The Church experienced an extra blessing this past Sunday morning as our guest Pastor Bro. George Yarbrough baptized two young brothers. The two brothers, Mitchel and Marshall Arlitt, accepted Jesus as their Savior and were baptized together, with their parents Ron and Donna Arlitt witnessing the event.

The morning worship service was well attended and Bro. Yarbrough delivered an inspirational sermon. The choir, directed by Bro. Raymond Grant, sang the beautiful Gospel song “We’ll Soon Be Done With Trouble And Trials”. The evening worship service was filled with joyous singing and a message by Bro. George.

The Church Pastor Search Committee is busy reviewing resumes of prospective pastors and will soon be interviewing several. The men of the Church are meeting at 7:30 a.m. every Tuesday morning for coffee and prayer. They specifically are praying for the Church, the Pastor Church Committee, our Nation and our men and women in the service of our country.

God continues to bless the Church and is rewarding the Church through answered prayer.

Several of our senior adult members are preparing for the upcoming “Senior Adult Retreat” at Camp Zephyr. This retreat begins on Monday, September 26 and completes on Thursday, September 29.

Want to receive a special blessing? Attend church this Sunday!

What a great time we had recently at our Friday Night Youth Rally! We had three teams competing for basketball champs – and the winner was the Seadrift team.

Our regular Friday Night Youth events begin August 12 with a time of safe fellowship, Godly fun, and delicious food! Bring a friend and come on any Friday except the first Friday of each month. Yes, even when there are football games at CHS, we will host Friday Night Youth!

Captain Robert announced that another successful Sea Academy Class was hosted by the Chapel on July 29 through August 5. As usual, all those who took the class passed the requirements and will soon receive their Captain’s Licenses from the United States Coast Guard via the mail. The next Sea Academy class is scheduled to begin on September 30. For further information, please call Captain Robert at 361/816-3010 or the Sea Academy at 361/758-6184.

Personally we have been blessed in several ways – we have not only seen people find Jesus as their personal Savior, but have assisted them in following Jesus’ example in water baptism. We have rejoiced as people have allowed us to help them celebrate personal birthdays with them. We were recently honored to be a part of a wedding renewal. We hosted a Houston Ministry, who came to Port O’Connor to pass out school supplies for our school children. We have witnessed growth in our attendance at all of our services and had the honor of meeting new friends who wish to grow with us at the Chapel. It is such an honor to be a part of what the Lord is doing in our community in many different ways. Recently a Houston couple donated a commercial gas range for our Retreat Center. A family got new furniture, and we were able to help a young family get better living room furnishings. We had a local family donate a freezer, which we have passed on to Strong Tower Ministry. We have almost put the finishing touches on a new storage area that we need to store items that we will need, but need to store until the Retreat Center is more complete. After Poco Bueno, we had a boat captain donate another “sea catch” to the Chapel, which we will be passing on to needy folks. Does all this sound like we have been busy? – Yes, but we are honored to be a part of it all!

This past weekend, Joane and I were gone ministering in Columbus and LaGrange. In our absence, Hermano Jessie Alderete ministered in both the Sunday School hour and morning worship time. The evening service was filled with the preaching of Patrick Overton. We are blessed to have such good ministers in our congregation to help us.

Coming to the Chapel on August 21 are Missionaries Matt and Stacy Leighty. They will be sharing their burden for the military personnel serving in Germany. We will be having an All Church Fellowship that evening to honor this worthy couple and a special offering will be received for their ministry. The activities will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Fisherman’s Chapel is an interdenominational congregation whose goal is to make life’s journey from her to Heaven an easier pathway to follow. “Come, grow with us!”

It’s really quite a bit of fun to follow one author via his/her many books, and David Baldacci, along with several others, is an author I’ve enjoyed. It’s been quite interesting to contrast an early book against one written later. And even more so is to see the author completely change in his/her story line.

Baldacci’s latest book, One Summer is one that relates a different story from those in the past. Beginning during a snowy December in Ohio, one meets the central character, Jack Armstrong who is suffering from a disease that is always fatal. He convinces himself that he must hang on until Christmas to celebrate that day with his wife and three children. He makes it, but suddenly, his wife is killed in an automobile accident. His life becomes thoroughly devastated when his in-laws send him to a hospice to die and the three children are then divided among relatives across the country. But Jack does not die, to the amazement and disbelief of his doctors.

Recovering fully, Jack decides he wants his family together and then takes the family to a small beach town in the Low Country of South Carolina. During this summer Jack, along with his children, are finally able to achieve the closeness that had been missing in their lives.

Baldacci has that unique talent of drawing characters whom you are certain you know or think you’ve made their acquaintance sometime or somewhere in the past. This is a truly delightful book to read this summer. I’ve always hated to reach the ending of a book I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, as that meant I must close the cover on the characters. Now I just pick it up again and start reading as I’ve probably missed something earlier.

New on the shelves of the Library is a thriller entitled Keys To The Kingdom as written by Bob Graham, the former Governor of Florida and a U.S. Senator, where he spent over ten years on the Senate Committee on Intelligence. The book has been highly publicized as the story of intelligence gathering, primarily involving the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, the author also lays partial blame for the attack of September 11, 2001 at the door of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia.

I found the plot to be somewhat disjointed, but marveled at the coincidences of a main character and the author. Both were Senators, both Governors of the State of Florida, both had daughters: the author, 4 and his character, 5; and the names of the daughters were the same. And both had served on the Senate Committee on Intelligence.

Unfortunately, I could not finish the book though I tried.

We have a number of books, both hard cover and soft cover, available for sale; at the prices of $1.00 for hardcover and $0.25 for the soft. They make excellent companions when you go on a trip and don’t want to worry about a due date from our Library. Do come and check them out! You won’t be disappointed.

“When an old person dies, a Library burns down”
Karin Gillespie

98 Host Families Still Needed by August 31

Ninety-eight host families, with or without children at home, are still needed to host international exchange students for the 2011/2012 academic year. The students must be chosen by a host family by August 31st or they will not be able to participate in the program. They will stay with their host family for one semester or until the end of the school year. Students speak English, are covered by medical insurance, and have spending money for their personal expenses.

For more information, please call Yvette at SHARE!:

800-941-3738.

The Dow Chemical Company, a long-time Habitat for Humanity (HFH) partner, is proud to announce a $45,000 sponsorship with the HFH Calhoun County Affiliate to construct the first HFH home in the community of Seadrift.

Although a first for the community of Seadrift, this house adds to a growing list of more than 25,000 Habitat for Humanity builds that Dow has sponsored since 1983. The Dow-sponsored house in Seadrift represents the seventh HFH Calhoun County Affiliate construction. Dow sponsored the fifth HFH house on Davis Street in Port Lavaca in 2009 and many HFH Victoria builds.

Additionally, employees at Dow’s Seadrift Operations have a long history supporting local HFH affiliates with their volunteerism and sweat equity. In 2010, Seadrift Operations employees logged more than 500 hours in support of the Dow-sponsored build in Victoria. As Dow is a global company with strong local roots, Seadrift Operations employees place great value on working alongside their neighbors to make Dow hometowns a better place to live and work.

“Union Carbide and Dow have been a part of this community for 55 year and it’s a privilege to partner with the HFH Calhoun Chapter to bring a HFH house to Seadrift,” said Seadrift Operations Site Leader Brad Fedorchak. “It is rewarding to know that our company and employees will soon help make a new homeowner’s dream come true.”

The Homeowner of this HFH build will soon be announced. Additionally, the groundbreaking date and a construction timeline will also be available.

Local organizations, businesses and individuals who would like to learn more about volunteer opportunities, lunch donations, etc. may contact HFH Calhoun County Affiliate Executive Director Barbara Watson at Barbara.Watson.Coordinator@gmail.com. Volunteers are needed for everything from specialized trades to basic construction and landscaping. No experience is required and volunteering with HFH is a great way to learn new skills, meet others and help a local family create a home of their own.