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This
letter was received from Wilma Simpson on December 6, 2007.
To see Jacquielynn Floyd's article
from 1997, click here.
To see the 1998 article about the Circuit
Riders
click here.
Wilma & Troy Simpson |
Wheatland's Struggle to
Survive
From Wilma Simpson
In the fall of 1996, Wheatland
United Methodist Church (UMC) was down to 25 families and it was
decided to close the Church. Some came to conference with charts
showing how it was impossible to keep Wheatland open. But
God had a plan!
Dr. Leighton Farrell (the D.S.)
agreed to work with the 18 people who wanted to try to keep it
open. Those were: Rankin and Betty Bickley, Gene and Mary Hudson;
Chick and Marie Libby; Brenda LaGard; Chuck and Mildred Robinson;
Ted and Myra Shepardson; Troy and Wilma Simpson; Dick and Joan
Swanson; Dick and Millie and Thomas Von Hagel. Average age was 75.
Craig Bigelow was sent to serve
us. He had a full time job, so was able to take the $200 a month
that we paid him. It was a struggle! Everything needed to
be repaired. The church roof leaked so. If it was raining,
it was hard to
find a dry spot to sit. We all had more than one job.
We just
pitched in where we were needed. Brenda made the deposits and wrote
the checks. Her mother was ill, and Brenda was her caretaker, so to
give her a little relief, Troy and I agreed to do the deposits and
keep up with the giving and hired Charles and Joy Flach to keep
books and write checks. We paid them $100 a month.
Steve Blow wrote a daily human
interest article for the Dallas Morning News. Troy called him to ask if
he would do a story on Wheatland. He couldn’t but said Jacquielynn
Floyd might be interested. She did an article and wrote it up as
Wheatland being a Wedding Chapel. As a result we had two or three
weddings a week. (See! God is at work.) Almost ran Marie’s legs
off but the weddings and rent from Arbor Acres paid our bills. The
article also made other people aware of Wheatland’s struggle and
they started sending money. Four people come to mind. Irene
Fleming; Elaine (Atkins) Winburn, Rick Atkins and Bud Cook from
Mesquite. We never knew anything about him but his check was there
each month. We could depend on those four checks each month. There
were many more people who helped also. We were repairing what we
could and trying to get the parsonage ready to sell. It had to have new
carpet so members put their money in to pay for it. We got it back
when the parsonage sold but no one accepted interest.
Dick and Joan moved to Nebraska
so that left 16. Dick took his lawn mower so we had to buy one. We
were gaining a few people. Christi Ellis came – she played piano.
Gene, Chick, Marie or Brenda can fill in details, they were there.
Dr. Leighton Farrell and a pastor
of University Park UMC came up with the idea of Circuit Riders for
Wheatland for 1998. We would not pay them or any of the cost but
were asked to pay our apportionment. Rev. Tom Peel was in charge of
the Circuit Riders and filled the pulpit for a month before lay speakers
took over. They really helped us.
We had a Bar-B-Q catered by
Spring Creek and brought a lot of extra people to church. University park people painted
the inside of the church with Wheatland buying the paint. We finally sold the parsonage so
we were able to pay all debts, repair all the buildings, and have some
left.
In 1999 we asked for a pastor
and Dr. Farrell said he knew someone who would take the job. We got
Kay. What a blessing! Looking back I can see how the Lord provided
our every need. When Christi Ellis had to leave He sent Ted to play
the piano. Ted, Cathy, and Kimberly have filled so many rolls. God
sent the right people at the right time. Everyone who came
just rolled up their sleeves and started to work. It was His
plan to keep Wheatland alive and all Praise, Honor, and Glory goes to
Him! I think any of the people who were there in 1996 and 1997 will
tell you that there’s no way it could have happened otherwise.
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