January/February Newsletter

 

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.