Scott County Today

For the 10th consecutive year, Christmas arrived early for Huntsville Middle and Huntsville Elementary School students _ thanks to another year of remarkable charity by Grace Baptist Church of Knoxville.

About 50 members of that church arrived at the school Dec. 7, bringing with them Bibles, toys and clothes for more than 700 Huntsville children _ along with plenty of smiles.

“The little ones have a ball,” project coordinator Diane Parker said as she directed volunteers who built large mounds of gifts that greeted the students.

“It’s a blessing to see that big truck unloading,” said Grace Missions director Neil Arwood, whose church annually collects donations of new toys and coats for two weeks prior to the mission trip here. “You see a lot of families _ kids with their grandparents, husbands with their wives. This gives our kids a chance to see that not everyone is as fortunate as they are. They’re serving the Lord at an early age.”

About 10 of the Grace volunteers were students themselves who had made arrangements to join the mission trip.

Grace Baptist Church made the arrangements to provide the gifts through another Knoxville charity, Mission of Hope.

Arwood says his church would like to partner with a Scott County church in the future.

“We plan to continue being part of this, but the ideal situation would also involve a local church. That would enable us to minister to the kids all 52 weeks of the year. There are times when the students express an interest in spiritual matters; but as it is now, we’ll not see these kids again until next year.”

Interested individuals can contact Arwood at (865) 691-8886 or by email at narwood@gracebc.org.[

The timeless music of Elvis Presley will be used to raise funds for the TIER program in three Scott County schools in late January.

Local singer Larry Davis, whose impersonations of the gifted Presley have entertained crowds at several fund-raising events in the region, is scheduled to provide an Elvis Presley Music concert Jan. 27.

The Sunday afternoon event will be held at Scott High School. Proceeds from the event will go toward the TIER (Teaching Individuals Educational Requisites) middle-school programs at Burchfield, Huntsville, and Winfield.

Another gifted vocalist, Claudia Tillman, will provide opening songs at the concert. Tickets for the event will be on sale in January at the Burchfield, Huntsville and Winfield Middle Schools.

In only its second year as an entity, the Heritage Festival has proven to be one of the top annual attractions in Scott County.

The Sept. 22 festival on the campus of Scott High drew more than 3,000 spectators, a large number of them for the entire warm afternoon. The festival included more than 30 demonstrations of 18th and 19th-century activities, covering everything from sheep-shearing to  apple-butter churning. Bluegrass and gospel music filled the air under tall shade trees that provided comfort on a 90-degree day.

The Fifth Quarter, a football-season tradition at Trinity Baptist Church, is enjoying another successful run.

The program, offered at the Helenwood church shortly following the conclusion of the home football games at Scott High. provides Scott County youngsters and teens a place to congregate for some fun, fellowship and free food. It is open to Oneida as well as Scott High students, and all middle and elementary-school students in the county. Parents are also welcome.

More importantly, those who stop by at the Jamestown Road church get a short message from Trinity pastors Dilbert Terry or Jack Butts.

The first four meetings have drawn an average of more than 100 students . The  campaign will end with meetings following the Oct. 12 games against Livingston Academy and the Nov. 2 regular-season finale against Knoxville Catholic High.

The Fifth Quarter has been a part of Trinity’s outreach ministry since 1990.

The Rev. Kermit Phillips, senior pastor at New River Missionary Baptist Church and a longtime evangelist, is leading a 5-night revival at Helenwood Baptist Church that concludes Sept. 28.

Phillips is a Scott County native who pastored churches in Indiana and Ohio for 39 years before returning to the area as pastor at New River five years ago. Services begin each evening at 7 p.m.