BIG SANDY, Texas--The Church of God Big Sandy recently paid for an advertisement in The Big Sandy & Hawkins Journal (the local weekly newspaper for this East Texas town of 1,200 people) to correct misinformation about the Sabbath.
Although many congregations place ads in newspapers, this situation was a little different in that Big Sandy was once the principal Feast of Tabernacles site for the Radio Church of God (which later became the Worldwide Church of God) and is the former home of Ambassador University.
Dave Havir, pastor of the congregation, told The Journal the congregation's ad was the idea of Reg Killingley, a member of the congregation.
"Although the ad was submitted without a personal byline, Reg Killingley deserves the credit for it," Mr. Havir said. "He came up with the idea, he wrote the text, and he contacted the newspaper."
Mr. Havir also mentioned that Mr. Killingley sought suggestions from other members of the congregation before submitting it to the newspaper.
"Because Reg suggested that the name of the congregation be attached to the ad, he was diligent to have other eyes in the congregation review the ad and give their input," Mr. Havir said.
Mr. Killingley told The Journal he wanted the congregation to run an advertisement in response to an ad that had run the previous week in the same newspaper.
"A local pastor had submitted an ad expressing his views about the Sabbath, and I felt that a number of the statements in his ad were inaccurate," said Mr. Killingley. "While the author was undoubtedly sincere, I felt that our congregation had the opportunity to correct the errors and to frame the Sabbath in a positive light."
|
