Church News
Cumby Man Accused Of Firing A Gun During Disturbance
A 49-year-old Cumby man was accused of firing a gun during a disturbance with a woman and her son Tuesday.
(HCSO jail photo)
Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chris Baumann responded at 4:17 p.m. May 24, 2022, to what was reported as an active disturbance on County Road 4734. Upon arrival, he detained the 49-year-old male resident for further investigation.
Christopher Michael Parker claimed he was arguing with the woman, who was seated in the chair next to him in the living room of the residence. The woman reportedly leaned forward and reached down and reached into the purse by her feet. He claimed he knew she carried a firearm in her purse, so he picked up his firearm and fired a warning shot into the ceiling above her head and told her to leave, Baumann alleged in arrest reports.
The woman’s son allegedly retreated to his bedroom, but punched a hole in the hall wall as he did so. Parker was alleged to have threated to kill the other male and his mother, according to arrest reports.
Another deputy reportedly met the female and her son at a different location to try to glean what had occurred.
Parker was taken into custody at 5:43 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, 2022, and booked into Hopkins County jail at 6:41 p.m. May 24, 2022 on two aggravated family violence assault with a deadly weapon charges. Sgt. Todd Evans was noted in arrest reports to have assisted on the call.
Parker remained in Hopkins County jail Thursday, May 26, 2022. The 49-year-old man’s bonds totaled $200,000 – $100,000 per aggravated assault charge, according to jail reports, which also show one prior assault charge on his records. Parker was was jailed May 5, 2004 on a warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; he was released from the county jail on a $20,000 bond later that day, jail records reflect.
If you have an emergency, dial 9-1-1
The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office is located at 298 Rosemont Sulphur Springs, TX 75482. You can reach them for non-emergency matters at (903) 438-4040.
Dinner Bell Menu for May 25th, 2022
Rotary Club is bringing their grill and cooking us hamburgers!!! This is a yearly tradition that Rotary performs for Dinner Bell. For their service for us and the community, we give a great big shout out!!!
GRAB and GO with a meal from the distribution area under the covered driveway (porte cochere) on the Northeast corner of the First United Methodist Church campus starting at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
MENU
Hamburgers and ALL the Fixings
Baked Beans
Individual Bags of Potato Chips
Caramel Buttermilk Sheet Cake
TAKE CARE AS THE PANDEMIC IS STILL IN OUR MIDST! WEAR MASKS WHERE REQUIRED! WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! GET INOCULATED AND BOOSTED!
DINNER BELL CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH!!!
The mission of the Dinner Bell is to end hunger in Hopkins County. Fresh, hot, nutritious meals are prepared by volunteers each Wednesday and served to our guests at the First United Methodist Church. Through the generous support of church and community members and corporate sponsors we have been able to serve over 20,000 meals to those in need since opening our kitchen in 2012.
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Dinner Bell meal, give them a call at 903.885.2185
COVID-19 Education and Awareness Panel to be Held May 21st
A COVID-19 Education and Awareness Panel, presented by The University of Texas at Tyler, Ben and Maytee Fisch with the College of Pharmacy, and Care Wellness, will be held May 21st, 10am to 1pm, at MLK Drive Church of Christ. Come join the discussion with healthcare professions about the fears and doubts of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines will be provided.
Dinner Bell Menu for May 18th, 2022
A great big thank you to 1st Choice Home Health (Srephanie and Warren Mitchell) for their continued support of The Dinner Bell Ministry.
GRAB and GO with a meal from the distribution area under the covered driveway (porte cochere) on the Northeast corner of the First United Methodist Church campus starting at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
MENU
Spaghetti Casserole
California Vegetables with Crumb Topping
Garden Salad
Buttered French Bread Slices
Sour Cream Apple Cake
BE CAREFUL AS THE PANDEMIC IS STILL IN OUR MIDST! WEAR MASKS WHERE REQUIRED! WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! GET INOCULATED AND BOOSTED!
DINNER BELL CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH!
The mission of the Dinner Bell is to end hunger in Hopkins County. Fresh, hot, nutritious meals are prepared by volunteers each Wednesday and served to our guests at the First United Methodist Church. Through the generous support of church and community members and corporate sponsors we have been able to serve over 20,000 meals to those in need since opening our kitchen in 2012.
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Dinner Bell meal, give them a call at 903.885.2185
Dinner Bell Menu for May 11th, 2022
Honoring Grocery Supply Company and Fidelity Express for their support of Dinner Bell with supplies of paper goods since our founding in 2012. Dinner Bell is so grateful for their continued support.
GRAB and GO with a meal from the distribution area under the covered driveway (porte cochere) on the Northeast corner of the First United Methodist Church campus starting at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
MENU
Meat Loaf and Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Fried Cabbage
Garden Salad
Buttered French Bread Slices
Creole Chocolate Cake
BE CAREFUL AS THE PANDEMIC IS STILL IN OUR MIDST! WEAR MASKS WHERE REQUIRED! WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! GET INOCULATED!
DINNER BELL CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH!!!
The mission of the Dinner Bell is to end hunger in Hopkins County. Fresh, hot, nutritious meals are prepared by volunteers each Wednesday and served to our guests at the First United Methodist Church. Through the generous support of church and community members and corporate sponsors we have been able to serve over 20,000 meals to those in need since opening our kitchen in 2012.
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Dinner Bell meal, give them a call at 903.885.2185
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church To Celebrate 150 Years May 1
KSST Owners Challenge Community To Match Donation To Help Raise Needed Funds To Restore Stain Glass Windows
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church this Sunday will celebrate a big milestone – the church’s 150th anniversary as a mission in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Bishop Fraser Lawton of the Church of St. Dunstan in Mineola, who is also the assisting bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, will be joining the festivities. All are invited for a catered picnic immediately following the 11 a.m. worship service at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
The church currently is 50 members strong, and is located at 1206 College Street, with Mother Cynthia Moore as priest. That hasn’t always been the case, however. When St. Philip’s mission first began in the early 1870s,there were 11 registered members.
St. Philip’s History
Episcopal missionaries are known to have preached in Sulphur Springs as far back as the 1860s. In 1864, Sulphur Springs was added to the list of Mission Stations in Northern Texas and the Diocese of Dallas.
The church which would eventually become St. Philips wasn’t officially founded until 1872, following Bishop Alexander Gregg and Father Francis R. Starr and Edwin A Wagner’s visit to the community to make arrangements for baptisms and confirmations for future services to be conducted by Father Starr. At that time, St. Philip was recognized as a mission. Bishop Alexander Charlese Garrett, an elderly man, was the only presiding bishop of the American communion.
From 1864 to 1875, there were long periods when there were no regular services until Bishop Garrett visited.
In 1875, approximately 1,200 people lived in Sulphur Springs, including 11 Episcopal communicants in the Episcopal Church. The first be baptized and confirmed in the church was Emma Gilbert. The small Episcopal congregation worshiped in the Presbyterian Church building for more than 20 years before land was donated to construct a church on.
The first known use of St. Philip’s in connection with the church was a 1886 edition of the Conventional Journal of Northeast Texas. Bishop W. Gregg, a missionary bishop who visited people along the route and conducted services when asked to do so.
The first church was located at 400 Houston Street in Sulphur Springs on land given in 1887 by CM and Nancy Houston. Church trustees CB Stephenson, JK Milam and SL Gilbert accepted the land and conveyed it to Bishop Garrett for the Episcopal Missionary District of Northern Texas, with the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas becoming land owner. St. Philip’s church, constructed from 1895 and 1900 by a local carpenter, was 53 feet long and 21 feet wide, with a vaulted ceiling.
In 1917, wings were added to extend the building to make room for an organ and choir. Stained-glass windows replaced clear glass windows. In the early 1900s stained glass memorial windows were installed at St. Philip’s.
A second addition which included a parish hall with an office, small kitchen, central meeting room, seven Sunday school rooms, two powder rooms and a hall was installed between July 9, 1950 to Nov. 23, 1952, while Father Grover McElyea served as St. Philip’s priest. An alter rail was given to St. Philip’s by the Church of the Holy Cross of Paris. Father McElyea and his wife performed most of the work installing the floor annex and altar rail. Funding for the project was donated anonymously at the time by Howard Hicks.
St. Philip’s hosted Cub Scouts, Explorers and Boy Scout groups. The women’s organization created birthday calendars as annual fundraisers.
Father Bill R. Boyd was ordained in 1970 and became rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mineral Wells. Boyd is the only parishioner of St. Philip’s known to have entered professional religious service.
In 1976, Hopkins County Historical Commission went about having the structure declared a recorded Texas Historical Landmark. At that time, the building was reported to be one of the oldest church structures in continual use in Sulphur Springs.
Father Charles L. Henry as vicar became the first priest assigned fulltime to St. Philip’s. During his time as vicar, 75 members were baptized.
For about 100 years, the Houston Street church served the community well. Thanks to a generous donation from the McKenzie family, anonymously at the time, a new granite church was built at 1206 College Street. Many of the furnishings were used in the new building, including the stained glass windows and altar rail. Additional new stained glass windows were orders for the chapel to as closely as possible mirror the original windows. In May of 1991, the new College Street Church was consecrated.
In September of 1991, the Houston Street building was deconsecrated and secularized in a special Sunday afternoon service. Hopkins County Historical Society in the 1990s moved the original church to Heritage Park, where the cross-shaped building remains today. Stained glass windows depicting Texas flowers were installed in the old church building to replace the ones relocated to the College Street church building.
For the past 30 years have been very active ones for the Sulphur Springs Church, some of which have included introduction of or participation of members in Chimes and Choral Choir, an Altar Guild, lay ministries, children’s church and activities, adult group activities, Fundraising and Hospitality, Communications Committee, Back Packs for Kids, a craft ministry, Daughter of the King, Dinner Bel, Loan Investment Club, Church maintenance and first responder appreciation events.
From 2019-2020, St. Philip’s, St. Mark Church in Mount Pleasant, St. William Laud in Pittsburg and St. Francis in Winnsboro Northeast Texas in the Diocese of Dallas formed The Affiliated Parishes of Northeast Texas. All APNET churches are under the direction of the Rt. Rev. Fraser Lawton of the Church of St. Dunstan in Mineola and also assisting bishop of the Diocese of Dallas. The group works together for the “mutual flourishing of one another’s mission to tell others about Jesus for the glory of God.
COVID-19 hampered activities of the church for a few years, but the church has begun and will continue to ramp up activities.
Mother Cynthia Moore began serving as St. Philip’s and St. Mark’s priest on Nov. 29, the start of her ministry in Texas. Mother Cynthia is originally from Connecticut, but has spent the the past 25 years ministering in Chicago and Northern Indiana.
Stained Glass Windows
The stained glass windows at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church have a special history of their own, but are in need of some restoration and repair to restore them to their former splendor.
The nine windows in the main sanctuary were removed from the Houston Street building and installed in the current College Street facility. The church commissioned two additional stained glass windows to as closely as possible match the 100 year old windows for the new chapel.
A memorial stained glass window was installed in 1917 over the altar of the church when it was constructed to honor William B. Arthur, an 18-year-old who sponsored six baptisms in the six months before his death in July 1901. Arthur is reported in one ledger to have accidently shot himself with a rifle and is buried in City Cemetery.
Later, stained glass windows were installed on either side of Arthur’s, in memory of Louis H Gould and WR Patrick, who were instrumental in seeing Arthur recognized. Early ledger records showed Patrick as being a mover and shaker in the church. Gould and his wife were very active in the work of St. Philips in the 1920s. Gould’s 88-year-old father-in-law in 1920 was an Episcopal priest who lived with them during the 1920 census.
Three larger-than-life-sized stained glass windows adorn the foyer leading into the sanctuary.
Stained glass of St. Nicholas, in St. Philips foyer, given in memory of Paul R. Brady 
Stained glass of St. Philip, in St. Philip’s Episcopal Church foyer, given in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Blackburne 
Stained glass of St. Christopher, in St. Philip’s foyer, given in memory of the Mr. and Mrs. TB “Tommy” Blackburne
A stained-glass window of St. Philip was installed in memory of Geoffrey and Poppie Blackburne, who were both born in England, but were instrumental in the life of the early life of St. Philip’s. Geoffrey lived from 1888 to 1953 and Poppie from 1890 to 974. The Blackburnes are buried in the Sulphur Springs City Cemetery.
A stained-glass window of St. Christopher was given in memory of Geoffrey Blackburne’s son. Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Blackburne reportedly loved to travel.
A stained-glass of St. Nicholas was installed in memory of Mr. Paul Brady, who lived from 924 to 1990. St. Nicholas was chosen in honor of Brady’s portrayal of Santa Claus each Christmas, who visited the children of St. Philip’s in their homes. He was also reported to have been very active at St. Philip’s as Junior Warden.
A small stained-glass window behind the altar in the chapel was given in honor of Mr. A. W. McAfee. Almost all information on McAfee was lost. Someone who previously attended St. Philips remembered a widow woman named McAfee married a member of St. Philips. Using Ancestry.com, St. Philp’s church historian Nancy Pool was able to connect the widow to the brother of her first husband. Only one of the brothers was in the Episcopal Church; the other was very active in the Baptist church.
Three small stained-glass windows also grace the back wall behind the altar in the main sanctuary.
St. Philip’s recently hosted a pancake fundraiser, but are still looking for funds to complete the cost of restoring and repairing the stained glass windows.
KSST owners Chad and Rhonda Young this week donated $1,500 toward the project and challenge others to match the donation by $50, $100 or even a full match. Chad said the church is special to him and his family. He spent a lot of his formative years in St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. The Houston Street building is where he was baptized, confirmed.
Anyone who would like to meet the challenge may drop off donations at KSST Studios at 717 East Shannon Road or at St. Philip’s, 1206 College St. on the 150th celebration Sunday, April 30, 2022. All are invited to attend the service, then to enjoy the free barbecue meal afterwards.
Dinner Bell Menu for May 4th, 2022
Diversified Storage Systems is once again the Community Partner for a meal for the Dinner Bell Ministry. For the continued support of the Dollison family Dinner Bell is extremely grateful!
GRAB AND GO with a meal from the distribution area under the covered driveway (porte cochere) on the Northeast corner of the First United Methodist Church campus starting at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
MENU
Chicken Pot Pie
Marinated Vegetable Salad over torn lettuces
Buttered French Bread Slices
Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
BE CAREFUL AS THE PANDEMIC IS STILL IN OUR MIDST! WEAR MASKS WHERE REQUIRED! WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! GET INOCULATED!
DINNER BELL CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH!!!
The mission of the Dinner Bell is to end hunger in Hopkins County. Fresh, hot, nutritious meals are prepared by volunteers each Wednesday and served to our guests at the First United Methodist Church. Through the generous support of church and community members and corporate sponsors we have been able to serve over 20,000 meals to those in need since opening our kitchen in 2012.
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Dinner Bell meal, give them a call at 903.885.2185
Dinner Bell Menu for April 27th, 2022
Christus Mother Frances Hospital is a repeat Community Partner for the Dinner Bell Ministry. We at Dinner Bell are so grateful for the continued support of Christus Mother Frances.
GRAB and GO with a meal from the distribution area under the covered driveway (porte cochere) on the Northeast corner of the First United Methodist Church campus on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.
MENU
Herb Crusted Pork Loin
Mashed Potatoes
Bacon Infused Green Beans
Garden Salad
Buttered French Bread Slices
Cherry Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake
BE CAREFUL AS THE PANDEMIC IS STILL IN OUR MIDST! WEAR MASKS WHERE REQUIRED! WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! GET INOCULATED!
DINNER BELL CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH!
The mission of the Dinner Bell is to end hunger in Hopkins County. Fresh, hot, nutritious meals are prepared by volunteers each Wednesday and served to our guests at the First United Methodist Church. Through the generous support of church and community members and corporate sponsors we have been able to serve over 20,000 meals to those in need since opening our kitchen in 2012.
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Dinner Bell meal, give them a call at 903.885.2185
Brightstar Academy Musicians Present Annual Recital
Members of the Bright Star Christian Academy will be presenting their annual solo and ensemble Recital on Thursday, April 28th, at 7pm in the sanctuary of Bright Star Church in Como, Texas. The program will include nine solos and five ensembles, one of which will perform the Ukrainian National Anthem, performed in honor of their bravery and patriotism to their Nation. The band is under the direction of Richard Shanks and Jeff Smith. The general public is invited to attend. There is no admission charge.
Dinner Bell Menu for April 20th, 2022
Alliance Bank is a repeat entity for Dinner Bell. We greatly appreciate the support of Alliance Bank and its personnel.
GRAB and GO with a meal from the distribution area under the covered driveway (porte cochere) on the Northeast corner of the First United Methodist Church campus at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
MENU
Chicken Gloria over
Seasoned Rice
Oven Roasted Vegetables
Garden Salad
Buttered French Bread Slices
Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
BE CAREFUL THE PANDEMIC IS STILL IN OUR MIDST! WEAR MASKS WHERE REQUIRED! WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN! GET INOCULATED!
DINNER BELL CARES ABOUT YOUR HEALTH!!!
The mission of the Dinner Bell is to end hunger in Hopkins County. Fresh, hot, nutritious meals are prepared by volunteers each Wednesday and served to our guests at the First United Methodist Church. Through the generous support of church and community members and corporate sponsors we have been able to serve over 20,000 meals to those in need since opening our kitchen in 2012.
If you or your business would like to sponsor a Dinner Bell meal, give them a call at 903.885.2185
