Dear Church Family,

We are less than two months away from our upcoming prophecy series.  The meetings will be held on Tuesday & Thursday nights and will begin on January 23 and end on February 20.  I hope you will mark your calendar now for this important event as we will need many volunteers and workers to help make this a success.  The meetings will begin at the Crescent school and will transition after 2 ½ weeks to the church.  Eric Flickinger from It Is Written will be our speaker.  He is a seasoned evangelist and associate speaker for It Is Written.  We are excited to have him coming to work with us.  Next Sabbath, December 9, Eric will speak at our church.  He will share a morning message with us and then lots of practical how-to seminars in the afternoon at the church from 2-6pm.  These presentations are intended to help inspire and resource us for the upcoming meetings.  His topics for the afternoon will include How to Win the People Next Door, Giving Exciting Bible Studies, Inviting Your Friends to the Series, Dealing with Objections, and Gaining Decisions.  Please plan to attend and be in much prayer that God will use you to bring someone to Jesus!

In the news:

1. This Sabbath we will celebrate communion together.  I will be sharing the morning message.
2. There will be no fellowship lunch this Sabbath!
3. I wanted to remind all our elders and ministry leaders that we have leadership training taking place at Knoxville 1^st SDA Church this Sabbath afternoon from 3-8:30pm. Visit this link to see the schedule of workshops and which time slots pertain to your particular ministry. Elders and pastors have something scheduled for the whole time.  Supper will be provided.
4. AYA this week will feature The Crossville, Tennessee based, all male gospel music group, “Hymns Without Her.” They will be presenting sacred Christmas music at 5pm.  Some of the pieces will be presented with their composition story. A love offering will be taken.
5. This Sunday at 2pm, the Christmas parade will take place along Main Street in Greeneville.  Our Pathfinders & School will both be participating in the parade with the school featuring the GAA band.  Everyone is invited to attend.
6. Monday the school will hold a Constituency meeting at the school gym at 6pm. All church members, regardless of whether you have children at the school or not are encouraged to attend. The school constitution has been revised and will be voted.  You can review this document by visiting the school website and scrolling down and clicking on the link that says, “Proposed Constitution Changes December 2017.”
7. Speaking of meetings, the church will conduct its annual business meeting on Monday, December 11^th at the church. All are encouraged to attend.  Remember, the church business meeting represents the highest level of authority in the local church. Every member in regular standing has a voice in this meeting and is encouraged to attend as together we seek the will of God.
8. Our Wednesday Prayer meeting is winding up it’s study on Ezekiel.  The evening class has concluded its study and will not meet for the rest of the year.  The morning class will meet this week for it’s final class.  We will be studying Ezekiel 47-48.
9. It’s with sadness that we announce that death of Dorothy Turk. She passed away on Wednesday, Nov 28th in Norridgewock Maine, Services will be officiated by Pastor John Turk on Sabbath Dec 2nd. in Norridgewock Maine.  Anyone wishing to send cards may send them to Dr. & Mrs. Turks home here in Greeneville, 128 Park Place 37743.  In lieu of flowers please send any donations to Riverview Memorial School 201 Mercer Road, Norridgewock, Maine 04957.
10. Lastly, as you consider your giving this holiday season, I want to encourage you to remember the Greeneville Christmas Offering. Each year we call for a special Christmas offering that is above and beyond the regular 3% that each member is encouraged to give for church budget. This year we are seeking to raise $20,000 towards correcting the sound issues in our sanctuary. Many folks cannot hear all that is being said from week to week due to poor acoustics. To remedy this we are seeking to, with the help of a sound engineer, purchase a new speaker system, as well as new hearing devices for the hearing impaired. For this special offering, mark your gift using a tithe envelope and label it “Christmas Offering.”
11. Perhaps you missed this article: Poland to phase out Sunday shopping by 2020
12. Tomorrow marks the 13th anniversary of the Georgia-Cumberland Plane Crash which took the lives of 5 special men, one of which was my brother, Jamie. I traveled to the Knoxville 1st SDA Church that day for a meeting with the conference, where amongst those who were to be in attendance was my brother.  I remember that Sunny Thursday afternoon several of us pastors were gathered in the room downstairs waiting for the leadership to arrive.  I was chatting wtih my regional director, Elder Steve Haley who while we were visiting had to excuse himself to take a phone call.  When he walked back in the room he was visibly shaken and everyone hushed as Steve informed us that the conference plane had gone down. Then he went through the list of those who he understood were on the plane, and as he did, he looked at me and said, your brother was likely on that plane. Well, I knew he was, but surely he wasn’t dead.  Later I would learn he was.  Tomorrow I will return to that church for another meeting, but I won’t see Jamie, but by God’s grace, I hope to see him soon some day.  Yes, we press on in the hope of a soon coming Saviour.

    

In His Service,

Pastor Jeremy