Briefly hig hlig ht your p oint of interest her e. Briefly hig hlig ht your p oint of interest her e. Briefly hig hlig ht your p oint of interest her e. Briefly hig hlig ht your p oint of interest her e. Sp ecial p o int s o f int erest : BUSINESS NAME Volume Issue December 1, 2014 Celebrate the season A l t h o u g h A m e r i c a n s celebrate the holiday with candlelight services, piles of gifts, large feasts, lights and trees, people in other countries mark Jesus birth in many interesting ways: Nine days before Christmas in Mexico, Las Posadas processions reenact Joseph and Mary s search for a place to stay in Bethlehem. Instead of decorating trees, Italians place fruit on small wooden pyramids. On Christmas Eve, the streets of Caracas, Venezuela, are blocked off so people can roller-skate to church. Ukrainian Christmas trees often Monday & Thursday, 1st & 4th Christmas Caroling 6:00 PM Monday, the 8th Fellowship Bldg. Lifeline Screening Tuesday, the 9th OCC Charlotte warehouse boxes packing 5 10 PM, leaving church @4:30 PM feature an artificial spider and web. According to a folk tale, a poor woman who couldn t afford decorations awoke one Christmas morning to find that spiders had t r i m m e d h e r children s trees with delicate webs. In Brazil, the giftbringer is known as Papai Noel (Father Noel,) who lives in Greenland, according to legend. When he arrives in Brazil, he wears silk clothing because of the summer heat. It s considered bad etiquette to send red Christmas cards in Japan because funeral notices are customarily printed in red. Pgbc december schedule Sunday, the 21st Christmas Program 6:00 PM in Family Life Center Casting Call by Eddie James Wednesday, the 24th Christmas Eve Service 9:00 PM Normal church activities apply except NO services on New Year s Eve Inside this issue: Pastor s Page 2 New Members 2 Calendar 3 Kids Page 4 Christmas Offerings 5 Media Menu 5 Carol s Corner 6 Lifelines is published monthly by Poplar Grove Baptist Church 3476 Poplar Tent Rd., NW Concord, NC 28027 (704) 782-0078 www.poplargrovebaptist.com Editor: Carol Cooper secretary@poplargrovebaptist.com Pastor: Jimmy Barrett pastor@poplargrovebaptist.com Deadline for copy: The fifteenth of the month prior to publication. Editor reserves the right to edit for content and space.
P A G E 2 From Our family to yours It seems impossible that we are spending our twentieth Christmas at Poplar Grove! That David is almost thirty, that Caleb is married, that Malia (ten days old when I started as your pastor) is in college, and that Tinzee will soon be a teenager! Time truly flies when you are having fun. In many ways, I am glad 2014 is winding down. This has been a very difficult year for our family physically, with one thing after the other. The year I turned fifty will truly be remembered as the year I got old! However, through it all, God has always shown Himself to be faithful and true. While there have been valleys, there have been many more mountaintop experiences. Watching Wallace unlock the door of our new Family Life Center is a moment I will never forget. Even better has been watching as the number of young people we are ministering to increases each week! No matter the highs and lows, through it all we have experienced God s love and grace. I want to extend a very special thank you to this church family for the wonderful way in which you have loved, supported, and prayed for our family. And I really want to thank you for the way you love and care for each other. Rhonda, David, Kristin, Caleb, Allison, Malia, and Tinzee and I would like to extend to you our love and prayers during this Christmas season. We hope you and your family have a safe and absolutely wonderful Christmas. It is an honor to be part of the Poplar Grove Family. We love you, CHRISTMAS How intangible and indescribable is the spirit of Christmas! It is something far deeper than mere giftgiving and all the spontaneous joy and gaiety that goes with the season. It expresses itself in the very spirit with which it draws people together. It weaves itself into a golden cord that binds us all into a spirit that has been called for centuries goodwill toward men. The story of the Babe in the manger, the star of Bethlehem, the three Wise Men, is old but ever new. One cannot think of it without being struck with the rare beauty and simplicity of it all. J.C. Penney New members Donna Barringer & Lily Scholz Poplar Grove is very happy to have these new members in our congregation. Donna joined the church on Sunday, October 19. Lily joined on Sunday, November 2. A warm welcome to both of them as we worship together.
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P A G E 4 Bible quiz CHRISTMAS OFFERING At this time each year especially, we remember those who are serving as missionaries in foreign countries. We can t all go but we can all support those in the field. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was started because one tiny lady saw a great need and did something about it. She was named Charlotte Diggs Moon by her wealthy parents on her birth in 1840, but everyone called her Lottie. She had six brothers and sisters. One of her favorite things to do was play tricks on people. One April Fool s Day, she wrapped the school bells up so they wouldn t ring. Of course, everyone was late for class and Lottie got in trouble. Even though she was raised in a Christian home, it was not until she was eighteen years old that she attended a church service with some friends and heard about missions for the first time. After she became a Christian and taught for several years, she became a missionary at the age of 32 and was appointed to China. To gain acceptance of the Chinese people, she baked cookies for the children. As the children came to her house and ate the cookies, Lottie told them about Jesus. The job was huge and Lottie wrote letters and asked people to pray for the Chinese people and the need for money and more missionaries. Lottie started schools and worked very hard. In 1912, a terrible famine came to China. People everywhere were starving. Lottie gave her food to the little children and she soon became sick. The doctor said she should go back to the U.S. to get well. So Lottie s friends put her on a ship for the States. But she never made it. She died on Christmas Eve while still on the ship. Lottie Moon gave her life so the people in China could learn about God. What s the name of the angel who told Mary she would give birth to God s Son? A. Gabriel B. Raphael C. Michael D. Jonathan Media menu In celebration of the upcoming joyful Christmas season, the book chosen this month to feature is A Bethlehem Christmas written by Charles R. Swindoll. It was the intention of the author to approach the familiar nativity story from a completely different perspective. It is written through the viewpoint of the people who were there the first Christmas. Prologue to the book begins with Zacharias and his encounter with the angel and his most wonderful November s Bible Quiz answer was B. (See Judges 14:19.) T h e c o r r e c t answer to this month s quiz will be in the first newsletter of the new year. news! It continues with Mary, Joseph, and even the angel, Gabriel. The book is filled with beautiful paintings and relates much of the culture, the countryside, the little town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The book contains even the Magi who came and immediately worshipped the Messiah. Most ignored Him, many rejected Him, some recognized the Savior and, like the Magi, fell down and worshipped.
BUSINESS NAME Business Tagline or Motto Primary Business Address Address Line 2 Phone: 555-555-5555 Fax: 555-555-5555 Email: someone@example.com WE RE ON THE WEB!!! poplargrovebaptist.com Carol s corner As I prepared the December newsletter, Thanksgiving has not even occurred, but even this early, we are already thinking of Christmas and all the hustle and bustle of the wonderful activities coming. With the many things we must get done, hopefully we will stop and appreciate the wonderful gift we have been given. A special baby came to earth for our benefit! Mark Lowry, who wrote the lyrics to the Christmas song, Mary, Did You Know? says he s always been amazed by Mary s silence at the cross as her son was being crucified. Maybe she was remembering back to that first Christmas, he wonders, when she counted Jesus fingers and toes. I wonder if she realized then that those were the same fingers that had scooped out the oceans and formed the seas. I wonder if she realized those were the same feet that had walked on streets of gold and been worshipped by angels. Those little lips were the same lips that had spoken the world into existence. When Mary kissed her little baby, she wasn t just kissing another baby; she was kissing the face of God. Mary silently watched her son die 33 years later, Lowry notes not just for the world but also for his own mother. The baby boy she had delivered on that first Christmas was now on a cross delivering her.