Author: janicevance

Have you ever used the terms – they; the church; the brotherhood; etc.? So often these terms get used in a negative way – they never do this; the church isn’t doing a good job at …; the brotherhood doesn’t do …. So often we are in the mindset that things just aren’t getting done or going the right way and it someone else’s fault. The Bible talks about looking into a mirror. If each of us would look into the mirror and ask the question, what am I doing to help any situation that I think is not right, we might look at things differently.

         If you do not think the church is spreading the gospel as it should, ask yourself the question, what am I doing to spread the gospel? If you do not think the church is visiting like they should, ask yourself, who am I visiting? If you don’t think the church invites people into their homes like it should, ask yourself, who have I invited into your home lately?

                These are tough question to ask ourselves. I have heard the speech JFK gave in which he said, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. The gospel asks a very similar question. It asks for action. We are the body of Christ and must be active. If we see something or someone in need, we should not look to others to fulfill the need then complain if it’s not, but rather we should take personal action.

                Be a person or family of action. Be a disciple, make disciples. A good way to bring God glory is to be an active member of His Son’s Body, the Church.

by Justin Morton

Today marks the one year anniversary of our family’s first visit to Walter Hill. What a warm welcome we received! We actually were late getting to our seats because so many of you stopped and welcomed us as we came in. I can’t help but think about the importance of that warm welcome as we consider our emphasis on discipleship. First and foremost we want to be disciples of Christ. But we also want to fulfill the Lord’s expectations and make disciples. In doing so, we are going to have visitors attend our services. We want these visitors to feel the warm Walter Hill welcome my family, and many of you, received when we visited for the first time.

All of us play a vital role in that welcome. Let me offer a few suggestions for how we can continue to promote a positive experience for our visitors: 1) When you see someone visiting, take the opportunity to speak with them. Your kindness and interaction will help make a good impression. 2) Ask visitors if they would like to sit with you or help them find a seat. Finding a place to sit as a visitor can be intimidating! 3) I know we all like our certain seats, but if at all possible make as much room as you can for others. Maybe that means scooting closer to the middle of the row or sitting right beside a brother or sister in Christ rather than several seats away. As we invite friends and neighbors to attend, we will need as much open seating as possible.

All of you here at Walter Hill made us feel welcome from the moment we stepped through the doors. Let’s make it a goal to offer a warm welcome to everyone who comes to worship with us at Walter Hill!

The State of the Walter Hill Youth Ministry

I consider myself so blessed to be the youth minister at this great congregation. It is such a blessing to work with these great teens and their wonderful parents. Thank you for supporting our youth ministry.  I wanted to take this opportunity to write an update and explain some important details of our youth ministry. God is truly blessing our youth and is doing awesome things through them.

One of my favorite aspects of youth ministry is seeing God work in the lives of young people. Seeing the fruits of their spiritual growth as they develop a deeper love for Jesus and a better understanding of His Word is incredible. Recently, I have noticed a greater interest in sharing the gospel with their friends, and an overall closeness among our youth at Walter Hill.

This spring will be busy with several opportunities for spiritual growth and fellowship. The main program our youth will participate in is YFO. YFO now stands for Youth Faith-growing Opportunity. This is where we meet at the building, have a devotional, and play fun games that help us grow closer together.  This is a great opportunity for fellowship and spiritual growth, and it is a time we will be using to prepare for Lads 2 Leaders (L2L).

L2L is a brotherhood-wide program we participate in to help prepare our youth to lead in the church. L2L helps prepare our youth to present lessons and lead singing; along with Bible bowl, debate, and even puppet shows. Even if your youth are unable to participate in L2L, YFO will still provide a great opportunity for spiritual growth. Please pray for these efforts to bear fruit in the lives of our teens.

             We love the words of Jesus: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

            I am reminded of a godly woman from long ago named Hannah. There are so many lessons to be learned from the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, but perhaps none is more applicable today than Hannah’s vow from 1:11 – “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”

            Hannah wanted a child so much that she was willing to give that child up if the Lord so blessed her. As we know, Hannah gave birth to Samuel (Literally, his Hebrew name means “heard by God.”) and kept her vow once she weaned him. I cannot imagine the emotions as Hannah took young Samuel up to the house of the Lord in Shiloh and presented him to Eli. Listen to her words to the priest in 1 Samuel 1:27-28 –“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.”

            God expects no less of parents today than to give our children back to Him. This begins by bringing them to the house of the Lord! Ephesians 6:4 reiterates this principle for parents: “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

By Justin Morton

The Synoptic Gospels record an encounter Jesus had with a woman who was having a serious health issue (Matt. 9:18-22; Mk. 5:21-34; Lk. 8:41-48). She was persistently bleeding and had been for 12 years. She had been to see doctor after doctor and had been prescribed many different remedies but none of that did any good. In time, she not only grew worse but she found herself broke, having spent all that she had trying to get better.

That is when she decided to take matters into her own hands. Having heard the reports about Jesus, this woman, frail as she was, fought through a crowd of people just so she could get close enough to touch the fringe of His garment. Notice, she was not concerned with speaking with Him. All she wanted to do was get close enough that she could reach out and touch a part of his clothing. If we did not have the next verse, the actions of the woman would seem strange. However, we read what the woman was thinking: she believed if she got close enough to touch Jesus, she would be made well (Matt. 9:21; Mk. 5:28). What great faith!

This woman had spent years searching for healing but had nothing to show for it. Yet, having heard the reports about Jesus, she had enough faith to simply trust in His power. And it’s a good thing she did. We read Jesus telling her, “Your faith has made you well” (Lk. 9:48).

Like this woman, we have heard and read the reports about Jesus. We have experienced His power. The question is, “What will we do?” when we encounter struggles and difficult situations, where do we turn? Will we have enough faith to trust Jesus and act in faith even when our circumstances seem hopeless?

A new year is upon us, and as we usher in 2023, we look forward to a good year and new opportunities.    The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (ESV).      What great advice for the new year!    Let’s not focus on the things that we may or may not have accomplished in the last year or so, and let’s not dwell on the failures.  Let’s focus on what we can accomplish this year and let’s press toward the prize.  

We have an abundance of opportunities to serve and to spread the gospel.  Murfreesboro is certainly growing, and we have a lot of new folks in our community that need the gospel and need a sound home congregation.   Just think of what we can be in 2023!

Another opportunity we have is to grow in knowledge of the scriptures, and in building each other up in Christ in 2023.     One of our first opportunities to do that will be on January 21 here at the church building.    Brother Dan Winkler will be speaking at our Men’s Leadership Day!    What an opportunity this will be for our men to hear a great gospel preacher present a series of lessons to us on what Bro. Winkler is calling Refine the Paradigm, Changing the Culture of your Congregation – Disciples making Disciples.      Men, please start off 2023 in the right direction and make plans to hear Bro. Winkler on this Saturday morning.      We will get started with a light breakfast at 7:30 and Bro. Winkler will speak to us from about 8:30 until about 10:30, with a couple of breaks between lessons.   The lessons are open to all men of the congregation, both young and old.   Please make plans to attend!

by Justin Morton

The New Year causes many of us to think about the things we need and want to change in our lives. For some, these changes are related to our physical health—things like healthy eating, exercising more and getting plenty of rest. While these are all important considerations, what about the improvement of our spiritual health? In what areas do we desire to grow and improve spiritually this New Year? Consider two important areas we all could grow in to improve our spiritual health this New Year.

First, let’s grow in our love for God.  Jesus said the greatest command we have is to love God (Matt. 22:37-38). Because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, we should be inspired to love God with all our hearts. This love can be seen through our devotion to God, although that’s not always easy. Jesus even said we would have to deny ourselves and take up a cross (Lk. 9:23-26). True love and devotion to the Lord takes self-discipline and whole-hearted commitment.

Second, let’s grow in our love for others. Jesus said the second greatest command is to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:39-40). If we truly have experienced the love of God, it will change us and cause us to love others in a way we never knew we could. Love will produce a passion in our hearts for others who are lost and dying in sin.

My hope and prayer is for 2023 to be a spiritually healthy year for all of us. May we each grow in our love and devotion for God and others. I truly believe if we do these things, Walter Hill will have our healthiest year yet!

by Justin Morton

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Houses are glowing, trees are decorated, families and friends are making lasting memories and you likely have some presents under the Christmas tree. If not, you’d better get on it. You only have one week left to get those gifts bought and wrapped, gentlemen.

I love this time of year. Over the course of the next week, many of us are going to be involved in family gatherings. Some of these events may require us to travel, while others may be enjoyed in the comfort of our own homes. Regardless of where we find ourselves the next few days, I want to challenge each of us to remember what is truly important. No, I’m not talking about your dirty Santa gift! I am talking about something that is not only important this time of year, but all throughout the year. During this week of celebration and fun, I want to challenge you to worship and praise our Heavenly Father.

By now I am sure you realize that Christmas falls on Sunday. And while Christmas is a special time for many of us, each and every Sunday is incredibly special because that is the day when we come together to celebrate the Lord’s victory over death (Matt. 28:1), break bread with one another (Acts 20:7) and participate in various acts of worship (I Cor. 16:1-2, Ep. 5:19). Next Sunday is no different. So while I hope you enjoy participating in whatever traditions your family enjoys on Christmas morning, I pray that you will prioritize our worship, joining other brothers and sisters in Christ to worship and praise our glorious Father above!

“THANK YOU”

Many times, we do not say these words often enough.  As we come to the close of 2022 it is only fitting to say, “Thank You”.  Occasionally, when we try to publicly thank people it is often easy to overlook someone.  This may be the reason we leave these words unspoken far too many times.  However, today I want to say “Thank You” to all of you for the things you have done over the past year for the Walter Hill Church.  It is such a joy to come together to worship God with each of you.  It is such an encouragement to see your warm smile and to hear your kind words each time we come together.  You are truly a blessing to the Walter Hill Church, and it is great to be part of God’s family at Walter Hill because of each of you.  I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:3 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,”.  Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi offers his thanks for their help in his time of need and encourages them in their walk with Christ.  

Thank You for your love for God and His church at Walter Hill.  May God continue to bless you throughout the rest of this year and the new year to come. 

by Justin Morton

Yesterday was a great day at Walter Hill. Over the course of a few hours yesterday morning, our building was filled with kids and their parents, here to enjoy some cookies and milk and to get their pictures made with Santa. A big thank you to Chris Elrod for organizing the event and to all of you “little elves” who pitched in and helped to make this event a success. We are so grateful to each and every one of you for the part you played in making yesterday special.

Days like yesterday are important. Some people may wonder why the church would go to all that trouble just so kids could eat cookies and have their pictures made with Santa. The reason is quite simple: outreach. Yesterday gave the Walter Hill congregation an opportunity to meet and get to know members of our community. This is important because the church is in the “soul saving” business. We are to follow in the steps of Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10, Matt. 28:18-20).

We cannot reach people if we do not know people. Events like Cookies with Santa give us an opportunity to become known in our community. Each one of us lives near, works with and knows people who are lost and dying in their sins. May we never forget the mission Jesus left for us, his disciples Let’s use the opportunities we have, opportunities like yesterday, to invite our friends and neighbors to come to Walter Hill so they can learn about our Savior, Jesus Christ.