The Christian Youth Fellowship, led by Jeff & Kim Kennedy and Preacher Patrick & Jennifer Muston, was the talk of the community when they were blessed to get front row seats at a Christian Concert in Fayetteville. Several other church groups made the
trip only to learn upon arrival that the stadium was full and they were turned away. Our youth also enjoyed another ski trip to Winter Place in West Virginia. They sponsored movie night at Selah and served pizza, popcorn, hotdogs, and candy for us as we watched the inspiring movie of Bethany Hamilton in "Soul Surfer".
The Senior Citizens continue to enjoy fellowship and eating together at Meadow Restaurant every quarter. They have a wonderful time. The question is, "Which do they actually enjoy more-the food or the laughter that echoes from their meeting room?"
The Adults enjoy an in depth evening Bible study each month.
Bible School was much fun as we sang, danced, played, made crafts, learned Bible stories and ate together. Don't think that our Bible School is just for children. The seniors have their own class too. We, as usual, ended our program with a cookout complete with homemade ice cream and a pool party.
Selah hosted the opening night of the Grantham Community Revival. Our choir, led by lee Ann Higgins, really fiiled-our walls with beautiful songs of praise. The sanctuary was overflowing with people from all around the community joining together to hear the word. What a blessing! Reverend Jean Hood served as a special guest speaker at the morning worship to kick off this week long Grantham revival. He shared with us that the first building at Selah cost $125.00 and the offering for the first year was $3.46.
The Selah church family was very involved in the Abby Keen Benefit and in the planning of a Benefit to be held in November for Sherrill and Lois Aman. Selah has made monetary donations ($9,167.00) to many community and mission projects such as Relay for Life, Alzheimer's Walk, Grantham School Partners in Education, Southern Wayne FFA, student livestock judging, Christian Church Region Fund, Reconciliation Ministry for Christian Church and Holly Stevens' mission trip. One of the biggest gifts Selah gives to the community is the presentation of the drive-thru Live Nativity. This
Christmas we will prepare for our 5th year of presenting the story of the birth, life, and death of Jesus. Although much time, work and expense is involved, it is one of the highlights of our church year. lt is our hope that you will come and enjoy it as much as we do.
For several years our church family has anticipated another building project. This dream is about to become reality. The plans include extending the sanctuary, enlarging our foyer, constructing a new porch and adding an additional restroom and pastor's study at the front of the church. Hopefully, a steeple will also be erected.
We are truly delighted that you joined us today for worship and fellowship. Please come back again soon.
Just always remember to:
Come as you are.... .and Leave Better!
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Selah Church Homecoming Newsletter 2008
Welcome Home!
We are so happy for you to be here at Selah this morning to join us in worship, remembering our loved members who have gone to be with the Lord before us, and fellowship!!! It has been a busy year. We rejoice at the spiritual growth we have seen at Selah and plans for continued growth that we anticipate.
Decision Sunday was a joyous day at Selah as we officially gained 55 new members and 4 rededications. Excitement filled the walls of our little church as we watched our prayers for spiritual growth answered before
our eyes. We celebrated this amazing event with a catered meal after worship.
With this membership growth came the need for growth in our physical building. Thus, plans for a new sanctuary became the discussion at Board meetings. A vote was taken among church members and the goal to begin building within two years was established. We are confident that God will provide the means.
Modern technology has been incorporated into Selah’s ministry as we strive to use every possible means to share God’s word and to communicate more efficiently. Through the internet, prayer requests are sent out to Prayer Warriors in a timely fashion. We enjoy photos of church events and scripture through the use of a computer Power Point program. Pastor Muston uploads a daily devotion on his Selah Church blog . You can read it on
http://selahchurch.blogspot.com. Denny Tart has developed a new website, www.selahchurch.com, which is updated weekly with prayer requests, the Bits and Pieces, church photos, and a calendar of church events. You can read about our church history and even hear Sunday’s sermon if you were not able to attend church.
The Christian Men’s Fellowship has become very active. They have worked hard leveling grading and installing an irrigation system for future landscaping projects. The men established a designated parking area with cement bumpers before planting grass. The organization has assisted many needy families in the community. Several of the men spent Saturdays cutting wood for our Spring Sale and Supper. New church signs have been made and placed at Highway 13 and Stevens Mill Road.
Our sound system was updated and a new bell chime to signal the end of Sunday school was installed. CMF also honored our widows and widowers with a catered meal and entertainment. Their next big project is the construction of a storage building and the extension of our barbecue shelter.
The Christian Women’s Fellowship has also been busy. They already have plans to make another quilt for the Spring Sale. Blessing Box collections were saved for missions. The side room pew seats and backs were covered by them saving the church over $2,000. Soliciting the help of church family, CWF collected 55 shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child last year. This year the ladies have decided to join the Christians In Action class in their service project, Suitcases For Wayne County Kids. The women have also worked for months sewing costumes for our 2nd annual drive-thru Live Nativity portraying the birth, life, and death of Jesus to be held December 12th and December 13th from 6:00-8:00. Please plan to attend and accept our gift of love to the community this Christmas season.
The Children of Glory class gleaned sweet potatoes and delivered to Selah Church family members after worship. What a generous token of their love!
Our senior citizens’ have enjoyed a meal and fellowship at Meadow’s Restaurant once every quarter. What fun we have eating, laughing, and sharing jokes and conversation together!
The youth joined the adults the first Sunday of each month for the “Youth and Young at Heart” meeting. The adults participate in a Bible Study while the youth enjoy their time of studying God’s word and recreation. All join together for a light meal.
The High School girls went on a weekend trip to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Before visiting the National Aquarium, attending a Baltimore Orioles game and shopping, they made a stop on the road trip to visit with, pray, and deliver a Prayer Quilt to a cancer victim. The youth raised their money by hosting a steak dinner for two hundred people. The dinner is hard work but the youth enjoy it so much that they want to continue the tradition even if they don’t plan another trip for the upcoming year.
A weekend ski trip to Winter Place in West Virginia was a highlight for our youth and the young adults! With cutlery sales, spaghetti dinner, and a car wash the money was raised to provide food, lodging, and ski costs for all the youth. Forty-four folks went on the trip. Pastor Muston presented a wonderful service that Sunday morning, including communion, before departure to return home. We had such a good time, plans are already underway for another ski weekend in 2009.
The Adult Bible Study Group went to Greenville to hear Dr. David Jeremiah. All agreed that the message was awesome. The contemporary music provided a great source of debate and kidding over “good music”. We realized that a generation gap really does exist when it comes to music.
A few weeks ago our youth went to Judgment House. Pastor Muston described the experience as” very emotional” when 7 of our young people made the decision to either accept Christ for the first time or rededicate their lives.
A group of Selah members took a road trip to Piney Grove Church to see “The Message of Easter”. This was a very authentic reproduction of Jesus’ last days that everyone declared a “must see” for those who have never been.
The church provided scholarships for six children to attend Camp Caroline last summer.
Easter was celebrated with the drama presentation of The Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and an early service and breakfast on Easter Sunday. The children had fun at the annual egg hunt.
The Children of Glory class asked the church family to join them in saving pop top tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. They plan to go visit the facility and deliver the tabs to help raise funds for families to stay close to hospitalized loved ones. The church family also saves the cans and places them in a barrel behind the church. Once a truckload is collected, Mr. Joe Sanderson takes them to Goldsboro to sell and the money is given to CWF. What an excellent way to add to our budget with little effort!
Bible School was a great success with approximately 100 in attendance. What a treat to watch the children laughing and bonding together as they participated in sack races, basketball, rope pulls, singing, puppet shows, crafts, and of course, a study of God’s word! An adult class was added to our Bible School this year. A hotdog/hamburger cookout complete with homemade ice cream concluded our program.
Our mothers, fathers, school graduates and veterans were all honored on the appropriate holidays. These are special folks at Selah and we enjoy the opportunity to recognize them and express our love.
Family Fun Day was held last weekend. Yes, it was cold and drizzling rain but that did not stop the activities. All ages had fun with a cake walk (you missed it if you did not get the chance to see Ms. Linda Petras and Ms. Jean Frye as the “Dancing Cake Walk Ladies”) , bingo, checkers, inflatable slide and moon walk, pop corn, cotton candy, hot dogs, and a gospel sing.
We have established a scholarship fund at Selah. It was nice to honor our graduates and present them with this token of our love.
Selah has given donations to many community organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Association, Relay for Life, and the Grantham School Partners in Education. We have taken special collections for families which have a loved one in the hospital. Last Christmas we gave over $2500 to a special family with a sick loved one and are now blessed to enjoy their attendance and membership at Selah.
Lee Ann Higgins has prompted us to learn one new song each month. This has been a challenge for her as some of us meet changes with a little reluctance, but eventually we catch on.
One of the most rewarding aspects of our youth ministry has been to witness these young people taking their beliefs with them into the community. Many of our Selah youth have joined New Creation Christian Club at Grantham School. Others have joined and are very active in Christian clubs at college.
As you can see, Selah has been busy with incorporating new technology into our worship, service projects, trips, planning the beautification and enlarging of our facilities and grounds, developing our spiritual growth and personal relationships with God, and meeting the needs of the people in our community. We are truly happy that you made the decision to visit and worship with us today and it is our hope that you will soon come again.