Geneva, Ala (BNc)  “Wanda, I’ve come to church today because you kept inviting me,” Sue Holland said to Wanda Hensley on a recent Sunday morning. Wanda had invited Sue several times and she didn’t come, but Wanda did not stop inviting her.  She kept inviting. 

Sue came recently and brought her two young grandsons. She came back for the Sunday evening worship that night. When the invitation was extended, Sue went forward and asked for prayers for forgiveness of her sins. She hasn’t missed a service of the church since coming that first Sunday morning.

This writer heard Mid McKnight say during a gospel meeting, Luverne, AL years ago, that if someone had been inviting us to come to worship and we were lost and never went, on the day of judgment we would wish they had invited us just one more time.

May this serve as an encouragement for us to never stop inviting others to worship.

Childersburg, Ala. (BNc) – Thirteen teens and four adults canvassed the city of Childersburg in door-knocking efforts July 19-21.

Chris Clevenger, associate evangelist of the Ironaton church in Talladega, Ala., led the group. This is the second campaign he has organized and conducted, and discussions are underway for other campaigns in Summer, 2011.

Workers arrived in Childersburg Sat., July 17, for some games and rest, and to get acquainted with their lodging at the Creekside Christian Camp, located on the property of the Childersburg congregation.

Saturday night, workers stuffed packets for distribution throughout the week. Each packet contained a flyer for the gospel meeting; the tract “What Is the Church of Christ?” by Roger D. Campbell, missionary in Malaysia; a full-color trifold brochure with information about the local congregation, a business card, and a magnetic memo pad with the congregation’s information.

Workers canvassed Childersburg with these packets, seeking also to set up home Bible studies or Bible correspondence course enrollments.

The totals for the week were as follows:

• 1174 doors knocked
• 19 home Bible studies set up
• 38 Bible correspondence courses
• 3 souls baptized into Christ

The congregation will be following up with studies or written material in the coming weeks.

The campaign ended Thursday with the teens going to nearby DeSoto Caverns Park for a day of fun before returning home.  Many of the teens had never been on such a campaign, and several commented that the experience was “better than [Bible] camp.”

The Childersburg congregation is grateful to these teens for their love for souls and willingness to come help us to help others. Only eternity will tell the good done through their efforts.

Many from the Childersburg congregation also worked tirelessly, providing food and funds to make the campaign a success. To God be the glory!

“So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1 Cor. 3:7).

The teen campaign workers were Baylee Morris (13, Glencoe), Xavier Embry (18, Ironaton), Joseph Cleveland (17), Kelsey Gallahar (16), Braden Mitchell (15), Brandon Irvin (15), Dominique Bridges (15), Randi Stephens (14), Katie Smith (13), Aireonia Bridges (12), from Iranton; Dillon Floyd (17, from Jacksonville; Kathryn Clark (15) and Madison Watts (11), from Munford); Ingram McCollum (16), Abbie Welch (11), Peter Whitworth (9), Rachel Whitworth (9), Scott Ray (8), and Joshua Dollahite (6), from Childersburg.

Thanks also to adults Chris & Melissa Clevenger (Ironaton), Lee Snow (Jacksonville), Kristin Clevenger (Freed-Hardeman University), Chance Hicks (Adamsville), Kelly Smith (Lay Lake), Mike Ray (Childersburg), and Kevin Ray (Childersburg), for help as chaperones for the teens and for assistance with door-knocking.

Visitation was today (Saturday) at the Stoney Point Church of Christ in Florence, Ala., from 1:00 – 3:00 with funeral following.

If you should wish to send a card to brother Overton, you may send it to 1330 Ridgely Drive, Anniston, AL 36207.

Our condolences to the Overton family in their loss.

FLORENCE, Ala. (BNc) –

Dr. Frederick W. Danker, reknowned classicist and lexicographer, spoke at the first annual Charles Coil Lecture Series Apr. 9, hosted by HCU’s Friends of the Overton Memorial Library.

Dr. Danker edited A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Christian Literature (3rd rev. ed., 2000) and authored The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (2009).

His lecture series, “Beyond Borders with St. Luke”, was attended by faculty, staff and students from HCU, Freed-Hardeman University, Amridge University and the University of North Alabama.

Ministers from across Alabama and Tennessee also participated.

Distance-learning students were invited to enjoy the lecture series online.

In addition, Dr. Danker spent three days on the HCU campus, meeting with students and faculty, visiting classes and examining the library.

“Dr. Danker has an amazing grasp of the cultural and historical backgrounds of Luke and Acts,” said Dr. Bill Bagents, a guest at the lecture series. “He gave us new tools for appreciating the beauty, focus and complexity of Luke’s writings.”

HCU began in 1971 as International Bible College “to increase the number of capable men and women with world vision and to prepare them for a life of Christian service. From its beginning, the university offered a four-year program of study emphasizing the biblical text and evangelism,” according to the school’s website. In 2000, HCU added a graduate program and changed to its present name.

Editor’s note: Thanks to Lori Eastep, HCU Director of Public Relations, for information and photos.

FORT RUCKER, Ala. (BNc) – In the 68-year history of Fort Rucker, this is the first time churches of Christ have conducted worship on post. In fact, Christian families in the military say it is rare for our brotherhood to be so represented on military installations.

George Merritt, a long-time minister in Southeast Alabama, and CW4 James Baker have both been certified by the U. S. Army to lead the 1:30 p.m. worship each Sunday afternoon at Rucker’s historic Wings Chapel.

“We are targeting some 4,000 student soldiers here, especially those affiliated with the church of Christ,” says Merritt.

The first meeting on post was in mid-September, 2009, after six months of paperwork for approval.

In the first few months, the brethren coming onto post from surrounding congregations have had a taste of how they hope to assist more and more troops and their families.

One WOC candidate saw the service promoted on the marquee soon after arriving. For two months, the early afternoon service gave him a Lord’s Day respite from the confines of “lock down” and the rigors of class and field training. It afforded him the opportunity to observe the Lord’s Supper, study God’s word, sing, pray, and fellowship with other Christians.

A Christian father and his two children came after seeing a flier announcing the service in the PX immediately upon arriving at the “Home of Army Aviation”. A young soldier’s wife with two small children and expecting a third sees the worship service as a way to be near her husband during his time away from his family. Other soldiers, too, have already found this unique “congregation”, including a Lieutenant from Nashville, Tenn., in flight school.

Several nearby congregations have committed to supporting this work with their presence on designated Sundays. Among those who come each week is Betty Marcum who was a civilian employee at Fort Rucker 37 years and whose husband is retired military.

“It’s such a blessing that the chaplain’s office has embraced this work and made it possible,” Marcum says.

This ministry is under the direction of the Ariton, Ala., congregation, with which Merritt works. Congregations sending people to assist  are Christian Home at Wicksburg, College Avenue in Enterprise, the Ozark, Geneva, and Clio congregations.

SUMMERDALE, Ala. (BNc) — Ralph Adams, elder for eight years at the Summerdale church, Summerdale, Ala., is a maker of baby blankets.

“I heard Jerry Davidson say he needed baby blankets for Guyana. My wife had crocheted for years, and I asked Jerry if he needed cloth blankets and he said he did. I knew that was something I could do. I came from a family of four boys and our mother always sewed,” stated Adams.

He buys good quality sheets at yard sales for $2-3 dollars each, or at stores with good discounts. People also give him material they aren’t going to use. One bedroom is so full of material that they can’t use the bed, he said. Adams cuts the material into strips 4″ x 39″ and alternating prints, or prints with solids, sews them together for his finished blankets, 36″ x 42″ or 42″ x 48.”

“They don’t have to be exact, and all the same size,” Adams stated.

Sometimes he cuts out rectangles 5 ½” x 7 ½” and sews them together, so all the blankets won’t look the same.

When asked what kind of machine he has, he quickly replied, “Oh, I have five machines.”

Adams has two set up in the kitchen, one on the table and the other in a cabinet close by. On one he sews the strips together, and the other has double needles to double stitch the blankets.

“I saw something one time that had double stitching and thought that would look good on the blankets,” Adams said.

Freddie and Ralph Adams met in December 1952, when both of them worked at NASA in Huntsville, Ala. He recalled how his boss told him to go down the hall and invite the girls to the Christmas party, and to bring their husbands. He did, and one girl spoke up and said, “She doesn’t have a husband,” referring to Freddie. Ralph said, “I responded by saying, ‘I’ll take care of her,’ and I’ve been taking care of her ever since.” They were married the following year on June 14, fifty-eight years ago. Adams and his wife have four children, two boys, two girls, and seven grandchildren.

When asked how they came to live in Summerdale, Ala., Ralph, who will be 79 on March 30, related how they always enjoyed going to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach on vacation. It seemed natural for them to retire in that area.

Ralph quickly admits that Freddie helps him with the blankets by giving advice on which colors look best together, or which color to use to line the blanket, and he does the sewing. He said if he gets up early before Freddie, he sews for thirty minutes or an hour. In the late afternoon he sews again, “a little bit each day.”

“I can make a blanket a day if I really want to,” Adams said.

When asked how many he has made in all, he replied, “I gave Jerry 45 the other day, and I’ve sent 63-64 already.” He said he sends some every four to six months.
Adams has been sewing the blankets for two or three years. Each blanket has an iron-on label with “Church of Christ, God loves you and so do we.”

Ralph and Freddie Adams have never been to Guyana. They have never seen a baby wrapped in a blanket that Ralph has sewn. Their undying love for the Lord, and the Amerindian babies in the Guyana villages urges them to press on. They heard of the need. They accepted the challenge and said, “Lord, here am I. I can do this, and I will.”

May their example encourage us to look for opportunities to use our talents and abilities for the Lord, and to say “Here am I, Lord. Send me.”

Underwood earned degrees from Freed-Hardeman College, Harding College and Harding Graduate School of Religion.

He began his preaching ministry at age 20. He ministered throughout the U.S. and held full-time preaching positions in Comanche, Okla., Germantown, Tenn., and Sheffield, Ala.

He served as a missionary throughout the Caribbean and in West Africa and served as an elder at Chisholm Hills Church of Christ in Florence, AL for 25 years. Underwood was also Professor of Bible at Heritage Christian University for 35 years.

He was preceded in death by his parents and eldest sister, Juanita Higdon Crowley. He is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Myra Wade Underwood; daughter, Rebecca Dorfmueller; sons, David Underwood and Bryan Underwood; six grandchildren, Matthew Underwood, Luke Underwood, David Andy Dorfmueller (Sgt., U.S. Army), Susanna Dorfmueller, Brody Underwood and Aubree Underwood; one great-grandson, Roshaun Rogers; two sisters, Lois Stephens and Carolyn Minor Barnett.

Underwood was buried in a private service on Feb. 15, with a memorial service open to the public at the Chisholm Hills church.

Mr. Underwood had requested, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made to Heritage Christian University in Florence.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BNc) –

Carolyn was the widow of Byron Benson, a faithful gospel preacher who died Aug. 24, 2009.  They had been married for 52 years.  She was 69.

Carolyn was a talented person. She loved to paint. She developed educational material for the Grady, Ala., congregation where she and Byron had labored for 36 years.

She had retired from her position at the Faulkner University Library.

Carolyn was a quiet and lovable Christian lady with a sweet disposition.

Her funeral will be held at the Leak Memory Chapel in Montgomery on Sat., Feb. 6, with visitation on Fri., 5–7 p.m.

Carolyn is survived by two sons, Lee (Layla) and Blaine (Patty); four grandchildren, Emma-Lane, Lily, Carter and Lucy; a brother-in-law, Jimmie (Artie); two nephews, Clay and Clint and a host of friends.

Carolyn’s parents, Charles and Drula Sanders preceded her in death.

Her funeral service will be conducted by her sons, her nephews and her brother-in-law. Roger Dill and Raymond Elliott will conduct the graveside service.

GENEVA, Ala. (BNc) — Her name is Janice Helms. I met her two years ago when we moved to Geneva, Ala., to work with the church. My husband Douglas was hired to be the full-time preacher.

Geneva is a small Southern town approximately seven miles from the Florida line. I have commented that Geneva is a “well-kept secret.” We have a Wal-Mart, but far greater than that, we have Janice Helms.

At the time we moved to Geneva in Jan., 2008, Janice was our only small children’s Bible class teacher. We had one class, and lots of the time just one little girl in that class. Still, Janice continued to teach because of her love for the children and her love for the Lord. Today when she talks about the Lord and his church, a radiant smile spreads across her face. She often says, “We serve an awesome God.”

Janice Helms and son David Cotton

Janice has had her share of heartaches in her life. She lost one of her sons to cancer at the young age of 26. A month later, her father died. She told me on one occasion that “only God could bring a person through that.”

Janice’s desire is always to go about doing good and leading by example. She visits and finds people in need and somehow finds a way to meet those needs, oftentimes without asking others for help. If a family needs money to pay their utility before it is cut off, she will help. A young mother needed beds for her children, and furniture for her house, and Janice came to her rescue by seeking others who were able to help.

On and on we could go with examples of her good deeds. All of her efforts are done on a very limited budget. Another of her quotes is, “God gives us everything we need and a lot of what we want.”

Recently Janice did the unimaginable. She went out into our small town and invited the children to come to Bible class. Soon her car was overflowing with small children wanting to come to Bible class. Desperate for help, she called the church office and asked to use the church van. Insurance legalities were arranged and Janice became a designated driver.

She began arriving early on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings to drive the van and pick up the children. She was on a mission to bring the children in to learn about the Savior. Soon the van was overflowing.

Janice recruited her son and another young man to take their vehicles and pick up other children and bring them to Bible class. It wasn’t long until her little Bible class was overflowing and we had to divide the children by age groups. Today, we have three Bible classes for children.

Janice hosts a party for the children once a month. Recently on a Sunday afternoon she had 24 little children, wall to wall, in her small trailer for a pizza party. After the party she said, “God is so good. I just want to see his church grow.”

One person, one dream, one goal, and what a difference Janice Helms is making in the lives of us all. We now hear the sound of children’s voices ringing in the church building.

May her example inspire all of us to do greater works for him who loves us so. May we with Janice say, “Here am I, Lord, send me.”

by Brenda Robertson Dennis, reprinted, with permission, from Montgomery Living

Local sculptor Clydetta Fulmer is preserving moments, and sometimes the legacy of a lifetime, in bronze.

It could be a biased opinion, but for some reason it seems that the South continues to churn out artists of extraordinary skill and insight. It could be due in part to the glorious settings where they choose to create their masterpieces. Sometimes these places of inspiration appear to have been ripped from the pages of a classic Southern novel, complete with white sprawling porches, dripping tree moss and tiny cemeteries of unknown age resting lazily in a side yard.

This could certainly be the case for one Alabama sculpture artist by the name of Clydetta Fulmer who operates out of her studio in rural Montgomery County. The studio where she molds her subjects from clay is actually a historic building that was originally a church built by her great grandfather in 1916. Open the door, and you’ll find yourself gazing into the lifelike faces and scenes of a hundred stories, all told with a deep sense of appreciation and captured in single moments of time.

Clydetta Fulmer was born in Montgomery to a very talented family that clearly put faith in God first and education a close second.

Her father, Clyde E. Fulmer, preached for the Capitol Heights Church of Christ and Dr. Rex Allwin Turner, Sr. and his wife Opal Shipp Turner. later at the University Church of Christ located at Faulkner University. Her mother, Constance Renfro Fulmer, taught English at Alabama Christian Academy. Her sister Constance M. Fulmer, is the Associate Dean of Seaver College, Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and her other sister Eunice Fulmer Wells, is a Technology/ Reference Librarian at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Clydetta’s faith in God and her bond with family and friends is very much at the center of all that she does. She gives glory to God for anything that she creates and accomplishes. While many of her role models and inspirations, including her parents, have passed from this life, their influence is still at work in her.

“I enjoy their handiwork every day,” she said. “More important, the memories of their teachings and the examples of their lives are a constant source of wisdom, strength, encouragement and inspiration in my life and work.”

Clydetta was drawing as soon as she discovered the pencil. So when she attended Lipscomb University in Nashville, she naturally decided to study painting. It was when she took her first course in sculpture, however, that she had her “aha” moment. She found the medium of sculpture to be the most challenging for her.

“When you do a painting or a drawing, you do something from one angle,” she said. “With sculpture, it has to be viewed from every angle. So you have to comprehend the subject better.”

It was during a break from school and visiting her family in Montgomery that Clydetta received her first commissions for portrait sculptures from the founder of Alabama Christian Academy, Faulkner University and Amridge University, Dr. Rex A. Turner. These were her first works to be displayed publicly.

Since that time 39 years ago, she has been a freelance artist who has completed more than 100 commissioned sculptures, more than 40 of which have been public sculptures. She has also sculpted several statues for private homes and gardens.

Besides portrait busts and figures, she has also sculpted birds, animals and flowers as well as architectural embellishments, sundials and bronze benches.

In 2006 the sundial and four bronze Butterfly Benches she sculpted for the National Garden Clubs were installed at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.

Her latest sculptures that can be seen in Montgomery are two life-sized bronze portrait figures of Dr. Rex Allwin Turner, Sr. and his wife Opal Shipp Turner. This work was commissioned by their son, the late Dr. Rex A. Turner Jr. for Amridge University on Taylor Road. Unfortunately, “Dr. Rex,” as he was known, did not live to see these statues completed in bronze, although he did see and approve them in clay. This sculpture portraying the Turners is very special to Clydetta because it was Dr. Turner who first recognized and encouraged her talent and career. Through this latest commission she was able to use that talent to honor and memorialize him and his wife.

In looking at the life and work of Clydetta, one could possibly say that they’ve tripped upon the secret of this Alabama artist. Clearly, her vision and creativity have grown from the inside out, lovingly nurtured by the ones who raised her and who taught her how to shine. As she stands on the porch of her old family church, it’s striking to realize that there is so much more that could be said about this artist. But for now, we’ll have to be satisfied with that one moment in time and look forward to more of her stories.

See for yourself.  Some of Clydetta’s work can be seen in these public locations in the Montgomery area.

• The statue of Major Lemuel Purnell Montgomery for whom Montgomery County is named is at the entrance of the Montgomery County Courthouse.
• The life-sized bronze sculpture of Helen Keller as a Child Reading Braille is at the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped on Monticello Drive.
• The life-sized sculpture of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, was commissioned by St. Margaret’s Foundation. The hydrocal statue was originally located at the entrance of St. Margaret’s Hospital, and it is now in Oakwood Cemetery.
• The bronze plaque depicting Three Soldiers, commissioned by the United States Government, is at the entrance of the Veterans Hospital on Perry Hill Road.
• The three heroic bronze portrait busts of Joe Greer, Leonard Johnson and Rex Turner Sr. are mounted on a granite trihedron to form the Founders Memorial at Faulkner University.
• The bronze bust of Mary Jane Crump Brannon is at Huntingdon College.
• The portrait bust of James Faulkner is at Faulkner University.
• The portrait bust of Walter McKee is at the McKee School.
• The bronze plaque titled “The Joy of Reading” is at the entrance of the Pintlala Public Library

Photographs by Kris Kendrick