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Contributing Writers: David Mathis | Tim Perkins
Past Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard
Sat, Dec 06
December 1, 2025 - First Methodist Church - Center is hosting a Blood Drive on Saturday, December 6 from 10am until 2:30pm. The church is located at 211 Porter Street, Center, TX.
Register at https://www.commitforlife.org/
Visit First Methodist Church online to find out about other upcoming events or ways to help at www.CenterFirst.org.
Faith
December 4, 2025 - Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, “Black Friday” is past and “Cyber Monday” is in the history books. We have officially started that season of the year we call the “Christmas Season”. It is a time filled with happiness and joy. There is Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, Hot Chocolate, all kinds of candies and good things to eat. It is also the time of the year when the majority of the religious world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came into this world because God loved the world, that includes you and me, enough to send His Son to die to redeem our souls from sin. Because of the coming of Christ to this world, you and I are able to experience genuine love. Not only that, Jesus gives us many other things. He gives us lasting peace and He gives purpose to our lives.
Yet, the great tragedy is that even at this season of the year, the coming of Jesus really does not change people’s lives. You see, when all is said and done, Christmas does not bring a real change to our world. It makes us a little poorer and a little more fatigued but does not really bring a change to people’s lives. The purpose of Jesus coming was to bring a change to our world. He came to bring a change to peoples’ lives. Has Jesus really transformed your life?
It’s something to think about... tbp
Join Us for Worship This coming Lord’s Day
Center Church of Christ
www.centerchurchofchrist.com
December 3, 2025 - A Winter Wonderland Mix and Mingle hosted by A Call to Help Ministries on Monday, December 22, 2025 at 5pm to 6pm the The Burning Bush Venue, 1229 Southview Circle, Center, Texas 75935.
Entry fee is donation of mittens, gloves, socks, blankets, and hats. If anyone has any gently used coats or hoodies for all ages, please bring them or if you would like to purchase a new one, feel free.
There will be free food and drinks as well as 'musical chairs' fun to win cakes or pies for Christmas!
For more information or to give donations, contact Connie Brinson (936)427-2255 or Carmellia Cartwright (936)332-1805.
Everyone is invited to come out for good fellowship and refreshments.
December 1, 2025 - First Methodist Church - Center is hosting a Blood Drive on Saturday, December 6 from 10am until 2:30pm. The church is located at 211 Porter Street, Center, TX.
Register at https://www.commitforlife.org/
Visit First Methodist Church online to find out about other upcoming events or ways to help at www.CenterFirst.org.
December 1, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, December 1.
Henry Ford had the idea to produce an automobile, the Model-T, on a moving line, an assembly line. This idea reduced the time of production from a full day to an hour and a half. It also, amazingly, reduced the price of his car from $780 to $290. That would be like slashing the price of a Ford, today, from $25,000 to $5,000! A new Model-T came off the assembly line every 3 minutes. And the first one came off on the morning of December 1, 1913.
Ford had lots of great ideas. Mass production. Interchangeable parts. The five-day work week. The eight-hour work day. His ideas made him one of the richest men in America. His ideas changed people’s lives. His ideas changed the world. John F. Kennedy said, “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on”.
Here’s some more ideas -
*Love your enemies
*Turn the other cheek
*The first shall be last
*Lay up treasure in heaven
*Whoever wants to be great, must be a servant
*Forgive, and you shall be forgiven
*If you have the faith of a mustard seed, anything is possible
Jesus Christ had some great ideas. Ideas that can change lives. Ideas that can change the world.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
November 25, 2025 - Thanksgiving Community Dinner November 27th dinner will be served 9am-12:30pm.
Presented By Bright Morning Star Baptist Church, 623 Martin Luther King Dr.
Bright Morning Star will be serving plate lunches to the community on Thanksgiving Day. Deliveries will be available. To request a plate, call: Debra Johnson at (936)590-5392; Pastor A. Jackson at (936)201-2837
November 24, 2025 - At Center MBC, we care about families. We are inviting Shelby County families to attend a Marriage and Family Renewal Conference, hosted by Center MBC, January 9-11, 2026. This event will focus on Faith, Family, and Finance.
Our Purpose:
- To build Marriage and Family strength through the application of Biblical principles.
- To learn and apply Biblical Financial principles in order to build a solid and peaceful future.
- To glorify God in all that we do. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Schedule of Sessions:
Friday, January 9, 2026
- 6:00 – 6:30 PM Finger Foods (Couples and Singles)
- 6:30 – 8:00 PM Faith & Finance (Couples and Singles)
Stewardship is often misunderstood. When the pastor mentions stewardship, we may assume it is going to be a fund-raising event, but that is not the purpose of this session. Instead, we will examine Biblical financial principals that will guide us into a secure financial future.
Saturday, January 10, 2026
- 9:00 – 10:00 AM Built for Connection (Couples Only)
“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). By God’s design, we were created with a need for intimate connection – first with our parents, then with our mate. How does that happen and how do we keep it strong? - 10:00 – 10:10 AM Break
- 10:10 – 11:00 AM Benefits of Connection (Couples Only)
We easily see some immediate relationship benefits in our secure connection with our mate. There are, however, other benefits than these. We will explore those benefits in this session. - 11:00 – 11:10 AM Break
- 11:10 – 12:00 PM Battle for Connection (Couples Only)
All married couples have conflict. That is in our human nature. What causes us to have the marital “fights?” How do we overcome them and resolve our differences? Great questions, glad you ask! - 12:00 – 1:30 PM Lunch
- 1:30 – 2:00 PM Relationship Attachment Model (Singles Only)
How do we develop our intimate connections with a possible future mate? How do we know we are getting the right person? - 2:00 – 2:30 PM Commitment & Compatibility (Singles Only)
As we explore who the right person is, we also see how to be the right person in a relationship. How do we determine if we are compatible with a potential mate?
Sunday, January 11, 2026
- 11:00 – 11:45 AM Q&A Time (Couples and Singles)
This is your opportunity to ask follow-up questions about the things discussed in the earlier sessions, or to ask questions you hoped would be answered during a session but was not covered. - 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM The Parallels of Godly Marriage and God and the Church (Couples and Singles)
November 24, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, November 24. And we continue today our Thanksgiving series, with a look at a Bible character who was thankful.
The Apostle Paul wrote just about half of the New Testament - 12 books out of 27 - 13 if you believe that he wrote Hebrews. I do not. I like to believe, as do some theologians, that Paul’s fellow missionary, Priscilla, wrote Hebrews. Out of the 66 books in the Bible, it would be nice if at least one of them was written by a woman.
But I digress. Our focus this morning is thankfulness, and in almost every one of Paul’s books, or letters, he takes the opportunity to express his thankfulness for the churches to whom he was writing. Here are just a few examples.
- Romans 1:8 - I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you
- I Corinthians 1:4 - I give thanks always for you
- Ephesians 1:16 - I do not cease to give thanks for you
- Philippians 1:3 - I thank my God in all my remembrances of you
- Colossians 1:3 - We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you
- Philemon 1:4 - I thank God always when I remember you in my prayers
Well, you may say, those thank you notes all appear at the beginning of the letters, and that was something Paul included simply out of habit, like Dear Sir or Sincerely Yours. Even if that was true, and I don’t believe it was, Paul would still be making a choice to express thankfulness. And, when it comes down to it, isn’t that what every relationship is built upon - making the right choice? Making the choice to be encouraging, making the choice to be forgiving, making the choice to love.
I encourage you to make the choice this week to reach out to someone in thankfulness - what better time! Maybe a family member or friend, maybe a Sunday School teacher or your pastor, maybe someone from your past who made a difference in your life. What a blessing it would be for them to receive your message of thankfulness. What a blessing it would be for you to send it.
One last word from Paul, in I Thessalonians 5:18 - Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
November 20, 2025 - It’s the season for Thanksgiving, and to be sure, we have much to be thankful for. Most of us will never be rich in the way that the world measures riches, and yet, all of us may be rich toward God. The riches of the world are subject to loss, taxation and the fluctuation of the markets. The riches of God cannot be stolen, taxed or devalued. They can however be shared.
To many folks, there is only one kind of wealth. Houses, stocks, securities and money in the bank. Their happiness rises or falls with the stock markets. To these people everything has a monetary value. Often, only bitter experience is able to teach them that some things in life are more valuable than money.
The carpenter of Nazareth lived and died as one of the poorest men on the earth, yet he taught the true sense of values when he proclaimed, “A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things he possesseth” (Luke 12:15) He came to enrich human life, to teach the value, not of man’s accumulations but of his soul. Faith, hope, love, these attributes of the soul, Jesus made them of inestimable value.
We must not let things which are part of the passing scene, stocks, houses, securities and money in the bank cloud our vision to the finer spiritual securities in Jesus Christ. Yes, at this season of the year we say, “Thank you Lord!”
It’s something to think about... tbp
Join Us for Worship This coming Lord’s Day
Center Church of Christ
www.centerchurchofchrist.com
November 18, 2025 - The Shelby County Ministerial Alliance invites you, your family, friends and neighbors to join us for a heart-warming Community Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 23rd at 6pm, hosted at First Baptist Church, Center.
We’re delighted to welcome Pastor Malcolm Monroe from First Methodist Church, Center, who will be sharing an uplifting message of gratitude and hope.
Got a Favorite Pie? Enter the Pie Judging Contest!
Add to the fun by sharing your best pie creation. Anyone can enter! Drop off your entry by 5:30pm. For more info, simply contact First Baptist Church at (936) 598-5605
November 17, 2025 - Pastor Donny Riley and the St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Tenaha Texas is cordially inviting everyone to their Annual Family and Friends day on Sunday, November 23 at 2:30pm. The guest Pastor for the service is Pastor Morgan and the Snowhill Baptist Church Ore City, Texas.
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