for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
Happy Thursday, everyone. The latest news from Tarboro is huge. And I mean HUGE!
Wednesday evening, at a wonderful covered-dish supper, Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church officially kicked off their – our – 150th birthday year!
That’s right, one hundred fifty years of making and being disciples in Tarboro’s historic downtown. To put this into perspective, Rebekah and I arrived in Pensacola just in time to help Trinity celebrate number 25. We were at First Brandon for both its 35th and 50th. Then Wake Forest celebrated their big 25 in 2016, after we had been there three years.
HMPC was chartered in 1874, and since then has been a consistently active, thriving, vibrant, faithful, dynamic demonstration of the good news of Jesus in this community. The presence of a strong Presbyterian church in a town such as this is something worth celebrating!
What a privilege to be in Tarboro during this year and to stand as witnesses to this beautiful achievement!
Kicking off the Big Year!
So there we were, crowded into the fellowship hall for better than good food, watching slides of the history and listening to two of the most capable women imaginable (both Faye and Cindy could likely run General Motors or IBM with one arm tied behind their backs) lay out the key events for the coming months.
There is a lot happening, but what I want to emphasize today is that if you are someone who has never been part of a church, or has stopped attending, or visits once in a while but only on “special occasions” – what you are missing is precisely the quality of community we were created to experience.
It is always a special occasion when people come together in this kind of positive, encouraging, mutually supportive and loving community.
“Project 150”
Just one more note for today. Along with the important dates to highlight, the birthday team rolled out the fundraising plan for our birthday year. It’s called “Project 150” and the focus is all about “Helping Children and Families.”
To that end we had a speaker representing the “Children’s Hope Alliance.” The organization’s goal is to be leaders in innovative and systemic change – statewide – when it comes to interventions designed to meet the needs of families in crisis.
Here at Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church we plan to celebrate 150 years of transformational ministry by investing in more of what has always defined this congregation’s influence in the community: compassion in action, innovation and excellence that makes a qualitative difference both now and tomorrow.
I often ask groups of Christians – especially at the end of a retreat – if their community would notice if their church suddenly disappeared? It’s always an interesting conversation. But here in Tarboro? Good grief, without HMPC it wouldn’t even be Tarboro anymore….
In love, and because of love – DEREK
