The United Methodist Women installed new officers at its February 21 meeting.  Past president is Betsy Dearing and the new president will be Joy Bowen.   Sara Barron will be vice-president,  Holly Goetz  secretary, Lillie Petty treasurer and Tricia Hopkins historian.

A food pantry volunteer surveys some of the groceries ready to be distributed on November 19. (photo by Tricia Hopkins)

The church food pantry provided frozen turkeys to twenty-two local families for Thanksgiving and provided hams and chickens to others. Altogether 38 families benefited from groceries provided by the pantry in November.

According to Pastor Starr Bowen there is a growing need for the mission, probably as a result of continuing high unemployment in the area.

The pantry has completed a relocation into larger quarters at the church, which almost triples the space it formerly occupied. An additional freezer was donated by the city from the Gordon Community Center. This helps to satisfy regulations regarding storage of food, as well as allowing expansion of the pantry to serve more families.

The food pantry operation was recently reorganized to meet standards set by the Tarrant Area Food Bank and to increase accountability to the church council.  Most of the food is purchased at special prices from the Tarrant Area Food Bank, which sets rules regarding storage and distribution which must be met by all local food pantries who purchase food from them.

The food pantry also buys some food from other sources and accepts donated cans and packaged goods from individuals and groups who wish to buy the food themselves.

Volunteers from the church and from the local community staff the operation, which is accountable to the church Outreach Committee.  Carolyn Bell is responsible for coordinating food distributions.

Consult the church calendar for food distribution dates as well as for work days associated with the pantry. There is always a need for volunteers and for donations. For more information contact the church office.

This beautiful quilt was created by the “Pieceful Friends” sewing group and quilted by the ladies of First UMC. It was auctioned off at noon November 7th to Leona Roberts during the Lord’s Acre fundraiser at the school cafeteria.

An original oil painting donated by Bonnie Dickson went to high bidder Tommie Zoeller.

Organizer Sara Barron said that about 200 turkey dinners were served this year. Almost $8000 in donations were received. The money will be divided between the church and the local UMW chapter and will go to support the church and missions.

Three days a week you can find a small group of women hard at work around an old-fashioned quilting frame in a back room of the First Methodist Church in Gordon. They are the Fellowship Quilters and members of their group have been meeting like this for almost 25 years.

It all started when a woman named Virginia O’Conner wanted to make a quilt but did not have enough space in her own home to spread it out and work.  She approached the Rev. Art Torpey who was pastor at First Methodist then and received permission to set up in the church annex. Other women in the church joined in to help and they soon started other quilting projects. Mr R B Strain, who was the agriculture teacher at Gordon High School in those days, built a quilting frame for them to use. Oma Sperling,  the only “charter member”  who still participates, said that at times they had as many as 14 regular quilters as well as some non-quilters who came in to fix lunch and keep them company.

Their numbers may have dwindled but most days you can still find five or six quilters keeping the  tradition alive. They do handwork on their own projects or on quilts that their friends and neighbors bring in.  Some of the pieces are new and some are old  “quilt tops” that were never finished.   While the top layer of a quilt can be “pieced,” or sewn together on a regular sewing machine or by hand in a living room, it takes a lot of space to fasten it to a backing with batting in between.  Most quilt shops have machines now that can complete this step.   However people who have old unfinished quilt tops that have been passed down in their family often prefer for them to be hand-quilted in order to preserve the old-fashioned look.  Bobbye Hicks said they had once quilted a top that had originally been pieced in 1912.  It was typical back then for young girls to make quilts and put them away for when they were married, and Bobbye surmises that’s why that one had been made.

The Fellowship Quilters charge for their work but the money is all donated to charity.  Lois Strain said that much of the money goes to the Methodist Children’s Home in Waco, although they also contribute to local causes such as the emergency response team and the new community center being built in Gordon. Once a year they make an extra-special quilt which they donate to the Lord’s Acre and is auctioned off to help support the local church and its missions.

It’s not all about work though. Leona Roberts, who became involved with the group after she retired, said that the women enjoyed the fellowship as much as they enjoyed completing their projects.  Over the years, they have “managed to solve most of the world’s problems” while sitting around the quilting frame.

And they will even give lessons!  Oma promises that they will teach anyone to quilt who wants to learn, “even if they have never picked up a needle.”

The Methodist church is sporting a new standing-seam metal roof which was finished just in time for Independence Day.   Like many other roofs in Gordon the church roof was damaged in a hail storm last year.  Church members are pleased that the roofers also straightened the weathervane atop the steeple, something which has been needed for a few years.   The church building was completed in 1951, and the  new roof is expected to last until it is at least 100 years old.

Meanwhile Main Street in Gordon is taking on a whole new look.  Bonnie Dickson, Johnnie Goodwin and Margie Johnson have painted a mural on the side of the old grocery store building.

Earlier in the year Bonnie and Lily Petty directed the Gordon seniors as they refurbished the old Womba Coffee sign and planted flowers in the planters on Main Street.

Workman have also been working on the old stone building across the street from the post office.  Lily says she is planning on a opening a library there.

Coming soon to Gordon, Texas, will be a new small group study intended for both seekers and “church alumni/ae” who are wrestling with basic questions often avoided by the Christianity they grew up with.

Living the Questions is the idea of a couple of United Methodist pastors in Phoenix, Arizona -  Jeff Procter-Murphy and Dave Felten  – who had a vision to create a program to help seekers discover the significance of Christianity in the 21st century and what a meaningful faith can look like in today’s world.

In a recent interview in the United Methodist Reporter, Mr Felten talked about the program, which has been used in over 2500 churches and organizations in the US and around the world. “What we are trying to do is expose people to the content of what is being expressed in our seminaries and among theologians and scholars and clergy, and a lot of lay people. But everybody thinks they are alone. They don’t know there are a lot of other people who have the same questions. If they would only be honest about their doubts, and what they feel are their core beliefs, they would have companions for their journey.”

The 12-week video-based course will start January 6 and meet each Tuesday at 10 am in the Fellowship Hall at Gordon United Methodist.   Pastor Dr Starr Bowen will lead discussions following each of the video presentations.   All members of the community are invited.  There is no charge to participate.

Later farmers and ranchers would donate produce or animals to the church and it would be auctioned off at an annual festival in the fall. Nowadays the tradition continues at many rural churches, including our own. However folks are more likely to donate home-made arts and crafts or baked goods, instead of pigs or hay.

This year’s festival featured home-cooked turkey dinners, followed by the traditional auction. The festival date coincided with the opening of deer season, and a good many hungry hunters took advantage of the turkey dinners.

The ladies of the UMW organized the event and prepared the dinners at the Gordon Community Center.

Lily Petty, Lois Strain, Leona Roberts, Bobbye Hicks and Oma Sperling pose with a hand-made quilt donated by the quilting circle. The king-size quilt brought $1000 in the auction. Other items auctioned included an oil painting by Bonnie Dickson, baked goods, and home-made honey and jellies.

Organizers Laura Schur and Elene Ondo estimated that they raised over $6000 this year. Half will go to the church building fund, and the rest will be split between missions chosen by the local UMW chapter and the church.