Smithville Church of God Serves Youth Through Adopt a School and After School Program

September 13, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

As part of its community outreach, the Smithville Church of God has adopted DeKalb Middle School and hosts regular after school events for those students and others who want to participate.

Students were treated Wednesday afternoon to food, fun and games, inflatables, and a free concert by Christian Rap artist B-Shoc

Pastor Chris Moore said the idea is for the church to be more involved in the community and especially with youth.

“I believe it’s a vital for our churches in the community to reach out as part of community service to take care of our schools and to provide safe, clean, fun environments for them,” Moore.

The church has sponsored after school youth events for several years but expanded its outreach with the adopt a school concept last fall.

“We have hosted after school youth church events for the last eight years. The official adoption we did at the middle school started in the fall. We started out doing some simple projects like landscaping, painting, and providing teachers supplies. We wanted to be a partner with the school. In fact a majority of the students here today (Wednesday) are from the middle school. We bused in around 70 kids this afternoon straight from school to here as part of our after school program. There are other projects we do. Every sporting event they have either me or my youth pastor goes and prays over their events. We are also heavily involved with their Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Every Wednesday we go and help with their music. We just want to be involved. I wish we could do the same for every school,” said Moore.

Students can even earn school credit in some cases for attending an after school event. “Some of the after school programs offer kids credit for attending if they come here. It goes on their record that they attended an after school program,” Moore continued.

The church hosts the after school events twice a year and all the food and fun are provided at no charge.

“It’s completely free. We feed all the kids. We provide transportation if necessary for some of them. There are a lot of games and fun but more than anything we are providing them a good, solid, clean, safe environment. With all the things out there in the world I think it is important that our churches do that. Parents are longing for good places for their kids to go and hang out. We want to be able to make that happen here at this church. You never know how a small thing like this can really impact them and change their lives forever. We always host a big rally at the end of the night. Tonight (Wednesday) we had Christian Rap artist B-Shoc. His real name is Bryan Edmonds. He has an amazing testimony. He travels all across the world doing this. His raps are very easy and very fun. All ages can get involved from 7 to 70 and its all to glorify the name of Jesus Christ which is what we are trying to do,” said Moore.

Bryan Edmonds (aka B-SHOC), was raised in a Christian home in the small town of Toccoa, GA. He gave his life to Jesus at a very young age. B-SHOC spent most of his childhood with a tennis racquet in his hand. He attended Garner Webb University on a tennis scholarship.  At GWU, he was named All American and won a NCCAA College Championship.

His love for music began at the age of 16 when he was introduced to hip hop. It was love at first beat. The beat moved him in a special way, so much that he pursued a music career. After many years in the studio and mastering his talent, the music developed a whole new lifestyle for him, which landed him in the night clubs many nights of the week. As his success grew, and he partook of the lifestyle that came with it, depression set in. Something had to change.

He then understood for certain that nothing in the world would satisfy his heart like Jesus Christ. After leaving the night scene, and a lot prayer, the love for the beat still remained. He began writing and recording music about Jesus and his life using the same style of beat. Knowing this was not popular in churches, and that critics would arise, he was dedicated to do God’s will for his life.

Since then God has opened many doors for B-SHOC, traveling the country, and packing concerts full of energy and excitement for Jesus. Thru his concerts and music, he prays more people come to know Jesus and develop a closer relationship with Him. He gives ALL Glory to God.

September 13, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

Chad Kirby has pulled ahead of the pack among WJLE’s Fearless Forecasters for the best record picking winners during the second week of the college football season.

Kirby had the best record last week at 11-4 and he is 22-8 overall for the first two weeks of the season. Also last week, Darrell Gill and Scott Brown were each at 10-5 while Will Graham, Ricky Atnip, Dewain Hendrixson, Grant James, John Pryor, and our special guest Rhea County Girls Basketball Coach Darvin Gill each went 9-6.

After the first two weeks, Chad Kirby is in the lead at 22-8 followed by Scott Brown, Ricky Atnip, and the guests (Larry Green and Darvin Gill) tied for second place at 20-10. Darrell Gill, John Pryor, and Dewain Hendrixson are each at 18-12. Will Graham is 17-13 and Grant James is 16-14.

Four of the forecasters hit their underdog picks last week. Scott Brown grabbed the lead with 14 points picking Colorado State to upset Arkansas. Will Graham got on the board with 13 points picking Kentucky to upend Florida. John Pryor is in third place with 11.5 points although he picked up no extra points last week. Chad Kirby now has 5 points after his upset pick of Arizona State over Michigan State, and Dewain Hendrixson picked up 3 points with Duke’s win over Northwestern. He now has a total of 4 points for the first two weeks.

Today (Thursday) the Forecasters will be picking winners in the following games:

Florida State at Syracuse, West Virginia at N.C. State, Boise State at Oklahoma State, Washington at Utah, Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh, Boston College at Wake Forest, Ohio State at TCU, USC at Texas, Duke at Baylor, Missouri at Purdue, North Texas at Arkansas, LSU at Auburn, UTEP at Tennessee, Vanderbilt at Notre Dame, and in the NFL the Tennessee Titans at Houston.

Today’s special guest is Isaac Gray, Minister at the Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Catch the Fearless Forecasters on WJLE today (Thursday) at 4:30 p.m. on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com.

The program is sponsored by the Charles D. Atnip Realty and Auction Company, Middle Tennessee Natural Gas, Liberty State Bank, DeKalb County Insurance, Gill Automotive, Love-Cantrell Funeral Home, and DeKalb County Ace Hardware.

September 12, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Municipal Swimming Pool has sprung some significant leaks.

Ken Lacy, manager of the pool and golf course, advised the mayor and aldermen Monday night and at previous meetings and workshops that repairs should be made before the pool re-opens next summer.

Lacy recently contacted the American Leak Detection Company of Nashville which has offered a performance contract to come and check the pool. According to Lacy, the company will review and diagnose the problem and provide an estimate on the repair costs.

“Their fee for that (site inspection) is $2,500 to $3,500 if we do a contract with them. They can’t give a true assessment on the repair costs until they are here but they said it would probably be in the neighborhood $7,000 and $10,000 total with a possible discount,” he said.

Lacy said the leaks are on both sides of the pool and the water loss is significant. “The skimmer system is leaking and the leaks are on both sides of the pool. We have leaching on the street side and the golf course side and wherever its leaking it is happening a lot. Its not necessarily in the deep end. Where the water is coming out more is on the shallow side of the pool. To keep it full we pump water from an inch and a half line into the pool 24/7. It never shuts down,” said Lacy.

The aldermen discussed whether to have the work done during the fall or wait until next spring.

“If they do it now we have to refill the pool because they need the pumps running and skimmers in operation,” said Lacy.

Alderman Brandon Cox said he didn’t feel comfortable voting for the project based on cost estimates.

“Are there any other providers? Have we checked with others?  I would like to see more concrete numbers,” said Alderman Cox.

“There possibly are (other companies) but this is the company that is recommended by the people we do our pump services with. They say this company (American Leak Detection) is the most reputable and it is one of the largest companies out there. They can detect leaks within a foot and go in and repair them,” said Lacy.

The aldermen voted 3-1 to contract with American Leak Detection Company of Nashville to do a site inspection of the pool at a cost of up to $3,500. Alderman Cox voted no.

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