Thursday, July 31, 2008
New Floor For Tinney Chapel Sanctuary Foyer
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Tinney Chapel Worship & 4th Sunday Lunch
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Vacation Bible School is August 4-6 at Tinney Chapel
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Pastor Sue Demonstrates Flood Buckets at Tinney Chapel
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Lee Cemetery Memorial Day Photo Collage
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Sunday, July 06, 2008
Tinney Chapel Communion Worship, 07-06-08
Friday, July 04, 2008
Tinney Chapel salutes Carl Griffin, Travis Brewer, Harold Lenius & Glen Wood, World War II Veterans, on this Independence Day
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Tinney Talk, Observations by Joe Dan Boyd
IF A PICTURE IS TRULY WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, as is often said, then imagine the added value of a 65-year-old picture that unexpectedly surfaces after being given up for lost. Such was the case recently for Harold Lenius, who posed for the picture as a U.S. Navy Petty Officer, while stationed in Brisbane, Australia, during World War II.
IT WAS LIKE OPENING A TIME CAPSULE for Harold, who will celebrate his 90th birthday in October. Born just 17 days before the World War I Armistice in 1918, Harold was 23, and nearly three years married, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, plunging America into World War II. His brother Robert had already joined the Marines, and five of Harold’s cousins served in the War.
HAROLD WAS IN UNIFORM before a year had passed, had kissed Janette goodbye, had completed Boot Camp in Idaho, and had boarded a troop ship bound for Australia, then a 21-day journey from America. There, in Brisbane, Harold helped build, equip and service a very specialized Naval base, where he began his Navy career as a metal worker to keep ships afloat. It was an easy switch for Harold, who had been an automobile metal worker before the War.
ONE OF HAROLD’S COUSINS, JUNIOR WHITE, would survive the sinking of two U.S. Navy ships, both shot out from under him, and live to tell both tales. Harold’s Navy orders would next take him to the Admiralty Islands, and finally to the Philippines, where he remembers the joy and jubilation caused by a terse radio announcement: The Japanese had surrendered, ending World War II.
THE VOYAGE HOME WAS MUCH SHORTER, perhaps by half, recalls Harold, who landed first at Swan Island on the West Coast before being processed from active duty in Portland, Oregon. A troop train returned him to Minneapolis, and from there he found his way back to Janette, to civilian life and a long career as a metal worker. Eventually, Harold opened his own successful metal shop in Waverly, Iowa.
RETIREMENT FOUND HIM IN WINNSBORO, TEXAS, where his beloved Janette passed from this life on January 9, 2004, an event which led, indirectly, to Harold’s decision to join Tinney Chapel UMC less than four months later.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Tinney Talk, July, 2008: Meet Your New Pastor
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Tinney Talk: Observations by Joe Dan Boyd
A NEW PASTOR AT TINNEY CHAPEL means the quintessential country church is in transition, reminds the Rev. Dr. Keith Boone, our District Superintendent, who confirms the Holy Spirit’s direct involvement in appointing Rev. Susan Gross: Called of God, but sent to us by the North Texas Conference Bishop and Cabinet. It’s the Methodist way, explains Dr. Boone, and it dates all the way back to the days of John Wesley, our denomination’s founder.
A LIFELONG METHODIST, raised in a small Oregon town, Rev. Sue is no stranger to country life or to small-membership church ministry. After earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, she taught school for five years. At one point, her rural school was so small that she had only one student, prompting a memorable radio feature by the legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey.
SHE WRESTLED WITH HER CALL TO MINISTRY after leaving education to become an insurance underwriter, asking God to define her call, clarify her call or call her more clearly. Eventually, she conceded that she had put her call on hold, lingering there until 2003, and that unforgettable day of rolling thunder. It was the voice of God, and this time there was no wiggle room: I want you now!
BEFORE HER 2008 GRADUATION FROM PERKINS SEMINARY, Rev. Sue was a ministry intern at St. Stephen UMC in Arlington, where worship attendance averaged about 90 during her tenure. There, she initiated a successful evangelism project, “Breakfast In The Neighborhood,” to attract more young people.
SHE HAS LIVED IN TEXAS FOR 10 YEARS, and was super active in lay ministry at Christ UMC in Plano before entering Perkins Seminary. Her parents, Vern & Nyla Gross, live just 17 miles north of Winnsboro, where they worship at First UMC in Mt. Vernon. Both Vern & Nyla were at Tinney Chapel on June 22 for their daughter’s inaugural sermon, based on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans:
“WE THROW OPEN OUR DOORS TO GOD and discover at the same moment that He has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand: Out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace & glory.”
