Monday, December 1st

9am - Preschool (M-F)

10am - Women’s Bible Study Zoom

Tuesday, December 2nd

8:15am - Men’s Gathering

12:30pm - Knitwits & Happy Hookers

6:30pm - Women’s Bible Study

Wednesday, December 3rd

6:30am - High School Youth Breakfast & Beliefs at Chick-fil-a

5:30pm - Wednesday Night Supper

6pm - 2nd Street Ringers rehearsal

6:15pm - Advent Craft Night

7pm - Kairos Band rehearsal

7pm - Chancel Choir rehearsal

Thursday, December 4th

9:30am - Art Class

6:30pm - Beyond Belief Meditation group

Friday, December 5th



6:30am - Men’s Bible Study

9:15am - Kairos worship in fellowship hall

10:15am - Faith Formation for all ages

11:15am - Sanctuary worship

5pm - High School Youth Christmas Party

Isaiah 1:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

December 1

Tabitha Clark

Devon Fisher

Ruth Anne Turrentine

December 2

Nina King

December 3

Teresa Eckard

December 4

Bill Driver

Amy Monroe

Carson Shepler

Helen White

December 5

Annie Haunton

Wallace Johnson

Larkin White

December 7

Leah Brooks

Kaity O'Brien

 Paige Randall

ADVENT DEVOTIONALS

We invite you to provide an Advent devotional this year! We’ll enjoy weekday audio devotionals again this December. All details and a sign-up are available online.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT ADVENT ACTIVITIES

For the first three weeks in December, we will have a meal followed by Advent activities for all ages. On December 3, we’ll have Christmas Craft night in the fellowship hall, on the 10th, we’ll gather in the sanctuary for a “Christmas Cheer Sing-Along” (wear something festive), and on the 17th, we’ll have our Live Nativity under the porte-cochère.

STEWARDSHIP

On November 16 we dedicated our pledges for 2026 during both worship services. We invite you to make your pledge for next year as soon as possible. Thank you for your support of FPC!

FPC BOOK CLUB

The book club will discuss The Measure by Nikki Erlick on January 12 and The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II by David Nasaw on March 9. All are welcome to join us!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT NEEDS

Wednesday nights are the best at FPC, but we need your help! First, please sign up for the meals so we are sure to have enough food for everyone. We also need volunteers to make our dinners possible. Sign up online to collect money, set up, or clean up. You always get a free meal on the night you serve.

SIGN UP TO USHER AT FPC

We are currently in need of Sunday morning ushers, especially in our 11:15am Sanctuary service. This volunteer opportunity is a great way to meet people and only requires a friendly smile! More details are online.

FPC PHOTOS

We love pictures of everything going on around the church! Please share any pictures you have or take with beth@hickoryfpc.org

REMOTE LOCKING SYSTEM

We now have a keyless entry system on most of the doors into our main church/administrative building. Please make sure your events at church are on the church calendar to ensure safe access for everyone. Contact Sarah (sarah@hickoryfpc.org) or Beth (beth@hickoryfpc.org) to add anything to the church schedule.

REALM

We invite you to sign up for Realm, our church database that will allow you to have access to our online directory. We would love for everyone to sign up soon to make sure the information we have is correct. Please contact Beth Taylor (beth@hickoryfpc.org) if you need help signing up or have questions.

Church Office: (828) 322-6343

237 2nd St. NW

Hickory, NC 28601