Light Industrial Park Proposed for Yancey Mills - Crozet Gazette

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page 22 s AUGUST 2008 Mt. Salem—continued from page 12 The altar is flanked by Victorian–era wooden, straight-back chairs that go back to the origins of the building, which has about two dozen pews in it. The walls are paneled up to the window ledges and above that they are painted a fresh white. Across the ceiling space stretch two pairs of rods with turnbuckles that pull the old walls plumb. A space heater sits behind the piano and a flue with a thimble where a woodstove once sat has been closed off. On the piano sits a pitcher that reads: “Pouring out Blessings.” The atmosphere of the room is warm and comfortable. Sounds in it are softened and clear and light takes on a cool, shady quality. It’s as homey as a family TV room. The Moton Family next sang “There’s a Praise Inside I Can’t Keep to Myself.” The congregation was clapping along. The church was using the National Baptist Hymnal, 1977 edition, and many books had broken bindings that had allowed pages to drop out. Moton sang songs from a binder he had assembled. “If you don’t have praise for God on the inside, you can’t be beautiful on the outside,” Missionary Colemon said when the song was over. “We are truly blessed to be in the land of the living. God didn’t have to let us be here to see each other again.” Marva Eaves, the church clerk, made the announcements. The members of Mt. Salem church were invited to a homecoming at Mt. Carmel in Brown’s Cove on August 12. Colemon, not being a pastor (though perhaps she might become one), next offered words of encouragement, rather than a sermon. “We’re not lacking here at Mt. Salem,” she said. “We’re not numerous. But wherever there are two or three gathered in His name ….” The crowd knew how to fill in the rest. “All we have to do is stay faithful. We are pressing forward to keep these doors open.” She has recently returned from a trip to Rome. She wanted to see the holy city, as she called it, and tour the Vatican. She had encountered an elderly lady there in need of help and she had spent a lot of time with her. She felt God wanted her to extend that help. “We don’t know what God has in mind for us to do. We have to keep our hearts and minds open. When you give, God supplies your needs,” she reminded the crowd. True to her title, Missionary Colemon has also made a trip to Ghana in west Africa. “We are blessed,” she said. “We need to count our blessings. We need to keep leaning on Jesus. “Churches can burn you out,” she acknowledged. “You need to take time for family and friends and fellowship.” She came back to I Corinthians. The congregation had pulled out their Bibles, mainly large, leatherbound volumes with big print. They fell open as if exhausted from hard use. The gilt had been worn off the page edges by so much thumbing to find passages. Most had been carried in in tough zippered pouches. Some were plain and some had been embroidered. “Unity. Unity! That’s what we are here for today.” Mt. Salem is praying for a pastor, but she warned them to be patient and careful. “Many wolves will come in sheep’s clothing.” Pastor Colemon had worried about this. They don’t want someone whose real motive is just to secure a salary, someone who would take advantage of them and move on. “We are equipped here spiritually,” she reassured them. “We want a spirit-filled pastor. We believe in teaching. Bible study is not just for children. It’s for everybody.” Still, she stressed hospitality. You Crozet gazette Mary Colemon, Bianca Horne (of Boston, MA), Joyce Colemon, Jon Colemon and Marva Eaves. never know who God will send your way, she said. “This church is going on because there is unity here,” said Raymond Moton, who visits lots of churches to play. “The devil will try to come in and cause division. Keep praying.” Then he and his family sang “Because of Who You Are, I Give Crozet Baptist Church 5804 St. George Avenue 434-823-5171
Crozet gazette AUGUST 2008 s page 23 Missionary Joyce Colemon You Glory” and “Work it Out,” one of his favorites, he said. “The devil always wants us to think things are not going to work out for us. Now God’s time is not our time, but he will work it out. In fact, it’s already worked out. We just have to wait.” Women, mainly, went forward next and about 15 formed a circle near the altar. They held hands and prayed for their families and friends. “Stand in the gap,” urged Missionary Bereavements Colemon. Then the group dispersed outside to set up lunch. A small beach tent had been erected to protect the food. The six picnic tables placed in the shade of the grove were covered with white plastic and had cups with flower arrangements were placed at their centers. The fare included fried chicken, slow-cooked green beans, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese, collards, shrimp jambalaya, biscuits and cakes and Matthew Benjamin Thomas, 22 June 28, 2008 Fred Massey Whiting, 81 June 29, 2008 James Albert Tomlin, 61 July 1, 2008 Mary Esther Couch, 82 July 4, 2008 Frances Wickersham Hoffman, 97 July 3, 2008 Nicholas Jerett Rogers, 23 July 3, 2008 Lawrence D. Wingfield, 62 July 4, 2008 Charlotte Mawyer Fisher, 59 July 6, 2008 Dorothy Etta Gibson, 71 July 7, 2008 Lucy Buck LeGrand, 99 July 7, 2008 Helene Arlene Witt Fields, 79 July 9, 2008 Elizabeth E. Smith, 71 July 7, 2008 Carter Randolph Allen, 86 July 10, 2008 Delaphine Bradshaw Norvelle, 87 July 11, 2008 Agnes Nadine Shiflett, 82 July 10, 2008 Harvey Morris Laub, 53 July 11, 2008 Mabel Watts Matheny Hayslett, 87 July 12, 2008 Charlie Ervin Johnson, 85 July 12, 2008 Robert Samuel Reid July 12, 2008 Daniel H. Cowan, 80 July 13, 2008 Frances Lee Steppe, 71 July 19, 2008 Maria Elena Casas Rainey, 55 July 21, 2008 Henry David Walls, 85 July 18, 2008 pies. There was plenty to go around and the meal was leisurely. Elder John Marshall (a title of respect reserved for pastors with proven preaching skills and spiritual sagacity), who leads the Free Union Gospel Church in Louisa County, arrived with some members of his congregation. When they had had a chance to eat, the evening service would begin. The practice of church congregations traveling to visit each other is referred to as “fellowship.” It is common among the churches in western Albemarle, including Piedmont Baptist in Yancey Mills, Mountain View in Batesville, Union Mission in Crozet, Mt. Zion in Newtown and Mt. Carmel in Brown’s Cove. Elder Marshall seems mild and serene—until he takes up his message. He wore a black collarless shirt under a neat camel-colored jacket that set off the modest, plain gold cross on a chain from his neck. For the evening service, the Moton family had taken places in the pews. The service started with songs as members of the Free Union church came forward in front of the altar to sing, unaccompanied, as the spirit moved them. First came “All My Troubles Will Be Over Soon,” a rousing performance that produced a lot of clapping in the church. Then the microphone passed to the next volunteer, who wanted to sing “I Feel Like Going On.” “No matter what goes on in your life, you have to have a happy spirit,” she said to explain her choice. Cries of “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” answered her from the pews when she finished. The microphone passed again: “Take My Hand, Precious Lord, And Lead Your Child On.” The congregation’s hearts were prepared for Elder Marshall and he assumed authority. Though the Church was not especially warm, some of the women had taken up small wooden-handled paper fans and were stirring breezes across their faces. Some wore delicate lace coverlets in their hair. “I can’t make it without Jesus,” Elder Marshall began. Then he advised his listeners: “Put away your things.” He meant give up any attachment to your possessions. Then he told a story, a sort of parable, about a man who slaps another. His moral was “whatever comes at you, write it in sand, so the wind will blow it away.” Let the injuries done to you leave your heart and mind, “and when it’s gone” (when God has lifted your suffering from you) “write it on stone so rain can’t wash it away.” He announced his text: Isaiah 43: 10-13, part of which reads: “Before the day was, I am he.” Bibles were brought out to follow along. When the reader got to the line Elder Marshall wanted to stress, he stopped him. “Before the day was, I am he.” There is only one God was the point, and he ordained all reality. “I love the Lord and I won’t take it back,” said Elder Marshall Sleeping well? We can help. continued on page 24 (434) 817-4044 or (866) 856-4044 savvysleeper.com FINE MATTRESSES, PILLOWS, & PLATFORM BEDS 5 miles east of Crozet on Rt. 250, in Ivy. 4414 Ivy Commons.
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Light Industrial Park Proposed for Yancey Mills - Crozet Gazette

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