Voice of Hope

Today, Debra and I attended the funeral services for retired minister Howard Hughes at the Baggetts Chapel church. The church was full to capacity, and people were seated in adjoining rooms in order to attend the services. The funeral services were conducted by Pastors E.C. Kephart, Jim Mitchell, David Mackens and District Presbyter/Pastor, Richard Neal. I was privileged to conduct the grave-side service and present a church flag to the family. Again, I have been blessed to watch the care and affection shown to grieving families by our members and ministers in the Church of God of Prophecy. You are wonderful people and I appreciate you so much May God bless you!

Today I was able to visit with Pastor Joe and Barbara Watson at the hospital in Jackson, Tennessee. Yesterday, Joe went through triple bypass heart surgery and did great. I was in the room when the surgeon came in to check on him and he seemed to feel good about things. Hopefully, he was to be moved out of intensive care today to a regular room. As you can imagine, Sister Barbara is tired from the long days at the hospital. There have been a multitude of folks visiting at the hospital, and my heart was warmed to know how loving and caring the people in our church are. Please continue to pray for Joes full recovery. God bless.

It saddens me to report to you tonight the passing of another of our retired ministers. Brother Hughes passed away this morning at about 8:20 a.m. at the Trinity Hospital in Erin, Tennessee. Brother Hughes retired from the ministry in 2002 after 46 years of ministry. Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, September 29, 2006 at McReynolds Nave Funeral Home on Madison Street in Clarksville, and from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 30, 2006 at the Baggetts Chapel church. The funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. at the Baggetts Chapel church with internment at the Slayden Church of God of Prophecy cemetary. Please join me in prayer for this family

For those of you interested in sending a card to the famliy of Bishop Omer Lawson, I am posting the mailing address of his sister, Ruth. and his daughter Linda: Ruth Lawson 664 Lawson Rd, Crossville, TN 3857 Linda Lawson 634 Lawson Rd, Crossville, TN 38571 I hope this is helpful. God bless.

Joe Watson, currently serving as mission pastor of the new field work in Henderson, Tennessee (most recently pastor of the Curtis Hill church), is in the hospital in Jackson, Tennessee. He will be having heart bypass surgery on Thursday morning. Will you please join me in praying for Brother Watson and his family during this difficult time for them?

By now, perhaps you have heard that Bishop Omer Lawson has passed away. It happened this afternoon around 3:00 p.m. (CST) at his home in Crossville, Tennessee. Bishop Lawson is a former general appointee who served this church faithfully. He has two sons in full-time ministry in Tennessee, Dr. Philip Lawson at the Columbia church and James Lawson at the Dyersburg church. His son Melvin Lawson serves the Church of God of Prophecy in Hammond, Indiana. His grandson, Pastor Richie Horner serves the church at Savannah, Tennessee. If you were to run the line out, you would find a multitude of children, grand-children, great-grand children and sons, daughters and other relatives in ministry. Yesterday, Debra and I visited with Brother Lawson at his home and had prayer for him. This was my second visit this past week, I was also there on Wednesday, at which time he was alert and talked with me some. Bishop Lawson will lie in state at the Pine Grove, COGOP in Crossville, TN, on Wednesday,...

Hello dear friends. I trust the Lord is blessing you and meeting all of your needs according to His riches in glory. If you are a minister in Tennessee and you do not receive my email newsletter, I would love to add you to the list. To be added, simply CLICK HERE and you can send me an email request. Just put ADD in the body of the newsletter and let me known who you are. We look forward to serving you.