The WMU (Woman’s Missionary Union) is a ladies’ organization committed to studying and supporting the spread of the Gospel into all the world and helping the needy around us.
The Belfry church, located at South Williamson, is beautiful inside and out. Like many other churches of today, the building is equipped with a sanctuary and rooms for preaching and teaching the Word and for fellowship gatherings.
The women of the church served a delicious spaghetti supper to the WMU ladies and the men of the Executive Board of Pike Association.
After supper, the WMU met in the sanctuary where it was nice and warm for our study. It’s a beautiful sanctuary ... slightly sloping floors with pews arranged so that everyone can see the speaker ... high ceilings and sound systems that provide good hearing for everyone ... a wonderful setting in which to worship and praise the Lord.
#Later, after the meeting was over, my thoughts turned to my yesterdays. I thought first about my age ... I do that a lot any more. King David wrote in Psalm 37, ‘I have been young, and now I am old.’
In my 75 years, I have seen a lot of changes. Some good, some bad. Some better, some worse. Some needed, some unnecessary.
I remember the two-room school where I first went to Sunday School, taught by a dedicated Presbyerian missionary. There was a pot-bellied stove in one corner and the room always smelled like the motor oil that was mopped on to the floor to keep down the dust. Today, the Highland Presbyterian Church is where the two-room school used to be and the little white church that sits in the shadow of the pine trees is a picture of peace in the valley.
I remember pre-fab buildings, one-room plywood structures for classes behind Bevins Elementary School. It was there the Forest Hills Baptist Church held meetings that were the beginning of Sidney Missionary Baptist Church ... my home church for 47 years.
#And I remember the Old Regular Baptist Church at Sidney where I first went to church with Ma and Poppy. They loved that little church and if they ever missed a meeting, I don’t remember it.
Sometimes they took me and Sissy. I remember the wooden pews, the pot-bellied stove, the water pitcher on a table in one corner. I remember folks fanning with funeral-home fans on hot summer days; dinner on the ground; the sweet singing and frequent shouts of praise.
The roots of my faith in God and love for His church run deep. Early in my life, the Lord used saints of God like Miss Avery to teach me the first Bible stories I heard; Bro. D.E. Meade, who modeled for me what it means to love the lost and ‘disciple’ the church; Ma and Poppy, who lived every day with an abiding and unwavering faith in God, and my home church where I have been loved and nurtured in the Lord many years.
Some things do change: clothing styles, music, automobiles, the houses we live in, the world of medicine, to name a few. In some churches, some things have changed, too. The buildings and the furnishings have changed and with the coming of radio, TV, computers and other electronics, the Gospel is presented to the world in different ways.
Some things, however, never change. The Gospel never changes. The message never changes. And the God of the Gospel never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Jesus never changes. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and the beginning and the ending of all things.
God’s Word never changes. Jesus said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’
God’s plan of salvation never changes. We are reconciled to God through repentance and faith in Christ. The Bible says ‘There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.’
I’m so glad that over 50 years ago, Jesus came into my heart and changed me ... forever. God bless.
(C) Copyright 2009, Leona Baldwin#
That was a beautiful testimony of your faith.
Many of us can look back and see someone who made a difference in our lives back then.
Mine was Tom and Ruby Wellman,who you may have known. They were active in the Calvary Baptist Church in West Williamson during the late 40's and 50's.
God Bless