If you have not already heard, the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce has a project we are working very hard on. We are planning a new waterfront playground structure for King Fisher Park. Our plans are to install a playground made from reclaimed post-consumer plastic products such as milk jugs. These quality playground materials are proudly made in the USA and are built to last, especially among the coastal elements! The recycled posts and decks look like wood, are protected from rotting or splitting, and have a UV additive to protect them from fading.

Our current plans include an R3 play unit, for ages 2-12, designed and manufactured by Superior Playgrounds. Also, along with the play structure are plans for two Trout Spring Riders, and two six-foot benches. This playground will have an ADA full ramp system, playground border and recreational surfacing for the safety of our children. You can check out similar playgrounds from this manufacturer at Lighthouse Beach and Bayfront Peninsula Park in Port Lavaca.

The Chamber has been working hard for the past couple of years raising and saving profits from our annual Crawfish Fest & Cookoffs. We have also applied for and received grant money and are involved with other fundraising events to meet this goal. We are two-thirds of the way there and are still in need of approximately $25,000 – $30,000 to complete the project.

Sadly, because of the unusual circumstances now, we are having to cancel our Crawfish Fest, which would have provided much of the needed funds. We will be looking for other ways to complete our project. You are invited to join us in the effort.

Darla Parker, President POC Chamber of Commerce

The latest POC Community Service Club Project: New “Trash Collection Stations” at King Fisher Beach

Beach Goers at POC’s Front Beach can now help keep our beautiful beach free of trash and debris by using the new “Trash Collection Stations”- the latest beautification project enacted by the Port O’ Connor Community Service Club!!
Troy Beaudry volunteered to build the wooden stations, and local businesses decorated the Collection Buckets provided by the Club.

The Goal is to get people to use the buckets to collect trash and debris off the beach, empty the trash into the County’s trash cans, and return the buckets to their respective Collection Stations!!
If you see any of our buckets elsewhere on the beach or in the Community, the Club asks that you please return them to the Collection Stations!!

The Trash Collection Stations, new Volleyball Net, new Flagpole, and new Picnic Table Tops and Benches have all been provided for the enhancement and enjoyment of the POC Community by the hard working ladies, helpers, and collaborators of the POC Community Service Club!!

Due to the emergency situation. the Calhoun County Republican Convention has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 16, 9-11am, Grace Episcopal Parish Hall, Port Lavaca. Should the situation demand, it will be moved as directed by the Texas Republican Party.

The Texas State Republican Convention has been rescheduled to July 13-18, 2020, in Houston.

The May 26 runoff is still in question.

The Republican Club will meet Monday, April 6, Grace Episcopal Parish Hall, corner of Guadalupe and Austin (Hwy 238) sts, Port Lavaca. Dinner ($11 ea, by reservation only) will be served 5-5:45pm, meeting from 5:45-6:45pm. Public is invited.

Please check the Calhoun County Republican Club Facebook page for updates.

-Connie Hunt

PANDEMIC? This word has not been a large part of our vocabulary until now! We have been living life with about as much freedom as anyone could imagine in our democratic republic, but now we have people trying to tell us how much toilet paper and water that we can buy, the size of a “large group (10)” and some are trying to stop us from our Constitutionally Guaranteed Bill of Rights – Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Worship! Thank you, Governor Abbot for providing clarity to our daily lives! This world needs the Church! The building is not the church, but in this part of the world, we are identified by the buildings we enter!

We have made some major changes to accommodate people’s desire to come together to worship here at the Chapel. We are not pointing a finger at those who are choosing to do things differently, but want the public to know what we are doing and let the community know that they are welcomed to join us!

There are three things we are emphasizing. 1. Christians are not given into fear – we operate on faith! 2. Love for our fellow man will keep us home when we are sick! It is that old verse of Scripture that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself”! And 3. We are calling on all people to “wash and pray”! There has been one message that has been repeated by many of the speakers on national news – we need the church to pray! If you can come to Church, pray! If you are self-quarantining, pray! In the mornings, pray! At noon, pray! In the evenings, pray! Before bed, pray’! Our only answers will be found in prayer!
Unless things change, we are keeping our regular schedule of services. Bible Study on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. Morning Service is at 11:00 a.m. and Evening Service is at 6:00 p.m. Pastor Joane will be teaching Fisherman’s Bible Institute on Tuesdays and 7:00 p.m., and we will gather at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays for midweek service. I know that some will criticize us for meeting while others would criticize us for not meeting!

I know that some will criticize us for shaking hands and others will criticize us for not shaking hands! The church has always been criticized, but it has not stopped us from being effective in seeing lives changed and set free from the bondage of sin! You are welcome – unless you are sick; then call for prayer and we will pray!

We are continuing to plan for a great Easter Sunrise Service, but if things change, we will go with plan “B”! It is always a great thing to come worship a Risen Savior on Easter morning at 7:00 a.m.! It will be at the Front Beach, and we will sing “He Lives”! In the past few years, we have seen crowds that exceed 1,000 on Sunday Morning and you are welcome also! Bring your lawn chairs or “golf carts”, but let the residents of this community know that “Because He Lives” we can face the tomorrows of our lives!

On April 25,, it is my hope that the city of Seadrift will be blessed by the beginning of a monthly community wide gathering in the name of Jesus, down on our beautiful Bayfront.

As a new pastor in town, I have encountered a lot of people outside my congregation. I have had one question that I have asked just about everyone, and I have had the same response from each person. My question has been, “Where do I go to meet new people in town? Where can I begin making new friends, as a new comer?” The response: “People mostly have parties in their back yard, and your either invited or you’re not.” It has often been quickly added (with a smile and a chuckle), “If you’re not invited, don’t go, our guns don’t take kindly to trespassers out here in the country.”

What I have encountered in this town has been a very tight knit community, of very gracious and friendly people. I have been blessed to be invited into many back-yard parties, and have deeply enjoyed getting to know the people I can now call friends in Seadrift. And so far, I have avoided getting shot ;). There is one other statement I have encountered often and consistently from folks in town (also with a. smile and a chuckle): “I love Jesus, but I don’t want to bring the roof down in any of our churches, so I don’t go.”

As a pastor, people often feel the necessity to explain why I don’t see them on Sunday morning, in church. Some folks feel that they are not acceptable enough to come into the church to worship, some people have limited times to enjoy our towns favorite past-time of fishing, some people can’t get into the formality of a church worship service and (quite frankly) some people and families have been hurt by one or multiple churches in town. I am sensitive to all these obstacles for folks. However, what I keep hearing in the statement about loving Jesus is, people would like a neutral place to gather in His name, and offer praise to their Lord and Savior.

Our local church leaders have begun discussion on how we can best serve our community, as partners in the Kingdom of God, and we are excited to begin offering a unique worship service designed to present all the faces of our churches together. Once a month, beginning Saturday April 25 at 5:00 p.m., our churches will host a meal at our pavilion on the Bayfront. The focus of our time will be fellowship and feasting in the name of Jesus. Different pastors will offer words of encouragement, prayers and a brief reading of scripture for the community, and music teams from each church will provide a glorifying soundtrack to our time, that people can either sing along with and offer praise, or simply enjoy as they center their hearts on the Lord.

Our hope is to bring people of all kinds together to represent the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth and facilitate a general sense of togetherness in our local family in Christ; and we primarily seek to offer a safe and comfortable place for folks without a church home, to still have a community with which to worship. Churches represented in this effort are: Iglesia Pentecostal Church, Seadrift First Baptist Church, Seadrift Community Church and Seadrift First United Methodist Church. BYOB on the Bayfront (Bring Your Own Bible).

Pastor Cody Logan