Hurricane Season 2024 – GIVE NOW

st. james presbyterian church

‘You are mine’

Preaching on John the Baptist, whose ministry centered on preparing people for one more powerful than he and who would baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong began her sermon on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, with these words: “You belong to God.”

‘Surprise, surprise, surprise!’

When he portrayed Private Gomer Pyle during the mid-1960s, actor Jim Nabors employed a number of catch phrases, including “gall-lee” and “Shazam.” But Pyle, who hailed from fictional Mayberry, North Carolina, which is in the same state as the very real Montreat Conference Center, the setting the Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ Worship and Music Conference, was best known for recounting mixed-up stories punctuated by this phrase: “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

‘It’s time to go’

“It’s time to go,” the Rev. CeCe Armstrong told the thousands of people gathered for closing worship Saturday at Presbyterian Youth Triennium. “We often forget that mission starts at home — your own house or your own church. We’ve experienced things here, but if we don’t take them back, the church doesn’t change but you have. Hallelujah!”