Here are a few of the many pictures I posted of our Christmas Social. There are a bunch of family shots as well. So if you posed, make sure you come get your pic.

Here’s the link to the other photos. They are in the Church set on my Flickr page. The new photos are at the very end.

Here’s what’s happening This Week @ High Peak!

• Senior’s Christmas Dinner is today at 11 am.
• Christmas with the Kranks Bible Study – Wed at 7 pm with snacks provided by the Kevin and Barb as our way of saying thanks to the church
• Christmas Social – Sunday at 5 pm
• Christmas Program Practice Wed at 6 pm but not on Sunday this week
• Catawba River Baptists Association Toy Store all week at Calvary Baptist Church – please be in prayer for it
• Sunday Night Football in Fellowship Hall after the Christmas Dinner this week

The Bible study on Christmas with the Kranks will focus on the issue of commitment in the midst of obstacles and opposition. I hope you will come a little early and get some snacks or stay after an enjoy some fellowship. Below is the trailer for the movie:

Barb Purcell kissing Santa Clause at last year's social

The Social will include meat provided by the church. Just bring your favorite dish and dessert to share. The kids will enjoy eating with Santa Claus who will be joining us for the party.

After the social, if you want to stay or come back, we will hook up the Satellite and enjoy Sunday Night Football with the Giants taking not the Cowboys. Invite friends to watch on the big screen!

All week our Association will be giving away toys to needy families so that they can give their children a nice Christmas. Please pray as we share the Gospel with these parents and also pray that God will use this ministry to help them know the joy of Christmas in Jesus Christ, not just presents.

Wayne Stamey waits to counsel someone at the 2009 Toy Store

Also, remember the other upcoming Christmas season events:

• Christmas program – Dec. 18 at 6 pm
• Christmas Day worship – Dec. 25 at 11 am – no other activities that day
• Christmas Candlelight Communion – Wed, Dec. 21 at 7 pm

Christmas with the Kranks Bible Study

Starting Wednesday night at 7 PM we will begin a three week study using the movie Christmas with the Kranks as our discussions starter. This is a funny look at what it would be like if an empty nest couple decided to forgo Christmas for a cruise since their only child won’t be home for the first time.

Each week we’ll look at a new theme using ideas introduced in the movie. This seek we will talk about who we often let other people set the agenda for our lifestyle, beliefs and ways of celebrating things like Christmas. The other two weeks will center around commitment and forgiveness.

Come and enjoy some light desert refreshments compliments of Kevin and Barb. This is our way of saying thanks to the church for all you do for us.

West Virginia Mission Trip

A team of people from our church will leave Friday to do ministry in West Virginia, giving away gifts for Christmas to the people there. Michael Roberts leads this team which will be in WV overnight. I won’t try to name all of them since I’m likely to forget someone. Please pray for them and we look forward to hearing a testimony next Sunday of how the trip went.

Christmas Parade

The Valdese Christmas Parade takes place this Saturday. Our children will ride in it. If you want your kids in the parade have them at church at 8:30 AM.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions will be collected during December. This week we will collect the first of two special offerings during the worship service. To read more about the offering see the International Mission Board’s website.

Please consider taking the time to view the great videos about missionaries around the world. If you were at our adult missions study, this page has the videos I tried to show but couldn’t due to technical difficulty. The one below we saw part of during the study. Note that the video will be slightly cut off. You may want to click on the button to show it full screen in your web browser.

Christmas Play Practice

The Christmas program is December 18 at 6PM. Some of our youth and children will take part so they need to practice again at 4PM this Sunday.

THRIVE Team Subset Meeting

Our THRIVE Team won’t meet again as a whole team until January. However, a small group has been appointed to do some work on a Purpose/Mission/Vision Statement. They meet Sunday morning after the worship service. Please pray for them. They are:

• Scooter Farley
• Barb Purcell
• Kim Stamey
• Britt Abernathy
• Kevin Purcell

Here is this week’s Highlights Email. If you are not getting it, send me your email address and I’ll add you.

This Sunday we will worship God through the Lord’s Supper. As I get ready for it, I’m reading from Mark where it describes the way Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. He definitely included prayer as part of the meal and so should we.

As you think about the Lord’s Supper come ready to get close to Christ, by remembering what he did for us, thanking him for it and celebrating – I mean really celebrating – his grace, mercy and generosity.

30 Days to Care

For the last few weeks we’ve emphasized Prayer with our 30 days of prayer. Please continue to pray for our church every day. Starting next Sunday we will emphasize fellowship and reaching out to our members who have become inactive. Please also be praying for them. If you have someone that is a member of our church that God is giving you a burden to try to reach and bring back into the fellowship of our church, begin praying now for that person.

We hope to start contacting these people in September and inviting them back. We will write invitation cards on Wednesdays as we do this. If you specifically want us to focus on a person you are praying for, let me know via email.

Family Movie Night

Remember that we are hosting the Family Movie Night at Jacumin Plaza this week. Please come and get their early to help get things set up. The movie will start at 9:00 and we will start setting up at about 8:15.

Mens Retreat

The men’s retreat will be Sep 30-Oct 1 and costs $35 per person if you stay overnight and $20 if you do not. We need the money this week to make our reservations.

Fifth Quarter

Starting Sep 23, the youth will host Fifth Quarter after the football games. This will continue throughout the season after this date starting about 9PM with food and devotions.

Coming Up Soon

• Homecoming – Oct 2
• High School Seniors and Parents Lunch – Oct 23
• Revival – Oct 23-26 with Ron Cooper

The movie Sarah’s Choice is playing Friday July 22 at Jacumin Plaza for free. Our church is hosting the evening. Attend and invite friends. Below is the Trailer.

The story will make you think. It is about a young woman, played by singer Rebecca St. James, who becomes pregnant and has to deal with the decisions women face today.

Hopefully we will see some people who are not in church at this event so that we can invite them. This is one of those events that we need everyone to come and be part of so that our church can show its best. We need you here for this event!

If you want to volunteer to help serve snacks come at 8:30 and see Kristi Farley.

Our 2011 Vacation Bible School theme is Shake It Up Cafe! We will study the feast days of Israel in a fun and exciting way learning more about ourselves and God’s word along the way. We have  classes for everyone from the toddlers to the adults. For the first time in many years we will have a class for the youth. The adult class will meet after the nightly supper in the fellowship hall. Come to eat or just come for the class at about 6:40.

High Peak Baptist Church is hosting a Fifth Quarter Fun even after the Draughn and Patton football games during the month of October. Each Friday, after the games, we will have our facilities open and ready for the students of each school and their friends to come enjoy music, snacks, and fun in a clean and safe environment. Come join us following the games.

For directions to our church, hit the link on the side and you can get customized direction from your home. From Patton use this link: http://bit.ly/94RMmQ and from Draughn this link: http://bit.ly/aeLuJc.

See you after the game!

Our Summer Outdoor Movies are starting this coming Friday at 9:00 pm. The first movie will be the Billy: The Early Years about the early life of Billy Graham, the great evangelist. Invite friends and family and bring chairs, bug repellent and some snacks.

Father’s Day is this Sunday. We have a couple of special Father’s Day happenings, or at least in one case a non-happening.

First, the ladies are fixing breakfast for us. All Dads and Sons are welcome to come get some eggs, biscuits and gravy at 9:00 am.

Then, after Sunday School and worship we have the day to ourselves. There will be no evening activities, so enjoy some extra family time.

And for Dads, I will be preaching on The Encouraging Father.

Our men and boys and one of our ladies helped out at the CRBA office building doing some landscaping work. We laid sod and mulch. Here is a video of the morning’s work.