FIRST BAPTIST
Celebration Sunday dawns for community
BY SUZANNE LOUDAMY Staff writer

Celebration Sunday, hosted by First Baptist Church of Whitehouse, is scheduled for Sunday beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Whitehouse High School auditorium.

Following the service, a free lunch catered by Carl Keller, formerly of Armadillo Willy's, will be served. Reservations for the meal must be made with the church office, 903-839-3333, no later than noon on Friday.

This event is not to mark the end of their 40 Days of Community program but to celebrate the beginning of a refreshed commitment, made by the members, to ser ve the community of Whitehouse.

"We're better together." That is the entire premise of the 40 Days of Community study.

Small groups were formed with meetings taking place throughout the week. During these small group sessions, members examined the need to reach out and serve their community and to reach inward to their own members and staff and serve in current or needed ministries.

The community has already benefited from the groups' outreach. A few of the projects already taking place and planned for the future include:

-- families living in the Pecanwood Apartments were treated to a hamburger cookout;

-- clothing was collected for boys at Azleway Ranch;

-- minor home repairs and chores were done for area senior citizens;

-- an appreciation dinner was hosted for the volunteer fire department, police department and their families;

-- needed school supplies have been gathered;

-- plans for an international fellowship are under way.

Sunday's worship service will include a video presentation from several of the projects and group events along with outstanding praise and worship music and testimonies from several who have taken part in the local projects.