Photos from our Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Packing Party!
#shoeboxes2017
#285boxes!
#thankyouFBC
Operation Christmas Child Packing Party
Christmas Offering
If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a loved one, choose to give a gift in honor or in memory of someone special through our Christmas Offering! Income we receive from this offering will be divided equally between our local mission partners, namely: Jackson County Neighbors in Need, AWAKE, Circles of Hope, and Blue Ridge Health Jackson. When you make a contribution to this Christmas Offering, the church will send an informative–and handsome!–Christmas card to the person you are choosing to honor. Christmas Offering envelopes are available in the pew racks in both our sanctuary and in our church office.
Appalachian Shoe Boxes
To quote a favorite hymn, “Because I have been given much, I too must give.” You have been very generous in providing for children in Africa through Operation Christmas Child. This is the first year our church will also participate in the Appalachian Shoe Box ministry. These boxes will go to McCreary County, KY, the poorest county in the U.S.! Many children there receive no other Christmas gifts. If your heart is willing and your pocket book able, please consider giving to this cause using the list below.
Appropriate for all boxes: toiletries and grooming supplies (any bottles of liquids should be put inside a zip lock bag), travel size products, fine warm hats, gloves and scarves, school supplies such as pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, etc.
For K-6 possibilities: markers, crayons, balls, toys, hair bows, hair clips, card games, Legos, books, $5-$10 gift cards from Dollar Tree or Dollar General
For high school: gift cards from Dollar Tree or Dollar General, deodorant, body lotion, perfume, balls, wallet, socks, nail polish, lip gloss, flashlight.
Please label the box according to the intended age.
Any candy should be in a separate bag for distribution.
There’s an area in the Loving Kindness Room for gathering the boxes by this Sunday, November 19. Church member, Teresa Manring, has kindly offered to deliver the boxes during a business trip to Kentucky in early December.
Cuba Connection
Join us to explore ways to increase our Cuba Connection on Sunday, Nov. 12th immediately after the worship service in the upstairs conference room . All are welcome to join for this brief 30 minute meeting.
Kentucky Mission Trip
Three ladies went to Kentucky to support “our” missionary, Paula Settle. Her e-mails had been indicating a stressful several months; the death of a child after a long struggle with cancer; the stress of teenage foster children; and ending with the withdrawal of her funding from CBF next June. Paula has worked in Nada, KY, a “pocket of poverty” in the program Together for Hope for 15 years. (Incidentally, the same programs in Miami and Helena AK have also been defunded, so other missionaries are affected as well.) “What next?” is her question. Our church has supported her work through funding, sending teams to work, and this time to support her personally. She was in need of TLC which we gave her.
Thanks to the WMU groups and the Faith/Grace Sunday School class for helping to make this trip possible; funding the trip as well as sending “goodies” to cheer her. Keep Paula in your prayers.
Mission Team Report
Our Disaster Relief Mission Team will be giving a report on their recent trip to Texas on Wednesday, November 8th at 6:00 PM in the MFC during prayer meeting.
Stay Connected With Our Friends in Cuba
Hola friends and family,
We continue to be buoyed by the grace of your prayers and good thoughts. Here's a link to my blog musing from Cuba.
-Stan Dotson
En El Aire (blog by Stan on Sept 25) https://www.facebook.com/notes/stan-dotson/en-el-aire/10155683536674266/
Mission Moment
Bite 55: Trusting the Lord with all her heart
"Where we live, ID cards record your religion. One day, Sarah told me that she is proud of Jesus and wanted to change the religion on her card to read Christian. It is a big deal to change your ID card. It is not illegal to be a Christian here, but it presents challenges. Regardless, on Tuesday she went to have it changed.
By Wednesday, a complaint had been registered against her at the school where she works. However, after interviewing several hundred of her students, not one had a complaint and she was cleared! Through this change, Sarah was trusting the Lord with all her heart (Proverbs 3:5-6). Please pray for Sarah's safety as she continues to live out her faith."
- CBF field personnel serving in the Middle East
Update on Mission Team in Houston, TX
Here is an update on the work our mission team is doing in Houston, Texas. They have been hard at work cleaning out and repairing houses that suffered damage during the recent hurricanes. Continue to keep them in your prayers!
Mission Moment
"Last February, our church considered turning our Youth House into a Refugee Ministry but realized that we neither had the financial resources nor the manpower. However, conferences with the Wyatts and local pastors convinced us that with partnerships we could do this. God was at work, and all he needed was our willingness to join him. After the unanimous vote in July to offer up our Youth House, an avalanche of workers descended upon the deteriorating house and turned it into a warm, welcome home for "the least of these" coming to our shores. We are now partners in ministry, offering up what we have for God's use to benefit those who come to our country to make a new life for themselves."
- Charles Allard, pastor of Crabtree Valley Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., working alongside CBF field personnel Kim and Marc Wyatt