December 13, 2024

We continue our series, The Dark Side of Christmas this week by looking at the story of Kind Herod. King Herod is one of the most notorious villains of the Christmas story. His response to the news of the newborn King was one of fear and paranoia. Threatened by the idea of losing power, he resorted to horrific measures, ordering the massacre of innocent children in an attempt to eliminate Jesus. This week, we’ll dive into how fear of losing control can lead to destructive actions and how Christ came to challenge earthly powers with a different kind of kingdom— one of love, peace and justice.

Michael Turner, Executive Pastor, will be preaching in the Auditorium for the Contemporary Worship services; Jeff Kersey, Senior Pastor, will be preaching in the Sanctuary for the Traditional Worship services.

For those worshiping remotely, you're invited to watch our services online, on Facebook and YouTube.



Classic Christmas Concert

Mt. Horeb’s Traditional Worship team is hosting a Classic Christmas Concert on Saturday, December 14 at 5 & 7 PM. Our orchestra, adult choir, kids choir and handbell choir will be leading us in a beautiful night of worship celebrating the Savior’s birth.



Advent Offering

Christian communities around the world celebrate Advent as a season of remembering and celebrating the arrival of Jesus on Earth. At Mt. Horeb, we choose to celebrate by taking a special offering to advance the kingdom of God. This year, our Advent offering will support a local and global partner.

JUMPSTART, a prison ministry active in several states, serves men and women who have been incarcerated and offers services that provide job training, financial literacy, access to health care, counseling services, stable housing, and, above all, Christian discipleship. Restoration Village is a new transitional housing campus located in Spartanburg County. With our support, new homes will be built and opened to offer life transformation for more individuals.

Through our partnership with Dr. Jerry Kulah, lives in Liberia are being transformed in the name of Jesus. This year’s offering will allow us to build more homes for the most vulnerable, add toilets for sanitation and disease prevention to existing homes, improve both the school and medical clinic, and start businesses to help the people of Boway move towards self-sufficiency.

You can give toward the Advent offering beginning December 1 through the end of the year. Give here.



Christmas Eve Services

We are so excited about our upcoming Christmas Eve services. We hope you will join us for one of our six services on the 24th. We will have Traditional services at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM in the Sanctuary and Contemporary services at 2:00, 5:00, 7:00, and 9:00 PM in the Auditorium. We want to let you know that the earlier services fill up quickly, but we always have space at the 9:00 PM service. Doors will open 30 minutes before the start, so come early to ensure you get a seat. Visit christmasatmthoreb.org for more information.



Young Adults Christmas Party

If you are a young adult between the ages of 18-25, we invite you to our annual Young Adults Christmas Party. This event will take place at Family Pastor Trevor Miller’s house in Lexington, on Thursday, December 19 from 7-9 PM. There will be food, games, a gift exchange, Christmas Music Bingo, s’mores and much more! Feel free to invite your young adult friends. If you are interested in becoming part of the Young Adult Ministry or for more information about this party, including directions, email Brent Squires, our Young Adults Director, at youngadults@mthorebchurch.org.

*Bring a $5 White Elephant gift.

Church-Wide Read Through the Bible Initiative

In 2025, we are inviting the whole church to read through the entire Bible together from beginning to end! We believe that as disciples, followers of Jesus, we are called to be in rhythm with God and one of the main ways that we do that is by staying firmly rooted in the study of God’s Holy Word. What better way to do it than together with a community of believers? To read through the Bible over the next calendar year, we will be using Tara Leigh-Cobble’s, The Bible Recap, which you can access in a few different ways:

• You can purchase The Bible Recap guide, for the daily readings and devotional, at tables near each worship space at Mt. Horeb on Sunday, December 15.
• You can go online and purchase The Bible Recap guide, for the daily readings and devotional by clicking here.
• You can download the Bible App on your phone or tablet and search “The Bible Recap,” selecting the 365-day plan, to get the daily readings and video devotional.
• You can go to Apple Podcast or Spotify and search “The Bible Recap” for a daily podcast devotional.
• You can enroll in Mt. Horeb’s daily prayer prompts for an abbreviated daily devotional related to the readings by emailing communications@mthorebchurch.org.

In addition, our Wednesday Night Pastor’s Study throughout 2025 will dive further into what you have read from Scripture for the week. For that Wednesday study, you may want to also purchase The Bible Recap Discussion Guide, which will guide our time together. We will begin reading on January 1, 2025! If you have any questions, please reach out to Pastor Rachel at rachel.carosiello@mthorebchurch.org.



Retirement Party

In celebration of 30 years in ministry here at Mt. Horeb, we want to invite you to join us on January 5 to honor and thank Pastor Jeff and Lynn Kersey for answering God’s call in their lives. We will have a time to enjoy food, fellowship and lots of fun. Registration is required. Please choose one of the times to attend and understand that space is limited. We look forward to celebrating all that God has done at

Mt. Horeb through Pastor Jeff and Lynn! Register here.



Night To Shine 2025

One of the best events we have at Mt. Horeb is Night to Shine, an incredible prom night experience celebrating God’s love for people with special needs. It is a huge blessing for everyone involved, so come join in the fun! Registration is now open for participants and volunteers! Register at nighttoshinemidlands.org.

We Are Messengers

We're excited to announce chart-topping band, We Are Messengers, is joining our 2024-2025 Concert season on Friday, May 9. Presented by Compassion International, the spring tour features special guests Austin French and Leanna Crawford. We Are Messengers has over 550 million career streams, over 3 billion airplay audience, and a multi-week #1 Billboard radio song (“Come What May”), along with six Top 5 and ten Top 10 Christian Airplay hits. We Are Messengers has played for a live audience of over 2 million people across 45 states and 5 countries, including selling out shows in the Netherlands, England, and lead vocalist Darren Mulligan’s native Ireland. We hope you join us for this amazing night of worship! Tickets go on sale today. Get your tickets here.



Online Bulletin

If you can't be here on Sunday morning, stay connected through our online bulletin. You can see our weekly financial report as well as a list of needs to pray over. Click here to view our weekly bulletin.