Tag Archives: Church life

Church-Part 11

18 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

What have I loved about my church – going to church – being at church?  Well, I love being with fellow believers.  I love sharing events that happen in our lives, and that we can pray for each other, and see God’s hand in it all.

Photo Credit Pixabay

I love seeing people come to faith in God through Christ Jesus – both young and old(er).  I love to see the faith in older believers being given to the next generation.  I love seeing young families in church – just the fact that Moms and Dads come and bring their young children with them.  Perhaps the young ones don’t understand everything right now, but they will see the faith of their parents, and that will last them their whole life long.  

Photo Credit Pixabay

I love to see the Pastors and teachers willingly give of their time to study God’s Word and bring the truth of God to the Sunday School classes and the congregation.

Photo Credit Pixabay

I am grateful that we have the capability of the live streaming of the worship services on those Sundays that I am unable to attend the service myself for illness.  And that’s the ONLY reason I don’t attend church services.  While I am glad to have that opportunity…..it is just NOT the same as being in the same building with the same people, worshiping the same God.  I really LOVE that time together!  And, I must admit – I don’t usually sing along with the live stream!

I must say, however, that while I was Church Secretary all those years, it occurred to me that I was going to “church” six days a week and only getting paid for five days – because Sunday was one of my days “off.”  When I worked in the private sector, Sunday was a day that we went to church, as part of that weekend.  But here I was working at the same place I worshiped each week.  It was a strange feeling, and one I had to get past.

I love, here in Orlando, that we have such talented people in our body of believers, and that they are willing to share their talents with our church.  I love some of the decorations that our Disney Cast Members create for our special events – Christmas, Easter, military observances, etc.  We have former Disney Cast Members who work our sound and lighting equipment – and the live streaming.  Their talent is unmatched!

Photo Credit Judy Wills

Photo Credit Judy Wills

I love that we have, among our body of believers, those who work with Wycliffe Bible Translators and CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ).  They are a fountain of information.  It amuses me/us when the guy in our Sunday School class, who works on the logistics for the Jesus Film, gets into a discussion with some of the class members and writes some kind of formula on the white board!  The rest of us, who are NOT engineers, just sit and laugh at them.  It makes for a fun class.

There is more I can tell, but that will have to wait for another posting.

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Church-Part 8

6 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Again, we left Germany with many regrets – we really loved living in Germany!

Fred had been assigned to a Weather Wing attached to Langley AFB, Virginia, near Hampton Roads.  Neither of us had ever lived near Virginia, so this promised to be quite a new adventure for us and our girls.

Our house in Seaford

In deep snow

We settled in a small town, Seaford, Virginia, just eight miles south of Yorktown and it’s famous battlefield.  We were only about half-an-hour from Colonial Williamsburg, and about that from Jamestown.  That entire area is call the “Historic Triangle” of America.  We lived there nearly 13 years.

Credit Google search and Wikipedia

Sign along Interstate 64

Fred had a bit of a drive to work from Seaford, but we liked the house, the area and the schools.  I really loved living in that house, but, as I’ve said recently, if we were still there, we would have to move, as my knees cannot handle stairs anymore.

There was a small Baptist church not too far from our house.  Again, after visiting around quite a few Baptist churches in the area, we decided that Seaford Baptist Church was where God wanted us.  When we joined the church the pastor told us that the family we purchased the house from had been members of the church.  They told the pastor that they had prayed over every room in that house, that God would bring a God-loving family to that house.  Their prayers were answered when we moved in.

Seaford Baptist Church as we knew it

Credit cover of a pictorial church directory

We were members of Seaford Baptist Church for nearly the entire time we lived in Virginia.  We were there for three of its pastors, and loved each of them.  

This is a picture of the church when we were members there

Seaford Baptist Church – Photo by Fred Wills

The far left end (pitched roof) was the original building, with the classrooms between it and the “new” Sanctuary with the steeple.  That area was now church offices and some classrooms.  The center section was still classrooms, and it was all attached to the “new” Sanctuary.  

Seaford Baptist Church under heavy snow – Photo by Fred Wills

Here are some pictures of the Sanctuary, all decked out for Christmas.

Foyer – photo by Fred Wills

Photo by Fred Wills

Photo by Fred Wills

Since we have moved from Virginia, the church has expanded by building a 1200-seat Sanctuary, which is filled each Sunday.  The old Sanctuary is used by the Youth Department of the church.

Seaford Baptist Church – new Sanctuary

Photo by Fred Wills

I began playing the old organ in that church (not my favorite instrument to play!), and when we started having problems with it, the Minister of Music decided it would be a good thing to upgrade to a keyboard…which we did.  And you should have heard the complaints!  So many of the older members complained that it just didn’t sound like an organ – even though I was using the “organ” setting.  So, one of our members who was a skilled wood-worker, built a cabinet for two keyboards, to make it look like an organ.  The complaints stopped immediately, and we heard things like “now THAT’S what an organ sounds like!”  Same sound settings, but now it looked like an organ.  Perception is everything.  Here’s a picture of that “organ.”

Photo by Fred Wills

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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