Grace Notes MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

DECEMBER 2015

Thank you to everyone who helped with this year’s Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes! We set a brand new record this year by everyone’s efforts to make and send 116 Shoeboxes around the world in the name of Jesus Christ!

Every year, the International Mission Board (IMB) has the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to raise awareness and money for missionaries all over the world who reach people with the life-saving news of the gospel. The Week of Prayer for International Missions is from Nov 29th-Dec 6th, and our Missions Ingathering will be on Sunday, December 6th.

Join us on December 13th at 6:30pm, for our Christmas Program, “A Christmas to Remember.” It will be a festive evening of musical worship, remembrance, and rejoicing as we celebrate the birth of our Lord! We will travel through Christmases of the Past, as we share memories new and old, while centering on the very first Christmas, when Christ came to earth as a man to save us from sin. Refreshments will be served following the program.

Attention everyone involved with this year’s Christmas Program! We will be having a special Rehearsal on Saturday, December 12th at 10am in the Sanctuary. Please try to be there as we prepare for our special “A Christmas to Remember” event!

Thank you to everyone who has picked up an Angel Tree card. Please remember to drop by your new, wrapped gift in the hallway outside the sanctuary next to our “Angel Tree,” along with the angel card by Dec. 13th. Also please continue to pray for the families who are a part of this ministry. Contact Wendy Buchanan if you have any questions.

All GBC Youth (Junior Youth through College age) are invited to a Christmas Party on December 20th. Plan to be there for a festive event full of fun, food, and fellowship! More details to follow.

This Christmas Eve, we will be holding a Candlelight Service in the sanctuary at 6:30pm. Please join us for a night of Carols, Candles, and Communion.

Nursery Schedule

06 – Casey Elkins & Logan Reynolds 13 – Nandrea Groves & Maura Elkins 20 – Sandee Davis & Annetta Lind 27 – Charlotte & Cheyenne Hughes

Children’s Church

06 – Barry Jones & Maura Elkins 13 – Linda Daumen & Peyton Elkins 20 – Dale & Shelley Hollandsworth 27 – Paula & Logan Reynolds

Prayer Deacons

Lee Bryant Dec 06 Chuck Buchanan Dec 13 David Byrd Dec 20 Greg Carlson Dec 27

Announcements

Pastor’s Notes Pastor Mark Elkins

December

Events

Dec 6th

Lottie Moon

Christmas Offering

& Shelor/Carlson

Christmas Party

Dec 12th

Christmas Program

Rehearsal

& New Beginnings

Sunday School

Christmas Party

Dec 13th

“A Christmas to

Remember” Program

Dec 20th

Youth Christmas

Party

Dec 24th

Christmas Eve

Candlelight Service

Dec 25th

Merry Christmas!

Dec 31st

New Year’s Eve

Merry Christmas Grace Baptist Church!!! It

has been a wonderful year full of reasons to praise

God for His Grace. Let’s take a brief moment to

walk through the year together and bless His Holy

name for what He has done.

In January, we began the year with a focus on

prayer and fasting and look how God has

responded. In February, we had a record Baby

Bottle Boomerang for the Pregnancy Care Center,

raising over $1,200.00. In April, our Annie

Armstrong Easter Mission offering was over $700.00

more than the previous year. In July, we had a

record breaking Vacation Bible School with over 66

children in attendance each night. Then in August,

we had an amazing Mission Trip to a housing project

in Roanoke, VA, where we were able to put on an

awesome festival that celebrated the Grace of God

as displayed in the account of Jonah.

In September, we had another record breaking

start to our AWANA ministry and saw God gift us

with a free bus (from our Roanoke ministry partners)

to help push back the darkness that has cast its

shadow on so many of the children in our

community. In November, we set another record

with the 116 Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

that we sent to children around the world, who most

likely do not know the name or the salvation of Jesus

Christ our Lord. And just this Sunday, I noticed that

all of the children’s names had been adopted from

our Angel Tree and that there was already a stack of

wrapped presents beneath the tree.

What do all these amazing blessings have in

For God so loved the world that He

gave His only begotten Son, that

whoever believes in Him should not

perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

common? They are all examples of the

generosity of this body of Christ, which we call

Grace Baptist! Our generosity as a

congregation is a direct outpouring of the

Grace that God has given us through His Son

Christ Jesus. His Grace became incarnate in

the womb of a young virgin when the King of

kings left His heavenly throne and took on

flesh. When we are generous with what God

has given us, we are following the path of our

Lord and the Spirit within us. Just as the

Apostle Paul described in his letter to the

Philippians: “5 Have this attitude in yourselves

which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although

He existed in the form of God, did not regard

equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but

emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-

servant, and being made in the likeness of

men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to

the point of death, even death on a cross”

(Phil. 2:6-8).

Beloved, it is especially important this time

of year, when we focus on the generous gift of

God in the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ

our Lord, that we both thank Him for the

wondrous things He has done in our midst this

year and beseech Him to do even more in the

year to come. My prayer is that this will truly

be a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New

Year, for you and your family…in the precious

and powerful name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

GBC PICS

Left and Above: A few snapshots from our Women’s Retreat! It was a great time of testimony, food, games, worship, and devotion. Bottom Left: Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with this year’s Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes! We are blessed to announce that we set a new record this year by sending out 116 boxes around the world in the name of Jesus Christ! Below: This year’s Brunswick Stew and Vegetable Soup Event was a huge (and delicious) success!

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1

2 Fellowship Meal (Prepared) AWANA AWANA MAMAS Isaiah’s Bells Truth Project Choir Practice

3 4

5

Marceia Bartlett

6 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Ingathering 4:30pm Children’s Choir Practice 5pm Play Practice 5:45pm Youth Group

7

Nadine Smith

8

9 Fellowship Meal (Potluck) AWANA AWANA MAMAS Isaiah’s Bells Truth Project Choir Practice

Mike Jones

10

11

12 10am Christmas Program Rehearsal

Allison Hughes

13

6:30pm “A

Christmas to

Remember”

14

15 6:30pm Deacons

Meeting

7pm Women on

Mission

Nandrea Groves Chris Howell

16 Fellowship Meal (Prepared) AWANA AWANA MAMAS Isaiah’s Bells Truth Project Choir Practice

Mark Elkins

17 10am Women of Grace

Lewis Carroll

18

19

20

Youth Christmas Party

21

22

23 WEDNESDAY

NIGHT ACTIVITIES

CANCELLED

Charlotte &Murry Hughes

Jane Hall Clay Menear

24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Leon & Chris Howell

25

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Winfred Stowe

26

Margaret Carlson

27

John Hughes

28

29 30 WEDNESDAY

NIGHT ACTIVITIES

CANCELLED

31 HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE!

Laurie Salser

2016

December 2015 Birthdays Anniversaries