District Tea Party at Russellville, AR

A special thank you to Sister Sherry Cox from Arkadelphia, Arkansas, for organizing, planning and conducting District Ladies Teas.  The ladies of Bald Knob have been anxiously awaiting the first.  Here are a few pictures from the day.  Bald Knob Ladies are called the Blue Bonnets.  Bald Knob ladies look forward to hosting the next tea in March 2011.

The Pink Ladies (Pink) of Russellville hosted the first District Tea and did a wonderful job helping with decorations and other preparations for the event.  Thank you Ladies!

Ozark Mountain Ladies (Purple) of Mt. View, Arkansas.  Thanks for coming and bringing some great deserts.

Blue Bonnet Ladies (Blue) of Bald Knob, Arkansas will be hosting the next District Ladies Tea in March.

Keepers of the Light Ladies (Green) of Arkadelphia, Arkansas.  Sister Dixon provided activities for the younger ladies and Sister Cox organized, planned and brought all kinds of wonderful treats and the devotion for the day.  She also provided parasols for each Pastor's wife of each group.  Tea Cozy's were also distributed and these were the craft ideas of the day.

Look for your invitation to the next Ladies Tea and enjoy the wonderful fellowship of the Ladies in our District - bring your friends - the will love it!

Revival in Princeton, MN

We had a wonderful time in Princeton, MN, with the Saints of God.  We really appreciate the folks at Bald Knob, AR, allowing us this time of ministering outside the region.  Thank you, Stephen Wantulok, for taking care of services during our absence.  Here are a few pictures.  I just realized that most of my pictures had only one person in them at a time or they were blurry.

Brother Bacon is busy making us a treat for dinner.  Just his best casserole ever!  And we now know the secret!

Smiling Sister Bacon!  It was such a pleasure to visit in their home.  They are gracious hosts.  They certainly keep you fed.  They had BBQ sandwiches ready for us as soon as we arrived. We had pumpkin and apple muffins, bananna muffins, donuts, potatoe casserole, grilled beef steak, sandwiches...even some of Brother Bacon's B-day cake!  Oh, yes!  We apprecaite them and their hospitality.  I enjoyed resting on the deck and Luke enjoyed running in the yard.  It didn't take Brother Willard long to find a recliner - smiles.  Sean enjoyed walking the neighborhood.  We all enjoyed the laughter and fellowship.  I hope Sister Bacon was able to perfect knitting - our lesson was very brief.

Men visiting at church in Princeton, MN.

Young talent in the local church - Montana Thompson playing and singing an original song that she wrote.  Beautiful!  Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the B-day party for Luke.  He turned 11 years old while we were in MN and they organized a surprise party for him at the Thompson's home.  Grilled burgers and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake.  Happy B-day, Luke.
We had a bonfire that evening after services with singing, marshmellows and hot chocolate.  It was good fun and fellowship.  My pictures didn't turn out in the dark.  I haven't learned how to do that yet.
We also had a lunch of soups at the Bock's home on Sunday.  It was great having the opportunity to fellowship with everyone from the church.  We had a great time and hope we were able to be a blessing.  Sister Bacon tried her hand at knitting before we left - time will tell if that will be a fruitful venture or not.
We were blessed with great weather.  It was very pleasant during the day and slightly cool in the evenings.  Beautiful sunsets and I have pictures of a few.
We really had a GREAT time worshiping with everyone and fellowshipping with everyone.  Thanks for inviting us and for all the wonderful treats. 
Oh, Luke spent his B-day money before we left MN on a tent that came in handy just the other day.

WMB October 2010

The thought for the October WMB Service had to do with being a vessel of use to the Master.  We all have plenty of useless gadgets around the house and some good ole' faithful utensils or vessels that we always reach for when we really want to get the job done.  The word VESSEL was taken and spelled out and scriptures were used to remind us of our need to fullfil the different characteristics that we should possess to be a vessel of honor before the Lord.  We must know him, not be satisfied with the ordinary, we must be empty and clean of this world, we must be good examples and we must not hold back but DO the work.  If we do not possess these characteristics then we are one of the gadgets that fill the cabinets and are never used because they take too much effort to produce the desired results. 

We discussed the age old question, "Is the cup half full or half empty?"  What ever happend to just being FULL!  Why is it that we continue to sit in the valley of decision and debate if we are half full or half empty, judging one another by our responses, when all along we should simply be FULL and over flowing!  If we were FULL then there would be no need to debat the question.  We would know that the vessel was ready to be used instead of trying to figure out if there would be enough or if it should be saved for a later time.  We are satisfied with just a little to say that our vessel is being used. 

We used several scriptures from Phillippians chapter 4. 

We are not here to simply take up space or to decide if we are top shelf vessels or not.  We are here to simply be used of the Lord as he sees fit.  If we are not prepared (FULL) and ready to be used - what good are we?  We simply bring on the confussion and questions of the previous thought. 1/2 ful or 1/2 empty.

We discussed Acts chapter 3.  Peter said - "such as I have".  We cannot give what we do not have.  If the river of life isn't flowing through us then others will not feel its power nor be refreshed by it.  We must act out of "selfless" reasons.  let us not take our eye off of Christ reguardless how much our flesh cries for attention.  Peter wasn't at the temple to heal a man.  Even even rebuked those around for thinking such.  Signs were simply following Peter.  But Peter had his eyes open and when he saw that the attention of those around was arroused, he recognized that God had opened a door to speak to souls concerning their salvation.  Continue to read chapter 3 and you will see how Peter lead this crowd to repentance.  Do we waste or make full use of opportunities that God provides?  God does NOTHING without considering the soul of man.  We are here to reach souls not to make people feel better in body or mind.  However, we may find that healing is used to get their attention.  Do we simply stop at that and say - Praise the Lord for healing?  God help us SEE the open doors before us that we might minister to souls.  Help us be willing, as Job, to suffer and bear whatever cross God has laid before us so that opportunity to minister to a soul is available to us.  Let us be FULL and ready vessels but let us minister to the FULL need and not stop with touch for the body but continue and reach the soul for Christ.

John 15:11 is a beautiful scripture to me.

These things have I spoken untio you, that my (Jesus is speaking) joy might remain (we do not want to be cracked and leaking) in you, and that your joy might be FULL! (A vessel of honor and useful to the Master)

Before service everyone was given a tiny box.  They were told not to tell anyone or show anyone what was in their box.  Toward the conclusion of service each one was asked to open their box and to raise their hand if they found something in their box.  All but one had something in their box.  We talked about how that made her feel.  One of the other ladies came and shared with her what filled her box.  Silver and Gold have I none but such as I have, give I thee.  The woman received a piece of paper and read it.  It was hopeful and a scripture to go with it.  Each one then shared what filled their boxes.  We had several "ful's" that were shared from hopeful, thankful, truthful, worshipful, cheerful, helpful, etc.  There are many good things of which we may be filled. 

We are adults - we want a full glass - fill it to the brim, that is what it is for.

Let us be FULL Vessels!

October is World Mission Month.  Each one needs to find a vessel and make it FULL. 

Sister Debbie will be available to take family or individual pictures to help raise funds for Missions and for the Local Church Building Payment.  Call for an appointment.

Report and Announcements

Picking Up The Stitches Blog site began in November 2009 for the purpose of sharing projects with the Dorcas Ladies of our local church.  This blog is no longer just for our Dorcas Projects but also serves as the Blog for the entire local church.  Since the blog began we have had over 400 views (the counter was not installed initially).  Although we had activity prior to this spring we were not set to receive stats from our viewers.  Since the spring we have had visits from 3 continents, 6 sub-continents, 8 countries, 27 cities and 129 specific visitors.  Thank you to our visitors and to those who have contributed. 

We are glad to know that The Church of God in Bald Knob, Arkansas is alive and ministering to others.  We look forward to another year of serving you.  If you have items you would like to share on our blog or comments please send them to wantulok@sbcglobal.net or pickingupthestitches@gmail.com.  Thanks for viewing.

The WMB Service this month focused on allowing the Lord to pick us up.  Sometimes we get low in spirit  and need to be lifted up.  He lifted me up from the miry clay and planted my feet on solid ground.  Sometimes storms come our way and we need to be lifted up above the storm clouds that surround us.  We looked at the examples of others who were lifted up by the Lord such as Job, David and Naomi.  We can go on, grow and fulfill the purpose that God has for our lives even if we face low times in our life.  David did.  2 Samuel 5:10  And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.  We used a bloom from a mum (we called it a Daisy most of the time) to help us remember to keep our roots in the ground and our petals lifting up glorifying the Lord. (I guess you can say "mum's" the word.)  

Let us GO ON and GROW!  The Lord God is with us! Praise the LORD!

Did we see you at the General Assembly?

We took well over 1000 pictures so take time to stop by sometime and view the slide show.

Thanks to Jerry and Linda Long

Thanks Sister Linda and Brother Jerry for helping us prepare for Children's Assembly by making Aprons and Bonnets this year.  We really appreciate all your hard work. 

I have a picture but I was unable to transfer it to the computer - we will post it at a later time if we are successful with our download.

Children's Assembly

We had Children's Assembly services on 4 afternoons with wonderful ministering teams and GREAT altar responses. 
Heavenly Acres ( We were down on the farm with a barn, silo, orchard, vineyard, garden, pond and pig pen )
Theme:  Holy Living Is The Life For Me
Scripture:  Is the Seed Yet in the Barn?  Haggai 2:19a
Final count of experiences reported was 7 saved and 3 sanctified.  Praise the Lord!
Here are some pictures from the week and the program.