The final Family Fun Event of the year will be right after church on Sunday, December 11, in the After School Room. After a kid-friendly meal (adults will like it, too!), families will work together to make a tasty treat for some older members of the church who can't get out. The plan is to deliver the homemade gift and sing some carols at each stop. Please let Cheryl Beck know if you will be there!
Recipes Appreciated!
Each week we include a recipe in the Church Chimes and we hope that you are enjoying reading and trying them. You can add your favorite recipes to the Chimes by sending them to Cheryl Beck at cabeck@ncsu.edu. This is an ongoing WMU project.
Thanks for participating!
Council on Aging Box Collection - TODAY is the Last Day!
Every year, the Council on Aging fills boxes with good things for the disabled and Homebound in Jackson County. They ask that the items be put in a wrapped box. There are several wrapped boxes in the Loving Kindness Room with a list inside of needed items.
If you can help with this project, please take a box, fill it and either return it to the Church or take it to the Senior Service Center before November 30. Thanks for your help with this giving project and bringing joy to others!
Youth Newsletter
Click HERE to view the spring youth newsletter!
Christmas Offering
Consider giving a gift that will extend the work of Christ’s Kingdom in our community! This year, choose to give a gift in honor or memory of someone special through our Christmas Offering. All proceeds of the Christmas Offering will be used to further the mission and ministry of First Baptist Church in our town and around the world. When you contribute to our Christmas Offering, the church will send a Christmas card to the person you choose to honor. Christmas Offering envelopes are available in both the pew racks in our sanctuary and our church office.
Hurray for Our Nursery Workers of the Week!
Thank you to Beth Moore who checked on the nursery this week.
We appreciate her willingness to always help.
Next Sunday, December 4, Jeremy and Heather Ellenburg are in charge of the nursery.
Thank you for helping!
There is still room on the schedule to serve “the least of these”
on Sunday mornings. It is a blessing to see their smiles and enthusiasm as you spend
time with our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Please contact Cheryl Beck (cabeck@ncsu.edu) if you would like to help.
Mission Moment 11.30.22
Brooke and Mike
CBF Field Personnel in Southeast Asia
When life is busy or rushed or I just don’t know what to pray, I have found this helpful as a way to slow down and focus on who my God is.
Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I Am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
It reminds me to focus on who God is, how big God is, and that God has always been. It reminds me to stop and remember what I know about who God is and what God has done.
It reminds to me to be still in God’s presence, to just sit in God’s love. And it reminds me to just be, to just be the me that God created me to be. I am loved just as I am. I am loved because of whose I am. I am loved and I just need to rest in that.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
Christmas Break Food Bag Project
United Christian Ministries’ annual food drive to collect food for school children and their families during the Christmas break. This year, our church has committed to collect 250 boxes of cereal. The cereal we collect will be combined with other food items in a bag and will be a blessing to families who struggle with good insecurity. Please drop off regularly sized boxes of cereal (not the family sized boxes, please, as they are too big for the food bags) in the Loving Kindness Room outside of the church sanctuary. Our offering of cereal boxes is due by December 15.
Online Directory for Our Active Attendees
Not a full-time resident of Jackson County but still want to stay in touch? We invite you to join our First Baptist Church of Sylva’s online directory! You may have heard about our recent implementation of an on-line directory for church members. We have created a group to include those who may not live here year round but who attend our services and/or events when they are here. We invite you to be a part of the directory so that you can you access to contact information for members and active-attendees, alike.
Click here to join!
1st Explorers Update
First Explorers welcome Melanie Stokely to the position of on-site coordinator for this important ministry of our church. We are so excited that she will be there each day to work with the staff and help plan great enrichment opportunities for the children. In Melanie’s own words:
My name is Melanie Stokely. I’m so excited to be working with 1st Explorers After School Ministry! I have 15 years experience in childhood education, from preschool through middle school. I’m originally from Greenville, SC. I moved to the Sylva area in 2013. I’m looking forward to getting to know the staff, students, and parents. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns (828-226-0781).
Serving Him, Melanie
Over the last two weeks, the children concentrated on “Gratitude” and “Thanksgiving.” They created thank-you cards for special people in their lives and learned about thankfulness in chapel each day. Emily and Mike Taylor helped the 1st Explorers transplant the herbs they had been growing, and the children took them home as gifts for their families.
Emily McClurefrom NC Cooperative Extension completed the 5-week cooking class for the older children, and they loved making and eating hummus with vegetables as their last activity. Each participant received a cookbook at the end of the program. The younger children had fun sponge painting turkey decorations and all the children loved creating an edible cornucopia as a snack one afternoon.
Thank you to all the volunteers who help make 1st Explorers a nurturing and fun place to be!