Though the original Sharps Chapel Fall Festival date in September had to be postponed due to weather, our community spirit remained strong, and we were blessed with perfect weather in November for an unforgettable day.
By Debbie Dodds Boeck
If you’ve been on Big Valley Rd in Sharps Chapel lately, you may have noticed a flurry of activity at Croweville City Hall. This friendly little bar and grill has now fully reopened after a refresh. The kitchen will be open starting at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday – Thursday and at noon on Friday and Saturday and will stop taking orders one hour before close each day.
How Easy Is It To Quit Sinning
In order to succeed at being a Christian, it is necessary to quit some things that we used to do. Specifically, in order to be a Christian it is necessary to quit sinful habits! Let me point blank tell any young Christian, it ain’t always easy to quit old sinful habits. The Bible often calls quitting “repentance”. Being a Christian starts with repentance. When Jesus told Nicodemus “You must be born again” it wasn’t a suggestion, it was a command. Being born again is Jesus’s metaphorical way of saying, start over, quit your old ways and relearn everything about how to live life. In John 15, Jesus told his disciples “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
Short term missionaries Mark and Desiree Hensley of Sharps Chapel, along with Melanie Hurst of Maynardville recently returned from an 18 day mission trip to Uganda. It was Melanie’s first mission trip. Melanie plans to go on more mission trips and return to Uganda in the future. The trio joined a Hope 4 Kids International team comprised of 26 individuals from churches across the U.S. While there, they had the privilege of celebrating the opening of a borehole in the remote village Buwasyeba in Manafwa District that was funded with donations raised by the Walk 4 Water Union County event of May 2024.
As with many rural areas, agriculture and trades are a way of life. This statement holds true in our small community. Both adults and young workers alike seek careers locally with specific trade skills in mind. At Union County High School (UCHS) the volume of students enrolling in programs of study to prepare for skilled trades occupations correlates with the high demand for careers in the area and offers some insight to the future workforce of these industries in our region.
Union County churches, groups and individuals want children in need around the world to receive a gift this Christmas season and to experience the love and hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ.
The Union County Board of Education approved multiple items to comply with state and federal regulations as well as proceeding as planned for the new middle school construction at the November meeting.
Three votes and a recess transpired before the Union County Commission agreed on new building permit fees at the regular meeting in November. The building permit fees were originally set by a private act of the Tennessee General Assembly, and to increase the fees takes another state legislative act. To meet the December 1 deadline required that action be taken at the November meeting in order to file the bill and receive action in the legislative session that begins in January 2025. The first two proposals failed by large margins.
My church celebrates the beginning of Advent around the first of December by sometimes carrying out the “hanging of the green” tradition of decorating the church sanctuary for the Christmas season. Our pastor explained the meaning of the Advent tradition, which was good because while I had heard of it, I didn’t really know what it was about. I’m all about old traditions, and so it sparked my own research which I thought I would share.
