Please Note: There are no evening activities tonight due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Although our small group meetings on Wednesday evening have ended, Children's Choirs (6:15 PM), Praise Team rehearsal (6:30 PM), and Chancel Choir rehearsal (7:30 PM) will continue each Wednesday evening from November 29th through December 13th.

Music Cues

This Sunday, November 26th will be our last 8:45 worship service for the season before moving to one worship at 10:30 and beyond. Our Jubilate Handbell Choir will play for both services, and the Chancel Choir will sing at 11:00 AM.

The Panamania Steel Drum Band under the direction of Richard and Delilah Rudolph will be presenting their annual Christmas concert at VBC on Saturday, December 2nd at 3:00 PM. It has become an annual tradition for us to host this joyful event for our community and the Roanoke Valley on the first Saturday in December. Make plans to come out and enjoy the warm island sounds and delightful arrangements of Caribbean classics and traditional carol arrangements. Chris will also need some help moving some platforms into the sanctuary on Thursday before the event and immediately following the concert on Saturday afternoon.

The Chancel Choir and orchestra are warming up for our annual Christmas worship event on Sunday, December 10th at 10:30 AM. Everyone has worked hard on this year's musical. Please invite your friends and family to this special heartwarming worship service. 

This Sunday @ VBC:

As mentioned above, we will enjoy the sounds of the Jubilate Handbell Choir at both morning services this Sunday. Travis' sermon is "All Things," and the scripture is Philippians 4:10-13. If you can't make it to church in person for the 8:45 or 11:00 AM services, you can find our livestream at www.vintonbaptistchurch.org or on our Facebook group page. Reminder: Sunday School starts at 9:45 AM this week, as usual.

Sunday evening activities will include Youth Choir at 5:00 PM, Youth Snack Supper at 6:00 PM, Adult Steel Drums at 6:05 PM, and Extreme at 6:30 PM. Adult Handbells will not rehearse this Sunday evening.

Advent Schedule

Beginning Sunday, December 3rd our schedule will change for Advent. Each Sunday in December, we will have one combined worship service at 10:30 AM, and Sunday School will take place at 9:15 AM. On Christmas Eve, we will also have a 5:00 PM service. On New Year's Eve, we will have one combined worship at 10:30 AM, but there will be no Sunday School and no 5th Sunday luncheon. Please mark your calendars accordingly. Thank you!

Children's Basketball

The deadline for Children's Basketball registration is next Monday, November 27th! Forms are available in the church office or by clicking here. Please complete the form that corresponds with your child's age/grade level. This year's cost is $45/participant.

JOY Seniors

The final JOY Senior luncheon of this year will be Tuesday, November 28th. Join us for a presentation on "Updates to Medicare." Lunch consists of soup and sandwich, dessert, and water. The cost is $10/person. Sign up at the JOY Senior table. TODAY is the deadline.

Christmas Giving Tree

This year's Giving Tree is ready in the Welcome Center! Each tag on the tree specifies a child's request (need or want) for Christmas. These children are from Keystone and our Vinton schools. Pick up a tag or two during church office hours (we will be closed this Thursday and Friday) or on Sunday, register your tag(s) on the provided clipboard, purchase the appropriate item(s), and return your wrapped donation(s) underneath the tree by the date listed on your tag. Thank you!

Christmas Poinsettias

We are now taking orders for poinsettias to beautify our sanctuary during the upcoming Christmas season. They will be purchased from Martin's again this year and are $11/each. You may order in honor or memory of a loved one. Please stop by the church office to place your order no later than Sunday, December 3rd. Plants may be taken home after the 5:00 PM Christmas Eve service.

If you would like to sign up as a vendor for our event, please do so ASAP. Guidelines/ registration forms can be found at the Welcome Center, or click here for a printable copy. Questions? Please contact Whitney Russell.

Ministry Matters

Please make plans now to attend our next Ministry Matters business meeting on Wednesday, December 13th at 6:15 PM.

Jean McGuire

c/o Our Lady of the Valley #411

650 N. Jefferson Street

Roanoke VA 24016

CONGRATULATIONS to Gene & Betty White as they celebrate 71 years of marriage TODAY!

Thank you to the LOA Sunday School class for their donation to Food Pantry Thanksgiving boxes.

Thank you to the Open Door Sunday School class for their donation to the Food Pantry.

Thanksgiving Offering

This year's Thanksgiving Offering will go toward budgeted missions organizations (for example, BGAV, RVBA, CBF Global, CBFVA, etc.). Thank you for your generous offerings. If you have questions, please see a member of the Finance Committee.

Offering for World Hunger

The Offering for World Hunger is underway. If you have a box of envelopes, it will be a yellow envelope. The WMU asks for your help in meeting our church goal of $1,700 toward global hunger relief. Please mark your gift accordingly. Thanks!

Lottie Moon Post Office

The Lottie Moon Post Office will be available at the Missions Tables beginning Sunday, December 3rd. You may use it to distribute Christmas cards to our regular attenders who are able to pick up cards here at church. Here's how the Lottie Moon Post office works:

• Prepare your Christmas cards for regular church attenders.
• Instead of mailing your cards through USPS, please put them in the correct bin in the Lottie Moon Post Office (organized alphabetically).
• Instead of spending your money on a stamp, please donate 25 cents per card for the use of the Lottie Moon Post Office. An envelope will be available for you to deposit your money. These funds go to the Lottie Moon offering.
• Check the Lottie Moon Post Office often throughout the Christmas season to see if you have cards waiting.
• Please do not bring cards to the Lottie Moon Post Office for individuals who no longer attend our church regularly; they will not be delivered.

Thank you for supporting the Lottie Moon offering through this initiative!

Bible Reading Plan

I have found Ecclesiastes to be very much a paradox and, quite frankly, discouraging. Two specific details provided by Fee & Stuart (How to Read the Bible Book by Book) have helped me through the daily readings: 1) as part of "Israel's Wisdom tradition," it is an attempt to explain the complexities of life to the next generation "...in order to teach the young how to live well before God"; and 2) the "teacher's" theology doesn't include anything about the resurrection; we know more about the future God has in store for us than Qohelet does.

If you'd like to study Ecclesiastes in more depth, I am going to recommend a new Bible study that was just released by Lifeway. It's an 8-session study called Life Under the Sun: The Unexpectedly Good News of Ecclesiastes by Hannah Anderson, who is a local author. In all transparency, I have NOT read through this study yet. However, having known Hannah personally for a dozen or more years, I trust her insight into God's word. She has a spiritual gift for applying the scriptures to real life. If you want to go further with Ecclesiastes, I have no doubt that this is a great introduction. I hope to get started on my copy soon.

By Sunday, we will be in the Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs). Here's a quick summary from Fee & Stuart:

"Song of Songs is a unique biblical book. Without mention of God and written in marvelous poetry, full of evocative and vivid images, it is a celebration of sexual love - and marital fidelity - between a woman and a man. ...[I]n its canonical form it is intended to be read as several episodes/scenes of one poem, thus a 'narrative' only in the sense that such poetry is trying to create a picture."

We'll explore this book in more detail next week. Happy reading!