Dear friends,
We have entered the holiday season, and there is much to do at church and in other areas of our lives. These are busy days as you can tell from all the announcements present in this Illuminator. My mind is being pulled in numerous directions, so it seems fitting and appropriate that this space would include a special holiday edition of Random Thoughts from a Scattered Mind.
- As I write this during the week of Thanksgiving, I remain grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Hope Valley family. Thank you for your love and encouragement to my family and me. We feel blessed.
- This year, the Yates Baptist Association Food Pantry set a goal to provide the fixings, including a turkey, for a full Thanksgiving meal to more than 220 of their clients. Through the generosity of a member who donated some turkeys on behalf of his company and more turkeys purchased by our Missions Team, we were able to donate 22 turkeys to the Food Pantry to help make this Thanksgiving special for families in Durham. Join me in praying for the families who received these turkeys.
- I love the Advent season and hope you will make every effort to join us for our Advent worship services and the special musical services on December 4 and 18 as well as on Christmas Eve. How blessed we are that God became flesh and dwelt among us. Let us prepare our hearts so that we may experience the fullness of God’s love and joy this season.
- Though there are many opportunities to give this season, and we still desperately need your generous support in giving to the budget as we approach year end, please consider giving also to our Global Missions Offering this year. The Global Missions Offering provides us one opportunity to make an impact in supporting missionaries and mission work around our world. Our offering goal this year is $6,000. We offer two options for supporting global missions this season. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Global Missions Offering has focused its efforts on unreached people groups; that is, language and ethnic groups who have little or no access to the Gospel. You may also give to the Lottie Moon Offering of the Southern Baptist Convention. The International Mission Board of the SBC supports missionaries who work in a wide variety of areas and tasks, but have a special focus on evangelism and church starting. Beginning this Sunday, you will find offering envelopes in the pew racks for these two offerings. Both offerings send every penny collected directly to the mission field. For this reason, these are excellent ways to support the work of global missions.
Blessings,
Bill