"The Founding, The Foundation, The Future" Today is Independence Day in America and Emerge Ministries hopes you and your family are celebrating your time together. On July 1st we held the 3rd Annual Duplin County Independence Day Christ Center Celebration. With this in mind we hope you take time to reflect on what the statement of a Christ Centered Independence Day really means and its importance as we strive for a more perfect union. We honor those who make our freedoms possible. As Americans and Christians, we continue to see our country moving further away from "One Nation Under God" and closer to "every man doing what is right in his own eyes". As Christians our unified presence is needed more than ever. The Duplin County Independence Day Christ Center Celebration is only one example; however, it is a powerful example. The planning committee hopes you are able to recognize just what this display of Unity in Christ looks like. This year we had churches, small and large businesses, farmers, individuals, and for the first time in our history the Duplin County Board of Commissioners giving their full support for the event! They are all supporting and standing up for this Christ centered event. What a move of God and a statement this makes about our County. Emerge Ministries and the planning committee would like to personally thank everyone who helped and joined with us for this event. We did not come close to the number of people expected and there is much to learn as we grow, however, through the many "Voices" with one "Vision" we can carry out "His" plan. We hope you will join us next year! “Come Be That Voice”

“I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭118‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Carolina Crossroads discipleship program outreach was amazing! I can't begin to express all that took place yesterday while serving alongside of brother's & sister's in the faith! The Voices of Emerge poured out and displayed the Love of Christ upon this hurt & dying world. Many received healing and freedom and we bore witness to one salvation! Come and Go with Us!

Today will be a day of green, green and greener. Groups of people will gather together to celebrate. They will gather in bars drinking and having a very festive time. There will be parades in the streets, especially if you live in Boston. When I attended elementary school in eastern NC, if you did not wear green you got pinched very strongly. A strange tradition yet true. Why? It is Saint Patrick’s Day. If you ask people what is so important about this Saint Patrick guy, the normal response is “I have no idea”. Some say he was a great man of God because he was a saint. When you ask what made him great, they usually do not know. This is understandable, because so very little was documented about him. In writing my book about the biblical solution to the decline of Christianity in western culture I have done two (2) years of research. I was introduced to an old book called the Celtic Way. Thus, St. Patrick entered into my life. In my book I will go deeper into his life however, I thought this small peek would be of some interest. He grew up in what is now northeast England (Brita). Rome occupied this area thus he was a Roman Briton to be exact. He lived during the Fifth & Sixth Century. When he was 16 years of age he was captured by Celtic pirates and sold as a slave to a tribal chief in Ireland. His master’s name was Milliuc. It was during his six years in Ireland as a slave that he found a deep and profound relationship with God. You must understand, he had been raised as a Christian. His Grandfather was a priest. Although, he himself had never taken Christianity seriously. During his captivity he learned to pray and his love for God grew more and more. His time in nature, prayer and meditation would change his life forever. After a voice in a dream told him how to escape, he acted on that dream. His escape was successful. After his return to England he studied and became a priest. One night, years later, after becoming a priest he had another dream. God spoke to him in this dream to return to the barbaric country of Ireland and minister to the tribes who once owned him as a slave. The British Church confirmed his dream and affirmed him as the first missionary Bishop and sent him to Ireland. In his twenty-eight (28) year mission, which evangelism was the central component of; he went to a barbaric tribal culture, planted over 700 hundred church communities, and ordained more than a thousand priest. Many more accepted the Gospel truth of Christ Jesus. His method of evangelism reverted to the pattern of Jesus’s ministry some five hundred (500) years earlier as opposed to the Roman Catholic model. This he believed was central to converting a barbaric nation to Christianity. He was a great man of God worth celebrating, however, after returning home, the very church that sent him sadly turned on him and his ministry. Many great men of God suffered the same fate as St. Patrick. Charles Spurgeon after the Downgrade articles debate faced the same types of persecution. Even though St Patrick’s story is only a small part of my book, I hope you will read it and become more intimately acquainted with this great man of God and what he can teach us about evangelism as Christians living in western culture today. Dr. Terry Norris Exec. Dir. Emerge Ministries

Emerge Ministries first and foremost wants to recognize and thank everyone that made the much needed and necessary Parchman Prison Freedom Initiative 23 possible. Without YOUR support Emerge could not further extent its tent pegs and fulfill its purpose to serve the church and reach the lost. We are beyond grateful to have video footage of this event. Prison’s usually do not allow video recording inside facilities but through the effort and work of ChristSong Ministries Parchman has opened its doors. Please watch this video to see the impact that the voices with Emerge can have on the incarcerated. Terry Norris, The Executive Director at Emerge, says in regard to the video, “What an awesome time. Some of these same 13 that committed themselves to Christ are getting baptized this week. Praise God for the Chaplains from Angola who have gave their life to God and to serve Parchman. They have followed up with these guys and are making sure orphans are not left at the Alter”. Come and Go With Us!

We arrived to Parchman Prison on our first day in the mid afternoon. The first message given by Bobby McGee from Christ Song was gut wrenching. A gentleman was three weeks from being released, however he chose to hang himself in his cell at 2am on the day we arrived. The suspected possibility is that he had been confined for so long that death was a better option than being free in society. Please pray for us as we minister this week at Parchman. There are men in here praying for you and the churches outside these walls, but there are also many like our brother that took his own life. They have been cut off from the outside for almost three years and are hungry and in need of the word of God, His gift of salvation, and hope for a future. Whether that future of freedom be inside these fences or outside in the world God can set us free regardless of our circumstances.

Emerge Ministries just completed four (4) days on our 1st Emerge Life Event of the year in Columbia, South Carolina. We witnessed a powerful move of God. We had 25 “Voices” with Emerge who ministered to 358 inmates. We saw 93 salvations throughout the weekend! With that being said we are not concerned about numbers except to honor our Father, and we are grateful to be a part of what He is doing. If you are interested in learning more about our Prison Ministry, we would love to visit and show you what God is doing at our Emerge Life Events. We just finished training and certifying 25 volunteers and are currently enrolling new volunteers to be trained. Come be that Voice!

On November 26, 2022 I, along with 480 motorcycles and 630 riders, met in New Bern at Temple Baptist Church. We were there to support Temples Thirtieth (30th) annual motorcycle run fundraiser for the Kinston, NC Kennedy Children’s Home. We raised approximately $30,000.00 dollars which was donated to the organization. They take in and raise children who, for many different reasons, have no parents or guardians to protect them as they grow in life. It is an amazing organization and the team at Temple Baptist have done a great job for Thirty (30) years. I guess by now you are wondering why the title, “Time with a Taylor”? It is the storythat makes what we did on November 26, 2022 so important and the difference it can make in some one’s life. Gods narrative, which is His story revealed through people, always makes the difference. I wanted to get that story written to preserve memories, encourage others, to honor a man we thought so much of and share it with as many people as possible. This is the story! Sometime around 2009-2010 My wife Judy and I were introduced to a pastor of a small church. Consistently, every Sunday night at 6:30pm one or both of us would attend this little church. The church was situated at the end of a corn field, deep in the countryside of Jones County NC. The left side of the church was separated only by 20 feet of grass from a corn field, the building was sitting about the same distance directly off highway 41. The right side of the building was about ten (10) feet from a drainage. The building was about forty (40) feet wide maybe sixty (60) feet long. Parking was difficult. If it rained parking on the cornfield side was tricky. You could have needed assistance getting out in the form of someone pulling you out with another vehicle. If you parked in the front it would be two vehicles deep from the church to road. This blocked everyone in, and you had to wait your turn to leave. Then you would back straight onto highway 41 to depart. No room to turn around. However, it was all worth it! The services started at 6:30pm. That was the set time, the actual time could vary fifteen (15) to thirty (30) minutes, late or early. It had no set order to the service and definitely no set time to end the service. Yet, it was always decent and in order. You never knew who was going to be a part of the music and worship or how long it would take place. It was one of the most beautiful things to witness and be a part of these services. There were always testimonies, prayer, praying in tongues, sometimes prophesying, always preaching of the word and healings that took place. Usually attendance was fifteen (15) to twenty-five (25) people. Most of the time it was the same people with a few visitors from time to time. Every so often Pastor Jimmy would have something special, a sing or guest speaker and the place would be packed. The Church was called “Community Church” and the Pastor was Jimmy Taylor. He was one of the most anointed, spirit led men of God I have ever met. Sadly, Jimmy went home rejoicing to spend eternity with God on January 12, 2021. Learning of Jimmy’s passing was a sad day for Judy and me. What made it more difficult is that we were unable to attend his funeral. I heard it was a great celebration yet, sad for those who cherished and loved Jimmy. It was a full house filled with a close-knit family and many of his longtime closest friends. All were there to fittingly pay tribute to this great man and his obedience elaborating on what God had done in and through his life. Many people could share how special Jimmy was to them. Surly those that knew him much longer and better than I. My wife is one of those that could share of his kindness. She looked to him as a spiritual father. He ordained her so she could do the work that God has called her to do. I am sure, for some, the question continues to linger, what story ties the Kennedy Home for Children and time with Jimmy Taylor together? To the best of my memory I will try to share with you as Jimmy shared his life with me. Hopefully tying it together, Jimmy’s mom died around 1963 when he was very young. There were not enough family members to give a home to Jimmy and his siblings. Jimmy was placed at the Kennedy Home for Children in Kinston. He spent several years growing up in that environment. I am not sure exactly how long Jimmy lived there however, it had a big impact on his life. Some of it not so good but he often told me it probably saved his life. Jimmy, like myself became addicted to alcohol, drugs and a began a lifestyle that truly reflected that way of life. His reputation for fighting and roughness was well known. During this time, early in life he was married to his lifelong friend and the love of his life Susie. She continually prayed for Jimmy never leaving his side through it all. During this time, it is important to remember Jimmy could not read or write and was a painter by trade. This is the good part. One day in his mid-thirties (30’s), refusing to hear anything about Jesus, Jimmy had a Damascus Road experience with Jesus. After years of chasing preachers away he was saved while simultaneously driving down the road in his old car. On that day, he stated he began spiraling down a dark black hole and he knew that Satan had his life. As he was spiraling down this tunnel he did not know if he was in this world or another, yet he knew his life was over. Then he heard a familiar voice, that of his wife Susie. For years, repeatedly, she had told him there would come a day when he would have to call on the name of Jesus. This was the day. He cried out to Jesus as he slid down into that tunnel. When he did, he was brought back to this world. Driving the same car, down the same road but a new man. Jimmy never looked back and followed Jesus until his last breath. I mentioned Jimmy could not read or write, yet he knew the word of God. In the beginning the Bible was the only thing he could comprehend. Then early on God called him into ministry. Jimmy, due to his lack of ability to read and write and feeling as if he had nothing to offer, reluctantly yet obediently, began his own ministry. Jimmy, before I knew him would preach in many churches almost every week for many years, never accepting one dime of money. Later, he built the Community Church and pastored it until his death. Never taking one cent for his work. He began a radio ministry called, "A Voice in the Wilderness", that touched thousands of lives. It aired every day, five days a week for more than fifteen (15) years. Jimmy and Susie kept it on the air with little to no financial support. Also importantly, tying this together, Jimmy would go back and help the Kennedy Children’s Home during the fundraisers like the one I mentioned in this article and at other times. Jimmy was an incredible example of being a follower of Jesus Christ. On a personal level he was one of my trusted friends in Christ. I loved Jimmy deeply and I miss him often. When I was on this benefit ride, I thought of him and his teachings all day long. Remember those long church services I mentioned? Well, after those services me and Jimmy often would sit on the very back pew. Sometimes caught up in the communication of the Holy Spirit and would just sit looking at the crowd that was lingering and expressing how good God was to us. Other times, Jimmy would instruct me in ministry. As Emerge began to extend its tent pegs, I began to travel, meet with politicians, church leaders and speaking in churches across the country. Among much other advice, Jimmy kept telling me the same line over and over, again and again. He would say “Terry, when you’re on that plane, in the room with politicians, speaking to pastors or to their congregations; speaking to the incarcerated, homeless or the addict, if it ain’t about Jesus don’t do it.”To this day whenever I go to say something all I hear is Jimmy saying, “Terry if it ain’t about Jesus don’t do it!” It sounds so simple. Most Christians would think that it would be easy to keep front and center. However, whenever I’m asked to do something I have focused, prayed and meditated on this over many years. Now, I know why Jimmy stressed it to me so much. I pray you find someone like Jimmy, who cares enough to know you don’t know the depth and meaning of those words and someone will pour truth into to you as Jimmy did me. He knew I was too smart for my own good and I would become deceived easily. He would always stress how he struggled with reading, writing and many other things the world considers intellectual. However, in the spirit world, guided by the Holy Spirit and knowing how to develop a relationship with Jesus, he was one of the most intelligent men I have ever met. I hope I am able to understand half as much as Jimmy concerning the word of God, the work of the cross, and operating in the spirit as Jimmy Taylor!

One year ago, the Emerge Chaplin’s Response Team (ECRT) began their mission in Dawson Springs, Kentucky. The purpose of this mission was to aid individuals in their emotional and spiritual recovery during the aftermath of the disaster left by the tornado. The tornado touched down in December 2021. Just last week, Jan 5th 2023, ECRT finished their one (1)-year anniversary visit at the disaster site. They concluded their mission by praying and offering one on one ministry to individuals in the community. Emerge returned home with their dinning trailer and other equipment completing their mission in Kentucky. The community has hope and will make a full recovery in the future. Thanks to everyone who supported and donated to Emerge during this time of great need!

Emerge, just completed, among several other prison ministry events, the last of our quarterly “Emerge Life Events” in Columbia South Carolina. What a year it has been. We are now moving back into full swing post-Covid-19. Currently, on December 2nd thru 4th 2022 Emerge Ministries along with approximately fifteen (15) volunteers ministered to the incarcerated adult men and children in Columbia SC. The isolation imposed by Covid-19 restrictions in prisons had a devastating and negative spiritual effect on the men, women and children of S.C. and prisons across the country. Since our last visit here in August of this year, as prisons has opened up to in-person ministry, there has been a remarkable positive change in the atmosphere. The Chaplains and staff have done an incredible Job. On this, our past “Emerge Life Event” we ministered in our second men’s facility of the year. The first was at Manning and the current one was at Goodman. We had 31 men in attendance at that Friday night service. This was their first weekend services since March of 2020. Also, we visited 210 male and female youth inmates over a two- day period. We held more than a total of 20 services throughout the weekend. Incredibly kids would be behind the solid walls and locked doors of cells, their ears pinned to the ground at the opening between the cement floor and the door to hear testimonies, the word of God being spoken and to receive prayer. Some would stick their hand through the bottom of the door for a human touch. The young men and women who were present in the pods prayed with us and some prayed for us. As a result, we experienced seventy-seven (77) commitments to become followers of Christ. The great witnessing of healing and transformation over the weekend was amazing. It was an incredible time of humility and honor to be a part of these services throughout our weekend in Columbia. Come go with us! Be that “Voice”

Voices with Emerge for our 3rd year spent Thanksgiving Day (November 24th, Thursday) with individuals that are dislocated or permanently homeless in Fayetteville, NC. We, along with out partners at SCHOOC, Renew, Rockfish Church, Pathway Church, and Massy Hill Recreation Center, feed everyone a full course Thanksgiving meal, delivered much needed Winter clothing and supplies, and experienced some anointed Praise & Worship. Several individuals gave testimonies and the Senior Pastor of Rockfish Church, Tony McVickers, brought the word of God. It was a powerful message followed by dozens reaching out for prayer. Then we moved to Person Street Bridge Homeless Camp where we were invited into the community under the bridge and did a Christmas Tree lighting service. Chaplain Daniel D., Executive Administrator over our Homeless Ministry and Emerge Chaplains Response Team, did a fantastic job bringing these churches, ministries, and volunteers together making this day possible. John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another"...(Working together with no regard for one's own self-interest- My own words)..."By this shall all men know you are my disciples, followers of Jesus Christ". We hope that you and your families had a great Thanksgiving Day as we had and may God bless each of you this holiday season and in 2023. Terry Norris Emerge Ministries Founder & Executive Director

Emerge is happy to introduce two (2) new staff members and one of our new partners in Georgia. The two staff members are Latonya and Elizabeth Rainwater. This picture is our very first joint training session held in Georgia a few months ago. They will become an intricate part of our steering, planning, education, and training staff for City Wide Crusade Festivals. These are crusades where we partner with churches and organizations in different cities and states, so evangelism does not produce orphans. The Rainwaters have a vast experience in missions and teaching on Biblical Worldview, culture, injustice, and working with those who have not received the Gospel. I have been working with them for a few months establishing our working relationship and in their new roles and responsibilities with Emerge. Secondly, I would like to introduce Allison Bullard. She worked for my close friend and Ministry partner John Hurd until his recent passing. John was working to establish the Emerge Skills4life Program, C.A.R.E. App programs in local detention centers in and around Macon, Georgia. Allison will continue that work. She is well qualified and has a heart to see those in addiction recover and saved. I look forward to the difference she will make in her home state of Georgia. We and the State of Georgia are blessed to have her, and the Rainwaters becoming " A Voice" with Emerge.

What a great time at Temple Baptist in New Bern NC this past weekend. I spoke on "The Author of our story" Our author (God) has entrusted us to be the author of his story to all of mankind. Have we or are we doing that in America? Are we still "One Nation Under God"? Our willingness or lack of to be the author, displaying and telling the story has played a key role in the answer to these questions. The staff and especially the congregation was so gracious to Judy and I. As usual I went past my time limit and no one complained. LOL. I thought I would share a few pictures from the day. If you are ever in the area please stop and visit. You will surely be welcomed.

It is such an amazing story to be highlighted, how such a diverse group came together to make this event possible. I believe these combined efforts is the biblical manifestation of the Holy Spirit connecting the mission of Christ through evangelism, the church, and the world around us. It undeniably demonstrated the impact of so many people and having displayed reconciliation between evangelism, church, follow-up discipleship, county leadership and politicians.   The event was such a remarkable success with over 4,000 people attending. That is a surprisingly great number considering the rain which came 2 days prior to the event and the rain we experienced the day of the event. Rain or Shine, we still enjoyed a great day. There was adult entertainment, as well as kid entertainment. We had bands from multiple ethnicities, races, and cultures. Multiple Bouncy House, Mechanical Bull Riding, Rock Climbing Wall, and Snow Cones! Pastor Tony Lowden was the keynote speaker. What a great job he did. It was such a fun filled day for everyone. As we see our country moving away from One Nation Under God, our Christian presence is needed more now than ever in America. Our unified presence has been clearly demonstrated. I hope everyone comes away knowing they live in a county that supports and places family values and beliefs as a high priority. We also begin to recognize the worldview of a county that produces these same values and beliefs of freedom, individual liberty, and justice for all. We look forward to next year’s event. It has been an honor to serve on the Duplin County July 4th committee representing each of you, your congregations, businesses, your employees, and the county. The impact you made by participating in this year’s July 4th, 2022, Festival, “The Founding, The Foundation, The Future” held at The Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville, NC. I am so grateful for this year’s response from churches, businesses, and others across Duplin County. There were thirteen (13) churches and twenty-five (25) business owners that financially participated.