Newspaper Article

Here's my article published in the local newspaper, The Journal, on November 16.


Area churches join for worship and fellowship
By Steven Gaines


This Sunday evening three Churches of Christ from Tuscola and Lawn joined in a combined worship and fellowship meal hosted by the Tuscola Church of Christ. This event took weeks of planning and turned into a beautiful example of Christian unity.

Frances Hardaway of the Lawn Church of Christ said, “It was a really good time of worship together. We had a common cause—to worship God. Getting to know new members of our family was a great experience.”

Steven Gaines of the Tuscola Church of Christ planned the evening. He and Mike Hardaway, preacher for the Lawn Church of Christ, gave a couple of short talks, drawing the congregation’s attention to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection and how that two-thousand-year-old event impacts the lives of Jesus’ followers today.

Dick Atkins and Bill Thornton of the Tuscola church, along with Mark Gaines, youth minister of the Lawn church, led songs about Christ and unity. Brad Irwin, who preaches for the Jim Ned Valley Church of Christ, gave a dramatic reading of the crucifixion story from the book of Matthew.

Other worship leaders included Mark Whitton and Mark Young of the Jim Ned Valley Church of Christ, Harley Sadler and Roy Meyer of the Lawn Church of Christ, and D. N. Cecil and Johnny Jennings of the Tuscola Church of Christ. Members of all three congregations worked together to set up the potluck meal and to clean the facility afterwards.

Mike Hardaway announced that the Lawn church hopes to host a similar event soon.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).