Saturday, October 3, 1998

Christian gathering to be held in Knox City

By LORETTA FULTON

Senior Staff Writer

With no Promise Keepers rally within driving distance this year, Steve Pepper decided to bring the Promise Keepers to Knox City.

Well, not exactly.

But "A Gathering of Christian Men" promises to have the same energy and serve the same purpose as the popular Promise Keeper's rallies.

The gathering will be held from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 17 in the high school auditorium in Knox City. Men from Abilene, Wichita Falls, Lubbock and all the small towns in between are expected, said Pepper, minister at First Christian Church in Knox City and president of the community's ministerial alliance.

Reservations are requested now for the noon meal by calling (940) 658-3053. Late registrants will be welcome but they must make their own plans for lunch.

"We'd like to have anybody who would like to be here," Pepper said.

Pepper, who owns Rolling Plains Well Service and is licensed by the Disciples of Christ to preach, said a dozen or so men from Knox City, Haskell, and other towns in the area always attended the Promise Keepers rallies when they were held in Texas Stadium.

But none is being held that close this year, and the men who had attended agreed they missed it.

"So we just decided to have our own," Pepper said.

Theme for the gathering will be "God's Man in '99." Speakers will include the Rev. Kerry Hurst, a Methodist minister from Lubbock; the Rev. David Page, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Haskell; Richard Lunsford, Church of Christ minister in Olney; and Phil McClendon, pastor of Crossroads Methodist Church in Lubbock.

Topics will include Being a Spiritual Man, Maintaining Sexual Purity, Our Spiritual Warfare, and Personal Integrity.

Worship will be led by Philip Martin and The Praise Team from Haskell. The noon meal will be prepared by Ed Ekdahl's Chuckwagon Team from Stamford.

An offering will be taken to cover expenses, but no admission will be charged.

"No one will be turned away because of inability to pay," Pepper said.