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April 5, 2009

This weekend we celebrated our 35th anniversary with services on Saturday night and Sunday with Rev Roy Duke. It was a special weekend with God’s presence in each service.

After Sunday morning’s service the ladies fixed a wonderful lunch for everyone and after the meal we returned to the sanctuary for singing and a surprise as Mayor Bisby of Tullahoma presented a plaque to Pastor Swinford for the 35 years of dedication and service he has provided to Westside.

Member of Westside thanking the Mayor for coming to our anniversary service

As the temperature in Moscow dips below zero, one of the city’s largest Pentecostal churches meets for worship in a marquee on a rough patch of land in an outlying suburb. “We’ve nowhere else to go,” Bakur Azaryan, Emmanuel Church’s assistant pastor, explained to Forum 18 News Service. The land is tied to a former workers’ club bought by Emmanuel seven years ago. But as the local authorities have still not drawn up the Church’s land rights, it cannot use or reconstruct the building, gutted in a suspected arson attack in 2007. In April 2008,

Emmanuel lost access to rented premises apparently due to state pressure – a familiar complaint by Moscow Protestant communities. A local official maintained to Forum 18 that Emmanuel may in fact use or reconstruct its building, but this was countered by a more senior Moscow official. Konstantin Blazhenov also insisted to Forum 18 that the land rights issue is being resolved but is just taking “a long time”. Without stable premises, Emmanuel cannot licence its seminary, which the Justice Ministry this month tried to dissolve for being unlicensed.

Barred from their adjacent building, members of Moscow’s Emmanuel Pentecostal Church braved subzero temperatures last Sunday, 14 December, as they packed away the blue-and-yellow-striped marquee, benches, portable heaters and electricity generators now required for their weekly worship. A recent Justice Ministry attempt to dissolve their seminary is just the latest offensive in the authorities’ long-running campaign against the Church, Assistant Pastor Bakur Azaryan pointed out as Forum 18 News Service looked on.

Verizon Wireless sponsors a national gospel choir contest called “How Sweet the Sound,” and Atlanta West Pentecostal Church, pastored by Bro. Darrell Johns, won the “People’s Choice Award” among the top three finalists. (This gave them a $5,000 payday that they hope to use toward making a CD.)

They had qualified by winning the Atlanta region, a few weeks back. On their regional win, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said:

“The spirit of the music took the singers and listeners to that rare place religious music strives to find, a state where the curtain between this world and the other gets pulled back for a moment and spirits merge in spontaneous joy.

The sound, the emotion the singers expressed, even the racial mix of black, white and tan faces that is rare for churches, made them something special, Condrey said.”
The Finals
On Saturday, November 8, 2008, the Atlanta West Pentecostal Church dueled with 11 of the best choirs in the country, and ended up in the Top 3. Although the Acme Missionary Baptist Church of Chicago ended up tops, Atlanta West won the People’s Choice Award.

The President of Liberia and Africa’s first female head of state, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has lauded the efforts of the United Pentecostal Church situated in the southeast of the Capital, Monrovia for its numerous efforts of winning souls for Christ.

The Liberian leader was speaking yesterday at the Church’s regular Sunday worship in Sinkor when she paid a surprise visit at the Church.

The President who was accompanied to the Church with an array of her officials of government, including the Superintendent of Grand Bassa County, Madam Julia Duncan Cassell expressed gratitude to the membership of the Church for the services to God.

For his part the head pastor of the Church, Rev. Dr. Stephen T. Y. Benda in a power sermon spoke of unity among the followers of Jesus Christ,stressing, “without unity the church will always fall.”

Rev. Dr. Benda who spoke on several issues for the rapid growth of the Christian community prayed for the Liberian leader and her officials of government, and the people of Liberia for God’s guidance.

From the Tupelo Insider posted by Rev Stephen Judd

The recent UPCI General Conference in Greensboro, N. C. was a great blessing to the Mansion. It was a great opportunity to visit with our supporters and a number of former residents and staff members.

I am happy to report that we received an allocation of $21,000.00 from the Ladies Ministries - MOTHER’S MEMORIAL offering to help with the renovation of the serving line in our food services area and also for the education program of Haven of Hope Girls’ Home.

We also were blessed by the General Youth Division with a SHEAVES FOR CHRIST offering allocation in the amount of $26,015.81 to help us with the next phase of our athletic field project.

We are grateful for the funding that we have received through the years from the ladies and the youth for buildings and special projects. While we continue to depend on our donor offerings and monthly support for our day-to-day operations, these allocations are a wonderful boost to our program each year.

The hi-light of the week was our Mansion program on Friday just prior to the evening service. This prime-time event has been a Conference tradition for years, and we appreciate the opportunity to promote the Mansion and receive a special offering. This year, we featured a moving 3-minute media presentation with expressions from four former residents. Jim Lumpkin, son of our former Chairman, the late James G. Lumpkin, told me after the service that he wept as he sat in the crowd watching the presentation. He told me that his father would have been so pleased to hear those testimonies. T. F. Tenney concluded the segment by receiving an offering in the amount of $7,800.00.