Addor

The Rev. James McKinnon, pastor of Poplar Springs Missionary Baptist Church, will celebrate his third pastoral anniversary beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. The Rev. Carl Core will be the guest preacher.

A banquet will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Aberdeen Lake Park recreation building. Tickets are $15 each.

The Rev. Dr. Harry McGhee will be the guest preacher for the morning service Sunday. The Rev. Dr. Bruce Hurst, pastor of Leach Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Raeford, will preach at the 4 p.m. service. Everyone is invited to attend these special programs.

The 21st Century after-school program at New Zion A.M.E. Zion Church is off to a good start. It operates Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Snacks will be provided. Applications are now available. Please contact the Rev. McKnight, the church pastor, at (910) 639-1893.

Everyone in the community is invited to attend New Zion A.M.E. Zion Church. Sunday School is at 10 a.m., and worship is at 11 a.m. every Sunday.

Addor Community Center board members need your support both in person and financially. The board is asking all of the churches in the community to assist by making a monthly allocation. Donations will help restore utilities to the building and begin using it to help revitalize the community.

Please make checks payable to the Addor Community Center and mail them to P.O. Box 775, Pinebluff, NC 28373. Anyone with questions or needing more information can call (910) 281-0384.

Birthday wishes go out to all who are celebrating this week.

Sick and shut-ins: Sarah F. McMillian is in the hospital. Freddie Smith and Jesse McNeill are home from the hospital. Betty J. Ellerbe and Doris Monroe are0 in rehab. Effie J. Smith, Betty L. Moses, Philip McMillian, Louise Jones and Nora Smith are among the homebound. Stella Gillispie, Connie L. Covington, Diana Brown, Portia Smith, Marie Berry and Lewis Swan are in nursing homes or assisted living homes.

Please continue to pray for all the sick and shut-ins.

If anyone has church or other community news, please contact me at (910) 281-3385.

- Lorine McCants

Berkley

New Hope Christian Ministries, where the pastor is Elder Brenda Brown, holds services at 160 Ridgeline Road off N.C. 5, just behind the Habitat for Humanity store. Sunday School is at 10 a.m. every week, and regular worship services are held at 11 a.m. on the first through fourth Sundays.

Morning prayer is held at 8 a.m. every Saturday. Bible study is at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Minister's study is held every second Tuesday at 6 p.m.

St. John Missionary Baptist Church, at 703 Harris St., where the pastor is the Rev. Jimmy Gilchrist, holds Sunday School at 10 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. every Sunday. Prayer meeting and Bible study are held at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays.

St. Joseph A.M.E. Church, where the pastor is the Rev. Henry R. Davis, will be holding Sunday services at Aberdeen Elementary School. Bible study is held at 6 p.m. at the Aberdeen Community Center.

Shiloh A.M.E. Zion Church, at 206 Keyser St., where the pastor is the Rev. Fred Goins Jr., holds Sunday School every week at 10 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. every first and third Sunday. Bible study is held at 7 p.m. every Wednesday.

Sandhill Christian Church, on Keyser Street, has a new pastor, Jamal Brown. The church holds Sunday School every Sunday at 10 a.m. and worship services at 11 a.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of the month.

The Word of Life Holy Church of God in Christ, at 107 Spring St., where the pastor is Overseer Nathaniel Malloy, holds Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. and worship services at 11 a.m. every Sunday. Bible study is held at 7 p.m. every Wednesday.

Happy birthday to all who are celebrating this week.

Continue to pray for everyone.

Please submit church, community and personal announcements (such as birthdays and anniversaries) by 7 p.m. Sunday by calling (910) 528-4782.

- Rachel Hill

Eastwood

Members of St. Peters Church will attend the pastoral anniversary for Elder Willie Purcell and first lady Darlene Purcell at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at St. James in Raeford.

St. Peters will go to Greater St. Mark in Wadesboro on Sunday for the pastoral anniversary for Apostle Leonard Williams and first lady Mahalia Williams.

There will be no worship service Sunday at St. Peters.

St. Peters has Bible study on Tuesday after the first and third Sunday each month. Prayer meeting is held at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday.

The community was saddened to learn of the death of Michael McKinney, Samuel Kelly and Clyde Goins. Please keep their families in your prayers.

Devonte Wilson won a congressional debate against 28 other schools after debating such issues as green businesses, selective service for the U.S. military, Social Security and other issues.

Janet Edens and Ajul Jones were married Saturday in Greensboro.

Laura Stancil celebrated her birthday with her husband, Kelly.

Birthday wishes go out this week to Lucy Howard (Oct. 5), Andrea Cattle and Jason McLean (Oct. 7), Kelvin Alston (Oct. 8), Dapheny Hines (Oct. 9) and Milton McLaughlin and Emmanuel Jackson (Oct. 10).

Sick and shut-ins: Lewis McLaughlin, Paula Neal, Michael McLean, Charles Jackson, Joe Jackson, Hoover Brown, Cornelia Adkins, Evelyn Clegg, Minister Wrencher, Carolyn Swinnie, Mary Russell, Margret Thompson and Alma Jones.

- Wilma Monroe

Hoffman

Bible study is held each Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Macedonia and at 7:30 p.m. at Fletcher's Chapel. Pleasant Hill holds Bible study at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Pleasant Hill is asking all missionaries to come celebrate Missionary Day at 5 p.m. Oct. 30. The speaker will be Doretha Jefferson, of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.

The Red Hat Club will meet at noon Saturday at the Beaver Dam Center. The club president thanked all members who attend the worship service Sunday at Macedonia.

Birthday wishes go out to all who are celebrating this week

Sick and shut-ins: Flossie Hagins, Frank Smith, Eve Cunningham, Lany Harrison, Cathy Harrington, Lula Smith, Ernest Gilmore, Juanita Gilmore, Leana McRae, Arlene McRae, Thelma McKoy, Dan McKoy, Eugene Martin, Johnny King, Nancy Ellerbe, Lillie Ellerbe, Bunie Ellerbe, Mary Jamison and Bernice Dalton.

Please continue to pray for the sick and shut-ins, church leaders, our children, government and one another.

- Bea Little

Little River

Cypress Presbyterian Church is grateful to the community for the great turnout for its annual harvest sale and supper. The weather was wonderful, and everyone enjoyed visits with old friends and meeting new ones. Thanks to everyone for your support.

Choir rehearsal is held at 7 p.m. each Wednesday, and the Thursday night Bible Study will begin at 7:30.

The Session will meet at 6 p.m. this Sunday. The Nominating Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in the Fellowship Hall.

Mark your calendar for homecoming at Cypress on Sunday, Oct. 16. Anyone who would like to provide one of the four flower arrangements for homecoming in memory or in honor of a loved one should call (910) 245-1494 as soon as possible. A covered-dish dinner in the fellowship hall will follow the 11 a.m. worship service.

This week at Mount Pleasant will be a family reunion weekend. On Saturday, the Riggsbee family will have its reunion in the church fellowship hall.

The founding families of Mount Pleasant Church, the Marks and Wright families, will hold their annual reunion after worship in the church fellowship hall.

Plans are being finalized for the church annual harvest supper and auction Oct. 15. The Quilters of Mount Pleasant have two quilts this year, and one ticket enters you in the drawing for both quilts.

Everyone is welcome to join the church for wonderful food and fellowship. This year, the church will host a country store that will have many items in it for all ages. If you can not stay for the auction, you can stop by the country store and purchase homemade goodies.

Mount Pleasant Church will again be one of the collection places for Bikes for Wright. It's not too early to start turning in those bikes so "Santa" can get started on those repairs.

If you need someone to come and pick up a bike, please call Sunny at (910) 245-4747 to arrange for pickup.

Yom Kippur, the holiest days on the Jewish calendar, begins at sundown Friday. G'mar Hatimah Tovah, May You Be Sealed for a Good Year in the Book of Life.

Please remember, with positive thoughts and prayers, all of our soldiers and their families, whether here in the States or abroad.

If you have any information you'd like to share with our community, please call me at (910) 245-4747.

- "Sunny" Sidley

Shawtown

First Missionary Church, on Needmore Road in Carthage, will have its annual Youth Day and revival Sunday, Oct. 16.

Sunday School starts at 10 a.m. During the 11:30 a.m. service, the Rev. Susan Knight-Brooks will preach, and the youth choir will sing. Lunch will be served after the morning service. Minister Devonte Wilson, of St. Peters Church in West End, will preach at the 3 p.m. service. Everyone is invited to attend.

The choir of First Missionary will celebrate its anniversary Sunday, Nov. 6. The pastor, the Rev. Lincoln Blanding, invites everyone to attend.

Elder A.W. Moore, pastor of Holy Temple Church in Carthage, will have a tent revival in the West Southern Pines in the 200 block of Maple Avenue through Saturday at 7:30 nightly. Everyone is invited.

Body of Christ Outreach Ministry on Lemon Springs Road in Sanford will have its Family and Friends Day at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30. The pastor is Larry Ray. Everyone is invited.

Holy Temple in Carthage, where the pastor is Elder Allen Moore, is now holding worship services on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month instead of every Sunday.

Please pray for those in rest homes and assisted living facilities, hospital patients, the homebound, caregivers, our president and our other leaders, our troops and each other.

If anyone has an announcement for the Shawtown news, please submit it a week before publication. My new email address is adamsminnie29@yahoo.com, or call me at (910) 783-7822.

- Irene Ray

Taylortown

Egypt Band is featured on the "Town Talk" television show through the second week in October. Its performance is the second segment of Taylortown Day. The show airs daily at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Time Warner Cable channel 3.

Pinecrest High School football games pre-empt "Town Talk" on some evenings. Thanks for your support of the youths on the football team, including Daequan Barrett, Reco Cain and Travis Scales.

Galilee Missionary Baptist Church will have its annual Women's Day program during the morning worship service this Sunday. Dinner will be served immediately following the service by the men of Galilee. The pastor, the Rev. Charles Nabors, invites everyone to attend.

The Moore County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will have its annual banquet at 4 p.m. Oct. 22 at Whispering Pines Country Club. Doors open at 3:30 p.m.

The speaker will be attorney Herman Thompson. The theme is "Forward Together, Not One Step Backward." The event will spotlight and honor the first African-Americans in Moore County.

Donations are $30 for adults and $15 for youths. For more information, call (910) 947-1422. O'Linda W. Gillis is the branch president.

Musicians are still needed at some local churches. Call Minister James McNeill at (910) 384-4369 (Word of Life Ministries) and Pastor Shirley Gillis at (910) 692-5185 (Outreach Ministries for Jesus). Also, contact Rev. Rose Highland-Sharpe regarding other pianist/organist opportunities at rosesharpe37@gmail.com.

Thank you to those who continue to pray for and support Tim and Nicole Mason and also Edward and Sharonda Wilson. Both families continue to need your help due to on-going health concerns.

Special thanks to the Taylortown Ministerial Alliance for its continued support and prayers for those in need of assistance in our community.

Spruill Temple Church of God in Christ has a prayer service every Monday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Call in your prayer request at (910) 295-0071. The pastor, Elder Jerry Chesney, welcomes everyone to drop in at any time during this informal prayer time and "to come as you are."

Join St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, 198 Gaines St. in Jackson Hamlet, for weekly services. Sunday School is held at 10 a.m. Worship begins at 11 a.m. Prayer meeting and Bible study are held at 7 p.m. each Wednesday. The pastor is the Rev. Elgett Floyd.

Thank you for remembering the victims of the recent tornadoes and hurricanes. Donations can be made through the Red Cross.

Thanks for listening to "Good News Inspiration" on WEEB-990 AM from 6 to 11 a.m. on Sundays. Send your church and community announcements to the Sunday program director/announcer, Rose Highland-Sharpe, at P.O. Box 4653, Pinehurst, NC 28374, or email rosesharpe37@gmail.com. Other WEEB gospel family members include veteran announcer Felton J. Capel, substitute announcer Niniji Lloyd, and new trainees Pastor Ren Lee and Ken Capel.

There's still time to enroll in Pathways to C.N.A. at Sandhills Community College. This is a transition program to the certified nursing assistant course. The classes include GED, basic skills, and occupational courses. Those who earn their GED are eligible for a scholarship for the C.N.A. program. Call Twana McKnight at S.C.C. at (910) 695-3782.

Job opportunities are available at Smithfield's meat packing plant in Tar Heel, N.C. As part of the application process, register for pre-employment skills classes in the human resources development program at Sandhills Community College. The classes are free to those who qualify. Call Jenny Troyer at (910) 695-3926.

Career development, basic skills and GED classes are available at the Westmoore Center in Robbins and at the Day Reporting Center in Carthage. Other basic skills and GED classes are offered at Aberdeen Elementary School and in Van Dusen Hall at Sandhills Community College. Call the recruiter for basic skills education at SCC, Rose Highland-Sharpe, at (910) 695-3783.

The 21st Century 2011-2012 after-school program is accepting applications for youths in kindergarten through 12th grade. Leave a message at (910) 295-5813. The program is held at Christ Way Deliverance Church in Eastwood and New Zion A.M.E. Zion Church in Addor. Pastor and Mrs. E. Nathaniel Jackson are the directors. Special thanks to Pastor Charles McKnight Sr. and his wife, Barbara, at New Zion in Addor.

Thank you from the "Hill Top Shops" for your support. They include Not "Jus" Any Bag, Bono Abstract Clothing, Sew What?, 360 Creations Beauty Salon and New 2 U Everyday Rummage. Fresh Discipleship Center (Pastor Cora Murphy) is "on the Hill." Minister Gerald and Tia Brown's outreach ministry, also "on the Hill" as well, continues to serve the community.

"Taylortown Jams" are music sessions open to experienced musicians Saturdays from noon until 6 p.m. at the Taylor House on Main Street. If you have a passion for playing any musical instrument, please join this lively "jam session" every Saturday. There is no charge. Contact Michael Robinson at (910) 725-1582 for more information.

You are invited to participate in free music classes at the Taylor House on Main Street. The classes are open to all ages. For more information, contact Michael Robinson at (910) 725-1582.

Condolences are extended to the family of the late Clyde Goins. Funeral services were held last Sunday at Purcell Funeral Home. Please remember the family in your prayers.

This week's sick and shut-in list includes Deacon Leroy Alford Sr., Jaion Barrett, Carol Blackmon, Mr. and Mrs. George Brown, Evelyn Clegg, Christine Ellerbe, Sandy George Gaines, Geneva Goins, Phyllis Goins, Cathy Harrington, Alice Jackson, Pauline Levine, Tim Mason, Willa B. Monroe, Catherine Morrison, Dorothy R. Morrison, Vera Moses, Howard Ray, Lolita Robinson, Mr. Shamberger and Johnnie Stanford.

Please remember all the sick and shut-ins, the widowed, orphans, bereaved, incarcerated, homeless, youths and the United States military in your prayers and good deeds.

If you have any questions, comments and community news, please respond to R. Highland-Sharpe at P.O. Box 4653, Pinehurst, NC 28374, or at rosesharpe37@gmail. com. Send announcements at least two weeks in advance.

- Rose Highland-Sharpe

Vass

Pastor Mary Kelly's message on Sunday was titled "My Helper Is Here." Her scripture came from John 14: 16-18, 16:7 and 19:26.

A Men's Day program will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at God's House of Prayer Ministry.

God's House of Prayer Ministry holds Sunday School at 10 a.m. every week. Worship services are held on the first and third Sundays of the month at 11 a.m. Bible study is held every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., and intercessory prayer is held every Saturday at 8 a.m.

Pastor Mary Kelly will be the guest speaker at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at Fellowship House of God in Carthage for Bishop Gilmore's anniversary.

A car show will be held starting at 9 a.m. Oct. 15 at Advance Auto in Southern Pines. It is sponsored by Deacon Freddie Kelly Jr., of God's House of Prayer Ministry.

The Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion Church choir will celebrate its 67th anniversary at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 16 in Carthage. The Gospel Mellowtones will perform.

Evangelist Jacqueline Harvin will be the guest speaker at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at New Faith Ministry in Cameron Village. She will also speak at 3 p.m. Oct. 23 at Ministry of Deliverance Church in Aberdeen for its Women in Red program. She will speak on the letter "e."

Pastor Mary Kelly will be the guest speaker for the 11 a.m. service Oct. 23 at Rock of Salvation in Fayetteville.

Minister Frederick Kelly and Deacon Freddie Kelly Jr. will be guest speakers at 4 p.m. Oct. 22 at Tabernacle of Praise Ministry in High Point for its "12 Tribes" program.

Holy Night will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at God's House of Prayer Ministry.

Birthday wishes go out to Evangelist Jacqueline Harvin (Oct. 5) and Tony McNair on (Oct. 9).

Congratulations to Terrell and Latisha Ellerbee, who celebrated their third wedding anniversary Tuesday.

Word of Truth Christian Center of Vass, where the pastors are Micheal and Cheryl Blue and Overseer Helen Spencer, has Bible study at 6 p.m. every Wednesday. Sunday School is held every Sunday at 10 a.m., and the worship service starts at 11:15 p.m.

New Direction Outreach Ministries, where the pastor is Pastor Linnie M. Saunders, has worship services every Sunday at 11:30 a.m., except any fifth Sunday.

Bible study is held from 7 to 8 p.m. every Wednesday. It is led by Elder C. Taylor.

The church is at 3623 North U.S. 1 Business in Vass across from the Vass Ball Park. For more information, call (910) 638-8441.

Highland Baptist Church on U.S. 1 holds Sunday School at 10 a.m. and worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. every Sunday. Services are also held at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The church has a bus ministry for those who need a ride on Sunday mornings. Anyone who needs a ride can call (910) 695-0494.

Continue to pray for all the sick and shut-ins, including all in the hospital and in rest homes, each other and our U.S. troops in Iraq and worldwide.

To have your news included in the Vass section, send an email to anitafinch38@ yahoo.com or mail items at least one week in advance to P.O. Box 176, Vass, NC 28394.

-- Anita Finch