Ladies, we invite you to join us Tuesday evening, June 29, for our Women’s Ministries Summer Fellowship. We will meet in the Fellowship Hall at 7:00 p.m. to hear from Rachel H., one of our oversees partners. There are many ways that we as a church seek to support and encourage those who go out from us to share the Good News in other countries, and this is one more opportunity for you to do just that! Come listen to what God is doing through Rachel and her family in their country and get a better idea of how you can partner with them in their work. After we hear from Rachel, we will enjoy relaxed fellowship around dessert and coffee. Bring your friends and your daughters and come hear how God is working to build his kingdom!
Due to inclement weather two years ago and Covid last year, it’s been some time since we’ve enjoyed Praise in the Park. We are eager to resume this tradition on Sunday evening, May 23. We’ll meet outdoors at Greer City Park in their amphitheater at 4:30 p.m. for a time of singing and hearing the Word. Then we’ll spread out across the park for a church picnic. Because of lingering Covid concerns, we will not be providing food this year; however, we will provide bottled water and canned drinks. We ask that you BYOP—bring your own picnic. Invite a friend from the community, bring your lawn chairs and blankets, pack a picnic, and join us for Praise in the Park.
All ladies and young ladies are invited to join us April 29 at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall for our Women’s Ministries Spring Fellowship. We will spend a good portion of the evening getting to know one of our long-time members, Donna Lawrence. Donna will share her story of grace and give us an inside glimpse into what God has done in her life and how He continues to grow her. We will also get to hear how God has used some of the things she has learned and experienced at Heritage to write and publish a Christian fiction book, Shoshana’s Refuge. After we hear from Donna, we will enjoy a relaxed time of food and fellowship. Bring a friend, and come ready to make new friends or catch up with old ones! We hope to see you there!
For some time now we have wanted to host a weekend workshop specifically for our Sunday musicians. We are well served by talented and church-loving musicians each Lord’s Day and this is a way of investing in them spiritually and in the practical work of leading congregational singing as a team. That’s what we’re doing the second week of April with the help of our guest song-leader, Drew Hodge, Worship Pastor at Desert Springs Church in Albuquerque, NM.
Redemption Songs in the Morning,
Hymns in the Afternoon
On Sunday morning, April 11, we will hear the Word preached from the oldest song in the Bible, the Song of Moses, from Exodus 15. This will be the first installment in a periodic series we’ll call, Redemption Songs, in which we work through the songs embedded in the Bible’s story of redemption. That morning we will be led by Drew and our musicians.
That afternoon, at 4:30 PM we will host our first Hymn Sing. Drew and our musicians will lead us in singing our faith for an hour or so. Bring the family and plan to sing out. You might hear some new arrangements and sounds.
Meet Drew Hodge
Drew Hodge is a dear friend of mine (Trent) as we served together for seven years and met weekly with our families for our Community Group during that time. I’m eager for you all to meet him and for Drew to hear you sing. In view of this visit, I asked Drew if he’d write up a little bio of himself. Here’s his story:
I’m a husband to Crissie for 15 years, father to five kids (Arabella 12, Priest 10, Kanon 9, Halliday 7, Arrow 4), and Worship Pastor at Desert Springs Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the last eleven years.
Music and church always went together for me. My dad was a Southern Baptist Pastor for most of my life and my mother a talented musician. Growing up homeschooled by a musical mother meant that music was an expected discipline. I learned to sing and play piano as sure as read and write. By the age of 15 the Lord had placed in me a deep desire to serve the church in music and I haven’t ever pursued anything else.
Through high-school and college (Where I studied Vocal Performance) I labored to grow as a musician in order to serve the local church. Music and the church are both wonderful gifts, but one serves the other. Music is not a end in and of itself, but a means to the glorious end of God’s worship in the church.
Writing songs for the church has helped me to appreciate the church’s voice and learn the church’s heart. Letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly through singing together, as a church, has been one of my life’s greatest joys. By His grace it will continue to be for as long as He allows.
A.W. Tozer famously said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The trouble is that there are significant barriers to thoughts of God even entering our minds. First, our hectic lives and busy culture hardly allow room for us to think about God. We are inundated with technology, entertainment, and the next urgent problem. If we’re honest, we might have to confess that thinking about God is down the priority list. Another barrier is that thoughts about God seem unrelated to our everyday lives. God feels so far away and so intangible that we may find it difficult to believe that thinking about Him will actually help us with our family relationships, our work situation, or our life goals.
“Truth for the Road” is a series of studies we are launching this year and plan to revisit in coming years. The studies will help us learn more about the foundational doctrines of the Bible. Our goal is to consider significant questions such as Who is God? What is humanity’s problem? How can it be fixed? Who is Jesus, and why did He come? What’s so important about church? However, we’re not going to stay in the realm of the abstract. Truth hits us right where we live, so we’re going to see how answers to these questions change our everyday lives. That’s Truth for the Road.
This spring our Truth for the Road study will focus on the Trinity—the God of the Bible is 3 Persons in 1 God. Why should we care? What difference does this make on Monday morning? Come and find out. You may sign up online or at a table in the Hudson Road lobby at church, January 31 and February 7. Make sure to pick up a notebook for $5 and complete the first week’s work ahead of our first meeting on Thursday, February 11. You can choose to join us on Thursday mornings at 6:15 am or Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm, and our study will last six weeks, ending on March 18.
What is our only hope in life and death? Although we know the answer is Christ, after a difficult year, we may be left with many practical questions. Is Christ our only hope even when we are not feeling hopeful or happy? Is our faith enough to sustain us in difficult times? The book of James was possibly the first book written in the New Testament, and it has a word for those who are prone to wander, for those who are doubting, and for those who are seeking wisdom. James invites the Christians to remember their good God, calls the seekers to examine their faith, and shows that true wisdom is in seeing this groaning world the way that God sees it; James urges his readers to remain steadfast in their calling to Christ, to the Church, and to their fellow image-bearers. Come study with us as we dive into this practical and sometimes controversial book!
For this winter/spring session of Ladies’ Bible Study, we will meet in person at Heritage each Tuesday morning at 9:15 a.m. or Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m., January 12 – March 23. Childcare for infants through preschoolers is available for the morning session only. Each week will include small group discussions and a large group teaching session. We will offer a small group Zoom option on Tuesday evenings for those unable to attend in person.
Sign up online and pick up your study notebook in the Hudson Road lobby at Heritage on Sundays, December 27, January 3, or January 10. Or stop by the HBC office Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to pick up a notebook. Cost is $5. Email Liz Stratton, Women’s Ministries Director, with questions.
