The last sermon series, Not a Fan, and the current sermon series, Vintage Faith, are summed up in the life of Ted Wilson.  Ted was a Sunday School teacher, an elder, and a mentor and role model to young and old.  He was a follower of Jesus, and wanted everyone else to be a follower as well.  He led by example, but he also came along side for hands on help.  He was an encourager, a prayer, a supporter of missions, a leader, a hugger, a singer, a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and loving husband of Delma.  Through all the ups and downs of this life he remained steadfast in faith.  How blessed we all have been to call him friend!

-Cyndi

For some time now I had not been satisfied with the life I was living. I kept doing things at my job to get recognition and get promoted but no matter how hard I tried I never got the position I would apply for. My home life wasn't any better. I was ready to throw in the towel and call it quits on my marriage. At times I would think of just running away from it all and I'd contemplate how I could move to a small town get a job as a waitress or housekeeper for motel and not have to deal with the problems, the disappointments or self-loathing i felt throughout my day. I had been raised in one type of religion or other and had always gone to church so I did believe in God and that Jesus died on the cross for me, but the significance of that sacrifice was merely a faint whisper of what I use to feel. My hunger for the Lord was gone. The only light in my life was my 14 year old son who definitely had chosen to build his relationship with Christ on his own. I can't begin to explain the guilt i felt as he'd come into our room and ask if we were going to church and my response would be no. After a while the knocks stopped coming...

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My God-Story is what by some accounts may seem very simple. I was raised catholic, and attended catholic school through 8th grade. During high school, I began to question what the meaning behind all the rules and requirements were- as any typical adolescent would do. Sing it louder to show you're prouder was the only thing I learned in 8 years of catholic school. Repeat after everone else, dress sharp, and pick up hot ham and rolls on the way home to watch the football games on Sundays. The only problem I had was that the more I started to ask about 'church', the more I received the same answers that were somewhere between, 'because God said so' and 'that's just the way it is'. Needless to say, this didn't sit well with me. Over the next several years I was driven away from the very concept of religion in general. I had taken a World Religions class in college several years later, and approached it with a closed mind and a highly skeptical approach to understaning. I was much more focused on why one version of the teachings referenced 5,000 troops, and the other referenced 10,000 for the same historical incident. How there could be so many discrepencies about the same events taking place depending on the version you happen to buy. Why I needed to listen to someone who paid to go to school and wear a traditional outfit, doing the same traditional thing every Sunday had any right to tell me what the readings should mean to me. Here's where the simplicity comes in...

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6 Months ago my life was not worth living. I was literally in hell and somehow God reached down and touched my heart. I was living in Pensacola, Fl and some lady from my local church stopped into my store frequently inviting me to attend church. Her persistance paid off and I finally attended a singles group and met a lot of great friends. I got to the point where I got baptized and let the Lord into my life. 1 Month later my brother passed away at 36 years of age. I was in shock and didn't know how I was gonna make it home to put him to rest? My community group stepped it up and helped pay for my ticket, watched my house, and took care of my dog, they even took me to the airport and picked me up when I returned. God is great, they helped me when I needed it the most and showed me what a church group was for. When I returned back to FL I re evaluated my life and prayed and made the decision to come home, I learned life was too short to be away from my family, let alone I hadn't made peace with my brother whom as well as my family I hadn't seen in 5 years...

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After prayful consideration of the 90-Day Tithe Challenge, Jane and I checked our financial status. After adding up our income, we could see that we needed to increase our giving to meet the Challenge. Even though we know that God does amazing things, we were still surprised this week when a notice came that an investment made several years ago was going to return our capital and any accrued interest. Praise God. This was totally unexpected as we were not sure that any of money would be returned.

-Charles Eatherly