Dear Church Family,

    A milestone is a stone marker that is placed on the side of a road to mark the distance from a given point. In 2015 our church has the potential of reaching some significant milestones. One milestone we will celebrate this year is our 85th year in ministry! Whether you were here in those early years or if you have recently joined us, we can all celebrate the fact that The Hill Baptist Church has sought to make Jesus known. I trust that our celebration of the past will fuel our passion for ministry today. 

    Another milestone that we will reach this year is adding a new Sunday morning worship service. Our church hasn’t had two Sunday morning worship services in a long time. Launching a new worship service is a great undertaking and requires much faith. However, if we want to see another 85 years or more of fruitful ministry we must be willing to take these giant steps of faith! 

    This year will most certainly provide many other opportunities to walk by faith and not by sight. Are you up for the challenge? I don’t know about you but I want God to use me in a mighty way this year. I want to be open to His will. I want to be more concerned with what He wants than what I want. I want to be the person He wants me to be. Is that your desire? If so, submit your life afresh to the Lord right now. Tell the Lord that you want to follow Him this year more than in years past. If we will be available to the Lord, then I believe 2015 will be a year of significant milestones for our church. 

In Christ,

Pastor Ron Jones

Have you tried to share the gospel with someone and found yourself unable to simply articulate it? If so, here is a great tool that walks you through how you can simply present the gospel.

3-Circles Life Conversation Guide Demonstration from North American Mission Board on Vimeo.

Dear Church Family,

    Our Christmas tree made its way into our living room in record time this year. Our tree was fully decorated two weeks before Thanksgiving. The reason we were able to put it up so early is because our tree is fake. This will be the first year in our 16 years of marriage that we have not had a real Christmas tree. Celia has been trying to persuade me for years to buy a fake tree and she finally convinced me. One of the great arguments she used to make her case was that we would be able to put our tree up much earlier. Another argument was that a fake tree requires no maintenance. There were others as well but these two won me over (I still may get a little Charlie Brown real tree and put it somewhere).

    My family loves the Christmas season! We love the decorations, the music, the gatherings with family and friends, the worship services, the food, the break from school, the gift giving and sometimes even the cold weather. What we don’t like is the eclipsing of the meaning of Christmas by the stress, the bad attitudes that can so easily develop, the greed that tries to exert itself, and the hustle and bustle. Sometimes the eclipsing of Christ happens quickly like when you turn a light switch off. Other times the eclipsing happens gradually as one thing after another piles onto your plate. During this Christmas season let us be intentional in our worship. Let us not allow the fake to eclipse the real. Let’s seek out ways to keep Christ central in our celebration.

Here are a few ideas that may help you keep Christ central.

• Read through an Advent Devotional. You can purchase them at the local Christian bookstore or you can access one for free online.
• Give of yourself in service to others. 
• Give gifts to those you know and love and even those you don’t know. 
• Give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. 
• Invite someone to come with you to the Three Gifts Christmas Musical Drama or to one of our many services this month.
• Read the Christmas story to your family on Christmas (Luke 2:1-21).

In Christ,

Pastor Ron Jones