Shelby County Today

July 23, 2026 - In June, Uniting Pieces (a ministry of Center Missionary Baptist Church) received an application for assistance from a Shelby County resident who is the sole provider for a family member with autism. The applicant requested both prayer and financial support to enroll their family member in the Helping House, a private, non-profit early intervention center in Nacogdoches for children with autism and developmental delays. The Uniting Pieces review board reviewed the application, evaluated the household income, conducted in-person interviews with the caregiver and the child, and ultimately approved the request for funds on July 22, 2026. A check in the amount of $12,600 was issued to The Helping House in the form of a scholarship in the name of this student. Upon receiving the news, the caregiver responded, “Thank GOD and thank you Uniting Pieces and Center Missionary Baptist Church!” The total tuition is $19,800 for the school year with the remaining balance covered by other scholarships and fundraising done at the Helping House. 

In May, Uniting Pieces awarded a scholarship to another Shelby County resident to attend the 8-week summer program offered by the Helping House. This program ensures that students with autism who have gained skills throughout the school year do not regress over the summer break and lose those learned skills.  

Uniting Pieces can help people with autism in more ways than just access to specialized education. The ministry can also assist with the cost of care items, such as electronic devices that generate speech for non-verbal individuals, flashcards with words and pictures to aid in communication, sensory items such as noise cancelling headphones or ear buds, weighted blankets, and more. In addition to financial assistance, Uniting Pieces also offers the opportunity to request prayer, or for caregivers to participate in a support group.

In April, Uniting Pieces held its first annual Superheroes for Autism 5K, which raised over $30,000 to assist Shelby County residents with autism in their development of foundational skills, including self-care, language and communication, independent work, and peer tolerance. Over half of the funds raised in April 2026 have been used to accomplish these goals. Next year’s Superheroes for Autism 5K is scheduled for Saturday, April 17, 2027. We hope to have an even bigger event, and we will need the continued support of this loving community to sponsor and donate so that this ministry can keep helping families in need.

For more information on Uniting Pieces, click here 

For more information on the Helping House, click here

July 21, 2026 - Vacation Bible School is almost here!

Join this July at The Pentecostals of Joaquin for an exciting month of VBS, "Our Great Big God"! Each Wednesday night, kids will enjoy Bible lessons, worship, games, crafts, snacks, and plenty of fun while making lasting memories and growing in their faith.

Every Wednesday in July (Beginning July 1st) 6:30pm – 8pm The Pentecostals of Joaquin. Ages 4–11

Registration is quick and easy! Simply complete the online registration form here.

Register today and reserve your child’s spot for an unforgettable Vacation Bible School experience! We can’t wait to see you there!

The Pentecostals of Joaquin is located at 11113 SH-7 Joaquin, TX 75954

July 18, 2026 - Join a 5th Sunday Community Fellowship on August 30 from 4pm to 7pm at Tie and Timber Lodge in downtown Timpson for a special evening of fellowship, music, and food as we come together to praise the Lord and celebrate our community.

This will be a wonderful time for our community to gather, socialize, and enjoy gospel music shared by different churches. Everyone is invited to be part of the “Bring & Share” dinner—please bring a dish to share such as sandwiches, casseroles, peas, corn, or other covered dishes. Warming ovens will be available along with cooler space. We are positive there will be enough, bringing something is not required. 

It is asked that all covered dishes be clearly marked with:

• What the dish is
• What ingredients were used
• Who made it

Music & Worship

Different churches will be bringing music and sharing their love for Jesus. It is asked that all music be Christian hymns, contemporary, or gospel only.

• Woodland Church will be arranging the music and performance schedule.
• First Baptist Church will be helping arrange the “bring & share” meal.

Everyone is welcome—church members, church groups, and non-church members alike. Church-officiated groups are encouraged to come and show their church talent, and individual churches may also contact us if they would like tables reserved for their members to sit together.

It’s impossible to have a true community get-together without the whole community involved, so come share in Jesus’ love, great food, and uplifting fellowship.

To schedule music or questions, contact Stan Trala: Text or call - 936-244-6732

For questions, reserve tables for your church, contact Paul Smith: Text - or call 936-554-4557; or email: tie.timbertx@gmail.com

All community churches are encouraged to reach out and let it be known how you’d like to help. Those participating look forward to seeing you there.

Please share this with your congregation and other local churches. 

May God continue to bless our community, 

Tie and Timber Lodge & Event Center is loctsed at 397 Jacob Street, Timpson, Texas 75975
Event, Concert & Venue Center with Lodging, café & Game Room - Direct phone number to Lodge 936-262-0208.

July 20, 2026 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, July 20.

The church I worked at yesterday is sending their youth to camp today - on a bus. That news brought back some memories. I can’t begin to count the number of miles I’ve logged over the years on church buses. Mission trips, choir tours, youth camps - it’s probably greater than the distance from the earth to the moon! Many of the early trips, before the “turn of the century”, were on old-school, school buses. The kind with hard bench seats and air conditioning that consisted of sliding down the windows.

Later on we travelled on charter buses, and though they were a lot more expensive, they weren’t that much more comfortable - especially if the bus was jammed full of kids. Kids. Lying in the aisles. Kids. Shouting out “Are we there yet?”. Kids. Wall to wall... KIDS! The excitement of looking forward to those trips was at least equaled by the joy of seeing all those little darlings get back in their parent’s cars at the end of the week.

But, seriously, there are so many wonderful memories from those bus trips. Memories of hosting Vacation Bible Schools in city parks. Memories of being on The Today Show in New York City! Memories of teenagers touching the lives of inner city children and singing to the inmates of a women’s prison. Memories of standing alongside my youth group at Ground Zero a couple of years after 911, and of riding our bus through New Orleans the summer after Hurricane Katrina. I could fill a dozen devotionals with memories like these.

I’ve been in the work long enough that many of the teenagers on those buses have teenagers of their own now, or even teenage grandchildren! Sometimes I imagine them standing in a church parking lot waving goodbye to a bus load of kids. And I imagine, in those moments, that memories like mine flood back to them, and that they recall a time in their youth when God touched them, taught them, used them, blessed them.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 - “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.”

Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com