Following details received from Rachel Myers on 12-12-09:  December 7, 1941 was the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, whereas December 7. 2009 was a memorable day for the "Young at Heart" group of the Wadesboro Church of God as they gathered with family and friends at Welika Lake Fish Camp.  Each person registered as they came in and guessed how many pieces of candy was in the glass Christmas tree.  Out of the 57 people that guessed, only one hit the nail on the head.  Glenda Burney won with a guess of 37 with Janice Landreth coming in second with a guess of 36. 

Rachel Myers, leader of the "Young at Heart" group greeted everyone and welcomed the visitors.  Among them were our speaker for the evening Reverend Loran Livingston and Sandra of Charlotte, Dennis & Brenda Livingston of Central Church, Jimmy & Janice Landreth of Central Church and Susan Plunkett also of Charlotte, Mr. & Mrs. John Miles of Mooresville, Mr. & Mrs. Charles Riddle of Wadesboro, Haywood & Sue Newton (they were also celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary), Mr. & Mrs. James Griffin of Indian Trail, Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Squires of Stallings, NC, Mr. Gwendall and Shawn Stalvey of Matthews, Mr. Greg Lipe of Florence, SC, Loretta Oliver and Eddie Carpenter of Wadesboro. 

Rev. Jeff Goudelock led the group in singing a Christmas Carol while his wife Renae played the keyboard.  The blessing of the food and giving of thanks was given by Melba Paul, teacher of the Senior Adult Sunday School Class. After enjoying a wonderful meal of roast turkey, fried chicken, cornbread dressing, giblet gravy and all the trimmings, a time was set aside to give some awards to our teachers and church workers.  After this, it was game time.

Renae Goudelock led the group in 12 days of Christmas.  It wasn't enough to sing; twenty four people had been selected to act out one of the 12 days of Christmas.  We can never forget Glenda and Greg as they got down to be the three French hens or Wayne and Linda Kelly on the "Eight maids a milking".  Everyone of them did a fantastic job of interpreting their day!

Next came some wonderful singing as the program was changed to lead us into a devotional time.  Eddie Squires sang and blessed everyone.  Then, Sandra Livingston came to sing, "Jesus I love You" accapella.   How beautiful it was and Oh how much love we could feel.

John Miles gave the introduction for our evening speaker, Rev. Loran Livingston.  Our local "boy" had come home for an evening of fellowship and we were all so happy to be with them.  John Miles had met Judy when he moved to Wadesboro while working with the power company.  The Lord called him to preach and preach he did.  John and Judy married and pastored for a long time and he is now retired from pastoring.  So, we actually had two of our local "boys" home for this night.

John Miles was part of our congregation when Loran Livingston was a young teenager.  When Brother Loran Livingston began talking, he had a time of remembrance for a while, then he gave us some Scripture and the Word of the Lord.  At the close of our worship, Ann Porter came to sing her special "O Holy Night".  Truly we were all feeling the moving of the Spirit.

The night was closed out by giving away some prizes.  Renae Goudelock won the card for a free supper.

We dismissed but no one seemed to want to leave.  We truly had a great evening of love, fun, fellowship especially with the Livingston family and friends and family from far and near. 

For many years, our Church has depended on Welika Lake for a place to party in a beautifully decorated place with atmosphere and delicious food.  It seems to get better every year, thanks Yates.

Below a list of those that attended in the order they singed they signed the '"roster": Gwendel Stalvey, Shawn Stalvey, Louise Stalvey, Elmina Pegram, Ines Pegram, Wink Myers, Rachel Myers, Anna Thompson, Evelyn Riddle Charles H. Riddle, Jeff Goudelock, Renae Goudelock, John Goudelock, Josh Goudelock, Allie Newton, Bennie Newton, James Griffin, Carolyn Griffin, Judy Henry, Karen Gaun, Linda Kelly,  Wayne Kelly, Joel Hornback, Betty Jo Deese, John Miles, Judy Miles, Loretta Oliver, Henrete Phillips, Minnie Shankle, Nezzie Woody, Melba Paul, Jerry Jones, Mary Katie, Holly McLaurin, Martha Hart, Verna McCaskill, Sandra Livingston, Susan Plunkett, Loran Livingston, Dennis Livingston, Brenda Livingston, Jimmy Landreth, Mickey Porter, Joyce Porter, Ann Porter, Joshua McGrady, Kelly McGrady, Haywood Newton, Sue Newton, Kevin McGrady, Mary Squires, Eddie Squires, Jessica Player, Glenda Burney, Eddie Carpenter, Carol Carpenter, Greg Lipe and Alisha Privette.          

Little digital camera does fine working with normal distances inside but the room was way too large for the small flash even on a lower resolution but is adequate for candid pixs for screen viewing.

Photos by Bill aka Mickey Porter and web published on 12-09-09 with Rachel Myers narrative web published on 12-13-09.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE