The Weekly Visitor -- Online Edition

From the Minister's Desk

There isn't a lot to do on New Year's Day except watch football, have some friends over for dinner, and talk about good old times. But when you are as young as I am those good old times weren't very long ago. I did watch a two-hour program in the morning that was put on by one of the 'think tanks' from Washington D.C. about the changes that occurred in the 20th century. I was surprised at how good a shape we are in as a nation. Of course there is a lot of room for improvement, but things aren't quite as bad as I had thought. For example, even though church membership has dropped from a high of better than 60% in the 1950's to 42% today, it is still higher than it was in the 1920's when those claiming church membership in the country was only 24%. and even though the population grew from about 65 million in 1900 to 280 million in 2000, the poverty level in this country has decreased. We are a nation of affluence and it shows throughout all social, economic, and racial barriers. That's good news!

The bad news is that there are 58% of the people in this country that do not claim any kind of church affiliation. That means there is a lot of work to do and the only people who can do that work are church members. Where does that leave us? Well, this past year we had 39 new members join by transfer of membership or baptism. That number could easily have been doubled if we were bringing some of those 58% of the people who do not claim church membership. I hope that together we will have at least 50 new members this year. We also met our budget and even exceeded it. That shows that you are committed to a growing congregation. We added some new programs that have great potential for aiding the mission of the Church. This is great! I hope that this next year will be as successful as this past year. Thank you all for your contribution. See you Sunday, the first worship day of the new millennium.

Your Pastor

We welcomed the following visitors: JoAnn Acuff, David & Sarah Parnell, Jay Page, Ricky Hutchens, Koby Lamberth, Glen Claburn.

We express our deepest sympathy to the family of Nettie Margaret Fralich Nicholson. Nettie passed away Tuesday, January 2, in Birmingham Ala. She was the Aunt of Patsy Keith, Ginger Moore and Debbie Eubanks. Funeral services will be in Memphis Thursday.

Mark your calendars, the CYF and the Young Adults will be having a "Skate Night" Saturday, Jan. 27^th at 7 p.m.

BOARD MEETING – Sunday January 14^th immediately after worship service in the CFC. All chairpersons and board members please be in attendance.

Plans are being made to produce a new pictorial directory. Dates for pictures are set for February 9 – 14. We would like to have as many families as possible included in this directory. These directories are an excellent tool for getting faces and names together.

The CWF Board will meet this Sunday, Jan. 7 for lunch immediately after worship in the Disciples classroom.

The Little Women CWF Group will be meeting Sunday, January 14, at 4 p.m. in the Agape classroom instead of this week due to the CYF retreat.

The Sarah Group will meet on January 9 at 1 p.m. in the Christian Builders class-room.

Congratulations to Hunter Sandlin who received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from the University of TN Knoxville on Dec 16^th. We are very proud of you Hunter!

The Agape Class will be meeting in the chapel this Sunday for Sunday School Class.

The Young Adults will have their retreat at Nelson Woods Jan 19-20. Be sure to make plans to be there and let Debbie Sisk know also.

Ruth – Mae Anderson, leader, will meet on Thursday, January 4, at 11:30 a.m. – bring a sandwich.

Mary – Ruth Simpson, leader, will meet with Jane Williams, 4318 Manorhaven Drive, on Thursday, January 4, at 7 p.m.