Aberdeen

Turning Point Worship Center, at 16433 U.S. 15-501, holds worship services every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Bible study is held at 7:30 p.m. each Wednesday. All are welcome. The pastors are Stoney and Brenda Locklear. For more information about Turning Point, call (910) 281-2055.

To submit items for the Aberdeen section, email shelbi person@embarqmail. com.

- Shelbi Person

Addor

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads in the community. Father's Day is this Sunday.

Congratulations to all of the children in the community who graduated from various schools. We wish you continued success!

Vacation Bible School will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Monday, June 18, through Wednesday, June 20, at Elizabeth Chapel Free Will Baptist Church. Children and adults from the community and the surrounding area are invited to attend.

The third Central North Carolina Conference checkup meeting will be held at 9 a.m. this Saturday at Rush Metropolitan Church in Raleigh. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The New Zion A.M.E. Zion Church will celebrate its anniversary June 24. There will be an all-day service. Lunch will be held after the morning services. Evening service will begin at 3 p.m., with special guest preacher presiding Elder Ricky Frazier. Everyone is welcome.

Everyone in the community is invited to attend New Zion A.M.E. Zion Church each Sunday, with Sunday School at 10 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. Please notify the pastor, the Rev. Charles McKnight, of a sickness or the need for prayer at (910) 639-1893.

Poplar Springs Missionary Baptist Church invites everyone to attend Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 11 a.m. each week. The pastor is the Rev. James McKinnon.

Birthday wishes go out this week to Dana Bowers (June 19) and Jesse Morris (June 20).

In memoriam: Bernice McMillian (June 16).

Sick and shut-ins: Betty Ellerbe is in rehab. Sarah F. McMillian, Phillip McMillian, Betty Lou Moses, Edna McCrimmon and Nora Smith are among the homebound. Diana Brown, Portia Smith, Sampson Blue 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

Eastwood

St. Peters will travel to St. Ruth on Friday, June 22, for Eldress Lillian Kearns' pastoral anniversary. St. Peters will go to Greater St. James in Charlotte on Sunday, June 24.

St. Peters will not hold services this Sunday.

St. Peters holds Bible study at 7:30 p.m. on the Tuesdays after the first and third Sundays of the month. Prayer meeting is held at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday.

The Southern District Auxiliary Convention will convene in Greensboro today (Wednesday) through Sunday.

Plans are being made for the 25th reunion of the Pinecrest High School class of 1987 on Saturday, Oct. 6. Graduates are asked to look for updates on the Pinecrest Class of 1987 Facebook page. Email contact information to pinecrest8725anniversary @yahoo or call (910) 688-3447.

Norman and Joyce Morris will celebrate their third wedding anniversary today (Wednesday).

Birthday wishes go out to Craig Alford (June 13), Delequane Alston Ray (June 14) and Angela McKinney (June 18).

Sick and shut-ins: Lewis McLaughlin, Paula Neal, Michael McLean, Charles Jackson, Joe Jackson, Samuel Brisbon, Darlene Harris, Mary Russell, Ruth Rogers, Evelyn Clegg, Cornelia Adkins, Minister Wrencher, Margret Thompson and Alma Jones.

- Wilma Monroe

Hoffman

Bible study is held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Macedonia and at 7:30 p.m. at Fletcher's Chapel. Pleasant Hill holds its Bible study at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Dorothy Jefferson, Bea Little and Bonnie McRae attended the 29th District Saint John Day Sunday at Lee Thee A.M.E. Zion Church in Ellerbe.

Bea Little attended the 11 a.m. worship service Sunday at Poplar Spring Baptist Church in Addor.

The Hart family reunion will be held on July 6 and 7. Call Tommy Hart at (910) 281-3898 for more information.

Sympathy is extended to the King and Clark families. Johnny King passed away Saturday.

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

Sick and shut-ins: Earnest Gilmore, Beulah Jones, Joe Jones, Letha Isaac, Nancy Hayes, Flossie Hagins, Frank Smith, Albert Hailey, Lacy Jackson, Mattie White, Cathy Harrington, Lula Smith, Juanita Gilmore, Arlene McRae, Thelma McKoy, Dan McKoy, Eugene Martin, Nancy Ellerbe, Lillie Ellerbe, Jimmy Ellerbe, Rebecca Utley, Arnell Little, Mary Jamieson and Robert Wadkins are among the homebound.

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

- Bea Little

Little River

This past Sunday, in the absence of Dr. Greg Poplin, the Rev. Brian Tetter, pastor of Mount Pleasant Christian Church, served as Minister. Tommy McKenzie, chairman of the Deacons, welcomed the guests and members of the church and made the announcements.

Dr. Linda Scott, pianist, was in attendance at church after having knee replacement surgery in May. Also in attendance was Andrew Schiller and his wife, Lindsey. Andrew was injured severely in an accident and was confined to a hospital in Charlotte for many weeks. Andrew is recovering and his health recovery is a real miracle. Many prayers were offered during his confinement to the hospital. He and Lindsay offered a note of thanks for the church members who prayed so diligently for them.

The youth choir performed "Father Abraham" under the direction of Denise Godfrey and Jean Lane. Bill Harrison provided the children's sermon using a pencil as a method of communication, a paper to write the word of God and bubble wrap to wrap the children (and adults) in the word of God.

The Rev. Tetter preached on "God Answers Prayer." He said God answers prayer according to his timing. He drew his scripture from the Gospel of Luke.

Worship services are held at 11 a.m. each Sunday. Dr. Greg Poplin is the pastor. Everyone in the community is invited to attend services.

The Rev. Laura Lupton will be the guest minister at Cypress Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. this Sunday.

This year's community Vacation Bible School will be held next Monday-through Friday, June 18-22, at Vass First Baptist. There will be classes for all ages, and supper will be served each evening.

Cypress Summer Enrichment, a free day camp for kids ages 6-13, will be held on Monday through Wednesdays, July 2-18, in the Cypress fellowship hall. (There will not be camp on July 4.)

Lunch and snacks will be provided each day. Further details will be announced later.

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

A very special thanks to Janet Chilton for providing the information this week about Mount Pleasant Church in the absence of Dr. Poplin. "Punkie" was on a well-deserved vacation and respite before entering the hospital Monday morning. There was an excellent report on his brief hospital stay. All is well now, and he should be home by the time this article reaches your door step.

A belated and well-deserved thanks to Dianne Parker for always providing the news from Cypress Presbyterian Church. Without these folks, there would be little news in the Little River section!

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

- "Sunny" Sidley

Shawtown

Congratulations to Dashawn Armstrong and Lee Golston, who graduated from Union Pines High School last Friday.

St. Ruth United Church of God in West End will celebrate Eldress Lillian Kearns' pastoral anniversary June 20, 21 and 22, with different speakers each night. It will conclude Sunday, June 24.

Holy Temple Church on Anderson Street, where the pastor is Elder Allen Moore, will begin having services every first and third Sunday. Everyone is invited to attend.

Happy birthday to all who are celebrating this week.

Please pray for our president and all leaders, the sick, bereaved, shut-ins and residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities and caregivers.

If anyone has community news, please email me at aminnieirene@yahoo.com or call me at (910) 783-7822 (cell) or (910) 947-2208 (home) and leave a message at least one week in advance.

- Irene Ray

Taylortown

Happy Father's Day! Please remember the fathers who are sick and shut in, single dads, incarcerated, unemployed, pastors, missionaries, community leaders and in the U.S. military with your good deeds and prayers.

The Moore County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will have its first golf tournament this Saturday at Whispering Pines Country Club on the East Course. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and shotgun start at 9 a.m., with four-player captain's choice using team handicaps.

A boxed lunch will be included in the fee, which is $80 a player or $320 a team. Prizes will be offered (hole-in-one prize is a 2013 car).

Proceeds will benefit the Moore County NAACP Mission. Mail registration information to the Moore County NAACP, P.O. Box 1351, Southern Pines, NC 28388. For more information, call (910) 947-1422, (910) 690-4454 or (910) 639-9414.

Pastors Charles and Deborah Bloom, of Kingdom Minded Ministries, will be featured on "Town Talk" television show next week. The youths of Word of Truth Christian Ministries, St. James Lutheran Church, and Grace Church are featured this week. The show airs daily at 11 a.m. and at 7:30 p.m. on Time Warner Cable channel 3 and is a service to the community by Rose Highland-Sharpe, producer and host.

Greater Works Church of Deliverance Ministries will have a "Platform Service: Women of Power" at 4 p.m. June 24. The speakers include various ladies who will share stories of courage and faith of women of the Bible. Everyone is invited to attend. The pastor is Apostle Andria U. Weekes.

Mobile computer lab classes are available for churches and agencies through human resources development at Sandhills Community College. Classes will be brought to various community groups. Call Jenny at (910) 695-3926 for more information.

The last session of the "Job Seekers Series" will be held at the Robbins Area Library on Wednesday, June 20, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Contact Rose Highland-Sharpe, Job Link partner, for more information, at (910) 695-3783 (Sandhills Community College).

Bishop Larry Brown thanks everyone for the visits, phone calls, cards, and prayers during his time of illness.

Evangelist Carolyn Mitchell (our town clerk) invites everyone to listen to her broadcast, "Words of Life," on WEEB 990-AM, 10:30-10:45 a.m. Evangelist Mitchell has been providing this teaching ministry for many years at WEEB. Thanks for listening.

The Rev. Kenneth Stewart invites local ministers to attend the Taylortown Ministerial Alliance meeting on the second Saturday of each month at one of the local churches in the early afternoon. The Rev. Kenneth Stewart is the president.

The Pinecrest High School class of 1977 invites former students close to their age from our community (such as the classes of 1976 or 1974) to the 35th reunion June 30. Contact Ella B. McMillan at (910) 715-8149.

Galilee has changed its Bible study time to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays instead of 7 p.m. The Rev. A. Wade, one of the assistant pastors, usually teaches a series each season on specific subjects. An outline of the subject is distributed to the participants. The study is very thorough and interesting. The pastor, the Rev. Charles Nabors, invites everyone to attend.

Thanks for supporting the "Hill Top Shops" this year. They include Not "Jus" Any Bag, Bono Abstract Clothing, Sew What?, 360 Creations Beauty Salon and New 2 U Everyday Rummage. Fresh Discipleship Center, with Pastor Cora Murphy, resides on "the Hill."

There is also an outreach ministry with household goods and clothing for those in need on "the Hill." It serves many throughout the county and is owned and managed by Minister Gerald and Tia Brown.

Thanks for your support of MANNA!, which is at 11 a.m. each Tuesday at at Spaulding Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church. Special thanks to the preparers and hostesses, including Melba Bostic, Esther McNeill, Hulene Morrison, Kathy Murphy and others from Spaulding Chapel and the community. Pastor John Roberts is the day-to-day operations manager for MANNA. The pastor at Spaulding Chapel is the Rev. Charles Allen.

Job-seeking skills/career, basic skills and GED classes are available at the Westmoore Center in Robbins and at the Day Reporting Center in Carthage. Basic skills and GED classes are available at the Northern Moore Family Resource Center in Robbins, 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.

Jobs are available at Smithfield's meat packing company 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.

Job-ministry positions as keyboardists are available at some local churches in Moore County. For more information, call (910) 295-0013 (the Rev. Rose Highland-Sharpe).

Learn how to play the guitar with Michael Robinson, the Taylortown "Music Man." Call (910) 691-9283. Michael also conducts "Taylortown Jams," which are music sessions open to experienced musicians from noon to 6 p.m. every Saturday at the Taylor House on Main Street. If you have a passion for playing any musical instrument, please join this lively "jam session." There is no charge for the jam session or music classes. The classes are open to all ages.

The United Way of Moore County thanks the many local churches, ministries and faith-based organizations for considering making a donation in 2012. The United Way supports many nonprofits, including those that provide programs for youths, victims of abuse and those recovering from substance abuse.

For more information, call United Way at (910) 692-2413. Linda Mills Pearson is the executive director. The Rev. Rose Highland-Sharpe is a board member. Call her at (910) 295-0013.

Many thanks for your continued prayers and support of Edward and Sharonda Wilson.

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.

"Good News Inspiration" on WEEB-990 AM airs from 6 until 11 a.m. each Sunday. 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 rose-sharpe37@gmail. com. WEEB Gospel family members include veteran announcer Felton J. Capel and substitute announcers Pastor Ren Lee and Niniji Lloyd.

The June prayer list includes Deacon Leroy Alford Sr., Jaion Barrett, Mr. and Mrs. George Brown, Bishop Larry Brown, Evelyn Clegg, Christine Ellerbe, Sandy George Gaines, Gladys Garris, Phyllis Goins, Cathy Harrington, Alice Jackson, Pauline Levine, Rosa Mills, Willa B. Monroe, Catherine Morrison, Dorothy R. Morrison, Evelyn Morrison, Vera Moses, James Murphy (UNC Hospitals), Ann Odom (Grady Odom's wife, and friend of Mrs. Garris), Lolita Robinson, Mr. Shamberger, Johnnie Stanford, Patrice Taylor and Patrick Walker.

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

A prayer breakfast will be held from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Vass Community Building in Vass.

Also on the same day, a Family and Friends Day will be held at 6 p.m. at the same location. The programs are in support of Pastor Mary Kelly's pastor aide. The programs are sponsored by Janet Miles. Tickets will be sold for the prayer breakfast.

Minister Frederick Kelly will be the guest speaker at St. Mark Church in Vass at 2 p.m. June 24 for its Men's Day program.

Pastor Mary Kelly will celebrate her 12th pastoral anniversary at 5 p.m. June 30 at the Douglass Community Center in Southern Pines. She will also be ordained as an apostle.

God's House of Prayer Ministry has Sunday School at 10 a.m. every week. Worship services are held every first and third Sundays of the month at 11:30 a.m. and special programs or worship on second and fourth Sundays. Bible study is held every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Intercessory prayer is held every Saturday at 8 a.m. Pastor Mary Kelly is the church pastor.

St. Marks has Sunday School at 10:30 a.m. and worship services at 11:30 a.m. every Sunday. Bible study is held at 5:30 p.m. each Thursday. The pastor is the Rev. Chester Little.

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.

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