Unto These Hills

 Continuing my search for United Baptists in Georgia, I decided to keep searching through active associations, and when they were founded. Associations that began between 1800 and 1840 are promising candidates for possibly being United Baptist. I wasn't disappointed. The Hightower Baptist Association is a current and very active association in north central Georgia. It is a rather large association with 53 churches. Founded in 1830, they began as a United Baptist association. This association is now in fellowship with both the Georgia Baptist Convention and the SBC. However, they have retained many of their original distinctions and practices. They do not use the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M), but instead have continued to use their original articles of faith, which they refer to as "Abstract of Principles". The SBC does not require the use of the BF&M, but does require that any other confession that an association might use, must not conflict with it, if it wa...

  Today as I was having my morning "moment with God" I was listening to "Nearer My God To Thee" by André Rieu & his Johann Strauss Orchestra. The first two stanzas are instrumental, with the last being sung. As I watched the faces of the people listening, seeing even the musicians shedding tears as they played, it highlighted the fact that the Christian faith is the only religion where music and singing cannot be divorced from it. As tears began to well up in my own eyes, I began to recall all the times this song was sung by those in tragedy, such as when Titanic was sinking, and those in despair in concentration camps, and those, like me, who are very near the shores of Zion through sickness or age.  I immediately went to hear another version of this song, sung acapela. The same tears began to flow down my cheeks. The God who pierces the heart in a fancy concert, is the same God who pierces the heart in a country church. Oh to be near Him! Oh to k...