Faith Archive

Biltmore United Methodist Church of Asheville, North Carolina, is for sale.

Already financially strapped because of shrinking membership and a struggling preschool, the congregation was dealt a crushing blow by the coronavirus.

Joe and Tara Meyers and their boys, Aden, 7, and Joshua, 2, have been traveling and serving in the communities they visit since 2018, primarily internationally as part of service excursions they organized for fellow cruise travelers.

They saw a gap in opportunities to volunteer as a family with young kids, so they took matters into their own hands and started World Share, an organization geared towards making serving simple.

What a year 2021 has been. First 2020 took us all by surprise with a pandemic, a hurricane and a major bridge closure. We all thought it would get better in 2021 and boy, were we in for a ride.

But through it all, God has been faithful. As we start this new year, what are some resolutions that are God-centered?

First Baptist Church of Navarre hosted their 2nd annual Christmas Walk-Though Village and Carnival Dec. 11.

The simple interior of the Beach House at Holley by the Sea was transformed into an elegant dining space for some 60 people dressed in finery and gathered for the first annual Grace’s Place Gala, held Dec. 4.

A crew of dedicated volunteers descended on the Beach House only hours before to set up tables with linen tablecloths and handcrafted centerpieces. They hung decorative lights and set up a large, colorful balloon ring. 

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us through His commandments, and commanded us to light the Hanukkah candle,” intoned Dylan White, only in Hebrew, as he lit the first candle of Hanukkah, also called The Festival of Lights.

Pastor Austin Huggins, pastor of Christ Evangel Church (christevangel.org) in Milton was invited by Sovereign Grace Bible Church (SGBC) in Lagos, Nigeria to speak at a pastors’ conference in October.

The conference theme was “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God.”

On the last Sunday in October, Compass Community Church (compassefca.org) in Navarre held its second Family Sunday of 2021.

A new church start-up, Compass has made the fifth Sundays a time to celebrate what God is doing through its literacy tutoring outreach ministry and to better connect with the children’s families.

“Many people think we’re just a women’s ministry to serve all women, but we are not,” said April Fisher, founder and “house mom” of Grace’s Place in Navarre, “we specifically help women who have been sexually abused and as a result have found themselves in a vicious destructive life cycle which we look to break through the power of Jesus Christ.”

The congregation of Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Navarre is anticipating the arrival of a new hymnal, the fruit of more than eight years of review and research performed by its denomination, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).

The hymnals the congregation currently uses were published in 1993, a revision of the WELS’ 1940 hymnal.