March 2023 Newsletter

One of my favorite memories of my first year as pastor happened in Farmington, MO. I was at the nursing home, visiting with Sister Helen Jackson. She was over ninety-five-years-old, but still very sharp. She always called me her pastor and reminded me that she was the last living charter member of our church. I had heard of churches having homecoming, but I did not know what they were. My church in Oklahoma never had one as far as I knew. To be sure that a twenty-three-year-old aspiring pastor knew some of the important events of Vulcan Assembly of God, she politely explained, “every year we have had homecoming on the second Sunday of March. Every year, the second Sunday of March.” Now, I find I get really excited about Homecoming. It is a time to rejoice on our past and look with hope to our future. I thought it was fitting to include the names of all the charter members in addition to Sister Jackson.

On December 22, 1950, there was a meeting held at the home of Rev. W.G. Workman for the purpose of setting the church in order at Vulcan, Missouri. The first order of business was signing the roster of charter members: Opal Ruble, Gladys Sutton, Clyde M. Reed, Corene Ruble, Eunice Reed, Edna Middleton, Imogene Mathews, Marshal Lewis, Ruth Shepherd, W.G. Workman, Gladys Williams, Lucille Sheppard, Norma Jean Lewis, Macy Lewis, C.S. Jackson, Helen Jackson, Viola Middleton, Gilbert Middleton, Dorothy Freedom, Alice Talley, Olin Talley, Juanita Talley, Noi Workman, Juanita Sutton (Middleton), Mildred Clifford, Charlotte Middleton, Evelyn Johnson, Emma Havener and Edward T. Havener.

This is from the official minutes of our church. Most of the people on the list I did not get to meet. But we are recipients of their desire for God to have a Pentecostal church in Vulcan. Thank God they were obedient. Now, over seventy years later, we will celebrate what God has done for us and what He will continue to do for us. We hope you will come home and worship with us on Sunday, March 12, 2023.