Vanhook Church is located not too far over the Georgia line on Spur 60 headed towards Mineral Bluff. I had never even heard of the church until about four weeks ago.
The building isn’t used for regular church services, but is utilized for funerals and revival services.
The annual revival is held each October. The church is lamp lighted for the services. Folks attending often dress in clothing styles from days gone by and walk or ride horses to the nightly event.
Chitter and I went to one of this year’s meetings.
Sitting through a church service that was packed with people and lit only by oil lamps was certainly different. We enjoyed ourselves even though it was a mite warm inside since there is no air conditioning.
This is the 34th year of the revival and the organizers are already planning for the 35th annual lamp lighted revival at Vanhook Church.
Last night’s video: Things that Hang on my Kitchen Walls & the Stories that go with Them.
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Sorry I didn’t comment earlier, I’ve been looking for a Mrs. Dillard and it slipped my mind.
I can’t remember if Hightower had ‘lectric lights when I was little little but I’m pretty sure power lines hadn’t been run until I was 7 or 8. I don’t remember lamps being used in the church but I do remember carrying a lantern while walking home from church on Sunday night. Strange how our memories work (or don’t) ain’t it.
That sounds like a wonderful way to have church. I hope they would preach the gospel like they did back then instead of the watered down version most do today. I say we need more of it.
Have y’all ever been to a foot washing service? My daddy took us to one 60 something years ago and it
made an impression on me.
There is something about the old time churches that is special to me. I think in the past generations church was more important than it is to many of today’s generations. I may upset some people, but I feel like a lot of the churches of today are “play/pretend churches”. They are more interested in the show than the message. I went to one a few years ago and I thought I was at a movie theater, they were cooking and passing out bags of popcorn before the morning service started.
Enjoyed reading about the church service you and Chitter attended. Thank you for sharing the history of the decorative items in your kitchen.
I suspect you and your mom (Granny) are tired from your daily trips to Blairsville. The treatment she is receiving has the potential to make her tired and icky feeling. My prayer is she can endure and receive the respite she sorely is in need of. Remember there are many of us who are thinking of you all and prayers are being said.
My prescription for Granny is to get some yarn and start crocheting some of her beautiful Christmas decorations.
Tipper, I really enjoyed the video last night where you showed the treasures hanging on your kitchen walls! The stories about where they came from or who gave them to you was so sweet. I can relate to this as I also love older things! Prayers for all <3
Love the little church. I think it would be a wonderful experience to attend one of those services. I really enjoyed the video last night of your wall hangings. There were such sweet stories about them. When I look at my pictures and wall hangings, I too have sweet stories to tell. That’s what makes a house a home. Prayers for Granny and all of you. Stay safe in your travels. Have a blessed day everyone!
oh my i wish there was a place like that closer to me!!! i’d love to attend a service or two like that!!!
I’ll bet that was quite the experience. There is just something very special about a space lite w/candles or oil lamps.
The exterior and the windows are telling me that’s not the original church building. The cemetery in the background too. Yet, the interior, by lamp light, exudes an aura of earlier times, earnest prayer, and hard, King James preaching. Shaped-note singing too.
Tipper,
The only lamp light service I ever attended (and I remember it!) was when I was still young enough to stand up on the bench beside my Mother as she was standing on the floor. It was in a little log church that never had any electricty in the Pucketts Gap area of Virginia. It was an old time Holiness church and the singing and shouting were very memorable. I remember watching a boy cousin of mine standing up and singing loudly along with the congregation. I don’t know the name of the church, but Pucketts Creek was near Ely’s Creek where the evangelist Claude Ely came from.
Tipper, I am glad you and Chitter went to the 34th annual lamp lighted revival at Vanhook Church. May the truth of John 3:16-17 shine brighter there than the lamps: “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again” (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203%3A16-17&version=NIV,MSG).
What a great historical church that is still standing , cared for, still used to honor and worship God. Now days old churches are either torn down or sold to turn into something else. I’m so glad they are still using it to worship our Lord through revival, special services, or to lovingly say goodbye to those who have left this world for their eternal home.
This sounds like my kind of church Miss Tipper. I would love to visit there sometime. I imagine that it really is an awesome experience with the folks dressing old fashion style and riding horses and or horse & buggy to church along with the lamp lighting atmosphere inside & the Holy Spirit running to and fro inside the walls of that church. We are actually in revival this week at Flat Creek and it’s going great with 4 souls saved so far and expecting more to come to know Jesus.
Enjoyed this post.
Praying for limited side effects with Granny’s treatment. “His faithfulness will be a protective shield.” Psalm 91:4b
That looks like the kind of church I would be happy to attend every Sunday. It appears to be welcoming like the ones back home from my childhood where love was the foundation.
God, please bless Granny and make her well again!
I do not think I could see to read by those lamps. It must have been a struggle when that was all there was. I’m glad they have that tradition. I grew up when country churches were blazing hot in summer and had open windows for relief. In winter the pot-bellied stove would near-about blister the finish on the nearby pews but leave the corners cold. Kinda like being poor, we just thought that was normal and thus unremarkable. It is useful to remember.
Good morning everyone. I saw Katie’s video of the church service you all attended.
Back in the day churches would have an old timers day, usually on homecoming, and women wore the bonnet’s with long dresses and men wore the bib overalls. Men in overalls will always be style! Sometimes I even wear mine when I work outside
Praying for another good week for your mother, Israel and our country✝️
Sometimes i think i must have been born a century out of sequence. I believe here we find authentic worship, not in the excesses of sight and sound but in small, untainted, and intimate communion with God and with neighbor.
I think it would be lovely. I got saved at a tent revival in 1975 at our then planned new sight of our new church. Every time I go home I visit the church and remember this is where I got saved in a church bus outside the tent. Mrs. Johnson (we called our elders Mr. or Mrs. back then), led me to the Lord. I remember during the service gripping the back of a fold up chair during the invitation because, you see, I had been going and serving in my church for a long time before this and thought people would be shocked if I went forward. You care a lot what folks think about you when you are 19. Thank the Lord, the Holy Spirit won out and I went forward. Thank you Lord for saving my soul, thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me, thy great salvation so rich and free! BTW, folks could not have been nicer afterward. I was baptized the following week
That looks like a beautiful church service being only lit by oil lamps. I would love seeing the folks coming to the service on horseback. Sometimes I just wish things would slow down a bit like they did back in horse and buggy days. I enjoyed seeing all of your pictures and hearing their background stories last night. It made me start looking around at my own and thinking about their stories. I hope you all have a wonderful day and get to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage. Be safe traveling and give Granny big hugs.
good morning friends, God bless you and your family, God bless me and my family
God bless you Norman! You’re a wonderful testimony! I pray every blessing for you and you family in Jesus!!! I am always inspired by your boldness and joy as you speak of He who gave us a new and way better life as our old self has died! Praise Him everywhere always!!!
Norman, there’s a humorous flip side to that. I’ll bet you’ve heard it: God bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more.
I loved the video from yesterday. Seems I have some of those types of wall hanging myself. Not many people know about that little church. I went there once years ago when we lived in upstate Georgia…loved the message. Spur 60 can be a booger, you have to be careful. Praying for Granny and you guys. God Bless.