October is a very busy month for the association. Annual meeting, area wide revival, street fairs in Carrollton, Panola, and Aliceville. Let me share more about these events in hope that you will participate.
This will be the 181st annual meeting of our association. It is kind of like a family reunion. We hear praise and petition reports from each of our 34 congregations. We rejoice and we pray for our sister churches. We hear about what God is doing in our area, our state, our nation, and around the world. We rejoice and repent. We will elect a moderator and vice moderator. We will hear from a new international missionary who was raised among us. We will hear about the mission and ministry efforts of the association. We will rejoice and recommit. Our theme will be Celebration of the Bicentennial of the coming of the Gospel Light to our area during 2017.
We will take up offerings for the Children’s Home and for ALCAP. We will enjoy fellowship meals. We will hear good Gospel music. We will sing, laugh, and renew friendships.
It is a two day event. On Monday, October 10, we will meet all afternoon at Flatwoods, off Benevola Rd. Services will begin at 1 and conclude at 5:30 pm. We will then enjoy a wonderful fellowship meal provided by the church.
Tuesday, October 11, we will meet at Mineral Springs on the old US 82 near McShan. We will start later at 2:45 pm. At 5:30 pm we will have a wonderful fellowship supper provided by the host church. And then at 6:15 pm we will go back to a time of worship and have our annual mission message. The evening session is provided for those who hold jobs which keep them from attending the afternoon sessions.
Then October 24-26 we will have the Pickens Gospel Celebration. Monday through Wednesday at the Service Center in Carrollton. The Evangelism Committee has secured three of the finest preachers in the world for this set of meetings—Pastor Fred Luter, Professor Robert Smith, Jr. and Evangelist Junior Hill. While the services begin at 7 pm, each evening we will have mini-concerts beginning at 6:45 featuring the choir from the Aliceville Federal Prison work camp, recording artists Bros. Bob Little and Marcus Wright and others.
These services are for everyone. Pray that we will see lost persons saved and believers revived.
Then on October 15 the Rubies for Life mentors will be selling quality gifts from Lighthouse Christian Products to raise money to support their program in the prison. All of the proceeds will be used for this. They will have gifts for pastor appreciation, Christmas and other special occasions. Our prices are below wholesale. Visit their booth at the Face in the Window celebration. On October 29 the RFL mentors will have a booth with more items at the Aliceville Fall Street Fair.
Many of our churches collect canned goods for the food bank at the Baptist Center this month. We are in need of these donations. We received the food gathered by the mail carriers only for Carrollton and half of that from Reform this past May. If you want to support the associational food bank, October will be the best time to do so. Less than half of the food collected in May comes to the Baptist Center.