Truth from Arkansas! Sunday Sermon Series, #113

It’s Tuesday and I normally try to post at least one sermon as part of our ongoing “Truth from Arkansas” series, but we don’t have any sermons today from our two Arkansas pastors.

Pastor Roger Copeland and Northern Hills Baptist Church in Texarkana, posted a message on Facebook, Sunday, November 21st, saying the computer used to record sermons had crashed. As happens much more often than not now, a sermon from Pastor Cody Andrews of Holly Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Star City was not uploaded for that Sunday.

Since I don’t have any sermons to present, I would like to briefly explain how it happened that a Yankee from Western New York came about posting Sunday sermons from two Arkansas Baptist preachers. Former WordPress blogger, Wally, who resides in Arkansas, used to post these sermons each week. He was well-acquainted with Pastor Copeland, who is well-known in Missionary Baptist churches in the state. Wally is a member of Holly Springs and Pastor Andrews is actually his step-son. I enjoyed listening to both sermons every week. Pastor Copeland has a fiery oratory style that brings me back to my independent fundamental Baptist church days. In contrast, Pastor Andrews has a low-key approach.

In the fall of 2019, brother Wally began attending college in pursuit of an RN nursing degree and stepped away from the WordPress blogosphere. I asked him if I could continue the sermon posts until his return and he gladly assented, so here we are, 113 weeks later.

Wally graduated from college with a nursing degree last May, but he often works on Sundays and is only able to record and upload sermons to YouTube sporadically. Wally has not returned to WordPress, but posts regularly on Facebook. Northern Hills has become a bit inconsistent with its sermon uploads to YouTube. I sometimes have to copy the link to the unedited Sunday morning service from the church’s Facebook page. This computer crash adds to the complications.

My wife and I truly enjoy the sermons from pastors Copeland and Andrews. It’s a blessing that some churches can stream their sermons and upload them for shut-ins and for those of us who have to work on Sundays. I hope both churches can address their challenges regarding the recording and uploading of sermons.