Friday, December 03, 2004
Awards, Honors, Recognition for Tinney Chapel
TWO JUDY AWARDS IN FOUR YEARS. When Tinney Chapel UMC, the quintessential country church, received the Marvin T. Judy Award for Excellence in Rural Ministry at the 2004 Annual Conference, it was a repeat performance. Tinney Chapel was a co-winner of the same Conference Award in 2002. In the photo above, Senior Pastor Duncan Graham accepts the 2004 Award from Rev. Pat Beghtel-Mahle, Superintendent of the Paris-Sulphur Springs UMC District. Photo by Joe Dan Boyd.
Tinney Chapel UMC has been designated best in rural ministry at the 2004 North Texas United Methodist Conference. The 131-member church received this year’s Marvin T. Judy Award for excellence at a Rural Fellowship luncheon June 8 during Annual Conference in Plano. Other District nominees honored included Bells UMC, Copeville UMC, Krum UMC and Morris Memorial UMC of Chico.
District nominees were asked to submit entries summarizing recent ministry activities. Tinney Chapel’s winning entry included a pictorial scrapbook compiled by Sadie Jordan, detailed ministry annuals for 2003-2004, a diorama constructed by Bill Stevens of church property which includes an under-construction 8,000-square-ft. family life and education center and two Tinney Chapel books published within the past year: Christmas Memories by Jenna Nelson, and Going To The Chapel by Arvinell McClaren.
Going To The Chapel is a church and community history which also received a special Kate Warnick award for Best Church Story on June 7 at Annual Conference.
“Building On The Promises: Our journey together,” was the slogan used during a successful capital funds campaign during 2003. Now, the new Christian Family Life & Education Center is nearing completion, thanks in part to a gift of two acres of land by Corinne Tinney and the late Donald Tinney. Their gift adjoins the church’s original acre, donated in 1900 by Donald’s grandfather, William Ambrose Tinney. Tinney Chapel added an associate pastor to its staff during this expansion period, and church membership has increased 28% since the building project began.
Local mission projects: blankets and electric fans for the poor, emergency funds & food for burnout victims, Blessing Box food distribution and several projects for the Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center.
Foreign missions: New Hope Mexico project and Way Of Salvation UMC in Russia, a Paris-Sulphur Springs District mission initiative chaired this year by Tinney Chapel Senior Pastor Duncan Graham.
Prison Ministry. Members of Tinney Chapel UMC were instrumental in forming the Residents Encounter Christ (REC) program in the Texas Prison System, and continue to support the ongoing program at the Johnston Substance Abuse Unit in Winnsboro.
Communications at Tinney Chapel UMC features a weekly electronic newsletter, summarizing the major events at the church and many of the most important developments in the Paris-Sulphur Springs District and the North Texas Conference. A monthly print newsletter supplements the E-Letter, and Tinney Chapel also advertises regularly in local media.
Advanced Bible Study: Senior Pastor Duncan Graham leads a weekly one-hour evening Bible study, and the Pastor’s wife, Elaine Graham, leads occasional medium-length classes for women. Tinney Chapel has also offered both the 30-week Christian Believer and 34-week Disciple I Bible Study programs over the past two years.
Lay Speakers. Tinney Chapel’s four Certified Lay Speakers not only fill in for their own two pastors when they have to be away from the pulpit, but they also respond to calls from other churches.
