christmas is all
too simple and the perfect
gift was simply wrapped
in swaddling clothes and
laid in a simple box.
Sherri Stephens is a
columnist for MainStreet
Newspapers Inc.
Church history
continued from page IB
a certificate from the
Presbyterian Historical Society,
recognizing the church’s 200th
anniversary. Oconee Baptist
Church was founded in 1788
at Hurricane Shoals (Etoho
Baptist Church) and is rec
ognized as the oldest church,
with Thyatira second oldest,
founded in 1795 or 1796.
Today Thyatira Olney
Presbyterian Church is located
on Hwy. 15 in the Thyatira
community, where it has
been situated since the early
1830s, a white wooden “coun
try” church set back from the
road. In between the Hurricane
Shoals site and the current one,
the church had a building on
the Jett Roberts Road.
The church is rich in his
tory, not only the history of the
church and its members, but
also the county’s history, as
its growth reflects the actions
of some of the early settlers of
Jackson County.
James Montgomery started
the Hurricane Shoals settle
ment in the late 1700s. He
left South Carolina in 1784,
with payment for having
served in the Revolutionary
War. Montgomery and Jared
Cunningham formed the settle
ment, with records showing 42
people in the initial group.
The Olney Presbyterian
Church was founded on the west
side of the shoals, with family
names such as Montgomery,
Cunningham, Knox, Appleby,
Story, Hemphill, Kellogg and
Liddell. A Hurricane Grove
Memorial sign now marks the
location of that first church,
reportedly a two-room build
ing named Olney because
the Presbyterian members
sang “Olney hymns.” Pastor
Cunningham led the church
in 1799 and it was based on
r -i
Thanks from
Lula Little
the Olney hymns of the Olney,
Buckinghamshire parish in
England — such as the well-
known “Amazing Grace” writ
ten by John Newton — rather
than psalms.
Today a pioneer graveyard
can still be found at Hurricane
Grove Memorial.
Records indicate that during
the church’s years at Hurricane
Shoals, church funds were
used to fund missionary efforts
to convert the area Indians to
Christianity.
THYATIRA
In 1828, the Thyatira
Presbyterian Church of Rowan
County, N.C., recognized the
Jackson County church for its
works and served as a church
sponsor. Thus the name was
changed to the Olney-Thyatira
Presbyterian Church.
While records may show
that the second building for
the church was located at Jett
Roberts Road, near the grave
of a John Harrison, a deed
dated to 1830 shows the third
church building to be located
in its current site. The land was
deeded to the church elders,
with the land then passing
down to the elders, ensuring
that the church never closes.
Other church records include
a survey plat from August 28,
1889, which shows the church's
location on the land, as well as
that of a schoolhouse.
“I remember there was a
building on the property, down
below the church, that was
used as a schoolhouse, prob
ably a one-room schoolhouse,”
Mrs. Wilhite said.
Indeed, 1915 school records
show 62 pupils attending the
Thyatira school, “situated on
the Presbyterian Church lot in
a very beautiful grove.”
The current church building
was established in three parts.
The original front segment was
built in the early 1830s. An
addition to the sanctuary was
made sometime between 1890
and 1950, and a Sunday School
annex was made in 1950. Prior
to 1949, the area around the
church building was heavily
wooded, and photographs from
that time show church mem
bers clearing away timber.
“The porch has been added
and there were two aisles
because there were two front
doors, while now there is one
door and one aisle,” Mrs.
Wilhite said.
The inside of the church is
still all wood - wood ceilings,
wood floors, wood walls —
with heart of pine boards mea
suring “as much as 12 inch
es wide,” Mrs. Wilhite said.
“Everyone who comes here to
sing talks about how good the
acoustics are.”
At one time, the church was
attended by slaves, and a door
used by the slaves was con
verted to a window during the
1950 renovation.
“Back earlier that we don’t
remember, slaves went there
and used a side door that is
now a window,” Mrs. Wilhite
said. She remembers hearing
that there may have been a
balcony in the church for the
slaves to use, and said the rock-
marked graves of the slaves
remain in what is now a wood
ed area nearby.
“Mrs. Clara Barnett kept the
church history, and she lived to
be past 100,” Mrs. Wilhite said.
“A lot of stuff I heard through
the years and wish we had
written down.”
In 1950, the church was
thriving, with records showing
113 people attending Sunday
School. A church scrapbook
included the information about
how the Sunday School annex
came to be, with a estimated
value of the annex and “work
on the grounds” listed as
$8525.
“This work was accom
plished with the total expense
of $1,906.67 plus 5,280 hours
of manual labor, 525 hours of
tractor labor, 24 hours bull-
dozier and nine hours grader,”
records say. The hours were
donated by the county, com
munity and church members.
Before the annex was made,
“curtains inside the sanctuary
were pulled around to divide
off into Sunday School,” Mrs.
Wilhite said.
“There was a wood heater
there in the Sunday School
room and there were two in
the front room,” Mrs. Wilhite
remembers. “I was around 12
when the annex was added,
and James was there when
the additions were made. His
uncles, Charlie Nunn and Hoyt
Nunn, were overseeing the
work, and the people of the
church did the building.”
During those years, the
church had a sizable youth
group, with preacher Carl
Kessel and his wife, Jean,
involved. The “tacky party”
pictured on this page was dur
ing those years.
In 1957, Mrs. Wilhite’s sis
ter, Lou Ann Wilson, married
John H. Bell at the church.
It was the first wedding ever
known to be held at that church
building.
“A lot of people went to the
ordinary's home or the preach
er’s home or to the court
house to be married,” she said.
“There wasn’t a front porch
then, so the receiving line was
out under the big trees.”
Through the years, the
Thyatira church served as
“mother church” for two other
local Presbyterian church
es — Jefferson Presbyterian
and Sardis Presbyterian, Mrs.
Wilhite said.
“They both went out from
our church,” she said. “Sardis
was out on the Thyatira-
Brockton Road.. .1 reckon our
church is one of the oldest in
the county.”
The cemetery, with its
unmarked rock graves, as well
as the carved markers, reflects
that.
“How far back the slave
graves go, I can’t tell you,”
Mrs. Wilhite said. “The oldest
graves in the other part of the
cemetery are in the top part.
I've been all up in it many
times, and there are still some
of us that intend to be buried
there. That’s the only church
we’ve been to all our lives,
and my sister, too, and we’re
all still there. The church is
very dear to us. It’s where our
families are buried and where
we’ll be.”
—history provided from the
church scrapbook. Andrea
Montgomery Adams. Jan Smith
and “Our Time and Place:
A History of Jackson County
Georgia ”
Founder’s
Corner
by
Buhl Cummings
FINDING JESUS... Shepherds
gathered their flowing robes to
hurry to Him; the Magi braved
cold, desert, and mountains to
find Him; a doubting follower
exclaimed "My Lord and my
God," when he really found Him.
And today, those on every
continent who have come to Him
declare with the Apostle Paul:
"The Son of God, who loved, me,
and gave Himself for me"
(Galatians 2:20).
Wise men still seek Him, and
those who seek, find. In and
through Jesus Christ, and Him
alone, are to be found
forgiveness, inward peace, joy in
life today, and the promise of life
eternal.
ATHENS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
“Affordable Quality Education Since 1970”
K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586
www.athenschristian.com
HEART OF PINE
The walls, ceilings and floors of the church are made of
wide pine boards. Visiting singers say the wood makes
for great acoustics.
SANCTUARY RESTRUCTURED
The Thyatira Olney Presbyterian Church once had two
doors in front and two interior aisles. Today the church
has one centered set of doors and one center aisle.
To:
Chief Randy
Williams
and
Kevin Bailey
of the Arcade
Police Dept,
for rescuing me
10-01-09 from my
car accident.
L
3 terry Christmas from
WJJC Radio
1270 AM
It is our Wish that your Christmas Holiday
will be the best ever!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Our Family at
WJJC Radio to Yours.
www.WJJ-C.net 706-335-1270