Zoomer's Sermon of 22 August 2010: "Keeping It Holy"

Zoomer's Sermon of 15 August 2010: "Heroes"

Zoomer's sermon of 9 May 2010: "Water"

The first Scripture reading was not audible on the recording. You can read it here:

Acts 16:9-15
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Zoomer's Sermon of 4-11-10: "Believe It!"

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010

Low Sunday becomes High Sunday

The Sunday after Easter is known in the church calendar as "low Sunday". One of the reasons is that it is the first Sunday of worship following the resurrection of our Lord, which was celebrated the previous week with all kinds of glorious music, pomp and circumstance. It can also be a low Sunday in terms of attendance, after the excitement of worship on Easter Sunday. In Presbyterian circles, it is sometimes referred to as "Associate Pastor Sunday" because the senior pastor frequently is not the one preaching after the busy schedule of the Lenten season. But for whatever reason, the 2nd Sunday of Easter is called Low Sunday -and our Low Sunday turned in to a very high Sunday for us in terms of worship. In the morning we worshipped at Manhattan Pres in El Paso. This is one of the small and struggling congregations, having in the past been a much larger and viable group of believers. On this particular Sunday, the worship team was simply incredible...the preacher, liturgist, song leader and organist. Preaching was Zoomer, a layman who lives his life dealing with a neurological disorder (originally misdiagnosed as Lou Gherig's disease) causing him great difficulty in both walking and using his arms and hands. He is blessed with a great singing voice and has often led the music when we have worshipped here before, but this was our first opportunity to hear Zoomer preach God's Word--and he did it powerfully. Jerry told him later it was one of the best sermons he had ever heard. The singing was led by Zoomer and Theresa, who is a professor of nursing with Texas Tech in EP, and has a beautiful voice. The liturgist, JB, is a retired teacher of English & Drama so you can imagine the quality of her voice as she led us through the service. Playing the organ is Valora, who is blind. The music team of Zoomer, Theresa and Valora gather at the church early on Sunday morning, and go over all the music together. If Valora can hear it, she can play it...and she plays it beautifully. When church was over, we felt as if we had truly worshipped and been in the presence of the Lord, through the ministry of this incredible team. Thank you and God bless every one of you. To end the day, we worshipped at Divine Savior Presbyterian Church, an Hispanic congregation, and one of our PCUSA churches in El Paso who have been gathering together for worship every Sunday evening since the first of the year, listening for God as the Presbyterian Church in El Paso. The service was conducted in word and music in both English and Spanish, with several different pastors participating in the leadership. As the body of Christ we participated in the Lord's Supper together. This was truly a great day of worship as the Family of God!

POSTED BY TEXAS SPARKIE AKA MARY AT 8:43 AM

Zoomer's Sermon of 2-14-10: "Changes"

Zoomer's sermon of 12-27-09: "Searching"

How Great Thou Art

Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Tony Custer: piano
Recorded 4 October 2009 at Manhattan Presbyterian Church

Jesus Met the Woman at the Well

Recorded 20 September 2009 at Manhattan Presbyterian Church
Zoomer Roberts: vocal & harmonica
Buddy Winston: guitar
Valora Taylor: piano
Doug Neal: bass
Eric Hutson: drums

I'm Willing to Try

Recorded 20 September 2009 at Manhattan Presbyterian Church
Zoomer Roberts: vocal

I love the sound of unaccompanied Appalachian Mountain singing, and have always wanted to try my hand at it. "I'm Willing To Try," which I learned from a recording by Dr. Ralph Stanley, dovetails nicely with Isaiah 6:1-8, the Bible passage that was read on the day I was ordained as an Elder.

He's Alive

Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar
Doug Neal: bass
Eric Hutson: drums
recorded 26 August 2007

This powerful number by Christian artist Don Francisco is the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ as told by Simon Peter. It was suggested to me by Dr. Theresa Byrd, my long-time duet partner at Manhattan Presbyterian Church. There was a signal dropout where the word "soldiers" should be, and I edited out the resulting silence. Hence the two missing beats.

Betty Hulson said: Zoomer, I loved this one! I haven't heard it in years, and hearing you sing it just blessed my soul!! Fletty B.
March 28, 2008 8:10 AM

I'm Just An Old Chunk of Coal

This was recorded at the Annual Hymn-Sing and Homecoming at Manhattan Presbyterian Church on August 26, 2007. The band are: Zoomer Roberts: vocal & harmonica, Buddy Winston: guitar, Doug Neal: bass, and Eric Hutson: drums. Despite the anomalies inherent in "line" recordings, it cooks.

The Old Rugged Cross

Recorded 9 November 2008 at Manhattan Presbyterian Church
Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Tony Custer: piano

Donna Pence said: Love this! Downloaded to my iPod. Great piano playing too. I was singing harmony here with you in Jersey City. November 9, 2008 6:11 PM