Unity Community
A place where the congregation at Unity Church in Greenville, NC hear stories of life change, discover how God is working through our ministries, and hear from missionaries we support.
Unity Community
Comfort and Joy- Charlene Hill
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Host Tim DeCresie talks with Charlene Hill, who was instrumental in the start and continues to be the main driving force behind Unity's monthly senior adult fellowship luncheon, Comfort and Joy. We're coming up on the 10th anniversary on June 18th, 2026!
Hello, and welcome to the Unity Community Podcast. This is a place where our church family can hear real stories of lightning and discover how God is working through our ministries and missionaries, both here and around the world. From conversations with our staff and leaders to testimonies from our people, we're pulling back the curtain of what God is doing in and through Unity Church. Thanks for listening. Let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
SPEAKER_02Welcome, I'm your host, Tim DeCreese. Thanks for taking a moment to listen. One of the blessings of church life is finding people to walk alongside us through every season of life. Whether we're raising families, building careers, entering retirement, or navigating life's challenges, God designed us to live in a community. For the past 10 years, one ministry at Unity has helped create that kind of connection for many of our senior adults. Through food, fellowship, laughter, music, encouragement, Comfort and Joy has provided a place where relationships can grow and people can simply enjoy doing life together. Today we're sitting down with Charlene Hill, who helped launch this ministry a decade ago, to hear the story behind Comfort and Joy, what God has done through it, and why community remains so important at every stage of life. Welcome, Charlene, and so glad you can be with us today.
SPEAKER_00It's great to be here. I'm excited.
SPEAKER_02This is a it's gonna be a good episode. We're gonna talk about comfort and joy and your 10 years of ministry in that. But before we get started in comfort and joy, let's just why don't you introduce yourself to the listeners and just tell us where you came from, how you got here.
SPEAKER_00I gotcha. Okay, well, um I am a native Pitt County. I've lived here all my life. I've I moved from the big city of Greenville all the way to the uh metropolis of Winterville, where I live now. Um I'm married to my husband Ricky, I've been married for 45 years, and um we have two daughters, Lindsay, who lives in Cumberland County, and has our one and only grandchild, our granddaughter Tyndall, who is almost three, and then our other daughter, Caroline, is still living here in Greenville. She works at East Carolina, and uh she still lives here and still comes to Unity. My husband is getting ready to retire from ECU after 33 years of service, and so he will be joining me, hopefully, in the Comfort and Joy mission.
SPEAKER_02And of course, our retirement could be good or bad.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it could be, and we've discussed that at length. Um I have gotten very set in my ways since I retired, and I feel like I get what I need to get done done, but I do it on my schedule, and so we talked about that because he's more of a you know, get up at the crack of dawn and get started and do do do this, and you know, I'm not a crack of dawn person.
SPEAKER_02But he didn't get to work at the crack of dawn because I would get to work before him, and I would be in my parking spot backed up, and then I would see him come out of the gate, cross over the alleyway, and go in his office.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's gotten better that actually because uh as he's getting closer to retirement, he's trying to wrap up everything. So he's getting in like at six these days. But yeah, he's um he's he's trying to ease into retirement. I'm kind of worried about him though. I don't know how that's gonna how that's gonna work after all these years.
SPEAKER_02But well, hey, that's kind of how this podcast started. I was getting ready to retire, and it's like I don't want to I gotta have something to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Um I've told him he's gonna have to have a hobby. That's a given.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, you know, you're retired, you stay busy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I do. And um I stay busy. I mean, I enjoy like relaxing, I love to read. I read every day, and so you know, all of it is not work, some of it is play, but um comfort and joy, I have I've really found myself focusing more on it than I did before I retired, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, speaking of comfort and joy, just tell us what is that.
SPEAKER_00Okay, comfort and joy is um our senior adult ministry here at Unity. Um I am very proud of it. It has uh been going on now for 10 years. We're celebrating our 10th year um this month, June 18th, and we're having a celebration of these 10 years, so what we're calling a decade of joy and fellowship. Um, it's been such a blessing to so many people, but um it got started, I guess, in my mind, um, when we moved here to our new building, which was actually in 2015 in December, we of course had a kitchen that was large enough to serve a good amount of people. We had a family life center that was large enough to seat a good amount of people, and this was the old church? Yeah, this is the new church.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00And so after seeing all this, believe it or not, this is a true story, and it's just honestly very bizarre. But I was reading a book and it was about a bed and breakfast, and the name of the bed and breakfast was Comfort and Joy. It just was like, that is the neatest thing, because we all need comfort at some point in our life, and we all need to be joyful every day. Um so I called my sister, Nadine, who at that time um was living here in Greenville, and I said, What do you think about possibly doing something with the seniors, the senior adults in our church, and having it maybe once a month, just a lunch. We could have speakers, we could have singers. It wouldn't have to be anything, you know, major, it would just be a fellowship to get together. She said, You came up with that idea all by yourself. And I said, Well, to be honest with you, I told her about the book, and I said, It just hit me that that is just such a clever thing. And she said, I love that, I love it, and you and I are gonna do this together. So that was even more important because I at that time I was still working um full-time for Pitt County schools. So um actually the first probably five years of comfort and joy, I would work a half a day, leave at 11 o'clock, come here, hit the ground running at 11:30, help set up, and lunch would be at noon, and it was crazy. Um looking back on that now, I'm honestly not quite sure how that all worked out, but Nadine picked up slack and everything was just um it ran really smooth. Now, in the beginning, we kind of didn't know how it was gonna go, we didn't know how the how the seniors would would respond. And uh they surprised us. Our first lunch, and we had 96. So I was like, well, I guess this was something a lot of people wanted. Um we did at that time though, uh, it was so new we didn't even have a budget. So we were getting people to do cover dishes and bring lunch. Well, we learned really quick, really soon, uh, that the senior adults didn't really cook much anymore. That, you know, especially if they lived alone, you know, that that was fine, but you know, they were interested in in catering of some sort. Uh so we went to the church, they gave us a budget, and so that's how kind of how you know it's evolved to we don't do covered dish anymore. Um, you know, at the beginning we were really doing simple things like Chick-fil-A or pizza, uh soup, maybe just something really easy. And uh then um when we got an established budget, we were able to to uh branch out a little bit. Um as far as what I was hoping it to become, I from the beginning I think Nading and I both really just wanted it to be something especially for our senior adults. It was their thing, for lack of a better word. They uh are so important to this church. And um, you know, I don't know that we don't sometimes overlook them, um, but you know, they've been here since the beginning, a lot of them, and it's just so important to show them that they're still important, that they're worth celebrating. And um, so that was how it all started. Um, I guess as far as seeing the need, you know, some of them came to Sunday school, some of them didn't, but I just thought it would be really good to just get everybody together instead of like in three or four Sunday school classes and you know, just have a time, a fellowship and getting to know each other.
SPEAKER_02So I what are some of the things that happen? You said, Oh, we might have a devotion or a guest speaker or music.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. Um, at the beginning, you know, the guest speakers, um, we were trying to get like a lot of uh local pastors, which we still do. Um, and then we would get like uh pastors that have been with us before, like Chris Truett from Kinston, uh people here in the Free Will Baptist community here in Pitt County, we would, and then we we had um we've had congressmen, we've had um uh just uh an array of people. Uh you know, and I can't even write off the top of my head list them all, but in the beginning it was primarily pastors. And then as far as the special music we've was concerned, in the beginning we pulled mostly from our church. Um and then that kind of evolved. We we've had people come from the outside that you know people know, and um it's it's people believe it or not, um, at this point I've I've had people call me and say, When are you inviting me back to Comfort and Joy? And these are people that don't come to unity, but they see how special it is. And our people are so appreciative of when someone comes, you know, and lets them know that. So um anyone that does special singing or does the the preaching, they'll, you know, just call me if you ever need me. You know, I've had people tell me if someone cancels on you in the day, you call me that morning. I'll work it in my schedule. So it feels good to be uh wanted.
SPEAKER_02Well, what um what do you think keeps the people coming back?
SPEAKER_00That's a really good question, but I I honestly think that that's probably because they enjoy it so much. It's really been um I I I hate to say successful, that sounds braggadocious almost, but it's been successful to the point where, you know, new people will ask me, what is it with this comfort and joy thing? You know, what can you tell me about it? I I just think people have, you know, they put it on their calendars on the third Thursday of every month, and they know third Thursday of every month at noon is comfort and joy, and you know, it's it's there's not a question, we're going. Um, and every luncheon is a new experience, it's different. Um I can honestly say there's very few that have been alike. And um, so I think it's just the uniqueness of it and the fact that it's just for them.
SPEAKER_02And it's almost like a I don't overstate it, a rite of passage. So, you know, whatever. I've been working now, you know, retired. So Terry was, hey, comfort and joys this Thursday, never on my radar screen. So I had no reason to go. I'm working. So now I'm not working. So you just kind of walk in like, okay, this is what um retirement, part of retirement can look like.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, what is unique about that is that a lot of people retire early. They retire before they consider themselves seniors.
SPEAKER_02Correct, that would be me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and um I I'll go to them and invite them and say, Hey, I heard you're retired, come to Comfort and Joy. And they're like, I don't think I'm fit in that age group. I say, Yeah, you do. And uh I said, and I've told more than one person, I don't check birth certificates at the door. You are welcome to come. And if you come and you think, hmm, this isn't my cup of tea, that's fine. Just you know, come give it a try and just see what you think. And most of them say, Hmm, I enjoyed myself.
SPEAKER_02See, and I'm I must be mature now because when uh I used to bring a gentleman to the old church, John Riggs, uh, Rest in Peace, um, but he wanted me to go to the VFW because you could do that if you were a war veteran, whatever. I can't even remember exactly what the name of it was. But I went to the first one and I thought, I I'm not ready to be in a club, you know, like that's that's for adults. I still consider myself a kid, you know, even though I'm married with kids, you know, like I'm I'm not ready for that. That's too grounded for me. Yeah. But I didn't feel like that comfort and joy, like, okay, I'm I'm ready for this. Yeah. I'll join this club.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, uh in addition to being um a a luncheon where we have a preacher that, you know, does a devotion, we have music that is uh Christ lifting and uplifting. Um we also have fun. And um there's this crazy person that visits us occasionally and um she will remain nameless by the way, but um we introduced that particular part of comfort and joy about two years ago. And um I don't even remember what the first one was to be honest. We call it heavenly humor, that's what it's called. And um, I don't even rem remember what the first one was, um, but after whatever it was, Jeff sent me a text and he said, excellent addition, comfort and joy. So I think everybody needs a little laugh every now and then, you know, and that's that's what I thought when we added it. I'm like, you know, it's wonderful to uh to hear God's word, it's wonderful to hear music, but you know, we gotta we gotta have a little fun. So we do it, we have fun.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so what are some of those memorable moments?
SPEAKER_00Oh boy. Um When Nadine was still um here, she passed away about four years ago, but when she was still here, her and I did a I guess you would call it rendition of uh Sister Sisters from White Christmas. I don't know if you know that song, but um it's we're there are two sisters and they're going back and forth about one being a debutante and the other staying home. And uh yeah, that was pretty um memorable because we had the bands in front just like they do on the on in the movie. Um there's we've been uh we've had the Easter Bunny come and uh the person that was with the Easter Bunny was wearing a Easter bonnet that had all kinds of paraphernalia on it, and uh we danced to in your Easter bonnet um which our young people have never heard of, but those uh seniors all knew. Um we've had uh let's see, there was a turkey that came at Thanksgiving. We've had a one-man band. There's just it's I was trying to think this morning of all the uh the different uh kind of entertainment. And uh oh and and we play games. We've played um Are You Smarter Than a Senior Pastor, which is uh always lots of fun. It's Jeff versus the other guys. And uh our first time we ever played it, Jeff lost, and it was quite hilarious actually.
SPEAKER_02But the second time he did uh Redeem Himself, and then we had a Which I want to say, I don't know if you could do well, maybe in the summer you could do this when the youth I'm just gonna throw this one out there. You have the Bible tic-tac-toe team.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02So I've always wanted, even when my like when Daniel competed on Bible, Brandon and Jake and that whole crew growing up, you know, my thought was, man, I would love to put them in front of the church against the pastors, you know, because they learned so much of that scripture. And I thought, I think that would just be fun, you know, to put those teenagers up against people that have already been to college, got their degrees, their pastors, and see who can who can win that tic-tac-toe. So if we have another Bible tic-tac-toe team, I would like to see them at Comfort and Joy play play the staff and just see what happens. I'll do the technology part of it, I'll control the tic-tac-toe board.
SPEAKER_00We did a uh Bible trivia one time and had Jeff with the other guys, against the other guys, and he told me ahead of time, he said, now don't make these questions real hard. I'm not real good at that kind of stuff. And uh so he did win, but he missed several, and he kept telling me, I'm not good at this kind of stuff, because the questions I got out of a book, I mean, they were hard. Excuses, excuses, just very trivial stuff. Um, we've also done a um a not so newlywed game, which is very popular. And uh one of the years we had uh Bobby and Jane Jackson up there. And um, I don't know if y'all know Brother Bobby, but he is hilarious. And uh he was the star of that show because uh one of the questions I will never forget was, um, where do you like to go out to eat? And his wife, who had given me the answer before, of course, because you have to you know show the cards, she had said, We don't go out to eat ever. And I I asked her, I said, Never? Never you you don't ever go out, you don't ever get Parkers to go or anything? She said, No, we never go out to eat. And uh so when it came to the time for him to answer, he said, Um, we never go out to eat. And it was so hilarious. We also had Betty um and Dennis Wiggs was in that group, and that was just so funny. Um, and then Jeff and Jennifer were also competing and um yeah, so we will do that again. We did it last year, so we've done that twice, and that's always that always is good for a laugh, trust me. Um, because even though these people have been married for a long time, it's amazing what they don't know about each other.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah, and I'm surprised when uh you did the newlywed game, Terry and I won.
SPEAKER_00Yes. So yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02I was worried you were gonna say, what's her favorite color? I I don't know. So ten years is a celebration, so that's what you're gonna do this this month. What what's gonna happen at that? You got anything special planned?
SPEAKER_00So it's it's gonna be the best day. I am so looking forward to it because um we have been meeting our comfort and joy volunteers who uh I'll talk about later. I definitely want to give them a shout out, but uh we've been meeting for about six weeks to plan this event. Uh it's just it's uh it's for the seniors just to show them, okay, thank you for believing in this ministry, thank you for supporting it, and just always loving us. And uh, you know, a normal day, they come, they check in, we uh do a little bit of opening, we have um prayer, and then we eat, we have the singing, then we have this uh the speaking, and we celebrate birthdays, and then um we might have a little humor at the end and then we pray, and that's pretty much the event. Well, this one is gonna be different in the fact that uh we're going to have it catered um by a food truck that's gonna be serving fresh seafood, shrimp, and flounder. And uh so it'll be hot and it's gonna be good. They had they done this for us before about two years ago. And everybody just raved about how good that food was. So, um, of course, it's gonna have all the trimmings. We're gonna have strawberry shortcake for dessert. It's gonna be a very good meal. And of course, as usual, it's free. We don't charge anything for the meal. In addition to that, we're going to have door prizes. We're going to have giveaways, which we will give to everybody that comes. And it's, you know, something that has the uh covered enjoyed logo on it. And um so it's it's gonna be very exciting. In addition to that, um Scott Cogheel from Newburn, New Life Church will be here to speak. And Scott is a favorite of ours, he's been several times, and Hunter Dixon, who has been to Comfort and Joy several times and everybody loves to hear Hunter sing, will be here to sing. And then the pastors are gonna sing in a quartet or quin quintet, depending on how many of them are here.
SPEAKER_02Including Jeff.
SPEAKER_00Including Jeff.
SPEAKER_02Hey, so he'll be a singing pastor.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and uh he will be, he's done that one time for us before, and he got a standing ovation. So, yeah, that's another thing to look for to.
SPEAKER_02And so you should have him do a solo like the Andy Griffith, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, that would be funny. Um, in addition to that, the uh the humor, um the uh the regular person and Ty are gonna do the humor, and it will be uh memorable. So it it's gonna be a very good day. I I am so looking forward to it. We're gonna have special decorations, we're gonna have a photo op uh as they walk in the door. Um we have uh one of the ladies in our church, Jennifer Dyson's gonna be here to take photos. We're we've really tried to, you know, take it to another level. I guess that's the best way to put it, just to, you know, show boy, these 10 years, this is awesome. You know, we're gonna we're gonna celebrate.
SPEAKER_02So when you first started it, did you think, hey, let's make it 10 or let's just make it to the next one?
SPEAKER_00I think it was a lot then just make it to the next one because I really, you know, after the first one when we had 96, I thought, well, you know, that's that's awesome. Um and then it kind of leveled off. It was more like in the 70s, but still, you know, a a luncheon for 70 people is a lot, you know. So I was never really discouraged about okay, should we discontinue this? Well, at one point, Nadine even said, you know, is this too much for you? Because I was still working. Do you want to go to every other month? And I said, Hmm, I think we might have a fight on our hands, so I'm not quite sure I want to go that way. And uh she said, I think you're right. So we never did cut back. I mean, you we we have it every month. The only time we've ever stopped at all was during COVID. And of course, you know, we church shut down, so we shut down with um and uh that was unfortunate on a lot of levels, but that's the only time we have not had it. Um I do know there was one other time. One other time we got snowed out, but that was that was the only other time. And uh short of COVID and that one snow, we've had it every month for the last ten years.
SPEAKER_02Well, what keeps you motivated to keep going?
SPEAKER_00You know, I sometimes, and I'll be honest, and I'm sure everybody can relate to this, I feel like wow, I bit off way more than I could chew. Because I feel personally I what's the word, personally responsible, but I I just I have such an invested interest in it that I feel like you know, if it fails, I fail. So I um that's part of it is I feel like I I can't admit defeat. You know, do I get discouraged? Yes. I have I been discouraged, you know, if somebody calls me the day before and says, oh well, I can't make it, huh? And I'm like, you know, scurrying around like a like a wild person. Um and those kind of things, you know, and that then I stop and I say, you know, I'm not gonna let this steal my joy. I'm gonna, I'm gonna just, you know, I'm gonna call Jeff and I'm gonna go, please help. And you know, we've never had a situation that we we couldn't react to. Um, and I think another thing that keeps me motivated is I have people that that send me cards at home or that see me here in church or at Comfort and Joy and say, This ministry is so awesome, and thank you so much. Um we know that you do far more than we realize, and uh just know that we appreciate it. And that's really that does my heart good because that's that's what it's for, you know. And uh I think that um our volunteers, all of them are like that, and I guess I should give my my shout out for my volunteers. Yeah, you got ahead of me.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say, let's talk about it. You just don't do it by yourself.
SPEAKER_00Okay, no, no, no. Um, not even close to by myself. Um, we have two people, Nilda Highsmith and Dennis Teal, who have been with Comfort and Joy since the beginning, and um, they are still with us. And uh Nilda's the one that checks you in when you come, and Dennis is now taking on a role of a cook, but he is our pianist, and um he is uh just helped me so much with the food end of it. Um up till now, Billy Elks has been helping me with the food, and he's hopefully gonna come back soon. But um the volunteers, and we have probably I'm gonna guess 20 on any given luncheon that just pitch in and do whatever it's set up, decorate, break down, put up, um serve food, wash dishes, sweet floors. I mean, there's just an endless amount of of s things that have to be done that if you if you just came for lunch and you stood back, you you wouldn't have a clue, you know, unless you thought about it. It's the same thing with church, you know, church has all these moving parts and and uh comfort and joy definitely has moving parts. But every one of them, um, and your wife, you know, is a new volunteer. Every one of them will do whatever it takes to do. If I s you know, if I ask, will you do this? Sure, you know. Um we have several young people who are homeschooled that actually volunteer. Right now I think we have five, and um all of our people love them to death because they, you know, they've been two of them have been with us for several years. And um the other three just started this year, but they are just gung-ho and you know, come in and just do whatever. It's just a great group of people that I I had the pleasure of working with, and like you said, there is no way comfort and joy would happen without them. Absolutely no way.
SPEAKER_02Well, what what do you think or what has God taught you through leading this ministry?
SPEAKER_00I I think a lot of it um has been just thankful that there's something everyone can do to make a church successful. Um, you know, I've I've played the piano here, I've sang in the choir, I've uh substituted Sunday school, I help in the nursery. There's several things that I've done or I do, but um I feel like comfort and joy has allowed me to really make a difference. And you know, I know the other things should make a difference, but um just being a um advocate, I guess, for older senior citizens who, you know, are just love the Lord and serve him and come to church. You know, we have people that come to Comfort and Joy that are a hundred years old and you know, they just they come and they have a good time and it's just it's taught me as, you know, 'cause I'm I'm a senior myself. Um, but you know, I look at these people and think, okay, like in twenty years this is how I want to be. I want to still be serving the Lord. I want to still be active in church. And um it's it's really taught me about uh being a servant and just um loving people and loving seniors particularly because they are so important and they can teach you so much. Uh and like I say, they are so thankful, which is so encouraging.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, as you celebrate the ten years of comfort and joy, what's something about this ministry that you wish the church family understood?
SPEAKER_00I think, first of all, the fact that you don't have to think you're old to come. I think a lot of people think this is uh we're um the the oldest members of our church and just you know, no, that that's not true. It's like you said, you know, you retired, you came. It's it's not um something that we're we're pigeonholed. We don't like do that. Um, like I said before, I'm not gonna ask for your birth certificate. I just want you to come try it. And um, so as far as I would just say, come give it a chance. Come just come, especially this month, because this month is gonna be one of those that if you miss it, you're gonna be sorry. You know, it's just gonna be so awesome. And it's it's we've orchestrated it, we've planned, um, and it's it's gonna be one of those events that you're gonna look back and say, glad I was there because I got to see this, this, and this.
SPEAKER_02So if you said um, you know, anybody can come, do they have to sign up? How does that work?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And uh the reason for that is the food, actually, because um, you know, a lot of people have asked me, well, I come every time. Uh, do I need to sign up every time? Yes. Unfortunately, because of the the nature of catering, there's just not any way to get by doing that. I mean, uh for instance a good example is where we have Chick-fil-A's. Because if, you know, if I have um 80 people sign up, I always get more than, you know, sign up. But if I have 120 sign up, then we're in trouble. We won't have to, you know, go visit Chick-fil-A real quick. So, you know, there's there's formulas of how much you cook for different people. That's not my thing. I'm not good at that. That's why I have uh Dennis and Billy. But um, and we always have leftovers, just about always. But we ask you just to sign up, and you can call the church office and they will sign up for you, or you can also sign up on the app. We have so we have really three different ways that you can sign up.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So you said it's the third Thursday of every month. So is that June 18th?
SPEAKER_00Yes, June 18th, yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so if you're hearing this and you thought, I didn't know I could go, or I have that day. Maybe I'm 28 years old and I just have that Thursday off. They c they can show up?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, if you if you feel like you'd enjoy it, come visit us, you know, and uh we might put you in the program if you're 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_02Ultimately it's a time of fellowship, just to get to get together with other people, maybe in the like stages of life.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02That you can just fellowship with, sit around a table, talk and Yes.
SPEAKER_00And and you know, with two services, it's it's so difficult to see people now. Um and honestly, you know, I sit on one side of the church and I d you know, I visited the other side like a month ago, and I'm like, wow, these people over here I haven't seen in a long time. So with the two services and the size of our congregation, you know, they're people that you don't see that often, and you see them in comfort and joy, which is that's great.
SPEAKER_02Well, I do want to acknowledge I didn't say this at the beginning, but uh you are one of the charter members of Unity. So you were here back in 1981, the 1900s. Um so um how let me just ask you this as a I don't know, I won't get too deep into this, but how have you seen the church grow since 1981 to its current 2026? That's 45 years, if my math is right.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I checked that actually this morning. 45 years.
SPEAKER_02That's the only reason I knew that because you already told me.
SPEAKER_00And ironically, um Ricky and I got married the same year the school started. So I mean the edit that out. Uh Ricky and I got married the the same year our church started, our church started. So um I always can remember that because it's we have we're celebrating 45 years uh in October. Um, so as far as at the beginning of the church, um, as far as changes, of course it's much larger than it used to be. Uh we only had one service, you knew everybody. Uh we um there were a lot of younger couples in the church at that time, obviously. Forty-five years ago, I was a young person. And um, so that was what my first child was actually born, I think, uh four years after the church started. So there were a lot of young people with young children. It was a a different dynamic back then. You know, we had a lot of the charter members were I would say most middle-aged you know, are younger. And most of them are gone now, unfortunately. But yeah, that that was one of the biggest differences. And of course, um, when we started, we were meeting in um in the American Legion building. And uh that was rented, and then we moved into a what is now a daycare, but at one time had been a church. We moved into there and it had Sunday school rooms, so that was a little bit better. And then we built over on Fourteenth Street and uh so that was many years ago as well. Uh and when we moved here, you know, it was one of those things where I felt like um, wow, do we really need a new building? Because I loved our old church so much because we had been there for so long. And um when we moved here, my husband was actually on the building committee. So he was real involved. I loved it. It was like, wow, this is like this is awesome. I love this building. I love this church, I love this congregation. It was uh we've come a long, long way. And looking back and thinking, boy, I was here from the beginning, it is kind of uh humbling.
SPEAKER_02So do you do you think um, you know, being here from the beginning, you kind of grew up with you know, those adults? Do you think that played a role into comfort and joy?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, absolutely, because a lot of the older people were the parents of people that I was in Sunday school with. So, um, you know, and I would call them Miss So and so, you know, I'd never call them Miss Smith or Miss Jones, it was uh you know uh Miss Becky or Miss Louise, you know, that's what you would call them. So yes, it I think that that um that is the case, yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00That I really felt like they deserved this.
SPEAKER_02Well, uh we're we're so glad you read a book, read Comfort and Joy. It sparked an idea, uh, and that you've seen that through over the last ten years. It's a wonderful celebration, and it is a good time to just come relax, fellowship with people, and uh, you know, see them outside of that church setting.
SPEAKER_00Eat a free meal.
SPEAKER_02That's right, eat a free meal and just be outside of that church setting, even though you're with church people in the church building, you just enjoying each other's company. We all need that community um, you know, to make our life complete.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Uh so with that, I just want to um just close in prayer and pray for you, Comfort and Joy, and you know, all that that provides.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I would just like to say thank you for having me. And um, you know, if you're listening out there and you you've never been to Comfort and Joy, just just come. I promise you you won't regret it.
SPEAKER_02You'll have a great time, you'll get to meet some really wonderful people, and um, like I said, you get to eat a free meal, so not just but it's more than just a meal, it's more your belly full and your heart full.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, more than just a meal. You'll you'll be spiritually fed and uh physically fed, yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER_02All right, well, let's pray. Uh, dear Lord, thank you for the gift of friendship, fellowship, and community. Thank you for the many lives that have been touched through comfort and joy over these past ten years. Thank you for the conversation shared, the laughter enjoyed, the encouragement given, and the relations that have been built along the way. We pray for those who faithfully serve in this ministry and for every person who walks through its doors seeking connection and encouragement. May comfort and joy continue to be a place where people feel welcome, valued, and loved, and may it continue to reflect the kind of community you desire for your people. Thank you for your faithfulness over the past ten years and trust that you and thank you for all that lies ahead. In your name I pray, amen. So thank you for being with us today, Charlene. We've enjoyed it, for um sharing the story behind comfort and joy. And to those listening, thank you for taking a moment to be a part of this conversation, whether you're attending, serving, or simply looking for ways to connect with others. I hope today's episode reminds you the value of community and the importance of doing life together. So as God is writing the story in your life, go and tell.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much for listening to the Unity Community Podcast. If today's conversation encouraged you, we'd love for you to take one or more next steps. Join us this Sunday morning for worship at 9 or 10 30. Get connected to a life group andor find a place to serve. You can learn more about Unity and how to get plugged in by visiting the links in the show notes. So until next time, let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.