Shelby County Today

September 12, 2025 - First Methodist Church of Shelbyville would like to invite anyone in need of a loving and supportive church family to come grow with us. We are a church that loves God and stands firm on his word.

We meet each Sunday with Sunday School Classes starting at 10am and Worship at 11am. The church is located at 252 FM 417 West, Shelbyville, Texas 75973.

The church's mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. For more information, contact Pastor Sherry Harding at saharding1969@gmail.com.

September 11, 2025 - Have you ever seen items on sale at a greatly reduced price and in the fine print you read “minor imperfections?” Have you ever thought about how that describes us? The church is composed of folks that have imperfections. There are members, preachers, bible class teachers, song-leaders and others with “minor imperfections.” Amazingly, over the years God has been able to work wonders through imperfect people. In fact, God has never had a chance with any other kind.

If a preacher ever finds a congregation with no faults, he will have found a place where no teaching, preaching or training is necessary. If a congregation ever finds a perfect preacher, he will seem unreal, completely without understanding of the difficulties and burdens and sorrows people with minor imperfections struggle with.

It is imperfect Christians, working together, forgiving one another’s faults, who come nearest to presenting Christ the “perfect” church.

If you know of someone who stays away from the church, away from the worship because there are people there with imperfections, invite them it. There is always room for one more imperfect person. Also, just how perfect does it make you when you refuse to forgive the imperfections of another? How perfect does it make you, when you try to destroy the usefulness of another in the kingdom of Christ because they might have “minor imperfections?”

I don’t guess we should take a personal inventory. We might find that we have “minor imperfections.”

It’s something to think about... tbp

Center Church of Christ
www.centerchurchofchrist.com

September 8, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, September 8.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. has been in the news a lot lately. But its story began over fifty years ago on September 8, 1971, with a premier performance of a piece by musical legend, Leonard Bernstein. An exceedingly eclectic work, it blended the styles of classical, jazz, and pop, and featured an orchestra, three choirs, and a rock band. He called it “Mass”.  

Bernstein was the first American to take the world stage as a conductor. But he was also a renowned pianist, educator, author, and larger than life personality. And, on top of all that, he was a composer of Broadway music - “West Side Story” - as well as a long list of classical works. Many of these “serious” pieces, like Mass, were centered on religious themes.

His first symphony, “Jeremiah”, followed the story of the famous Old Testament prophet, and featured verses from the Book of Lamentations. A work for orchestra and chorus, “Chichester Psalms”, sung in Hebrew, focused on the poetry of King David. I had the blessing of being part of a performance of it in 1984, as a college student in Houston. It was conducted by the Maestro, and was the most memorable musical moment of my life.

In late 1963 Bernstein wrote another symphony and called it Kaddish, for the Hebrew prayer for the dead. It was performed as a solemn tribute to John F. Kennedy, shortly after his assassination. And so it was not surprising that Jackie Kennedy commissioned Bernstein to write the music to open the performing arts center that was built to honor the legacy of the fallen president.

Another president, Richard Nixon, was notably absent from that first concert. Bernstein, a longtime liberal, was on Nixon’s infamous “enemies list”, and, as the Vietnam War raged, Nixon was afraid that the work would include anti-war themes. In a way, it did, but not through modern messages. It employed the ancient language of the Church. The choir, in a deeply moving passage, repeated the Latin prayer phrase, “dona nobis pacem” (“grant us peace”).

In 2022, the Kennedy Center celebrated its 50th anniversary with a series of notable events. The final one was a restaging of this work, this vision, this message by Leonard Bernstein. And once again, just like on the evening of September 8, 1971, the piece closed with these words - “The mass has ended. Go in peace”.

Meet you back here tomorrow,

David
cindertex50@yahoo.com

September 3, 2025 - Mark your calendar! Strong Triumph Church will be hosting a Thanksgiving Women's Conference on Saturday, November 22, 2025. Time 10am to 3pm. Breakfast served 9am to 9:45am. Lunch served at  12 noon to 12:50pm. We invited everyone to come and listen to God's Powerful Women of Christ.

For more information, contact Elder FayeDell Allen 936-572-5810 or Strong Triumph Church 936-368-2478. The church address is 2611 County Road 2545, Shelbyville, Texas 75973.