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Upcoming Events
DECEMBER
9 Fruitland Park Hometown Christmas
18 Lottie Moon offering collected
21 NextGen Christmas Celebration
24 Christmas Eve Service
25 No morning Worship Service
26-1/2 HCC Office Closed
26-1/2 BTW Closed
JANUARY 2017
1 Family Worship in the Worship Center
1 Lord's Supper
6-7 D-Now (Youth Discipleship Outreach)
FEBRUARY 2017
3 Valentine's Gala
9 HCC Office Closed
11-19 Love Week
No words can express how blessed Heritage has been this year because of the obedience of God's people giving their tithes and offerings heartily unto the Lord. We are now approaching year end and we want to make sure everyone gets their contribution statement expediently. This year we have the ability to email statements to you. You will receive an email requesting that you update your information in our church files the middle of December. Please respond quickly, making sure that your email address is correct.
Remember, all donations must be received or postmarked by December 31, 2016
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Starting in 1888, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was established to empower the international missions efforts for Southern Baptists. After more than a century, the annual offering continues its steady growth. Your giving enables missionaries to be sent to make disciples and multiply churches among unreached peoples and places for the glory of God.
Heritage Community Church will be participating in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering again this December beginning with The Week of Prayer; our chance as families to pray daily for specific missionaries around the world and the building of God's Kingdom. On Sunday, December 18th, we will be joined by Jeremy Taliaferro, an IMB missionary currently serving in Uganda, Africa, during our morning worship service. Don't miss this!
Our church goal this year for the Lottie Moon Offering is $10,000. You will be able to give during the first three Sundays of December, and we will announce our total offering gift during our Christmas Eve service on December 24th. Please be praying to see how God would have you give as a family. It's so exciting that we get to be a part of what God is doing all over the world through this special offering!
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Join us December 24th for our Heritage Christmas Eve Service! We will celebrate the Advent season together with singing, candle lighting and the telling of the Christmas story. It will be a very special time so bring the entire family! The service will begin at 5pm.
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Pastor Sidney Brock
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:4:5
The Christmas season is supposed to be a time of laughter and celebration, but for some, it can be anything but joyous.
Christmas is such an awesome time of the year but then again on the other hand it can be so complicated because of the tensions that might exist.
How can we celebrate or even pretend to be happy when we are facing so much brokenness and personal heartache? How can we respond with wonder and awe and not lose hope amidst the hopelessness that has a way of surfacing during the Christmas season? In light of these thoughts, we will begin a new three week series on Sunday December 4th entitled, "Jesus: Light of the World" On Sunday December 18th, as part of our series and Lottie Moon mission offering emphasis for foreign missions, we are also excited to host our special guest, Jeremy Taliaferro from the international mission board.
If you are looking for a place to serve, there are plenty of opportunities listed in the newsletter this month.
As great as serving others is, our greatest acts of service and ministry happens in our homes.
Thank you for allowing us to partner with you in raising the next generation of Christ Followers as we grow, share and serve.
We love you
Merry Christmas
Pastor Sid
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Beyond The Walls
It's the most wonderful time of the year! For Beyond the Walls this is a true statement! We are busy as bees right now. Thank you for all that volunteered for the Boy Scout Food drive. Almost 2000 pounds of food were collected and sorted by our volunteers! Also a big thank you to those who helped during our very successful Thanksgiving distribution. We love seeing volunteers and our neighbors coming together and loving each other. Thank you to Vietnam Veterans of American Chapter 1036 in The Villages for their hard work assembling the bags of food and for also donating the turkeys! We are so thankful for their support and dedication to our pantry. It takes many hands to take care of our community and we are thankful for all who help!
There is another opportunity for you and your family to be involved with Beyond the Walls. We will be distributing Christmas dinner bags on Saturday, December 17. Volunteers are asked to arrive between 9:30-9:45am. Distribution will begin at 10:00am. If you would like to volunteer please
click here. We will only be taking a certain number of people to volunteer, so sign up soon!
One other way you can get involved is to participate in a Reverse Advent Calendar. Each day in Advent, beginning November 27th, you add an non perishable item to the box or basket and then on Christmas Eve bring your basket with food to our Christmas Eve service. The items will be collected and donated to Beyond the Walls Ministry Food Pantry. It is a great way to teach children the importance of giving to those who are less fortunate and need a little extra help this year.
Thank you all again to the volunteers who give of their time so generously to Beyond the Walls. The success of Beyond the Walls is truly because of the many amazing hands that help to love and serve our neighbors.
Hannah R. McClain
Beyond The Walls Ministry
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Tree House Kids
Merry Christmas! There is so much to love about December...sights, sounds, smells, parties. All of these things help us get ready to celebrate the most important day of December...the birth of Jesus!! In the Playhouse each Sunday, our little ones are hearing a part of the Christmas story. Our Hideout Kids will be learning through the Christmas story that Jesus is the reason we find JOY.
If you did not receive the Advent Calendar that was included in the Family Worship Bags in November, you can pick one up at Guest Central or Child Check-in. The Advent Calendar is a meaningful way to prepare young hearts for Christmas Day.
We hope to see your family at our Christmas Eve service. Since we will not have Christmas Day services, Christmas Eve will be an especially sweet time for us to gather together as a church family to celebrate Jesus. On Christmas morning, you can read the Christmas story together...all nice and comfy in your pajamas.
The next
Family Worship in the
Worship Center will be Sunday, January 1st. What a great way to start the New Year as our families gather together.
May your December be less stress and more joy!
With joy for your families,
Ms. Sharon
ALL parents of upcoming third through sixth graders are invited to our
brief
Camp Kidjam Informational meeting on December 11th right after church. Camp is always a faith milestone in the lives of our kids. So if your child has never been or is an experienced camper, you can get the scoop on Camp Kidjam for 2017. There will even be entertainment with the previewing of the new Camp Video. Your kids will love it!
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The Next Generation
Youth Ministry
'Tis the season!!! It's hard to believe the year is winding down. God has been so good to us this year and we are extremely grateful. As the year comes to an end, things in NextGen are just getting started. On December 2nd, NextGen will be hosting "Parent's Night Out". This is a fundraising effort for our students to secure funds for camp. We are asking that parents bring a box of cookies with their child(ren) and monies are donation based. Infants through 5th grade are welcome. Another event we have coming up that we are really excited about is our first "NextGen Christmas". On Wednesday, December 21st, we are inviting the church to join us as our Arenas are showcased and we enjoy some Christmas cheer together. You won't want to miss it.
Coming out of the new year, we will be hosting our 2nd Annual DNow weekend for our students on January 6th and 7th. Please be in prayer over all of the happenings here at NextGen. We really appreciate them. Merry Christmas Everyone and Have a Blessed New Year!!!
Melvin Davison
Student Pastor
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HCC Hosts City of Frutiland Park Employees at annual Christmas Luncheon
On Thursday December 15th HCC will be hosting our annual Christmas luncheon for the city workers of Fruitland Park as well as the Bless Fruitland Park team. The Boliek Missional Community will be hostessing this event. If you would like to contribute a salad or dessert, please click below to sign up.
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Mission Trip Opportunity
There will be an informational meeting on December 4th, directly after service in the Worship Center for those interested in going to Haiti in the Spring. The specific details will be given at the meeting.
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