Twenty-year-old Tiffany Brennan says she loves the city of Anna. Born in Plano, Brennan and her family moved to Anna where she spent two years at Anna’s Elementary School. Following completion of middle school and high school in Anna, she now attends Collin County Community College while still residing in Anna. On a whim, Brennan sent an application and some pictures to the Miss Texas USA Corp. Following a few interviews, more pictures and more interviews, she received a letter from the pageant saying she was accepted to represent Anna in the Miss Texas USA Pageant competition that will be held in Laredo from June 22nd through June 29th. “It’s a total shock to me. It’s an honor to do this,” Brennan said. “I’ve always thought of myself as an average small-town girl.” Representing the city of Anna is a responsibility Brennan does not take lightly. “I would do as much as possible to help the city,” she said. “I already have an appreciation for this city. They helped put me in this pageant.” While many veterans of the pageant circuit know what to expect in a competition such as this, Brennan will be going in cold. This is her first ever pageant. Although she is a “rookie,” Brennan says her goal is to finish in the top 20 (out of 150). Her mother, Sam Johnson, said a top 20 finish is not out of the question. “She can get in the top 20 easily,” Johnson said. “And that is both objectively and as a mom. If she lets her personality show, she can go far.” Brennan said it is the strength of her mom and her friends in Anna that make her want to do her best in the competition. “I’m going to do the best I can,” Brennan said. “I want to make my mom proud because she’s done all the hard work so far. A lot of people in town have said they are proud of me. I’ve done a lot of extra-curricular activities (in Anna) so I pretty much know everyone.” For the talent portion of the competition, Brennan will perform the Tango. In the evening gown competition she will wear a green/apple dress with a diamond strap through the back. As far as the swimsuit competition, it will be a mystery until she gets there because the pageant gives participants their swimsuits. In addition to competing with others, pageant members will also do charity events throughout the week. There are many personal expenses needed to compete in this pageant. Each contestant must pay for a pageant coach, their own hair/make-up stylist, the evening gown, three formal dinners and airfare to the pageant. Brennan and her mom are doing all they can to raise funds, including holding a bake sale last weekend. They are looking for businesses in the surrounding area to sponsor her with a tax deductible donation. Businesses will also receive advertising space in the Miss Texas USA Program. Brennan wants to let everyone in Anna know how much she appreciates them and all that they have done for her. “It’s what made me who I am,” she said of her hometown. For sponsorship or raffle information, call Sam Johnson at 214-797-3695 or e-mail her at sandrajohnson652@hotmail.com.

Although the business of banking is closed at the Texas Star Bank in Anna on Sundays, its doors are swung open wide for the business of God on the seventh day.

God’s Love Community Fellowship Church, founded in March 2007 by Pastor Terry Hackworth, holds services at the bank building every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Hackworth said it was “destiny” that brought him to Anna.

“God positions people globally,” he said. “I can’t explain it any other way. I could have gone anywhere else geographically but would have never been historically referred to as the first Afro-American to start a church in Anna.”

Currently there are 20 members that regularly attend the church. These members are from a multitude of ethnic and racial backgrounds, just as Pastor Hackworth had envisioned.

“I came here to promote unity and bring people together,” Hackworth said. “God is supreme and if we are truly Christians, observe that and promote that.”

Gaining acceptance in a community that has never seen a church such as this has been an uphill climb. Residents in the area are seemingly comfortable with the church, but Hackworth said he has reached out to many pastors in the area and no one has contacted him in return. The exception to this is Dr. Chuck Vance, pastor at Cavalry Baptist Church, who has befriended Hackworth.

“We’re both trying to build good race relations within the community,” Vance said.

Hackworth said that Vance is a “true man of God and a friend.”

“Nobody else in Anna has let me on their pulpit,” Hackworth said.

Not only has Vance let Hackworth use the pulpit of Calvary Baptist Church, he recently let Hackworth and his congregation use their entire worship center for God’s Love Community Fellowship Church’s one-year anniversary celebration. Many pastors and dignitaries from surrounding communities attended the event including Pastor Clarence Bryce from the New United Baptist Church in Greenville; Pastor Alton Blakely from Honey Grove Baptist Church; Pastor Charlotte Minor from El Shaddai Temple of Ministries in McKinney; and Deacon Robert Powell from the Community Baptist Church in Sherman.

Songs of worship at the celebration were provided by the United Praise Choir of Anna, and recording artists The Angelic Voices from Sherman. Additionally, the Community Baptist Church Brotherhood Choir – also from Sherman – performed. They raised the roof with songs like Need You to Hold My Hand and Coolin’ Water.

Judging from the reaction of those attending the celebration, the evening was a monumental success and Pastor Hackwork hopes to keep the momentum soaring upward.

“My mission is to bring the church and community together,” Hackworth said.

For information on God’s Love Community Fellowship Church, call Pastor Hackworth at 214-733-6438.