“Why It’s Important to Give Children the Time of Day”

First of all it is important to give children the time of day because Jesus did. When his disciples thought that he was too important to let the children gather around him, Jesus stepped in and said, “Let the little children come to me.” Another reason that it is important is because we never know the impact we may have on the future of a child. Who had an impact upon you when you were growing up? I can think of a number of adults that had time for me and encouraged me as I was growing up. Just as Jesus touched my life, so did they and I have never been the same again.

Reading the article about Charlotte Cherry’s father that is in the Red Bud this month got me to thinking about this. He had the time of day for the children at Vera Lloyd Home. It reminded me of something that took place at Ft. Stewart, Georgia when I was assigned there in the early 1970’s. We had a summer program for inner-city kids where they came out of their surroundings to spend a week at beautiful Ft. Stewart and have the experience of a lifetime. I had the pleasure of working with the kids for an hour every Monday and Wednesday afternoon at the Post Chapel and then hosting their last activity on Friday afternoon when they received their special awards and attendance certificates. One week the governor of Georgia was there on a Friday to review the Georgia National Guard which was doing its summer training there. The captain who was leading up the program met the governor who asked him what his job was at Ft. Stewart. He told him about the youth program. In the course of their conversation he invited the governor to come to the closing activity at the Chapel if he had the time. The governor immediately made time and said he would be there at 3 P.M.

Until it was time for the handing out of the certificates, it was my pleasure to entertain the governor in the Chapel office. Just as he did with the captain, he wanted to know all about my work in the Army as a chaplain. We did this for about 15 minutes. Then it was time for Governor Jimmie Carter to go into the Chapel and hand each child his certificate and shake his hand. Can you imagine how each of those kids felt when a few years later Governor Jimmie Carter became President Jimmie Carter? I’m sure it is something that each one of them remembers today like it was yesterday. He knew that it was important to give children the time of day. That is an important part of his Christian life. He is still that way for those of us who are young at heart. Two years ago Norma and I attended church in Plaines, Georgia where he teaches Sunday School. After the worship service, he and Rosalyn took time to let anyone there who wanted a picture taken with them have it taken. I think he learned well from Jesus Christ,

“Let the little children come to me” and still gives people the time of day. Do we?

God Bless,----Fred

Velma D. Blandford Library

Here are some of the recent additions:

• Reader’s Digest large print magazine

• Summer, Someday and Sunrise — 3 books by Karen Kingsbury, a popular Christian author. large print

• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (regular print) He’s the computer science professor who is dying of cancer and has put his last lecture in a very readable and inspiring book.

• Two gorgeous over-sized books: Texas, and the Himalayas.

• The Inspired Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln illustrates the depth of Lincoln’s knowledge of Scripture and the Bible’s influence on his character and development of his faith.

Barb Hough’s bulletin board with a “God Bless America!” theme makes me feel like celebrating every time I see it. Thanks once again, Barb!

Kathryn Templin, Librarian

Virungas!!!

This is one of those “Did you know?” kind of things. Did you know that one of our fellowship is a published author? I didn’t either until recently. When I was shown the book by one of our members, Doris Nichele, I began reading it and didn’t want to put it down until I finished it. It will soon be part of our church library, if not already. The title of the book is Vanishing Treasure of the Virungas by our own Deborah Dreher Lively. It is centered around the endangered species of mountain gorillas that inhabit the slopes of the Virungas Mountains of Uganda, Rwanda, and Zaire. The leading characters of the story bring a sense of humanity, character and love to the book. It is one of those books that bring a refreshing feeling to its readers. Young people will really enjoy reading it. It brought to mind the days I spent teaching, along with Norma, in a two-room Montana schoolhouse the first year we were married, where the kids loved reading and being read to from books such as this. The book is available from Strategic Book Publishing at:

www.strategicbookpublishing.com/VaniaingTreasuresOfVirungus.htrnl

or a personally signed copy may still be available from Deborah by calling 870-425- 8291.

---Fred Taylor

We wish to thank all of the fine folks at First Presbyterian Church in Mountain Home who recently sent their warm greetings to our new home. We are finally settled here in Ozark, Missouri (just outside Springfield) and enjoying our new surroundings but we do miss all of our friends at First Presbyterian. We are still ‘church shopping’ but think we have found a new church home in a small rural church nearby. Please stop in or call when you are in our area. We would love to visit.

Joan & Bill Norwood

1209 East Lily Drive

Ozark, Missouri 65721

417-551-4372 --- 870-404-8530 (cell)

August 2008 Page 5

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN

An Update from your Moderators

There are going to be many big changes to our Presbyterian Women here at First Presbyterian Church. Last June questions were given to all of the circles, and members were asked to cast a secret vote about the future of P.W. We would like to share with you the changes that were voted on by the membership. The need for these changes and even for the vote itself has been due to the continuing difficulty with general meeting attendance, and with the lack of people to “work” the various fund raising projects we have attempted. Most of our members have already worked very hard over many years and should feel very proud of the wonderful contributions they made during that time. But like many things in our lives, it’s time for some changes, and the following is what you have all decided upon.

First, it was decided that we would only have two general meetings each year, those meetings being our Salad Luncheons, Spring and Fall.

Second, since there will only be the two general meetings, it will only be necessary to elect a Moderator. Our treasurer, Pat Baker, has agreed to stay on. As most of you know, Frank and I will be leaving the area soon, and Doris Nichele feels her commitment to the Pastor Nominating Committee will take most of her time. We also need another individual to come forward and work with the Search Committee to find this new moderator. All other Council positions will be eliminated in 2009.

Third, our Circles will continue as already set with the exception of the Evening Circle (Circle 5), who has voted to dissolve and the members merge with one of the other circles. They will certainly be welcomed into which ever circle they choose. The Bible Study will continue to be a large part of the Circle meetings.

Fourth, there will be no Fall Rummage Sale, and no Box Lunch Fund Raiser. We will, however, with the help of all of us, still have “The Cookie Walk” with Carolyn Edwards as Chairman. This will help P.W. meet the mission goals for this year.

We will have a meeting in September, hopefully with Line Dancers as our program. On October 21st we will have our Fall Salad Luncheon and Fashion Show. Our models are already on board for this nice event. We will have a meeting in November and our Christmas meeting in December, and complete 2008 as previously planned. The changes will begin in 2009. It is possible that a Spring Rummage Sale may be decided on by the membership, to help our Mission projects but a vote will be taken before plans are made.

The present Council has enjoyed serving this past year and we all pray for the continuing success of our P.W. even if in a scaled down size. We thank everyone for your hard work and enthusiasm over this past year.

Jolene Possinger, Moderator

Doris Nichele, Vice-Moderator

Page 6 August 2008

Did You Know?

Did you know that Christianity has been in Iran since the time of Pentecost? In Acts 2:9, we are told that there were devout Jews, “Parthians (Parthian empire occupied all of modern Iran, Iraq and Armenia), Medes (A member of an Iranian people, closely related to the Persians, inhabiting ancient Media), Elamites (Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran),” in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost who heard and responded to Peter’s sermon. Iranian government sources are sometimes quoted as giving a total of as many as 300,000 Christians in Iran today. There are 73 registered Christian Churches in Iran.

Among the churches and Christians in Iran today are six Presbyterian congregations with approximately 6000 members. Presbyterian missionary work began in Iran in the 19th Century. One of these churches, St. Peter’s in Tehran, was founded in 1876. A Korean congregation made up of diplomats, business people and their families, also, meets at St. Peter’s.

There are historians who believe that the Church of St. Mary, located in northwestern Iran, is the second oldest Christian church in existence; the church of Bethlehem in Israel is the oldest. The name of a Chinese princess, who contributed to its reconstruction in 642 AD, is engraved on a stone in the church wall. Marco Polo gave a description of the church when he visited it.

Over the centuries Christianity has endured persecution and has endured some under the current Islamic Republic. Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr, part of the Assemblies of God church movement in Iran became a Christian martyr when he was killed January 1994. Hamid Pourmand a lay pastor from the same Christian movement and former Iranian Army Officer is in prison, facing a possible death sentence for becoming a convert to Christianity. Ghorban Tourani, the pastor of an independent evangelical church was abducted and murdered on the 22nd of November 2005. He was an Iranian Turkmen, brought up as a Sunni Muslim. He converted to Christianity in the mid 1990s during a stay in Turkmenistan. After his return to Iran he rapidly established a Christian ministry and a house church in his predominantly Islamic home town.

We need to know that while we are currently secure in our nation of religious freedom, Christian faith doesn’t come cheap everywhere in the world. While we cower in sharing our faith in a society of religious freedom, Christians are dying around the world for sharing Jesus Christ with others.

---From your Evangelism and Outreach Committee

PASTOR NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

The Presbytery recently sent two members of the Committee on Ministry to act as liaison to our Pastor Nominating Committee. They have given us instructions and laid the ground work in order that we may proceed in our search for a new pastor. They stressed that it may take a year or longer to fill the position and that we are obligated to protect the privacy of applicants as the information is of a sensitive nature. Therefore, we will not be in a position to discuss anything outside of the committee concerning the search other than a progress report.

At present the committee is meeting weekly. Janet Newman is serving as Moderator, Barbara Hough as Secretary and Frances Bailey as Reporter to the congregation. Each member of the committee has been assigned tasks to perform as we do the preliminary work required and then it must meet with the approval of the Presbytery. All of this takes time and patience and we ask that you bear with us.

We want to know what you would like in a new pastor. Very soon survey sheets will be passed to the congregation and we urge you to study it; fill it out and see that it is returned to the committee. We want your thoughts.

We are determined to locate a person with a Holy Spirit calling to fill our pulpit and also care for our church family The Presbytery is making every effort to be as helpful as they possibly can. For that we are thankful and appreciative. In the meantime, please remember to keep us in your prayers.

Frances Bailey, PNC Reporter

August 2008 Page 7

The Special Person of the Month of August is Evalyn McGill.

Evalyn was born in Huntington, Indiana and went to school in Urban, Indiana. After high school she attended a business course in a college in Ft. Wayne, Indiana for two years.

She worked for Abbot Labs in North Chicago for 2 years and then worked for UPS in Chicago. She was married in 1963 and raised 2 boys and a girl. One of the boys lives here in Mountain Home and the other 2 children live in Iowa. Evalyn has 5 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.

They lived in Davenport, Iowa for several years and attended the Presbyterian Church there. Evalyn plays piano and was the church organist also. She sang in the choir and was a Sunday school teacher. She also was an Elder and a 6 year delegate for the Presbytery.

They moved to South. Lake Tahoe, Nevada in 1980 and to Mountain Home in 1990. Evalyn loves music, needlepoint sewing, puzzles and does a lot of reading. She welcomes phone calls and cards from many of her friends.

A point in Arkansas Presbyterian History

The following is a synopsis of an article from the September-October 1953 newsletter of VERA LLOYD PRESBYTERIAN HOME FOR CHILDREN. What makes it especially notable for us is that the keynote address made at the gathering of men at what was then known as the Synod of Arkansas was the father of our own Charlotte Cherry, Governor Francis Cherry. Fred Taylor

Men Throng to Vera Lloyd Home For Synod-Wide Meeting

Governor’s Address, Tours And Barbecue Highlight Day

September 30 will always be a Red Letter day in the hearts and memory of your Vera Lloyd Family, for on that day the Staff and Children were honored by the visit of more than two hundred fifty men from over the Synod and by the presence of the Honorable Francis Cherry, Governor of Arkansas. It was the largest group of men ever to come to the campus in the history of the home...

The Monticello High School Band gave a stirring fifteen minute concert. Following the singing of “The Lord’s Prayer” by Eugene Hendricks of Pine Bluff, Judge David A. Bradham of Warren introduced Governor Cherry. Governor Cherry’s address was very timely and meant much to the Home Children who heard him as well as to the men. After Governor Cherry’s address and a few announcements, Arthur Harris of the A. and M. Music Department led the group singing “Rise up o Men of God” and Reverend George Faison of Monticello gave a closing prayer.

To Dr. Fred Taylor, the Deacons of the Church, and all of our friends,

Thank you so much for your calls, Dr. Taylor’s visit at the hospital, and all the cards we received. Also for all the prayers, they “really” helped us through this surgery.

Your kindness meant so much. May God bless all of you.

Sincerely,

Carol and Jess Townsend