Ebenezer Methodist Church Hictory 2025
Merry, Merry Christmas! Our loan is paid in full!
We praise and thank God for the people who gave very generously to our church for the last 2 years as we worked hard to pay off our disaffiliation loan ($60,000) we had to get to pay our way out of the United Methodist Church. We have stood with the Lord and his Word, and he has blessed us beyond measure. God is good. God is good all the time, especially when we obey him and not men. Amen.
Special thanks go to two people (God you know them, and please bless them) who gave large donations on Sunday, December 21st, to carry us over the goal. We needed around $16,000 to pay off the loan. God sent it our way. We thank Pastor Simon for giving us the vision of paying this debt off before the end of this year, too.
Dear gracious and merciful Father, help us to show our gratitude by doing even more to spread the good news about Jesus, our Savior, to a lost and dying world of lonely and disillusioned souls. There is joy in knowing Jesus and he is the only way to lasting peace. In Jesus name we pray and live. Amen.
Christmas Eve Service, 6:00 PM
Join us for a dramatic presentation of the birth of Jesus with short "sermons" interspersed with the story. We will observe Communion and light candles as we look forward to another Christmas Day celebration of Jesus' birth and anticipate his return to make all things right. Merry Christmas!
Gifts for Christ Sunday, Dec. 21
We will be placing our extra "Gift for Christ" in the manger at our worship service on Sunday. This year's gifts will go to our General Fund. We are grateful for all we receive that helps us to continue to serve our members and community in the name of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ.
Evangelist Andy Lambert Coming -Report
We had a good turnout for Rev. Lambert with an attendance of 68 compared to our average of 48. If you missed this service, you missed a wonderful presentation of the gossip using humor and new insights to a well-known gospel passage. Afterwards we enjoyed multiple kinds of homemade soups with some delicious desserts, too. Yum! Yum! We thank God for the guests who came and hope that they will return to learn more about Jesus and his message of forgiveness and hope.
We invite you to join us for a special First Sunday of Advent this year with guest speaker Evangelist Any Lambert of Isaac Ministries. On November 30th our service will begin at 10:00 a.m. (please note time change) and we will do the "Hanging of the Greens" (decorating the church for the Advent season) at the beginning of the service. Along with our regular offering and Thank Bank offerings, we are asking for a special offering that will go towards our disaffiliation loan debt.
"Andy...is dedicated to helping communities of faith discover and deepen the joy of living for Jesus. Andy has had a long and varied ministry, which has included writing, traveling evangelism, pastoring, teaching college and seminary courses. He has pastored United Methodist and Quaker Churches and developed Youth ministries in both and is a past recipient of the Harry Denman Award for Evangelism. He is on the North Carolina Global Methodist Church's Leadership team serving as the chair of the task force on evangelism."
Andy Lambert is the founder of Isaac Ministries, named after Abraham and Sarah's son, Isaac, whose name means "laughter." Andy has used "comedy, storytelling, and drama to offer Christ and to help people grow in Christ." He emphasizes helping Christians and churches "rediscover a passion to reach young adults" for Christ. Come and be blessed. Bring a young adult or two with you. They will be blessed also.
Soup and sandwiches, provided by our members, will be served after the service in the Christian Life Center. (Sunday school classes will not meet this Sunday.)
Butts and Birds Fundraiser - Report
We thank everyone who participated in this fundraiser. We raised approximately $1800 to help pay down our disaffiliation loan debt. May God bless you for your generosity. He has already blessed all who bought the butts or turkeys with some really fine eating. Amen!
Don't slave over a hot stove or deep fryer this coming holiday. Let us cook a Boston Butt or turkey for you. The turkey can be smoked or deep fried, the pork will be smoked. The cost is $40 each. See one our members for an order form or call our office at (828) 396-2214, Monday-Friday, 8:30 - 12:30 p.m. Payment can be mailed to Ebenezer Methodist Church, 4948 Burns Rd., Granite Falls, NC 28630. The pick date and time is Wednesday, November 26, 4-8:00 p.m. Meat will be cooked on our premises by our renowned cooks! Please place your order by November 23rd.
Proceeds will be used to pay down our disaffiliation loan debt. We are closing in on getting it paid off this year with your help. Thank you!
Honoring Our Veterans Meal
We will be honoring the veterans in our area by serving a free meal for nayone who served in the armed forces of the U. S. and their spouses on Saturday, November 8, 5-7:00 p.m.
We give thanks to our brave men and women who have served our country and praise you for the sacrifices you made to help protect the U. S. here and abroad. May God bless you and your families.
The Country Store - November 1st
Report: Thank you to everyone who came to the Country Store. The women raised over $2000, which will be used to help people in our community and around the world. May God bless you for your generosity.
Our Women's Group will have their annual Country Store fundraiser on Saturday, November 1, 2025 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Breakfast biscuits will be on sale in the morning and hamburgers and hot dogs later in the day for lunch.
Shop for bargains from our collection of gently used items, crafts, home decorations, furniture, small appliances, books and more. Pick up a gift for yourself or a friend, and enjoy a good hot meal, too.
Proceeds will fund the women's ministries. We thank you for your support.
Trunk R Treat - October 25
Halloween comes early to Ebenezer this year. Our annual Trunk R Treat will be on Saturday, October 25th, 5-7:00 p.m. Our members will be distributing free candy from their cars and trucks decorated with spooky scenes. We will be serving free hotdogs, chips, brownies, cupcakes and more. Come and have a safe Halloween party with us.
Homecoming/$10,000 Sunday - Report
We had at least 80 people to join us in worship for our Homecoming service, including some members we had not seen in a long time. The food available at the pot-luck lunch was extensive and delicious. Although we only received around $5,000 that can go to the Retire Debt (Action-MISC or disaffiliation loan debt) fund. We also collected enough to cover our average regular offering. We praise God for keeping us going in the past year, and thank him for continuing to lead us and bless us in the coming months and year. We thank God for everyone who gave extra this day and supports us throughout the year with their gifts, time, and prayers.
It's time to come home to Ebenezer. Join us for worship at 10:30 a.m. as we proclaim the Good News about Jesus our Savior and how God has continued to bless Ebenezer throughout the year. This is our $10,000 Sunday in which we hope to raise $10,000 over our regular weekly offering of $3,131. Anything over that regular amount will go towards paying down our Disaffilation Loan.
After the service we invite you to join us for a covered-dish lunch in the Christian Life Center. Bring a favorite dish of food or dessert to share if you can. Sunday school classes will not meet. We return to a 9:00 a.m. worship time next week.
God bless you for you regular support and your generosity on this Sunday. See you there!
Supper Fundraiser, Oct. 4 - Report
We had a good turn-out again and raised over $1,800 from the meal (after expenses) to pay on our loan. Thank you for your support and generosity.
We are serving country style steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese, roll, and choice of homemade dessert on Saturday, October 4, 4-7:00 p.m. Eat in or take out for a donation to help us pay off our disaffiliation loan. We thank you for your continuing generosity and support.
Revival Coming, September 28-30
See the October 2025 Newsletter article under "Something to Pray About" for a report on the revival.
Ebenezer will have revival services every night starting at 7:00 p.m. September 28-30, Sunday through Tuesday. Pastor Simons' wife and fellow minister, Rev. Eunice Chigumira will be bringing the messages each evening. There will also be special singing: on Sunday, The Barnes Family; on Monday, Jill Morrison, and on Tuesday, Kristen Baker. Come and be blessed. Invite everyone you know to join us and learn about how good God is, and how much we all need Jesus in our lives today.
Women's Group Honor Sunday
On Sunday, September 21st we will honor and promote our Methodist Women's Group that does so much to help people in our community and helps our church to continue to spread the Gospel message. We invite all the women of Ebenezer to become a part of this active and vital ministry group in our church.
Supper Fundraiser, Sept. 6
Report: we took in over $2,800 for our retire debt fund with this event. We thank everyone who came to eat and donated money to our church. Thank you for all the comments on how good the meal was. May God bless you for your generosity.
Menu is now set: Barbecue chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with choice of homemade dessert and coffee, tea or water. Take out or eat in.
Join us for a delicious Surprise! meal on Saturday, September 6, 4-7:00 p.m. The menu is not set yet, but whatever the main course, you know it will be good! Homemade desserts will be served, too. Donations will go towards paying down our Disaffiliation Loan. Our goal is to have this loan paid off by the end of this year.
We thank you for your support.
Pastor Simon Gives Us a New Mission Statement
Pastor Simon proposed that Ebenezer Methodist Church Dudley Shoals Mission Statement be that our core mission is about "Inviting all to become committed disciples of Jesus Christ." We will discuss this at our next Church Council meeting and vote on it.
Ebenezer is affiliated with The GLOBAL METHODIST CHURCH whose mission statement is: The Global Methodist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness across the globe.
Keep these core mission statements in mind as you pray for our church, and as we decide what ministries to support and do.
Community Fun Day! Aug. 23
Report: The weather was just right, and everyone had a wonderful time. We hope to see you next year when we hold another FUN DAY before the start of school.
Our annual day of fun and free food is coming on Saturday, August 23, 10:00-1:00 p.m. Activities include a bouncy house, water slide (bring your own towel!), petting zoo, reptile display (giant snake included), fire truck display, and more. We will serve hot dogs and chips, brownies and cookies, and for a special treat there will be an ice cream truck there! We will have some school supplies to give out. Everything is free! Have one more great day of fun before school starts. See you there!
(Young children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.)
Items We Are Collecting Now
August is our month to help resupply the South Caldwell Christian Ministry's Food Pantry. See Collections for Ministries below for a list of non-perishable items to donate.
We are collecting school supplies and backpacks to give away at our Community Fun Day event on August 23rd. Suggestions for donations include pencils, highlighters, color pencils, ear buds, notebook paper and notebooks, index cards, dividers with tabs, rounded scissors, glue sticks, pens, pencil pouch, erasers, etc.
We will need brownies and cookies for this event, also. You can bake them now, then bring them to the church so we can freeze them until needed.
We thank you for supporting these worthy causes.
Chaos, Noise, Liveliness, and Blessings Galore
Our church has had 51 guests residing in our church since Sunday, July 20th. Our guests came here from South Carolina and Ebensburg, Pennsylvania on a mission trip. All week they have been sending teams of (mostly) young people up the mountain side to help with the continuing Hurricane Helene recovery.
When this proposal to house the teams was brought before our church, we all knew it would be a wonderful cause to support. Though we had a fundraiser on the Saturday before and the Blood Drive on the Monday after they arrived, the Church Council still enthusiastically voted to accept our mission from God. And God has seen us through a little bit of chaos and noise, but given us many, many blessings from our guests.
Our joint worship service on Wednesday evening was an amazing event. Our members were blessed by having so many young people in our church again, and they gave us hope for our church and the Christian Church in general. These young peole were dedicated and passionate in their faith. They prayed with our members who were present, and one of their pastors also prayed over our church. May God make it so--everything that the pastor prayed for and the requests each group prayed over us individually.
We thank you, Lord, for giving us this opportunity to help, and ask that you watch over all these young people and their families, pastors, teachers, and their churches. May your blessings abound for all, and their faith continue to grow and remain strong. Amen and Hallelujah!
Pancake Breakfast & India Crafts Sale - Report
Thank you to everyone who participated and spent money at this event. We raised around $1500. May God bless you for your generosity.
On Saturday, July 19th from 8:00 a.m. to Noon, we invite you to enjoy a delicious breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Then stay and browse through the remaining India crafts items donated to us last year. Everything must be sold, so make us an offer we can't refuse. We are asking for donations for the breakfast.
Proceeds to toward our disaffiliation loan payoff. We thank you for your support!
Report: Blood Drive July 21st
The American Red Cross collected 25 units at our blood drive on the 21st. Thank you to everyone who gave and helped during this worthy event. May God bless you all.
Our summer blood drive for the American Red Cross opens on Monday, July 21st, 2:30-7:00 p.m. Please consider signing up now. The theme for this year is "Kindness is in your blood." Visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter the Sponsor code "Ebenezer UMC" to sign up.
We will serve a free spaghetti meal to our donors and workers, and offer free snacks, too. Blood type "O" donors are especially needed at this time. We thank you for helping with this worthy and vital service.
Sunday, June 29th, Celebrate Independence Day Service
We will celebrate the beginning of the United States of America on Sunday June 29th as we remember and praise God for our liberties in this country, and honor those who worked to free us from tyranny the first time around. Wear red, white, and blue or any combination of them as we say Happy Birthday to the USA!
Father's Day Sunday
Come to worship on Sunday, June 15, 9:00 a.m.when we will honor our fathers for the hard work they do to provide for their families, teach their children in the ways of godly living, and support our church. We ask our members to bring in a photo or other memorabilia for our display honoring our fathers.
Grab and Go! After the worship service we invite the men and the rest of the congregation to stop by the CLC on the way to Sunday School classes. Coffee, juice and muffins, donuts and other snacks will be offered to everyone in honor of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. Happy Father's Day!
Pentecost Sunday
In honor of the beginning of the Christian Church we request that you wear a color of fire--red, orange, or yellow, because the Holy Spirit came in the form of firey tongues on that first Sunday when the power of God was poured out on the early believers. We hope to see you Sunday, June 8 at 9:00 a.m.
Memorial Day Service
We are asking our members to bring a photo or piece of memorabilia of a fallen or deceased relative who served in the United States Armed Forces for the worship service on Sunday, May 25. We will display the items on a table in honor of these past soldiers during our Memorial Day Service.
We should never forget that our freedoms were purchased by the blood of many good men and women. And those soldiers have also fought to keep men free, or free them in other countries. Though we pray for peace, we remain committed to defending liberty here and abroad when necessary. Thank you to all who serve today and have served in the past with special gratitude to those who were wounded or died in service to our country.
Mothers' Day Service
We hope you will join us for a special service in honor of mothers on Sunday, May 11th at 9:00 a.m. We are asking our members to consider bringing us a photo of their (living or deceased) mother alone or with children to put on a special display table. We will celebrate the lives, care, and sacrifices of our mothers and express our gratitude to our mothers who helped bring us into this world.
After the service, please join us in the Christian Life Center for a brunch in honor of our mothers, prepared and served by the men of the church. Come and be blessed.
Holy Week Services
Maundy Tuesday service report. We had 26 people to share the sample Passover meal as we commemorated the Last Supper or our Lord before his death on that cruel cross. We thank the people who helped prepare the meal and told us about the meaning of each item on the plate. We were blessed and touched by the meal and also by the symbolic foot washing service.
On Sunday, April 13th at 9:00 a.m., we will be waving palm leaves during the Palm Sunday service. On Holy or Maundy Thursday at 7:00 p.m., we remember the Last Supper of our Lord. The serving of Communion will include very small samples of the foods that Jesus and his disciples would have had at their Passover meal. The meaning of each item to the Jewish people will be explained as we sample the foods.
Then on Good Friday at 7:00 p.m. we go the Grace Chapel Global Methodist Church for a joint service of all the Global Methodist Churches in Caldwell County to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice that our Lord Jesus made for us on the cross. We express our sorrow for what Jesus had to do to save us from our sins.
Then joy comes in the morning on Sunday, April 20th at our Easter Sunrise Service at 7:00 a.m. We invite you and your family to help us celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, then stay for fellowship and a free breakfast after the service.
Christ has come. Christ is risen! Christ will come again! Happy Easter!
Easter Egg Hunt and Party Apr 12 - Report
We entertained 23 children with their parents and grandparents, and told them the real story of Easter, as well as, playing games, singing, and having lots of fun. We thank all our workers and ask God to bless these efforts to witness for our Lord to the young and old.
All children of the community (with responsible adult) are invited to our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday April 12, 9-11:00 a.m. Breakfast biscuits will be served.There will be songs to sing and games to play with lots of free candy, prizes, stories, including the story of Jesus and his love for us, the egg hunt, and fun, fun, fun! Rain or shine! Everything is free!
Chicken & Dumplings Fundraiser -- Report
Thank you to all our supporters and praise to God for a great turnout for the latest fundraiser. We raised almost $3,000 to apply to our disaffiliation loan. May God bless you for your help.
Our next fundraiser has been moved to Saturday, March 29th, 4-7:00 p.m. We will be dishing up great chicken and dumplings with green beans, slaw, roll, beverage, and choice of homemade dessert for a donation to our church to help us pay down our Disaffiliation loan. Take out will be available (no beverage).
We thank you for your support and prayers.
Red Cross Blood Drive - March 10, 2025 - Report
Thank you to everyone who helped with this year's Red Cross Blood Drive at Ebenezer. We collected 20 product units (with 5 potential donors unable to give). Our next Blood Drive will be on July 21. Please make plans to give on that day. May God bless all those who were able to give this time.
We will have our annual winter Red Cross Blood Drive on Monday, March 10, 2025 from 2:30 - 7:00 p.m. Please sign-up online at www.redcrossblood.org or call our office to make an appointment. (Search online using zip code 28630 for Ebenezer UMC.) Hot soup and toasted cheese bread and sweets will be served for free to donors and workers.
Pinto Bean Supper Fundraiser - Report
Thank you to everyone who came and ate and gave a donation to our church at this supper. We raised over $1,600 that will be used to pay down our disaffiliation loan. May God bless you for your generosity.
Come and eat with us on Saturday, February 22nd 4-7:00 p.m. (or until gone). It's called a poor man's supper, but many people consider it a deliciously rich meal. We are serving up pinto beans, taters & onions, cornbread & Mexican cornbread, fried cabbage, and choice of homemade dessert with beverage for donations to help us pay off our disaffiliation loan. We thank you for your support.