Tinney Chapel Today

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Photo immediately above shows head table at recent Tinney Chapel UMC church conference, chaired by District Superintendent Rev. Paul Gould, at which the church approved the 2011 Leadership List below.

POSITIONS AND NAMES

Chair, Adm. Council: Kathy Brown
Assistant Chair: Most recent past chair present
Lay Leader: Roger Schneider
Treasurer: Jenna Nelson
Financial Secretary: Sharon Schneider
Recording Secretary: Gailya Gearner
Membership Secretary: Jenna Nelson
Children Ministries/Education: Georgia Goggans
Evangelism: Roger Schneider
Missions: Cheryl Ann Newton
Family Ministries: Georgia Goggans
Sunshine: Chair: Frankie Brewer, Imogene Myers
Telephone: Chair: Mary Marrs (Bobbie Hollingsworth,
Imogene Myers, Corinne Tinney,
Alice Deitering)
Stewardship: Cheryl Ann Newton
Communications Coordinator: Joe Dan Boyd
Lay Member, Annual Conference: David Stanton
Worship Committee: Chair: Carolyn Newton (Linda Hallman,
Joy Privette)
Finance Committee: Chair: Alicia Moore (Sharon Schneider,
Jenna Nelson)
Staff-Parish Relations Committee: Chair: (to be named)
Lay Leader Roger Schneider
Lay Delegate David Stanton
2011: Gerald Privette
2011: Angela Wylie
2012: Georgia Goggans
2012: Sharon Schneider
2013: Kathy Brown
2013: Cheryl Ann Newton
Trustees: Chair: Bob Deitering
Pastor (non-voting)
2011: Gerald Privette
2011: Bob Deitering
2012: Corinne Tinney
2012: Gerry Privette
2013: Carl Griffin
2013: Ronnie Moore
Nominations Committee: Chair: Pastor Sue Gross
2011: Joy Privette
2011: Georgia Goggans
2012: Gailya Gearner
2012: Roger Schneider
2013: Joe Dan Boyd
2013: Zonnie Griffin

For other news from the recent Church/Charge Conference, the following from Cheryl Ann Newton, recording secretary for the event:

Tinney Chapel Charge Conference 2010 Minutes

The Charge Conference for Tinney Chapel UMC was held on Sunday, November 28, 2010, at First United Methodist Church in Mt. Vernon, TX. This session was held in breakout in Room 100 following the general session of the 2010 Church Conference East Texas – Southeast Cluster (B).

Those in attendance at the Tinney Chapel Charge Conference breakout were as follows:
Rev. Paul Gould – District Superintendent and Presiding Officer at the Tinney Chapel Charge Conference, Rev. Sue Gross – Pastor, Tinney Chapel UMC and the following:
Joe Dan Boyd Jenna Nelson
Kathy Brown Cheryl Ann Newton
Gailya Gearner Roger Schneider
Joe Matthews David Stanton

Rev. Gould opened the session by explaining that the purpose of the Charge Conference was to get ready for how God will be working with and through Tinney Chapel during the coming year. He encouraged the attendees to approach this process in a spirit of expectation.

Business was conducted as follows:

· Cheryl Ann Newton was elected Reporting Secretary for the Charge Conference.
· Laity Report - Rev. Gould recognized the DVD presentation from the General Session and the outreach activities reflected in it. He asked Charge Conference attendees if there was anything that they wished to add. Jenna Nelson offered that she feels that Tinney Chapel is characterized by willingness to “bloom where you are planted.” She illustrated that point with the involvement of several of the members of our congregation who are active in the prison ministry serving residents of the nearby Johnston Unit. Rev. Gould accepted the Laity Report as presented.

· Pastor’s Report – Rev. Gross referred to the “Report of the Pastor“ in the packet.
o Rev. Gross referenced the Membership Roll as submitted in the packet. She reported that the roll has diminished over the past year, due in large part to deaths and transfers. She reported that the current membership, however, is very faithful. Pastor Sue referred to the Christmas luncheon as an example of this – with 33 in attendance the first year, 75 last year, and another likely increase this Christmas.

o Rev. Gross reported that Tinney Chapel has 3 Certified Lay Speakers – Joe Dan Boyd, Roger Schneider, and Angela Wylie at this time. In addition, David Stanton is a local Lay Speaker. She explained that she feels very fortunate to have these persons and that they have been very helpful during the past year with the loss of her father and her mother’s illness. Rev. Gross explained to Rev. Gould that each of the Lay Speakers has an opportunity to speak at least once per year and that they will be doing so during Advent.

o Rev. Gross cited a strengthening of relationships during the past year – relationships with each other (working together to produce health kits), relationship with the community (hosting community events, packaging beans & rice for food bank), and relationship with sister CME church – Hynson Chapel.
o Goal for the coming year – Pastor Sue reported that she would like to explore adding a Bible Service (similar to Calvary Church) – maybe by Easter.
Rev. Gould accepted the report as presented.

· Trustee Report – The Trustee Report as submitted in the packet was referenced and accepted.

· Financial Report – The Budget was presented by David Stanton. Referenced information in the packet included the Budget, Finance Committee Report, Budget Worksheets, Housing Allowance Resolution, and Budget. Mr. Stanton reported that 100% of apportionments had been paid last year, 100% had been paid this year (early), and we anticipate that all apportionments will be paid this coming year.

The Pastor’s compensation was approved as presented in the packet.

David reports that the budget for the coming year totals $82,690 and that we anticipate bringing in that amount and having a healthy budget for 2011. He reports that Alicia Moore will be taking over as Finance Chair in 2011 and that he will be assisting and supporting her in that transition.

The Budget and Financial Reports were approved as presented.

· Nominating Committee Report – The “Administrative Council – 2011 Leadership” list was presented. Rev. Gould noted that the next action needed was nomination from the floor for the filling of the 2 Nominations Committee members for the 2013 positions. The floor was opened for nominations. David Stanton nominated Joe Dan Boyd. Gailya Gearner nominated Zonnie Griffin. David Stanton moved that the nominations cease and the nominees be accepted by acclamation. The vote to do so was unanimous.

· Lay Speaker Affirmation – The Lay Speaker reports as included in the packet of material were referenced. It was noted that Joe Dan Boyd, Roger Schneider, and Angela Wylie were seeking affirmation as Certified Lay Speakers. David Stanton was seeking affirmation as a Local Lay Speaker. The vote to confer these affirmations was unanimous.

There being no further business, the Tinney Chapel 2010 Charge Conference was dismissed.

These minutes were prepared and respectfully submitted by Cheryl Ann Newton, appointed Recording Secretary for the 2010 Charge Conference.

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North Texas Conference East District:
Southeast Cluster (B) 2010 Church Conference
Sunday, November 28, 2010
FUMC Mt. Vernon Sanctuary & individual conference rooms

In photo immediately above, District Superintendent Rev. Paul Gould chairs the Tinney Chapel UMC individual church conference, with Pastor Rev. Sue Gross, center, and recording secretary Cheryl Ann Newton at the head table. Visible in front row are David Stanton and Gailya Gearner.

In pictures above the Tinney Chapel breakout, welcome remarks are made by Rev. Pete Adrian, pastor of host church facilities at Mt. Vernon UMC, and DS Rev. Paul Gould, to representatives from seven (7) individual churches: Winnsboro, Saltillo, Old Saltillo, Pickton, Tinney Chapel, Como and Mt. Vernon.

Each of the churches presented examples of recent ministry events, Rev. Gould conducted a brief worship service and an offering was taken for the Imagine No Malaria Campaign.

Scriptures presented during the Cluster Group Conference: James 5:13-16, Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 1:46-55, Revelation 21:1-3, Matthew 28:18-20 and Isaiah 6:1-8.

Hymns included Hail To The Lord's Anointed, And Are We Yet Alive and Blest Be The Tie That Binds.

The group Faith Affirmation for this event was the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Canada.

The music leader was Betsy Gekiere, organist was Mark Beggs and the pianist was Sandy Olinger.

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Light Of Christ Preached @ Tinney Chapel UMC Today

It was a day when our congregation heard Lay Leader Ronny Ellison share another of his stories about Native Americans as part of our observance of Native American awareness month (November).

Today, he told us about Squanto, the Native American who shared his knowledge of fertility and Indian farming methods with British Pilgrims at an early Thanksgiving event, possibly saving the Pilgrims from starvation. For more on Squanto, consult the book, Harvest, published in the 1960s and edited by Wheeler McMillen. It's probably the best historical anthology of American agriculture. In it, McMillen refers to Native American Squanto as America's "first county agent."

It was also the First Week of Advent at Tinney Chapel, and the Deiterings (Alice and Bob) lighted the Candle of Love, shared thoughts about its meaning and ended with prayer.

Today's Gospel Scripture, Matthew 24:36-44, was read by Lay Speaker Roger Schneider, and the sermon for children was done by Georgia Goggans, who dwelled on the Scriptural injunction to be constantly on watch because the Gospel of Matthew says we don't know when the Lord will come. However, Georgia said that she preferred Luke's version of the same point in which he advised that we always be "dressed and ready," because we don't know when to expect His coming. Her analogy was to always be dressed and ready so we aren't late for the party.

Pastor Sue Gross' sermon was additionally based on the Old Testament Scripture of Isaiah 2:1-5, especially: O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord, after which she talked about the various lights that fill our lives: Christmas lights, street lights, auto lights, star light. In fact, she noted: It's hard for us to be without light. We rarely experience total darkness in the modern urban world.

Pastor Sue referred to the Apostle Paul's reference, in Romans, to our Armor Of Light by which we are to live in the Light of a New Day. After all, she said: Christ's Light reveals everything--just like the newly enhanced airport screenings and full body pat-downs. Jesus does the same with our souls: scanning them for opportunities of forgiveness and salvation.

On the other hand, the shepherds at Christ's birth had no light other than their campfires, and people then did not travel at night because the darkness made it so unsafe.

For us today, Christ is the difference between the darkness of evil and Christ's Light: Remember that the Creator God's first command was to let there be Light. Think of it: God has the Power to Light an entire Universe.

In our own individual corners of the vast Universe, the human heart, God needs us to open our hearts to His Light. It's perhaps the one thing He can't do without help from us, His children. Yet, sometimes we tend to work in the shadows, being neither hot nor cold. It's sometimes as if we have just enough faith to make ourselves miserable, knowing that God sees all our misdeeds, sins and weaknesses, so we hold back, even on the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.

Remember that Light is essential for Healing and Growth. We must learn to accept ourselves as God accepts us, and allow Him to deliver us from darkness into His Light.

Amen.

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This rare farm scene from the early 1940s is one of the few in existence from the Old Tinney Home Place of Ambrose Tinney, as few of his descendants who continued to farm there had cameras at the ready for such opportunities. In the picture above, from left: Jackie Nell Tinney, Tommy Boyd, Sue Tinney, Joe Dan Boyd & our Uncle Connie Kay Cater, husband of Maude Tinney. Uncle Kay & Aunt Maude sharecropped the farm (from my grandmother, Elizabeth Tinney, widow of Ambrose), and Uncle Kay kindly allowed all of us to pose for the unrecorded photographer, who was likely Lois Tinney, mother of Jackie and Sue Tinney.

An East Texas Childhood memory:
THANKSGIVING TURKEY PERENNIALLY PARDONED

When President Obama ceremoniously pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys yesterday, I watched the news coverage with a combination of seasonal nostalgia and seasoned amusement, flavored by memories of Thanksgivings past and colored by the patina of a childhood spent in the Tinneytown corner of Depression-era East Texas, a place and time when turkeys, if they existed at all, lived secure in their cultural and economic mandate of perennial pardon from the tables of hardscrabble farming folk such as my family, proud descendants of Ambrose Tinney, who arrived here in the late 1800s seeking both economic and political relief from his family’s Alabama heritage.

Tinneytown was at once certainly a surreal, but just as certainly real, geographic and demographic designation within the northern bounds of Wood County, even if it escaped notice by cartographers and historians. It was well known by cultural chroniclers of the ethos, era and element essentially framed between the election of Calvin Coolidge and the fireside chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt. For a discussion of Tinneytown, which eventually morphed into the Tinney Chapel Community, see Allison Nelson’s essay, “William Ambrose Tinney, Founder of Tinneytown,” at http://tinneychapeltoday.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html

There, Thanksgiving dinners, like all special meals, no matter how distinguished, boasted tables laden only with main dishes produced from the bounty of the farm itself: livestock, fauna or fowl, which never included turkey, although occasionally might include duck, goose, guinea or even quail, given the zest for hunting among those reared in Ambrose Tinney’s Old Home Place, located near the intersection of what is now FM 312 and County Road 4620.

Strange as it seems today, my entire boyhood, from birth in the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, was spent without ever tasting turkey in any form while living at the place designated by the Winnsboro Post Office only as a stop on Mister Evans’ Rural Route # 3, where we received first class letters, farm news and mail-order supplies from Sears and Wards. At age 19, I ate my first Thanksgiving Dinner with other cadets at Texas A&M, where the main dish included my first taste of an unpardoned, but fondly remembered, turkey!

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Bradford Pear leaf color in The Boyd front yard

'Bradford' pear is hard to beat for early spring flowers and spectacular autumn color. It is tolerant of urban conditions, pollution and poor soils. It can be transplanted at any size. It grows fast. For a quick screen or ornamental tree along a driveway, in a parking lot, or along a street, 'Bradford' pear is a good (if not original) choice.

It's like having two landscape trees in one: Callery pear is a spectacularly showy tree in spring when it is covered with clusters of white flowers and again in fall when its leaves turn bright yellow, mahogany and red.

This is a pear tree grown for its flowers and fall foliage, and not for an edible fruit. The deciduous leaves are oval, 2-3 in (5-7.6 cm) long, leathery and lustrous green, turning shades of yellow, orange, purple and red in fall. They persist on the tree into early winter after most deciduous trees have shed their leaves.

The flowers are about 1 in (2.5 cm) across and arranged in clusters of a dozen or so, each cluster about 3 in (7.6 cm) across. They appear before and with the leaves in early spring, and completely cover the tree so that all you see is white. The flowers are not pleasantly scented and the pollen is bothersome to those with allergies. The fruits are spherical brown pomes about 0.5 in (1.3 cm) in diameter. They are neither ornamental nor edible. Some callery pear cultivars are very thorny, and some are prone to break at their narrow branch angles.

Most cultivars will reach 30-50 ft (9-15.2 m) in height.
There are a couple dozen named cultivars. 'Bradford' is the most popular; it has a very symmetrical, conical shape with dense, thornless branches, and dependable autumn color.

Photo by Joe Dan Boyd.

Above narrative from:
http://www.floridata.com/ref/p/pyru_cal.cfm
Title of this Weblog post at top of page is also a live link to this site.

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Homecoming & Rural Life Sunday @ Tinney Chapel November 7

Members of Tinney Chapel United Methodist Church invited the public to share a celebration of Homecoming and Rural Life Sunday today, November 7, with special music provided by local Wood County talent during a cabaret style setting in the church’s Family Life Center auditorium.

Following the 9:30 a.m. Sunday School program and worship service at 11:00 a.m., an old-fashioned washtub stew, cornbread and desserts materialized, produced by the members of the Tinney Chapel congregation, which has twice received the North Texas Conference award for best rural ministry.

Wagon and train rides, games and contests included such favorites as Ronny Ellison’s rooster chase scramble event, in which winners actually take home their captured roosters, and much more as you can see by the photos above. This year's primary sponsors for Rural Life Sunday are Alicia Moore and Georgia Goggans, and our entire congregation is grateful to them.

Rural Life Sunday’s celebration and Homecoming was staged on three rustic rural acres surrounding Tinney Chapel’s spacious Family Life Center. Look in any direction from the campus of this church, and only farmland, meadows and livestock are visible as far as the eye can see.

Rural Life Sunday at Tinney Chapel is the modern equivalent of old-time harvest festivals, which took root in a pre-industrial United States, then largely an agricultural nation steeped in agrarian culture.

One might also compare Rural Life Sunday to some Old Testament feasts which celebrated God's favor by honoring divine blessings of bountiful harvest seasons.

To this writer, Rural Life Sunday recalls a personal birthright: A hardscrabble farm boyhood spent wresting sustenance from the soil, a time when I learned to love my neighbors as those who assisted me in agricultural emergencies, comforted me during periods of family crises and nourished my soul during Sunday School and worship at Tinney Chapel.

Here, at the quintessential country church, congregants traditionally arrive for this event in denim or the equivalent, coveralls or bib overalls, mimicking the ideal of farm work clothing.

A few years ago, one of Tinney Chapel's long-time members, Bobbie Hollingsworth, sang the praises of this annual event: It's important, and we all look forward to it, she said. That was the year that one of our church's Certified Lay Speakers, Angela Wylie, compiled a booklet of letters by church members expressing why they love their church.

A rural church is where God seems closest, said Angela at that time. She mentioned the fields surrounding Tinney Chapel's rural campus, the wide open sky above, the sweet air and, of course, the history of this 110-year-old country church.

Tinney Chapel received the Marvin T. Judy Award for Excellence In Rural Ministry in 2002 and 2004, and also received the Kate Warnick Award for Best Church Story in 2004 for Arvinell McClaren's history book, Going To The Chapel.

Rural Life Sunday has become a special event for all of us at Tinney Chapel, a church founded by farmers for farmers in 1900, and still going strong. This year's added attraction, Homecoming, should add another dimension to an already unique occurrence.
-END-

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Don't Miss Homecoming & Rural Life Sunday @ Tinney Chapel November 7

Members of Tinney Chapel United Methodist Church invite the public to share a celebration of Homecoming and Rural Life Sunday on November 7, with special music provided by local talent during a cabaret style setting in the church’s Family Life Center auditorium.

Following the 9:30 a.m. Sunday School program and worship service at 11:00 a.m., an old-fashioned washtub stew, cornbread and desserts will be provided by the members of the Tinney Chapel congregation, which has twice received the North Texas Conference award for best rural ministry.

Wagon and train rides, games and contests after this special lunch will include such favorites as Ronny Ellison’s rooster chase scramble event, in which winners actually take home their captured roosters, and much more.

Rural Life Sunday’s celebration and Homecoming will be held on three rustic rural acres surrounding Tinney Chapel’s spacious Family Life Center.

Tinney Chapel is located two miles south of Winnsboro on FM 312, then one-quarter mile east on CR 4620.

Rural Life Sunday at Tinney Chapel is the modern equivalent of old-time harvest festivals, which took root in a pre-industrial United States, then largely an agricultural nation steeped in agrarian culture.

One might also compare Rural Life Sunday to some Old Testament feasts which celebrated God's favor by honoring divine blessings of bountiful harvest seasons.

To this writer, Rural Life Sunday recalls a personal birthright: A hardscrabble farm boyhood spent wresting sustenance from the soil, a time when I learned to love my neighbors as those who assisted me in agricultural emergencies, comforted me during periods of family crises and nourished my soul during Sunday School and worship at Tinney Chapel.

Here, at the quintessential country church, congregants arrive for this event in denim or the equivalent, mimicking the ideal of farm work clothing.

A few years ago, one of Tinney Chapel's long-time members, Bobbie Hollingsworth, sang the praises of this annual event: It's important, and we all look forward to it, she said. That was the year that one of our church's Certified Lay Speakers, Angela Wylie, compiled a booklet of letters by church members expressing why they love their church.

A rural church is where God seems closest, said Angela at that time. She mentioned the fields surrounding Tinney Chapel's rural campus, the wide open sky above, the sweet air and, of course, the history of this 110-year-old country church.

Tinney Chapel received the Marvin T. Judy Award for Excellence In Rural Ministry in 2002 and 2004, and also received the Kate Warnick Award for Best Church Story in 2004 for Arvinell McClaren's history book, Going To The Chapel.

This is an annual event that you don't want to miss!
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Artist Linda Fox Continues Tradition of capturing images of Native Americans

Linda Fox, herself of Cherokee ancestry, has become a kind of one-woman crusade to honor leading Native Americans via images on the canvas of her striking oil paintings.

She has become the go-to artist when a Native American tribe decides to commission historic paintings of their past and present leaders.

Perhaps not since the days of Edward Curtis, arguably the most famous and successful pictorialist photographer of early American Indians, has anyone emerged with such passion and talent for preserving the images of various tribal leaders.

At her recent showing of 13 original framed oil paintings at Winnsboro Center for the Arts (WCA), artist Fox initiated the Native American Heritage month of November with a delightful history of her career as an artist, laced with engaging stories of individual commissions for the 13 paintings on exhibit there through Nov. 26.

Among the most famous of her subjects is Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce leader who staged one of the most brilliant military retreats in history, eventually ending with his tragic declaration: My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. Artist Fox said that Chief Joseph died of a broken heart and it was that characteristic she sought to portray in her stunning portrait.

The close-up portrait in the picture selection above on this post, however, is of another great Native American leader, Captain Jack, and is not Chief Joseph. To see that, consider a visit to the Arts Center during Native American Heritage month.

The exhibit is free to the public at the Arts Center, located at the corner of Market St. and Highway 11 in beautiful downtown Winnsboro.

Linda Fox is a member of Native American Fellowship (NAF), which meets each third Thursday evening at 6 pm in the spacious family life center of Tinney Chapel (449 County Road 4620), just off FM 312 and two miles south of Brookshires in Winnsboro.

NAF, which assisted WCA in sponsoring this event, is grateful to the Arts Center, and especially past-president Helen Burlingham, shown in the photos above, who arranged for a reception following artist Fox's presentation on Saturday, Nov. 6.

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TINNEY TALK, Observations By Joe Dan Boyd

ON LAITY SUNDAY AT TINNEY CHAPEL, October 17, 2010, when Joe Dan (your correspondent) was in the pulpit, preaching on the relationship between Jesus The Christ and John The Baptizer, we discussed why Bible scholars often refer to John as—apart from Jesus, Himself--“the most theologically significant person in the New Testament Gospels.”

JOHN WAS A TRANSITIONAL FIGURE linking the Old and New Testaments, standing squarely grounded with one sandal in each of those eras, going before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elijah—one of the Old Testament figures who never died--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Of him, Jesus would later say that no one born of woman was greater in this life than John, who preached a stern message of repentance and introduced a form of baptism emphasizing rebirth as a metaphor for redemption.

BUT JOHN THE BAPTIZER KNEW HIS PLACE as only a witness to the Light, subordinate to the more powerful ministry, and more powerful baptism, of his cousin, Jesus The Christ. In other words, John was quite content to set the stage for Jesus, and for the later followers of Christ, all of whom would testify to His saving power—just as we do today.

IN FACT, ON THAT LAITY SUNDAY, two pillars of our Church were called forward to receive a special blessing from the entire congregation. Hands were laid on them in recognition of their new assignments as witnesses to the Light: David Stanton, about to become our Church’s fourth Lay Speaker, and Glenn Goggans, who has just completed the Walk To Emmaus, a 72-hour crash course in Christian leadership.

DAVID STANTON HAS BEEN FUNCTIONING as a Lay Speaker for most of the past decade here at Tinney Chapel UMC, the quintessential country church, but has decided to take the training, gain the credentials and make his actions official. After all, he was recently elevated to the position of Associate Lay Leader of the newly organized East District of our North Texas UMC Conference.

GLENN GOGGANS, NOW FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT after his life-changing Emmaus Walk, fully expects to spend the rest of that life in renewed Christian ministry to others--in the Spirit and power of Elijah, John The Baptizer & Jesus!