Tinney Chapel Today

Tinney Chapel salutes Glen Wood, World War II Veteran, on this Independence Day

2008-07-04T15:04:00.002-05:00

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Tinney Talk, July, 2008: Meet Your New Pastor

2008-07-01T18:59:00.002-05:00

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Tinney Talk: Observations by Joe Dan Boyd

A NEW PASTOR AT TINNEY CHAPEL means the quintessential country church is in transition, reminds the Rev. Dr. Keith Boone, our District Superintendent, who confirms the Holy Spirit’s direct involvement in appointing Rev. Susan Gross: Called of God, but sent to us by the North Texas Conference Bishop and Cabinet. It’s the Methodist way, explains Dr. Boone, and it dates all the way back to the days of John Wesley, our denomination’s founder.

A LIFELONG METHODIST, born in a small Oregon town, Rev. Sue is no stranger to country life or to small-membership church ministry. After earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, she taught school for five years. At one point, her rural school was so small that she had only one student, prompting a memorable radio feature by the legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey.

SHE WRESTLED WITH HER CALL TO MINISTRY after leaving education to become an insurance underwriter, asking God to define her call, clarify her call or call her more clearly. Eventually, she conceded that she had put her call on hold, lingering there until 2003, and that unforgettable day of rolling thunder. It was the voice of God, and this time there was no wiggle room: I want you now!

BEFORE HER 2008 GRADUATION FROM PERKINS SEMINARY, Rev. Sue was a ministry intern at St. Stephen UMC in Arlington, where worship attendance averaged about 90 during her tenure. There, she initiated a successful evangelism project, “Breakfast In The Neighborhood,” to attract more young people.

SHE HAS LIVED IN TEXAS FOR 10 YEARS, and was super active in lay ministry at Christ UMC in Plano before entering Perkins Seminary. Her parents, Vern & Nyla Gross, live just 17 miles north of Winnsboro, where they worship at First UMC in Mt. Vernon. Both Vern & Nyla were at Tinney Chapel on June 22 for their daughter’s inaugural sermon, based on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

“WE THROW OPEN OUR DOORS TO GOD and discover at the same moment that He has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand: Out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace & glory.”

Tinney Chapel Worship & Missions 06-29-08

2008-06-29T13:46:00.003-05:00

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First Time In The Pulpit For Rev. Susan Gross, the new Pastor at Tinney Chapel UMC

2008-06-22T23:25:00.007-05:00

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Meet New Tinney Chapel Pastor Tonight, 6 pm to 7:30 pm, at Family Life Center

2008-06-20T15:36:00.002-05:00

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Fathers Day At Tinney Chapel 06-15-08

2008-06-15T18:15:00.004-05:00

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Saying Farewell to Pastor Duncan Graham 06-15-08

2008-06-15T17:07:00.000-05:00

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Tinney Chapel Worship 06-08-08

2008-06-08T14:22:00.005-05:00

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Residents Encounter Christ Team trains at Tinney Chapel for Ministry at Johnston Unit this weekend

2008-06-06T18:25:00.003-05:00

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District Superintendent Introduces New Pastor For Tinney Chapel

2008-06-05T23:25:00.005-05:00

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Tinney Chapel Pastor, Rev. Duncan Graham, Appointed to Cumby UMC

2008-06-05T12:26:00.007-05:00

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Tinney Chapel Communion Worship 06-01-08

2008-06-01T14:40:00.005-05:00

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Tinney Chapel 4th Sunday Worship 05-25-08

2008-05-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

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George Jordan Speaks & Sings About His Time at Boys Ranch for Tinney Chapel OASIS Ministry

2008-05-20T13:41:00.007-05:00

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TINNEY TALK: Observations by Joe Dan Boyd

GEORGE JORDAN & HIS VENTURA GUITAR form a combustible combination that has lighted spiritual fires in the hearts and minds of listeners for 35 years, the same length of time he has been writing original songs, many obviously given to him by the Lord, either as proclamations of The Word, or as musical testimony to George’s own faith journey.

COMPARING THAT TO A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, his opening song at Tinney Chapel’s recent meeting of the OASIS group, George shared tunes and testimony about his time as a youth, beginning when he was about seven, at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch in Amarillo.

“IT WAS A PLACE FOR BOYS IN TROUBLE or whose families, like mine, had split up,” recalls George, who made good grades in the school at Boys Ranch and was chosen as mascot for the school’s football team. “There were 60 of us boys at the ranch then, and we had just about everything we needed on site: school, church, jobs to do, but we were also exposed to quite a few special events.”

THOSE SPECIAL EVENTS INCLUDED appearances by Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bob Hope, Ernest Tubb and Minnie Pearl, to name a few. Most of all, George appears to have been influenced by Cal Farley himself, founder of Boys Ranch: “He owned a B.F. Goodrich store nearby, and sometimes had to take money out of his own business to keep Boys Ranch going.”

GEORGE HAD EXPECTED TO SPEND ONLY ONE SUMMER at Boys Ranch, during the time of his family’s domestic turmoil. But not until five years had passed, when his family had reconciled and George was 12 years old, did a sister arrive to take him to Grant, Nebraska, where his dad was the town marshal. That reconciliation of his family would be only temporary, and George would have further storms in his life.

“BUT STORMS NEVER LAST,” sings George, who remembers with gratitude his five years at Boys Ranch, where he recalls developing a work ethic and learning the value of cooperation through participation in 4-H. It may be that Tinney Chapel’s own George Jordan experienced a childhood of some instability and occasional abandonment, but he still likes to visit Boys Ranch when he can: “I consider it among my life’s saving graces."

Tinney Chapel Worship 05-18-08

2008-05-18T19:48:00.004-05:00

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Native American Fellowship studies "ribbon shirts" at Tinney Chapel

2008-05-15T23:48:00.001-05:00

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Tinney Chapel Ladies Collect Recipes For New Cookbook

2008-05-13T23:23:00.001-05:00

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A Tinney Chapel Mothers Day Reflection 2008

2008-05-11T23:54:00.002-05:00

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A Tinney Chapel Reflection on Mothers Day, 2008

DOLLY TINNEY WAS BAPTIZED AT TINNEY CHAPEL in 1928 when she was 15 years old, with no idea that she would only live another eight years, during which she would become the wife of Dan Boyd with whom she would have three children: Nelda June, Joe Dan & Tommy Eugene.

JOE DAN WAS HER SECOND CHILD: He was born in 1934 after the death of her firstborn, Nelda June, who had died in infancy without ever having been photographed. Dolly, herself, had first been photographed in a family group at age four in 1917. She must have been heartbroken that Depression-era economic pressures had played at least a partial role in the absence of a single picture of her daughter.

IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN TO ANY MORE OF DOLLY’S CHILDREN, she must have resolved, because Joe Dan was first photographed as an infant in his cradle. Then, somehow, Dolly found the moxie and the money for two studio sessions, during which she posed with Joe Dan for professional photos, before her death in 1936 as the Depression still raged.

A BABY BOOK RECORDS FAITHFUL ENTRIES by Dolly on the details of Joe Dan’s birth, his first words, and other highlights of the first two years in the life of her eldest son. Such entries cease after Dolly’s death, when Joe Dan was two years old, although three surrogate mothers immediately assumed the responsibility of raising him.

ALL THREE WERE CLOSE KIN: Grandma Tinney (Mamaw), Great-Aunt Laura (Yar) and Aunt Maude (Bush), who had also professed her faith and was baptized at Tinney Chapel in 1928 along with her sister, Dolly. The late Lee Crow mentioned some local talk, after Dolly’s death, about the possible necessity of sending Joe Dan & Tommy to an orphanage, but that Grandma Tinney would not hear of it.

NO ONE COULD EVER BE AN ORPHAN with three loving mothers, all living under the same roof of the Old Tinney Home Place, all three motivated by the example set by Dolly’s short but successful stint as a mother. The Lord must have had a hand in all of that, especially Joe Dan’s 1953 decision to walk down the aisle, and be baptized in the original 1900-era Tinney Chapel sanctuary building where both Maude & Dolly had received the baptismal sacrament.

Mothers Day at Tinney Chapel 05-11-08

2008-05-11T21:12:00.010-05:00

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The Passing From This Life of Ina Hollingsworth

2008-05-05T17:37:00.004-05:00

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Tinney Chapel Worship 05-04-08

2008-05-04T16:10:00.004-05:00

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Tribute Song about Tinney Chapel introduced today at Remnant Sunday School 04-27-08

2008-04-27T23:11:00.007-05:00

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TINNEY’S CHAPEL
By Tommy Frank Thompson, baptized here at age 8 in 1958.
Tune along the lines of SING ME BACK HOME by Merle Haggard
SOUNDS OF CHILDREN LAUGHING, THEN THE CHILDREN SING A CAPELLA “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong”
KEY OF D, D A7 G

There’s a Chapel in the country, I was raised there as a child,
Every Sunday we’d put on our meetin’ clothes
My dad was always workin’, but my mama never missed
We’d load up that station wagon and off we’d go

Well I left that little chapel so many years ago,
And my life has been a winding, troubled road
But now the circle is unbroken, I’m back here once again
Up there in the choir singin’ with my friends

Well they call it Tinney’s Chapel, and it’s stood a hundred years
It’s a refuge where this sinner goes to pray
Now my brothers and my sister and my mama are all gone
But I know we’ll all meet up come Judgment Day.

Life was all so very simple, times were hard but never bad
Or maybe now that’s all that I recall
But this little country chapel is an anchor holding strong
In that church my troubled days are now long gone

Well they call it Tinney’s Chapel, and it’s stood a hundred years
It’s a refuge where this sinner goes to pray
And now the circle is unbroken, I’m back here once again
Up there in the choir singin’ with my friends
(c) Copyright, Tommy Frank Thompson.

Tinney Chapel Worship 04-27-08

2008-04-27T10:23:00.001-05:00

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Tinney Chapel Worship 04-20-08

2008-04-20T14:12:00.002-05:00

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Anna & Trent Wedding Shower at Tinney Chapel

2008-04-19T14:06:00.005-05:00

Photography by Peggy Boyd.
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