October 17, 2025, 4:00 PM
Hello and greetings in Christ!
I mentioned a few times recently that we've had a lot of health challenges and deaths in the church family over the past few weeks.
On Monday, October 13th, we had the funeral for another of our people - Betty Sue Clark.
As a minister, I'm not supposed to have favorites with the "sheep," but it's hard not to.
Betty was one of my favorite people at FCC. She was always POSITIVE and very much a PEOPLE PERSON! One of her favorite sayings was, “Always be kind to one another.” Betty lived that out. She would find SOMETHING kind to say about everyone and nearly everything.
Betty was very involved at FCC, leading (along with her husband Bob) our senior adult group - Young at Heart. She is and will be greatly missed.
After Betty's funeral on Monday, Kelly and I left town for a vacation this week.
It was very needed. We took some time away and also attended a Christian Conference in Pigeon Forge, TN.
Why is Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg one of my favorite places to go?
Here's a perfect example - This week, I found a shopping center that contained the following shops:
1) A great Dollar Tree,
2) the Hulk Hogan Wrestling Shop,
and 3) the Tennessee Bible Museum.
Three of my favorite things all right there in the same LITTLE strip mall!
BTW: The Tennessee Bible Museum (www.tnbiblemuseum.com) is pretty incredible. I recommend stopping by to see it if you are in the Pigeon Forge area. Here's the address: 135 E Wears Valley Rd # 1; Pigeon Forge, TN 37863.
There are hundreds of exhibits and rare Bibles, some dating back 750-900 years.
One of the most unique Bibles was one from the Civil War era that saved a soldier’s life by stopping a bullet!
At the end of the hour-long tour of 7 different rooms filled with Bible-related exhibits, you can't help but walk away with incredible gratitude.
The gratitude is for the many who gave so much (even their lives) so that ALL people could have access to God's word (and not just the elite). How often do we take for granted having easy access to the Word of God? It wasn't always that easy.
Let us never take the blessing of the Bible for granted!
What other book can stay the same, yet speak to you at different stages of your life like the Bible? There is no other book in the world quite like it! That's because it's written by man, but completely inspired by God Himself!
As 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
This past Sunday, October 12th, was a great day at First Christian Church. At the end of our morning worship service, we baptized James Howard into Christ and welcomed his wife, Teea, into the family of believers at FCC (she had already been immersed into Christ).
I am also happy to report that later on that afternoon, we successfully held our first-ever FALL FESTIVAL at FCC. There was fantastic weather, a good turnout (16 children and 20 adults), and an overall great atmosphere. THANKS to everyone who helped.
This coming Sunday, October 19th, I will continue in our sermon series called “IDENTITY CRISIS.” We are going to be looking at the church as the "army of God." I hope and pray we will see you there!
Until then...
God Bless,
Greg H.
