Hixson Presbyterian Church Ridge Views Vol 46 Issue 12 December 2017 Lord of all to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise! In Children s Church this past week we learned about when Jesus healed the ten lepers, and one came back to give thanks and praise. We prayed together that the Lord would help us have thankful hearts this season. Too often not only the stores get overrun with commercialized Christmas, but also our hearts! We made sure to take time out in Children s Church to make room to be grateful and give the Lord praise! My prayer is that your little ones will hold on to that spirit as doorbuster sales and talk of presents creeps up on us! Our children who attend our Music and Missions program on Wednesday nights spent the fall season working on a dear hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth. They got to share this hymn as they sang in worship and prepared our hearts to not only be thankful, but to direct our thanks and praise to our Lord!
As we celebrate Christmas! Our Hixson Pres Kids will share their Christmas program entitled Power of the King on Sunday evening, December 3rd, 2017 at 6pm. Come meet the staff of a 1970 s radio station, most of whom love the Lord. There is one though, a cynical DJ named Jannie Fever, that just doesn t get Christmas. Come join us to see what happens with Jannie and the rest as they have to depend on the Lord! A caroling we will go! Our kids will have the opportunity to go caroling at Brookdale Senior Living on Wednesday evening, Dec 6th! Even if your child doesn t normally come on Wednesdays, they are welcome to join us! We will have to meet a little earlier, at 6pm, to make it there. Permission forms will be available at the children s welcome desk. Hope to see you there as we spread some Christmas cheer! FALL at Little Seekers Our Fall Festival in October started the off the season, followed by all things Thanksgiving! Thank you so much to our church members who came out with a decorated trunk to share the evening with our Day School families. We celebrated Charlie Brown style and enjoyed great treats like popcorn and ice cream! Check out the fun we had! Pictures from Fall Festival 2017
Pictures from Thanksgiving celebrations Christmas Season is upon us! with us, you will be amazed while you work with our qualified teachers. If the Lord leans on your heart to join our great volunteer group, simply let us know and share the day with these kids. NOW ENROLLRING for 2018 Our Little Seekers will perform their annual program Show and Tell Christmas on Monday evening, December 11th, 2017. They have worked so hard and we look forward to seeing you there! Volunteer with us! Tis the season to believe and we believe in our staff, and our volunteers! We are thriving and looking forward to what the Lord is going to do in the hearts and minds of our Little Seekers in 2018! Their hearts and minds are being shaped by the word of God through great teachers and volunteers. But we need YOU!!! The Lord is quiet and speaks softly as the children are learning and growing. When you volunteer Come join us for a tour today or enroll online now! We are taking new enrollments to start in January. Come join the fun at Little Seekers Day School! Day School Supervisor: Kelly Kayasit 423-504-5969 dayschool@hixsonpres.org
Tracking the Trailmen of Trail Life TN-1967 November s Hit the Trail Event for the Woodlands (above) was a day-long outdoor skills clinic including knot-tying, starting a campfire, and learning to read a compass. That same weekend the Navigators (below) camped for two nights at Cloudland Canyon State Park. Youth Christmas Parties Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Because Jesus our Savior came to live among us a suffering servant, we have eternal hope and the promise of eternal life! This is cause for great joy and much celebrating! There are few people in this world who are as enthusiastic and capable of celebrating this joyous occasion as the HPC Youth. That s why we re having not one, but TWO youth Christmas Parties this year! Our Save These Dates: Jan 20-21, 2018 Cumberland Caverns sleep-over in the cave with wild cave tour. Feb 10, 2018 Day Trip to Huntsville Space Center. Jun 1-3, 2018 Patriots Point in Charleston, SC: two nights aboard the USS Yorktown in the crews quarters, four meals in the crews mess, tours of the carrier-a submarine-and a destroyer, historical presentations and movies. The HPC Youth High School and Middle School high school Christmas Party will be Friday, December 8th at the Landreths house. Our Middle School Christmas Party will be a week later: Friday, December 15th at the McAfees house. Students should plan to wear an ugly Christmas sweater, because you ll want to have a chance to win the ugly sweater contest. You should also bring a gift of no greater than $10 value. This can be a normal gift, a gag gift, or even a re-gift. Finally, we encourage you to bring a guest! This is a great way to help someone new feel connected to our youth group! Drink Deeply, Drink Daily: The 2017 Tennessee Valley Presbytery Youth Retreat In early November, a group of middle school students had the privilege of spending a weekend at Camp Vesper Point for the annual TVP Youth Retreat! We had over 130 students and leaders from churches all around the Tennessee Valley Presbytery in
Youth attendance at this retreat. It was so much fun for our students to get to know new people and to worship the Lord as a part of the larger body of Christ! Not only this, but with more people, you simply get to do more stuff! We had a Skit Night, where our kids wrote and performed their own skit in front of a huge crowd. We had all sorts of large group games where we competed for the rights to the coveted TVP trophy. And we did a character man hunt where we searched the woods at night for anyone from Darth Vader to King Kong. Another reason this retreat was so much fun was our speaker for the weekend. David Eades, Senior Pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Dalton, spoke to us about the love God has for us and how his love enables us to love others. It was so encouraging to look at so many biblical examples of the deep, deep love of Jesus. Each person was then challenged to come to Jesus to drink of his all satisfying, living water. Drink deeply and drink daily. Finally, this weekend was fun because in the midst of such a large group of people, we had a great opportunity to get to know 13 of our HPC Middle School students a lot better. It was a joy and a delight to spend the weekend with them. It was also exciting because some of our high school Praise Band led worship for the entire retreat! It is so encouraging to see them leading and growing as the serve the Lord with their gifts. I would like to say a big thank you to Bo Wheeler, Jason and Lindsey Pope, and Josh Huff for serving as chaperones on this retreat. The weekend would not have been fun without you!
With Your Giving Heart to Global Outreach Home. The Asian Crescent Project of a Refugee School also received your support at Hixson Presbyterian. Lately, you have enjoyed missionary reports of God adding names to the Lamb s Book of Life by the many friends who joined us for the 50th Anniversary Celebration and our Missions Conference. We paid for honorariums and hospitality. During 2017 because of your generosity, not only our regular missionaries received monthly support, there were funds above that. Thank you for your investment in the gospel. One time gifts were given to: John Mark Scruggs, Reformed University Fellowship for UTC ministry; Ed and Whitney North, Campus Crusade for Christ for support as they start their ministry in Tampa; HOPE for Little Feet conference expenses. To put feet to a vision of to Kindle a mission fervor in the hearts of the congregation to global and local mission, by prayerfully connecting the congregation to the Lord s bountiful work across the world two members of the Global Outreach Committee were sent to attend the Mission to the World Conference in Dallas. As we are about to turn the corner to 2018 what exciting opportunities will God orchestrate for us as senders and partners? The Mission Wall was constructed and used for the first time when the Stoddard family visited us on August 2nd. The one-time cost was to have the Mission Wall a valuable resource of missionary information for many years to come. The Prayer Request module will enable us to intercede for the powerful gospel as it is given all over the continents. We can be an exciting significant part of God s goal to be glorified all over the world with worshippers from every tongue and tribe as we pray globally. Your financial support was distributed around the world as we contributed to MTW Southeast Asia projects of Freedom Project and Children s Charity
Primetimer s News The Primetimer s group is having a scruptious Christmas dinner with ham and many sides. There is no charge for this event. We re having former ministers of music, Kelley Stultz and Sigrid Luther entertain us. Greg Baney will give a Christmas devotion. Please bring hats, gloves, or scarves to be donated to the Hope for Inner City ministry. If you have not been called, please come anyway. Hope to see you all! Upcoming Events! Dec 3 - Children s Christmas Program - 6:00pm Dec 8 - Youth - HS Christmas Party - 7:30-10:00pm Dec 10 - Christmas Concert - 6-7:30pm Dec 12 - Primetimer s Lunch 12:00pm Dec 13 - Women s Ministry Christmas Event 6:30pm Dec 15 - Youth - MS Christmas Party - 6:30-9:30pm Dec 17 - No Evening Ministries Dec 24 - No SS, Christmas Eve Service 6:00pm Dec 25-26 - Office Closed - Merry Christmas Dec 31 - No SS, No Evening Ministries Jan 1 & 2 - New Year s Day, Office is closed Jan 7 - Evening Ministries Resume Birthdays December Birthdays 1 - Brenda Johnson 2 - Jacob Hutchings 3 - Bailey Dishmon, Jeannette Eldridge, & Paula Hilton 4 - Halen Sharp & William Baney 5 - Kellyn Payne 6 - Don Davis 7 - Alene Johnson, Jack Stimart 8 - Sammy Jones & Sherry Thompson 9 - Jordan Halabrin & Caleb Hutchings 11 - Mark Arnold 14 - Kay Brown & Bruce Jones 15 - Karen Kohlmann 17 - Joan Fryar, Garrett Parker, Bob Hansen, Anniversaries December Anniversaries 3 - Ron & Sharon Gregory 6 - Brian & Judy Davilla 10 - David & Debbie Jackson 14 - Ben & Christine Parker 20 - T.J. & Amanda Mitchell 22 - Reid & Sandy Scott 30 - AJ & Amy Monsees & Karen Shafer 18 - Dale Hays, Louise Henrich, Kathy Higley, Sam Martin, & Alisa Gillis 21 - Chloe McAfee, Becca Johnson, Emily Johnson, Audra Payne, & Lindsey Pope 23 - Jamie Taylor 24 - Doug Jones & Randy Sharp 25 - Deborah Richardson 26 - Rick Purdy 27 - Melissa Mahoney 28 - Sue Isbell 29 - Hunter Landreth, Donna Williams & Caryn Kretzschmar 30 - Brenden Ball & David Loftin