Sabine Valley District Welcomes 2026 With Worship, Song, and a Call to “Dress for the New Year”

The Sabine Valley Missionary Baptist District Association, in conjunction with San Augustine’s Mt. Zion Baptist Church, held its annual New Year’s Eve service on Wednesday, Dec. 31, drawing an estimated 50 congregants for an evening of testimony, sacred music, and a timely message about Christian character in the year ahead.

The service was called to order by the association’s moderator, the Rev. Amos Horton, pastor of Reed Chapel Baptist Church. “I’m thankful for another year,” Horton said. “I don’t know what the year holds, but I know who holds it.”

During the program, Horton announced that the association will host its 150th annual session. He exhorted churches and members to begin preparing now, expressing his desire that the milestone gathering be a special one.

A devotional followed, led by Brothers Lewis Malone and I.D. Teagle, who guided the congregation in the old African American spiritual “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.”

The association choir, directed by Bozzie Larkin, offered two selections, “Give Glory to God” and “Lord, You’ve Been Good to Me,” setting a celebratory tone that carried into a time of open-floor testimony. Musical accompaniment for the service was provided by Brother Williams on drums and Pastor Sylvan Clark.

During the testimonials and exhortations, one congregant sang “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” in memory of friends and loved ones who died in 2025. He began with a verse added late in life by composer Thomas A. Dorsey: “Friends and loved ones, I love so dear, many are gone, but still I’m here. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.”

Another congregant shared a brief but heartfelt testimony of recovery from illness. “Twenty twenty-five has been mean to me, but God is good,” she said.

Sermon Focused on Identity, Mercy, and Forgiveness

Bishop Cedric Grace of Mt. Zion Baptist Church delivered the sermon, preaching from Colossians 3:12–17 and introducing his message with a simple theme: “Dressed for the new year.”

Grace urged worshipers to begin 2026 by remembering who they are in Christ, before focusing on outward behavior. Pointing to the passage’s language, he emphasized identity as “elect of God,” “holy,” and “beloved,” calling it a foundation for spiritual growth and renewed living.

From there, he highlighted what he described as a “new wardrobe,” not of fabric and fashion, but of inward virtues: tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering. He framed meekness as strength under control, “having the ability to retaliate, but choosing not to,” and he pressed the congregation to carry patience “with hope,” rather than discouragement.

A key portion of the sermon centered on relationships, particularly the call to “forbear one another” and to forgive. Grace challenged listeners not to carry old burdens into the new year, asking, “Who do you need to forgive on tonight?” and urging the congregation to “travel lightly into the new year.”

He closed by stressing that love binds the Christian life together, and that the peace of God should make the final call in moments of conflict. Gratitude, he said, is an attitude that shapes the whole life of faith.

Invitation and Closing

Following the sermon, an invitation to discipleship was extended. The Rev. Fred Dade, pastor of China Chapel Baptist Church in San Augustine, led the closing altar call and benediction.

District History and Community Role

Founded in 1875, the Sabine Valley Missionary Baptist District Association unites predominantly Black Baptist churches in the San Augustine area to pool resources for religious, educational, and charitable causes. Its meeting place, the Taylor Tabernacle, was built in the 1940s and remains a central hub for district activities.

As congregants departed into the first moments of 2026, the evening’s themes, gratitude, remembrance, unity, and renewed spiritual “clothing,” echoed the traditional purpose of the district’s annual gathering: to begin the year with worship, fellowship, and a shared commitment to serve.