What Makes Snyder Special?

What is it that makes Snyder special? Every time I think about that question, the same answer comes to mind: It’s the people. Although I am not quite as old as Snyder, I’m close, and the faces of so many people who have loved my family and me and who have served the Lord in ways big and small flood through my mind.

I see ladies like Mary Hyman rocking a special little boy named Jeff, lovingly soothing him even though she may not have completely understood why he was crying. I see men like Elmer Hall serving juice and graham crackers to children in Training Union on Sunday evenings. I see Marta Bullard working with teenage girls in Acteens on Wednesday nights, finding creative ways for us to serve, and mentoring us as we maneuvered through some of our most awkward years. I see musicians giving their time to work with children, youth, and adults to teach us how to worship God through music and helping us create our own playlist of songs and hymns that will forever speak to us in times of joy, sadness, and everything in between.

I see people of all ages using their different gifts to serve our community through Operation Inasmuch and the Singing Christmas Tree. I see Colbert Dilday, Barney Stallings, Wayne Howard, and their teams making a difference in Fayetteville through the Carpentry Ministry. I see all age groups working together to make sure each VBS is successful.

I see teenagers with wide smiles and sometimes being moved to tears by what they see and experience on mission trips. I also see the volunteers who give of their time so that our youth and children can have these experiences. I see church members who have no personal connection with anyone in the Youth Choir coming out on a Sunday evening to welcome them back from a weekend choir tour. I see people who provide transportation to members who would
otherwise, be unable to attend worship.

There’s not enough space to list all of the people whose faces are in my mind, but my mental scrapbook of Snyder memories is bulging. I am thankful for each person who makes Snyder what it is. To paraphrase a favorite anthem by Pamela Martin, “I have seen the face of God, heard the voice of God, felt the hand of God…through you.”

By: Beth Dees