Celebration Church on the Lake raises money to do good things
David Taffet | Senior Staff Writer
Celebration on the Lake is a small church with a big heart.
Finding a new pastor seems to be second on the list of priorities for Celebration Church on the Lake, as services continue on Sunday mornings, just in a new format. The church has recently affiliated with Cathedral of Hope, so Celebration streams the service from the church in Oak Lawn to Celebration’s Mabank location near Cedar Creek Lake.
“We’ve been having guest ministers, and we’re looking for a minister,” said church member Muddy Moxley. But most important, she added, “We’ve been thriving.”
To support the ongoing programs of Celebration on the Lake, the church is holding its Red Tie Gala on Feb. 17.
Celebration on the Lake is now in its 21st year. It started as an offshoot of Celebration Community Church in Fort Worth, and the Rev. Carol West pastored both congregations then. So services were held on Saturdays back then because West had to be in Fort Worth on Sundays for services there. When West retired, Cathy Bowser took over as pastor for about 10 years, followed by Mary Clair Lowrence.
Celebration’s first Red Tie dinner was held because the church youth wanted to have a Valentine’s dinner. The next gala was held a few years later, and it sold out. So by 2019, the event moved to the CR Legacy Event Center in nearby Gun Barrel City.
Like Black Tie Dinner, Red Tie Gala has beneficiaries. Unlike the large Dallas dinner, beneficiaries don’t apply or have requirements. But, Moxley explained, sharing proceeds does increase attendance.
Eleven Cedar Creek area non-profits share the proceeds from Red Tie.
Moxley said church members work at many of the organizations, and those groups are inclusive, serving everyone in the community.
Animal rescue organizations are the largest group of beneficiaries of the gala.
Then come food banks in Tool and Mabank and Meals on Wheels in Malakoff.
Libraries throughout the state are under attack, so a portion of the money earned will go to the Cedar Creek Library, which has computers, offers a GED program, teaches English as a second language, has an adult literacy program and offers children’s reading and craft time.
The Tri County Library in Mabank will also receive funds to be used for its Batter Intervention and Prevention program.
The church will make a donation to the Payne Springs Fire Department, and Toys for Tots is another beneficiary.
Then there are blessing bags. Church members put together bags containing
toiletries, socks and gloves, which Moxley said will go to the “couch surfers in Athens” — young people who have no home of their own so they “surf” from home to home, staying with friends.
That’s an awful lot of helping Celebration on the Lake is doing, but Moxley said her church is just “doing what a church should be doing.” She called it “a small church with a big heart.”
Moxley invited people to come and enjoy their Red Tie “Fun” raiser and to expect fellowship, dinner, dancing and a silent auction. “We’d love weekenders to come visit,” she added, noting that weekenders are Dallas-area residents who spend weekends at their vacation homes on Cedar Creek Lake.
That includes lots of LGBTQ people. But Celebration OTL also embraces its ally members just as strongly.
For more information visit Facebook.com/Groups/CelebrationOnTheLakeChurch.
