Received Sunday $ 36,283.28

Weekly Requirements $34,619.00

Received to Date $ 1,723,092.77

Required to Date $ 1,730,950.00

Building Fund

Received Sunday $ 490.00

Faith Offering

Received Sunday $ 820.00

Received to Date $ 115,208.18

Last Week’s Numbers

return servic

e requested

39

39

JOE R

AM

SEY G

REEN

VILLE, TX

754

01

90

3.4

55.2

97

0

Non

-Pro

fit Org

.

U.S

. PO

ST

AG

E

P A

I D

Perm

it No. 4

29

Gre

enville

, TX

75401

A Publication of Highland Terrace Baptist Church

December 13, 2011 www.highlandterrace.net

Epistles The Law History Psalms Poetry Prophecy Gospels

December 18

3 John

December 19

Deut. 29-31

December 20

Esther 1-5

December 21

Psalm 146-148

December 22

Song 5-6

December 23

Rev 12-17

December 24

Acts 25-26

Daily Bible Readings

Holiday Schedule: Dec. 18: Adult Choir Christmas musical

(evening service) Dec. 21: No AWANA Dec. 23: Church offices closed Dec. 24: Candlelight service and Lord’s Supper Dec. 25: Christmas (worship at 9 & 10:30 am; no Sunday

School or evening service) Dec. 26: Church offices closed; no newsletter this week

and no printed prayer letter (prayer requests will still be sent out via email).

Dec. 28: No AWANA January 2: No printed prayer letter (prayer requests will

still be sent out via email)

Ms. Jettie Shields is truly one of God’s choice servants and has made an investment in this church since 1949! The influence that she and her late husband Guy had on so many people through the years has shaped multiple generations! Early Monday morning the escort angels came and escorted Ms. Jettie into the presence of the Lord! Those who were fortunate enough to know Ms. Jettie and Guy know just how valuable of an asset they have been to this church for over 61 years! While we would not want Ms. Jettie to have remained on earth for another day of suffering, we also know heaven’s gain is HTBC’s loss. What a tremendous treasure has been deposited on the other side and we can only imagine the kind of glad reunion she is enjoying with Guy as they worship God with one another in the presence of holy angels! It kind of adds a new meaning to “I’ll be home for Christmas!” This old world was never her home, she was just a pilgrim passing

through. I don’t know about you but the thoughts of Ms. Jettie being “home for Christmas” makes me want to say WELL GLORY!

A few weeks ago, on Sunday evening, I preached about the five-fold “Ministry” Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers). HTBC is blessed to have an evangelist that we support financially through our church budget. Paul Cherry is an evangelist from our church and he is God’s gift to the local churches. I have invited Paul to preach this Sunday and we will be blessed by the ministry of Paul and his wife Vanessa in all three morning worship services. Please invite your family and friends to join us for this great

day at HTBC.

There are a lot of celebrations that take place in the course of a year. However, Christmas is the largest celebration around the world every year! There are a lot of other holidays but they only get a single day, but Christmas is emphasized and celebrated for an entire month (or

more)!

There seems to be a growing number of people who either oppose Christmas being celebrated or refuse to say “Merry Christmas.” That seems rather strange to me because every time a person checks their calendar or refers to a date or writes one down, they are using Je-sus Christ as their reference point! Think about it, history is divided into BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini, in the year of the Lord).

Every other event in human history is dated by how many days and years it has been since Jesus Christ was born through the Virgin Mary!

The culture that exists in America promotes the idea that whatever you believe can be truth for you, and whatever I believe can be truth for me, but that kind of culture does not acknowledge absolute truth in the spiritual realm. But if Jesus was born in history to the Virgin Mary, if He fulfilled prophecies made hundreds of years before His birth, and if events surrounding His birth, life, death, resurrection and His ascen-sion are verified by hundreds of reliable eyewitnesses, then you cannot simply shrug it off as a nice story that is true for some but not true

for others!

If God has so acted in human history, then I submit to you that it is really GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY just like the angel said it was to the

shepherds (Luke 2:8-11). So I hope that you know that it’s truly is alright to say “MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

I am looking forward to seeing you Sunday and this week Paul Cherry will be swinging the two-edged sword!

In Christ,

Bro Bobby

Bible Study Enrollment 1681

Bible Study Attendance 740

Offsite Bible Study Attendance 142

Total Bible Study Attendance 882

Worship Attendance 819

New semester begins January 18, 2012!

Visit ddterry.com for more information.

GAYLORD TEXAN 2011 We always like to go to the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine to see ICE production. This year, “Shrek the Halls” is the theme. Remember if you have not been before,

bring your gloves. The temperature is around 9 degrees. Hooded jackets are provided. No open-toed shoes. Long pants are re-quired. A scarf is suggested. Tickets are $21. Buying a ticket re-serves your spot, so be sure and pay when you sign up. We will be going on Thursday, Dec. 29; only those prepaid by Dec. 21 will receive a ticket. This year we will take those that would like to see the Gaylord Texan Hotel and not go to ICE at a cost of $2. When you sign up, designate and pay so we can arrange transportation. The hotel will have all the Christ-mas decorations up and ready for our viewing. Such fun —a great time to take pictures and enjoy the beauti-ful scenes in each area. Please bring extra money for lunch.

True Disciples Abide If you want to be a healthy disciple of Jesus, then feeding on God’s Word must be your first priority. Jesus called it “abiding” or “continuing.” He said, “If you continue (abide) in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (Jesus) John 8:31 NASB. Beginning January 15th, we will be having a spiritual growth campaign called 40 Days In The Word at our church. This campaign is designed to help you, your small group, and our entire church family, Love the Word, Learn the Word, and Live the Word like never before. “How many times do members of your church doubt God’s Word, fall prey to others who attack its reliability or not live out its content? Too many of God’s people don’t really believe God’s Word or don’t ‘do’ God’s Word. Forty Days in the Word will transform your people from ‘hearers’ to ‘doers.’” (Rick Warren)

The events of the campaign will give us opportunities to not only learn God’s Word, but also the methods of studying God’s Word. For six weeks the small groups will gather in homes, at coffee shops, college campuses, church rooms, office buildings, and other places, to watch and discuss a weekly video teaching session with Pastor Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life In these six small group lessons, Pastor Rick Warren, will teach you: Six easy-to-learn methods for reading and meditating on Scripture. These are the methods he personally uses in his personal daily quiet time Proven techniques for a meaningful quiet time with God How to memorize scripture Sound principles for accurate Bible interpretation A step-by-step process for applying God’s Word to your life

In just 40 days, your devotional life will be revolutionized! Each small group has a DVD and each participant will get a workbook which includes: Six small group lesson outlines to accompany the 40 Days In The Word DVD A personal 40 Days in the Word devotional journal Two bonus chapters from Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods book Twenty Verses Every Believer Should Memorize Foundations: The Bible-How Do We Know the Bible Came from God? “Which Bible is Right for Me?”-A Guide for Choosing a Bible Translation Right now, we are looking for Host Homes where groups can meet to go through this six-week Bible study together. We want to have enough homes so that EVERYONE - that’s 100% of our congregation - can be in a small group study. That means we need 100 homes! Will you consider opening your home to a group for the Campaign? If you received a Host Home Sign Up Card on Sunday, please drop it at the Sign up Table, or The Welcome Center. If you did not receive a card you can just stop by the Sign Up Table in the Atrium and use the Sign Up Sheet. Catch the wave! Be a part of what God wants to do in our city and county. You are loved,

Bro. Kelly kelly@highlandterrace.org

Want to see some recent videos of our

worship services? Go to www.vimeo.com/htbc.

Singles Bible Study

1st Thursday of each month

6:00 pm, room C205 (upstairs)

HTBC services can be seen on GEUSNET,

Channel 73, at the following times:

SERVICE BROADCAST

8:15 AM Sunday, 11:00 AM

9:30 AM Sunday, 6:00 PM

Sunday evening Wednesday, 6:00 PM

If it is time to get your certification renewed for the AED units in our church, please sign up in the atrium to indicate your interest. We will schedule the class in January after we have 10 or more sign up. This class also involves basic CPR training.

We’re looking for host homes!

Here are five top reasons to become a HOST HOME for the 40

Days in the Word campaign (January 15-February 19):

#5 You’ll be part of the movement of God

#4 You’ll be a main hub of communication and learning

#3 You’ll get to know some other friendly HTBC attendees

#2 You’ll grow in faith by showing hospitality to other people

#1 You’ll experience the joy and blessing of being used by God

God wants everyone of His disciples to “abide in His Word” (John 8:31). It is the ONLY way to become a healthy growing believer. We need to learn a process of how to abide in His Word. Won’t you open your home once a week for six weeks during the 40 Days in the Word? Sign up on the sign-up table or leave your

card at one of the welcome centers after the service.

This weekend was a blast! For our lockout, we went to play broomball at Stonebriar Mall, to an indoor trampoline park called Jump Street, and to Main Event for video games, laser tag, and bowling. I could not have had a better time with our students. For me, the highlight of the night was when one of our sen-iors, Kaleb Fulton, gave a short

devotional. I had one prepared, but I found out he had given the FCA message at Caddo Mills High School earlier in the day, so I asked him to share his message with the group. He did an out-

standing job!

I wanted to give you a heads up of some of our major dates for

next year. These are all times I believe that our students can

radically grow in their faith. Please pray about sending your stu-

dent to these events.

Planet Wisdom February 10-11, 2012 Mission Lab New Orleans March 11-16, 2012 M-Fuge June 10-16

Will wcrum@highlandterrace.org