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“One in Christ” Meeting

Saturday, March 28

Farmville United Methodist Church

9:00 a.m.

RSVP with Martha Taylor at <marthataylor@farmvilleumc.org>

if you’re able to attend.

On Saturday, September 6, we held our community-wide “One in Christ” Celebration Concert at 6 p.m. at Heritage Baptist Church. The sun was out amidst a clear blue sky that evening, which was a big relief, since the previous night and all morning, tropical storm Hannah dumped around four inches of rain in Farmville! Choirs and Praise Teams from five different churches–Heritage Baptist, Apostolic Faith Church of All Nations, First Baptist, Farmville Baptist and Zion Hill Baptist–performed songs to the delight of almost two hundred folks who were in attendance. After the concert, everyone enjoyed a free barbecue picnic supper.

Many thanks to the following persons for making this event possible:

• Pastor Jeff Hudgins of Heritage Baptist for planning and hosting this event.
• Jane Hudgins of Heritage Baptist for coordinating the barbecue picnic.
• Music Minister Dawn Bradley of Heritage Baptist for coordinating the choirs.
• Gerry O’ Conner of Heritage Baptist for coordinating the stage and sound equipment set up.
• Pastor Sylvia Meadows of Farmville United Methodist for planning this event and providing T-shirts.
• Pastor Betty Jones of Apostolic Faith Church of All Nations for planning this event.
• Pastor Michael Cheuk of Farmville Baptist for planning this event and taking pictures.
• Sara Fritz for being a catalyst for the “One in Christ” group and providing seed money and publicity for the event.
• To all the volunteers who helped with setting up, parking, food preparation and service, and clean up.
• To the choirs and praise teams who led us in worship and celebration.
• To the pastors of area churches who promoted this event and who attended this celebration.
• And finally to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who “reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Jesus Christ was the reason why we gathered. Jesus Christ is the reason why we strive to be “One in Christ.”

For a gallery of pictures of the concert,

We mainly talked about the preparations for the “One in Christ” Celebration Concert to be held at Heritage Baptist Church on Sept 6.

So far we have five choirs/worship teams recruited:
1. Apostolic Faith Church of All Nations – Rev. Betty Jones
2. Farmville Baptist – John Johnston
3. First Baptist – Jim Ashton
4. Heritage Baptist – Dawn Bradley
5. Zion Hill Baptist – Michael Martin

We still need to recruit one more worship team/choir.

For the rest of the program, here’s what we have:
Welcome – Jeff Hudgins, Heritage Baptist
Scripture Reading – Sylvia Meadows, Farmville United Methodist and J. Samuel Williams, Levi Baptist
Prayer – Kitty Smith
Benediction – Betty Jones

We still need to recruit volunteers for the following tasks. If you know of any church members who have gifts and passion for these areas, please contact the persons in charge of the following areas:
Cooking – contact Jane Hudgins – jeffch43 (at) earthlink.net or Sara Fritz – sarafritz (at) comcast.net, cell: 202-669-1396
Parking/Ushers – contact Jeff Hudgins – jeffch43 (at) earthlink.net
Set up and Clean up – contact Jeff Hudgins – jeffch43 (at) earthlink.net
Volunteers to contact local merchants for sponsorships – contact Sara Fritz – sarafritz (at) comcast.net

How YOUR church can be involved:
1. Help with the cost of the event by mailing a $50 check payable to Heritage Baptist Church, 700 Milnwood Rd, Farmville, VA 23901. Memo line: One in Christ Celebration.
2. Publicize the celebration – see attached promotional flyer
3. Attend the celebration at Heritage Baptist on Saturday Sept 6 starting at 6 pm!

“One in Christ” T-SHIRTS – Sylvia Meadows is exploring the possibility of providing “One in Christ” T-shirts for the ministers (and perhaps other volunteers) who are participating in this event. If you’re participating and haven’t contacted Sylvia regarding what size T-shirt you’d like, please contact her at smeadows (at) farmvilleumc.org.

Things are falling into place!  Let’s continue to pray that we will follow God’s lead for us in this celebration!

These were the results of a meeting held today (June 30) by the board committee that is in charge of the Light of Reconciliation celebration to be held on July 21. The Committee is chaired by Mattie P. Wiley and includes Sally W. Gilfillan and Howard F. Simpson, all three members of the eight-member Board of Supervisors, Moton Museum Director Lacy Ward Jr., Herald Editor Ken Woodley and Flossie Moore, wife of Board member James C. Moore.

The resolution, which will be read aloud at the ceremony on the steps of the courthouse on July 21, begins with a dozen “whereas” paragraphs reciting the history of Prince Edward County’s role in resisting school integration. The resolution continues:

“Now, therefore, be it resolved, that we, the undersigned members of the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors, believe that the closing of the public schools in our county from 1959 to 1964 was wrong; and we grieve for the way lives were forever changed, the pain that was caused and how those locked doors shuttered opportunities and barricaded the dreams our children had for their own lifetimes, and for all the wounds know and unknown, we do apologize….”

The committee decided our proposal for a history project was outside of its jurisdiction, but it forwarded the proposal to the full board with a favorable recommendation. County Administrator Wade Bartlett indicated the Board will likely create another committee to work out the details. This cannot be accomplished in advance of the July 21 ceremony. The proposal calls for a truth and reconciliation commission including local clergy members to oversee the history project.

On Sunday, our sister organization made up entirely of clergy decided to endorse the history project. (The group, by the way, has decided to call itself One In Christ in Prince Edward County, and will create a website using that name.) All 10 pastors who attended the Sunday afternoon meeting signed the petition drafted by Rev. Sylvia Meadows, senior pastor of the Farmville United Methodist Church. Other pastors are expected to add their signatures to the petition in the days to come.

The next meeting of the Prince Edward Dialogue is scheduled for July 8, the same night the Board of Supervisors will meet to vote on these items. We suggest you attend the Board Meeting, speak in favor of these proposals and then join us for coffee and dessert at Farmville United Methodist Church after the meeting.

For more information, call Sara Fritz, 202-669-1396.

On Sunday, June 29, the Reconciliation Fellowship met at the Moton Museum for a fellowship luncheon. Moton Museum director Lacy Ward, Jr. (pictured above), graciously hosted the group. At the meeting, the ten ministers who were present signed a petition drafted by Rev. Sylvia Meadows, senior pastor of the Farmville United Methodist Church, to encourage the county Board of Supervisors to approve a resolution that will both apologize for the 1959-64 school closing and to consider a county-sponsored oral history project related to those events.

Also, Barbara Brown, the new Prince Edward county elementary school principal addressed the group and shared her vision for a community-supported mentoring program that will help students as early as the third grade to succeed in school and in life.

Finally, the Reconciliation Group decided to call itself “One in Christ in Prince Edward County.”

On Saturday, May 17, Rev. Betty Jones of the Apostolic Faith Church of All Nations hosted a breakfast for the Reconciliation Fellowship. Over twenty ministers and interested lay persons enjoyed a wonderful spread of food. Rev. Jones then conducted a brief session whereby the participants brought up ideas to facilitate our churches to partner in ministry with one another. Ideas included sharing information about summer youth activities, working to implement an after-school mentoring/tutoring program, planning an outdoor community-wide worship service held at Heritage Baptist Church this September, and launching a web site for the group.