PastorHughsupdates - Trinity United Church 3054 Old Industrial Rd, McComb, MS

Hello folks. I've been reminded by a reader in south Louisiana that I need to update my website. She's right! Why haven't any of you reminded me? Oh, I know...you think because I've had a little heart trouble I may not feel up to keeping up with my responsibilities. Don't ever think that way. I serve a God that's bigger than any problem we may have. He created my heart and His Word says that He will "create in me a new heart." We at Trinity have embarked on a year of change. This year we will upgrade, reach out to our community, enhance our teen program and children's program. Randy Jackson has taken over the teen group and I feel excitement in the air as he teaches them that the Christian journey is a life commitment and can be fun and adventurous. His wife Brandi has taken 5th thru 7th grades and she promises to be an active and challenging teacher. WOW...Women of the Word has plans for the ladies and Pat Young is spearheading some fun activities for the over-fifty group. Rev. Calvin Mote will be filling the pulpit at least twice a month and what a great preacher he is turning out to be. The choir is working on new and exciting music to offer up to the Lord and the Holy Spirit has already begun to move in our services. Invite new folks, lost folks, unloved and even unlovely folks to the house of the Lord. God's gonna bless you for it. Remember to pray for one another and for your pastor. Love ya'll.

November 6, 2007. As I watch the season change from steamy summer to crispy Autumn I'm refreshed. I really enjoy the fall of the year. Right along in here I look back at Spring and Summer and remember many of the things that were accomplished. Most of Katrina's damage has been repaired or replaced, the fellowship hall has been completed, and Sunday School attendance has increased. There are still some things to do...hopefully before the end of winter. We're recieving bids on the paving of our driveway and extension of the parking lot, outside lights are being installed, work inside the building will hopefully be completed, and most importantly, souls are being saved. I don't know if you feel about Trinity like I do, but I am excited about being part of an institution that is dedicated to the worship of God and the building of His kingdom. Have a happy Thanksgiving as you remember Who to thank for your blessings and salvation.

August 23, 2007. As I attempt to update this link I am faced with the bitter and the sweet. In our congregation we have a lot of hurting people. From kids and teenagers to young adults and older there is an unending assortment of problems. Little kids seem to form a constant line at the ENT clinic for tonsils, tubes, allergies, and sore throats. Teens are plagued with confussion, bad peer pressure, unstable or broken homes, and being caught in that zone somewhere between kid and adult. Young marrieds are discovering how very expensive and demanding babies and shelter and transportation and food are. Older adults are learning about cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and living on fixed incomes. I guess that pretty well sums up the bitter part. But praise God, there's still the sweet part. Little kids are learning about love and prayer and healing and Jesus. Teens are learning that with God their life has purpose and we do not serve a God of confussion. They are coming to understand that they can excert the peer pressure and lead others to Christ. That they are not caught somewhere between childhood and adult, but are becoming warriors for God. Young adults are learning that they can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens them. They are learning that the awesome responsibility of children is a gift of God and their example to those children is priceless. Older adults are learning that life has truly been a wonderful gift and to grow old graciously and with courage has much merit. We older adults have learned that this life here on earth is just a flash in the pan. Oh how quickly time passes when you are approaching or perhaps looking back at three score and ten years. This beautiful patchwork of ages and attitudes make up the fabric of Trinity United Church. We're all different and yet so much alike. Reach out to one another. Love one another. God bless you.

On this June 19th I'm reminded that some of the spiritual battles we fight are bloodier than others. The devil doesn't give up. His henchmen have nothing to loose. They are already condemned to hell, and they know it. He always has a Tokyo Rose announcing to us that all is lost, no one back home cares, we are in this battle alone. Well, he's a liar and the truth is not in him. Our problem is that we spend too much time expending our energy and strength in the form of worry and anxiety on battles that we aren't actually fighting yet. Remember the song about the Battle of New Orleans? "Ole Hick'ry said,'We can take 'em by surprise if we hold our fire 'til we look 'em in the eyes." Don't waste your spiritual ammunition shooting in the dark. Don't run out of fire power before the battle really starts. Prepare...get prayed up...put on the full armor of Christ...stand your ground...and just when you think all is lost, the devil will flee from you, because you have resisted him. Hold your fire Christians...wait until you see the whites of their eyes and smell the sulfur on their breath. Then as the song says, "We fired our guns and the devils kept a comin', but it wasn't as many as it was a while ago. We fire once more and they began to runnin', down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico." Sic "em, Christians. "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world." Amen!

Someone shared this with me on Sunday, June 3, so I'm sharing it with you:

Noah was a drunk. Abraham was old. Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused. Moses stuttered. Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair and was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David was an adulterer and a murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah preached naked. Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. Peter denied Christ. The Disciples fell asleep while praying. Martha worried about everything. Mary Magdelene was...well, you know. The Samaritan woman was divorced...more than one. Zaccheus was too small. Paul was too religious. Timothy had an ulcer. AND Lazarus was DEAD! NO MORE EXCUSES! God can use you to your full potential. Besides, you aren't the message. You are the messenger. God is able. What are you waiting for? (SOURCE UNKNOWN)

This is the first day of June and I have to tell you that the Holy Spirit has been doing much dealing with me for the last several weeks. I'm excited! Have you noticed that our music is getting hotter and hotter? Have you noticed that the Holy Spirit seems to be blessing us through the special singers, such as Miranda McKinley this past Sunday morning? Have you noticed the altars and the participation of the congregation in worship? Have you felt the rumblings of the distant thunder of revival? Oh, I hope you have, because it seems to me that God is beginning to shake the foundations of our church. If you don't hunger for revival, you might better step out of the way. If you aren't thirsty for the Spirit, you might better find a different watering hole. If you aren't aching and groaning for the power of Christ in your life, you might better turn and run. Why? Because God is breathing down our necks with something better than we've ever seen or experienced and when He starts pouring it out on His people I wouldn't want you to be standing in the way with crossed arms and a defiant attitude. "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12).

May 6, 2007. Today, this morning, Trinity was graced to have a true visitation of the Holy Spirit on our service. God truly inhabits the praise of His children, and as we sang praises He entered His sanctuary in what I consider a mighty way. People came to be anointed with oil and pray for healing. So far, I have recieved six reports of healings. I've never experienced God in this way. Perhaps some of you have, but to most of us it was a brand new and wonderful experience. One child asked her mother if she saw Jesus that morning. The mother answered that she didn't actually see Jesus, but she absolutely felt His presence. "Why do you ask?" the mom asked. "Because I saw Him. He was standing by you and me." "What did He look like?" mom inquired, expecting a child-like answer. "He was dressed in pure white and His face was bright light shining out." Thank you Jesus for revealing yourself to this innocent child. We enjoyed your presence in our midst. Please come again real soon.

Sunday, April 15, 2007. This has been another of those "blessed" days. First we heard from Nancy Riley, in the hospital at St. Dominic's for the last 12 weeks, that she may be coming home within the next few days...praise God. Next, we baptised six into the family of God in a beautiful service. After that, we had an all-church picnic on the grounds with one of the best softball games I've enjoyed in a long time. If you couldn't make it for this one , don't worry, we'll do it again real soon. Love ya'll, brohugh

Monday, March 26, 6:00PM. Yesterday was a beautiful Sunday. We baptized seven young people into the priesthood of Jesus Christ. They ranged in age from seven to eighteen. Each was sincere and the presence of God was real. What a privilege is mine that God would forgive me for all my sins and bring me into His holy priesthood to baptize others. I praise my God and my Savior for these seven souls and His undying love for us all.

It's about noon on Thursday, March 22. Mrs. Reaber Wallace went on to be with the Lord Sunday. We buried her yesterday at Trinity cemetary. The service felt like a homegoing. Oh, there were tears and heartache of course, but there was also a real since of deep, quiet joy, for we know she no longer has pain or worries. She's with Jesus and the loved ones that have gone on before her. We will miss her and her sweet smile. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30:5b).

It's midnight, March 9th, and I'm praying for the seriously sick, the 'terminal', the broken-hearted, the new parents, the recovering, and those in my congregation still living in sin and seemingly missing the point of my sermons. I ask God to give me better communication skills that I might reach them. I plead with him to touch the seriously sick with His mighty healing hand......and then I say, 'Not my will, Father, but thine" and I feel like I'm copping out. I remember Him saying that whatever I ask believing, that He will do.....and then I ask myself if I truly believe He'll do it. I know He can. I believe that. But do I beleive He will. I'm choosing to believe He will. I'm pushing my doubts aside. I am choosing faith. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seem" (Hebrews 11:1).

We want to encourage you to send Brother Hugh your prayer requests. If you have suggestions or comments, we would like to hear those also. Don't be shy. Email him at brohugh@trinityunitedchurchmccomb.com