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Do You Enjoy Worship?

Aug 202015

Do you enjoy worship? Hold it, you say, I attend most services and I even participate at times. That was not the question, I asked this: Do you enjoy worship? If you are not certain, or wish to know why you answered as you did, answer honestly the following:

Does worship seem to stand in the way of more fun things, such as hobby, or watching television? Which would you rather do: watch your favorite television program or worship God? Be honest now, which would you rather do?

When you think of an upcoming worship service, what is your attitude? Do you dread or look forward to it? Is Sunday your favorite day of the week, or do you wish it were stricken from the calendar? Do you wish that Wednesday ended at 7:00 p.m.?

When you consider the song service, do you think of the horrid sound of untrained voices, or are you thankful that there are faithful Christians who think enough of spiritual matters to meet together and sing praise? (Note: Col. 3:15-16; Eph. 5:17-19).

What are your thoughts on public prayer? The shorter the better? Do you inwardly criticize, or do you sincerely petition the One to whom prayer is addressed? How often do you talk to God in private petition? (Matt. 6:5-15; James 5:16-17)

~ Author Unknown

Preaching the Gospel … Without Mentioning Baptism

Apr 272015

An incident occurred in the Texas country years ago, the story of which I remember. The preachers of a small town proposed a union meeting in which all of the preachers of the town would take alternate turns to preach. There was a certain Gospel preacher in town, who had not been consulted on the arrangement. When he called on the other preachers to request his turn to preach, and asked to have a time assigned to him, he was informed that an agreement had been made that the subject of baptism would not be mentioned — that they had agreed to preach Christ and say nothing about baptism. To their surprise this preacher promptly accepted the conditions, and agreed to preach without the mention of the word “baptism.” A night was assigned for his sermon, and he announced in advance the subject: “What Must I Do to Be Saved?”

The people wondered how that kind of preacher could preach on that kind of subject under that kind of agreement and not mention baptism. They came from the necks of the woods and forks of the creeks to hear him preach that kind of a sermon.

He preached with much animation and eloquence on salvation, the love of God that brought salvation to man through Jesus Christ. Reaching the point of the question — “what must I do to be saved” — he turned to Mark 16:15-16 and read the words of Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth” — and doeth that thing I promised not to mention — “shall be saved.” He then read Acts 2:38: “Repent” — and do that thing I promised not to mention, “for the remission of sins.” As he read every verse in the New Testament on baptism, he called it that thing he had promised not to mention.

It is a strange thing that denominational people will detour around such a plain and positive command, so simple to be understood and performed, so easy to accept and obey — and so much emphasized in the New Testament.

When Phillip preached Christ (Acts 8:5-12), he preached the kingdom of Christ, he preached the all prevailing name of Christ, and he preached “baptism into Christ.”

~ Foy E. Wallace, Jr.
(1896-1979)

History of Evant Church of Christ

Mar 032015

The first known meetings in the Evant area for the church of Christ were in two places: the old Cow House School building northeast of present day Evant, and the old one-room school building at Henderson Point. When the Henderson Point building was torn down, some families started meeting in the school auditorium. Some of those early members were: the Hills, Burneys, Elams, Gazaways, Epplers, Christians, Miss Ollie Preston, the Scotts, Newtons, Shaws, Singletons, Baizes, Carters, Faubions, and Flatts.

In 1928, a frame building was erected three blocks west of the square in Evant, consisting of an auditorium and four classrooms. What served as the fellowship area for the 1928 church was an old oak tree. Underneath this landmark tree, picnic tables were set up to serve meals and Vacation Bible School refreshments. Young people often used it as a gathering place. In 2011, the old tree was cut down, but what a shame those old branches could not talk!

An early church member, Eleanor Henderson, said, “We didn’t have a paid preacher. Esto Newton came on horseback. On Sundays, we had classes and communion. The Christians and Newtons were good singers. I remember going by wagon to a camp meeting at Turnersville, and camping there in the wagon.”

Our current brick church was built in 1965 and the 1928 church building was sold and moved. Among those families instrumental in the new church construction were: Kincheloe, Shave, Horton, Henderson, Sheldon, Smith, Lee, Johnson, Preston, Faubion, Slone, McKinley, Mitchell, Sugg, Harrington, Webb, and Atchley.

During the mid-1950s, before the church could afford a full-time preacher, Abilene Christian College students would come on the weekends to do the preaching. Some of those were Charles Hodges, John Gibson, and Joe Barnett, who returned on numerous occasions throughout the years to hold meetings.

Like most churches, over the years there would be times when the church would have large attendance and be very active and then there would be times when the attendance would be small.

Preachers were: Charles Hodges, John Gibson, Joe Barnett, O.O.O. Newton, Marvin Porterfield, Jon Jones, T. R. Bankhead, Marvin Rowland, Joe Wolf, Melvin Allen, Roy McGaugh, Boyce Edwards, Herman Beauchamp, Allen DeSpain, Pat McIntosh, David Boren, Mickey Chambliss, Joe Carrizales, Mark Kirby, Jon McCormick, Jess Whitlock, and William Vann.

Submitted by: Letha Sheldon, Cheryl Slone, and Calvin Burks.

J.D. Tant Biography

Mar 032015

Known to most of us as J.D. Tant, Jefferson Davis Tant (1861-1941) preached all over the nation, and made his home not so far from us here in Evant. You can read the entire historical article (in .pdf format) here.

A few notes of interest follow:

In September of 1886, J.D. Tant preached at the Bee House Meeting in Coryell County. Twenty-one were baptised that day. Among those was J.M. Tuttle, a successful preacher in New Mexico for a number of years. At this meeting, J.D. Tant decided to debate for the first time.
In November of 1886, a debate was set with W.A. Jarrell at Bee House in Coryell County. Six hundred people attended the first night. At that meeting, it was announced that Jarrell was sick, and that he asked the debate to be postponed for one month.
In December of 1886, J.D. Tant debated with W.N. Leak instead of Jarrell, who was still sick. J.F. Grubbs moderated for Tant. There were nine baptisms from the Baptists and four baptisms from the Methodists at that meeting. This event marked the first of over one hundred debates that J.D. Tant would participate in throughout his career.
Beginning in 1887, Hamilton Texas was the home of J.D. Tant for nearly 15 years, the longest residence in any one place during the 80 years of his life.

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