The Pep Talk
Posted by The Pastor on August 23, 2008
Here is the video from Sunday August 24th. This one is funny.
Prayer Walking Our Schools
Posted by The Pastor on August 22, 2008
Don’t forget that Saturday, starting at 10:00 am, we will be prayer walking our schools. Prayer walking is a ministry where Christians gather and pray for things as they see them. As they walk around it inspires them to pray together for different things that are noticed as they see the surroundings.
High Peak will be prayer walking in two groups. One group will go to Drexel 
Primary School in Drexel. After they finish prayer walking there, they will be going to Hallyburton Elementary School also in Drexel. They will be asked to spend about 30 minutes at each school praying. Then they will travel to meet the other group at the new Draughn High School.
The second group will start by praying for Valdese Elementary School. After praying there they will travel to Heritage Middle School and pray there. Finally they will meet the other group at Draughn High School at about 11:30 for prayer as a group.
Finally, after we are finished praying at Draughn, we will return to the church and pray for our County School officials, like Dr. Burleson, the school board, and the county administrators.
WV Mission Trip 2008
Posted by The Pastor on August 8, 2008
Our church takes a yearly mission trip to West Virginia. A small community called Fireco is where we go. We hand out school supplies to the kids and do a backyard Bible club. This year we had 10 go. It was rained out a little bit so we just held it in a nearby church basement. We presented the gospel and had 6 professions of faith.
Gary Stephens, Missionary to Cameroon
Posted by The Pastor on
Gary Stephens and his wife Ruth are missionaries to Cameroon. He spoke at High Peak recently and this is the video he showed of their work there. He has given us permission to post it here.
Prayers In Heaven
Posted by The Pastor on July 24, 2008
One of our members sent an email to me that touched me. I thought I’d share it here.
I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.”
I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.”
I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. “This is the Acknowledgment Section,” my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.
“How is it that there is no work going on here?” I asked.
“So sad,” the angel sighed. “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments …”
“How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked.
“Simple,” the angel answered. Just say, ‘Thank you, Lord.’”
“What blessings should they acknowledge?” I asked.
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness … You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day . If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation … You are ahead of 700 million people in the world. If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world . If your parents are still alive and still married …you are very rare . If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you’re unique to all those in doubt and despair.”
“Ok, what now? How can I start?”
“ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.: ‘Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with.”
Now, I know this may not be a theological masterpiece, but it does prove a wonderful theological point. If we offered as much thanksgiving as we do requests, we would all be much happier. And if we offered as much thanks as God deserves, then both God and we would be a lot happier.
Thanks for the reminder Mandy!
Youth Mission Trip
Posted by The Pastor on July 21, 2008
The youth took a mission trip to Hendersonville, NC and did work with an organization called Service Works. They partner churches with people in need. Usually this is some kind of house repair or light construction duties. Our youth helped to fix up a family’s home which had been condemned. This would have resulted in the family being put out and likely homeless. And now they won’t be.
Messages from Mayberry
Posted by The Pastor on July 7, 2008
Just as Jesus used parables, preachers use stories. Starting on Sunday Nights next 
week (July 13th) we will be enjoying the series "Messages from Mayberry", a four part series on lessons learned from Andy, Barney, Aunt Bea and Opey.
At the start of each message we will watch a favorite episode of the Any Griffith Show. And then I will preach on the issues learned from this favorite story from one of the most popular shows in TV history.
Come at 7 PM on Sunday Night July 13th to enjoy this delightful series.
Pray for the President
Posted by The Pastor on July 2, 2008
This week we celebrate our independence and the birth of our nation. One of the key leaders in this country is of course the President of the United States. There is a web site devoted to inspiring people to pray for him. It is called The Presidential Prayer Team. You can view weekly prayer requests for the President as well as sign up for email to get daily updates on the President’s needs as well as those of his administration.
Saturday Movie Night
Posted by The Pastor on June 26, 2008
Don’t forget our Saturday Night Movie Night. At 8:30 pm we will show an outdoor movie. We have a big inflatable screen on which me will show the movie just like the drive-in.
The film is a family friendly movie. Bring goon snacks.
Our Wednesday Night Psalm
Posted by The Pastor on June 19, 2008
This past Wednesday night we discussed how the Psalms help us pray, especially when we are struggling to come up with the words to say to God. We can read the Psalms and they give us words to say. But we can also write a Psalm. The steps to do so are as follows:
1. Think of a situation you are facing and write a statement about that situation as if you were talking to God.
2. Now, you can do one of three things to continue your Psalm. In Hebrew poetry this is called parallelism. You create parallel ideas using one of three forms. 1) You can same the same thing just in different words. 2) You can say the opposite. 3) Or you can say a little more about that idea, furthering the thought.
3. Now make another statement, this time using a metaphor or a simile. For an explanation of what those are, click the words which will take you to another site that explains them. After you finish with that second statement using a different kind of parallelism. For example, if you used the same though in the first parallel idea, and contrast (saying the opposite) in the second, then now use a furthering of the idea in the third.
Here is our example that we did in our Wednesday Night group.
People say, ”If you can’t see it how can you believe?"
God says ”Walk by FAITH not by sight!" (Contrasting Parallelism)Saved people live so others can see it in us.
Their actions show God in them! (Restatement Parallelism)If others mock us then we are going to pray for them.
We will still be their friend. (Furtherance Parallelism)I will use the breath He gave me to pray for others and to bless this holy name.
I will never dishonor God because people throw rocks at my window into heaven of faith. (Contrasting Parallelism)
Now you give it a try and send me a copy of what you come up with.
