Upcoming
Events:
January 4 Hymn Sing
January 6 10:00 weekly Bible study resumes
January 7 3:00 weekly Power Hour resumes
January 8 church board, beginning at 6:00 pm
January 11 Terry Link is our speaker
January 18 Ted Smith is our speaker
January 25 Bobby Murray is our speaker
February 1 sermon by 2025 Annual Conference Moderator
February 8 Willow Tree will give our message.
Late February—soup supper
Birthdays and Anniversaries
January
7 Maralyn Heckman
21 Sadie Sawyer
25 Tracy & Dan Mogged
February
3 Shirley Wright
Dorthea Wood
4 Kathleen Petersen
17 Ron
& Kathleen Petersen
24 Patty Cripe
--Offering
envelope summaries are available in your church mailbox if you used envelopes
in 2025.
In Our Prayers
Leonard Matheny; Pam and Tommy Trone; Ruth Siburt; Martha
Wood; Bill Traughber; Shirley Clarkson; Larry Traxler; Randy and
Michelle West; Mike and Kathy Gentry; Nancy Fansler;
Doug Larrick; Ron and Kathleen Petersen; Debbie Garvey Leibrock; Dorthea Wood;
Mayo Hanaver; David and Jan Bower; Stacie Warren; Nancy Gorrell; many unspoken
requests; victims of disasters; victims of shootings; shut-ins; the Nigerian
church; Haitian Brethren; Ukraine; Israel and Gaza, Sudan, other places where
violence is happening
Military and Other Services and their families
Brethren Volunteer Service workers; Disaster project workers
***
Needed:
There is always a need for volunteers for the children’s message during the
service, a children’s lesson/story time in the nursery during the sermon, and
for Power Hour on Wednesdays. Please sign up in the back of the sanctuary.
We need
worship leaders too. Bobby has been generous to have done this the past several
months. Who will volunteer to give him a break now and then?
History Corner:
Maralyn Heckman sent this information about WT Heckman’s
brother, B. Franklin Heckman. She found it interesting and thought we would
too.
---B.
Franklin Heckman was born near Hammond, IL, Sept. 22, 1882. He was the son
of David and Elizabeth Miller Heckman who moved into the Oakley congregation in
1891. He became a member of this congregation in 1898. He attended Mount Morris
College from 1901 to 1905 and married Minna Mote in June, 1905. The following 2
years he was the principal of Cerro Gordo High School. The Cerro Gordo
congregation (us) called him to the ministry on December 31, 1905. In 1907 he
entered Bethany Biblical Seminary; finished the four-year course; taught Hebrew
and Old Testament exegesis for one year; and also did some graduate work at the
University of Chicago. He had charge of rescue mission work in Chicago, and
conducted a number of Bible institutes in different states. In 1910 he was
pastor and evangelist at the mission in Springfield, Illinois (Did you know
Springfield was a mission at one time?). In 1911 he, with his wife and two
daughters, went to the China mission field and was stationed at Ping Ting Chou.
After 15 months he contracted smallpox and died on January 14, 1913, the first
Brethren missionary to give up his life while in service in China.
--from
Church of the Brethren in Southern Illinois by Minnie Buckingham
So, some of you may ask, who
was WT Heckman?
William T Heckman, son of David and Elizabeth
Miller Heckman, was born near Oakley on January 26, 1875. He was baptized on
November 3, 1895, and married Hannah Blickenstaff of Oakley on September 5,
1900. They had 3 sons and 2 daughters. He attended Mount Morris College 3 years
and taught school in Macon County. From 1899 to 1946, he engaged in farming on
the Heckman homestead in the Oakley Brick community. He was elected to the
ministry in the Oakley church in 1901, and was ordained an elder on November 1911.
From 1901 to 1949 he was a minister of the Oakley church. Other capacities in
which he served the church include: elder, Champaign, 1920-1946; elder,
Springfield, 1923-1934; elder, Hudson, Blue Ridge, La Motte Prairie, Oakley,
and Cerro Gordo 6 years; elder, Decatur, 1935-1945; elder, La Place, 1945-1948;
Annual Conference Standing Committee 6 times; district board 31 consecutive
years; district moderator 8 times; school board president for 6 years for the
Cerro Gordo Township High School. He passed away on March 12, 1967. (WT was the
grandfather of Galen Heckman, longtime member of our church until he passed
away a few years ago.)
--most information from Church
of the Brethren in Southern Illinois by Minnie Buckingham
Two brothers of WT and B
Franklin are discussed in the above-mentioned book as well: Irwin Daniel
and J Hugh. Quite a distinguished family!
I end this year with a
special prayer:
May the broken be healed,
May the sick be restored,
May happiness return to those in despair,
May the lonely be loved,
May the hungry be fed,
And may our world be at peace.
--Submitted by Kathy Gentry
Love God,
Grow with others,
Serve faithfully,
Reach the lost,
Find peace.
