TONIGHT: Youth Missions Group (6:00 PM), Children's Choirs (6:15 PM), Praise Team rehearsal (6:30 PM), and Chancel Choir rehearsal (7:30 PM) will continue each Wednesday evening through December 13th. Small groups will not meet.

Steel Drums Holiday Concert this Saturday!

The Panamania Steel Drum Band, under the direction of Richard and Delilah Rudolph, will present 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 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 in and out of the sanctuary tomorrow and immediately following the concert on Saturday afternoon. 

This Sunday @ VBC:

This Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent! Reminder: we will have Sunday School at 9:15 AM and One Combined Worship Service at 10:30 AM every Sunday in Advent. Travis begins a new series this week with a sermon titled "Move the Couch." The scripture is 1 John 1:5-10. We'll also hear Christmas carols from the Young Musicians Choir. If you can't make it to church in person, you can livestream at www.vintonbaptistchurch.org and on our Facebook group page.

Come do your LOCAL Christmas shopping this Sunday between 1:00 and 4:00 PM at our Christmas Craft & Vendor Fair in the gym! We have 29 vendors, many offering unique, one-of-a-kind gifts. Concessions will also be available, as well as a gift wrapping service. The proceeds of concessions and gift wrapping will benefit Youth summer missions/trips.

Sunday evening activities this week will include Youth Choir at 5:00 PM, Adult Handbells Rehearsal at 5:00 PM, and Adult Steel Drums at 6:05 PM. There will be NO Youth Snack Supper or Extreme.

Christmas Poinsettias

We are 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 this Sunday, December 3rd. A list of poinsettia memorials and honorariums will appear in the December 13th Witness. Plants may be taken home after the 5:00 PM Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Giving Tree

Our Giving Tree still has a few tags that need to be claimed. If you are able to help, please stop by the Welcome Center this week or pick up a tag this Sunday. 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, register your tag(s) on the provided clipboard, purchase the appropriate item(s), and return your wrapped donation(s) underneath the tree no later than December 10th. Thank you!

Family Christmas Tree

As of December 11th, our Giving Tree will transform into our Family Christmas Tree! This tree has an ornament representing each family at Vinton Baptist Church. If you are new to VBC over the past year, or if you have simply never donated an ornament representing your family, please bring your ornament and place it on our tree this season. Please notate your name/family's name and the year "2023" on your ornament. When Christmas is over, we will store all ornaments here at the church to be used on next year's Family Christmas Tree.

Ministry Matters

Please make plans now to attend our next Ministry Matters business meeting on Wednesday, December 13th at 6:15 PM. One item on our agenda is the official presentation and vote on our new Deacon nominees, who have been approved by the Deacons. They are Erin Berry, Jeff Carr, Ann Cranwell, Helen Foster, Devan Harman, Rudy Jones, Wally Mayo, Tim Pinion, and Justin Rodgers. These individuals are schedule to serve 2024 - 2026. Please plan to be at our Ministry Matters meeting for this vote and other business.

Thrive Youth

Our youth remain busy throughout this holiday season. This Sunday they will help set up the Christmas Craft & Vendor Fair between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM. Lunch will be provided for student and parent volunteers. They will help tear down and assist vendors when the event is over. Youth Choir will take place at 5:00 PM. There will be no snack supper or Extreme.

Thrive Youth will continue their Wednesday Missions Nights at 6:00 PM through December 13th.

The Youth Progressive Dinner & PJ Party will be Sunday, December 10th. Drop off is at 5:00 PM at the church, and pickup will be at 7:30 PM.

Youth will serve at the Rescue Mission's Christmas Dinner Wednesday December 20th. Please meet at 5:00 PM at the church.

Preteen Progressive Dinner

All students in grades 3 - 5 are invited to join us for our Christmas Progressive Dinner Sunday, December 10th. We will meet at the church at 5:00 PM; pickup will be at 7:30 PM.

Karen Musselwhite Smith #62B

c/o Berkshire Health Care Center

705 Clearview Drive

Vinton VA 24179-3605

Thank you to the Pete Creasy Sunday School class for their donations to the VBC Capital Needs Fund and to the VBC Food Pantry.

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

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Don & Ardella Hough as they celebrate 68 years of marriage this Saturday, December 2nd!

Congratulations to Taylor & Atlee Thurston in the birth of second son Hugh on November 12th, weighing 5 lbs., 10 ozs. Proud big brother is Harvey; grandparents are Jim & Amy Thurston, and great grandparents are Leonard & Barbara Shank.

Christian sympathy is extended to Carolyn Thompson and family in the death of her sister, June Dougherty, November 23rd; and to the family and friends of Nora Jeanette "Jean" Smith, a former member of Vinton Baptist (a local graveside service is being planned).

Property Committee Update Nov 2023

New LED lights have been installed in the gym, with new emergency exit lights by the doors. The old lights and ballasts were recycled for $112, which offset the cost of the new lights.

New motion sensor light switches were installed in the bathrooms in the gym and education buildings.

The foyer to the gym has been painted, as well as the stair railings.

The outside hand railings around the church are scheduled to be painted within the next few weeks.

Several other projects aimed to reduce energy consumption are planned:

• Convert lights throughout the church to LED
• Change the chandelier lights in the sanctuary, which are currently using 500 watt bulbs

Paint the interior walls of the education gym building

Repairs to the heating and AC systems

As the end of the year draws near, in addition to your regular giving, please consider giving to the Capital Needs fund. We have a fantastic facility and have let some repairs and updates go for too long. If you have questions about helping with a particular project, please contact Ken Williamson or Andy Nicely.

Thanks in advance,

The Property Committee

WMU Requests Your Donations for Sponsored Offerings

The Offering for World Hunger continues; please help us reach our church goal of $1,700 toward global hunger relief. Please mark your gift accordingly.

Our church goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions is $5,200. According to the International Mission Board (IMB), an estimated "4.6 billion people are considered unreached" with the gospel of Christ, and "over 90% of IMB teams actively engage at least one unreached people or place." You can support the Lottie Moon Offering by using the Lottie Moon Post Office (see below) AND by contributing to Vinton Baptist and notating your donation for "Lottie Moon." December 3-10 is designated as a Week of Prayer for International Missions. For more info, please go to imb.org/weekofprayer.

Lottie Moon Post Office

The Lottie Moon Post Office will be available in the Welcome Center beginning this 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

Song of Songs is a whirlwind - we started it on Sunday, and we'll finish it tomorrow. Quite frankly, it makes very little sense to me. The imagery of the natural world is simply beautiful, but I don't know what any of it is supposed to mean. Let's see what Fee & Stuart have to say in How to Read the Bible Book by Book.

According to Fee & Sturt, I am not the only one confused by Song of Songs. There are 3 main speakers - "the woman, who plays the leading role throughout; the man, who especially celebrates the beauty of, and his love for, the woman; and the woman's companions, called the 'daughters of Jerusalem.'" Some think the man is Solomon, while others do not; Fee & Stuart think that the song is intended to apply to any man and woman in a married relationship. For centuries, some have considered the story to be an allegory because of the difficulty understanding it. Fee & Stuart explain it differently:

"This poem should be read in light of Genesis 1 and 2. Following the command to 'be fruitful and increase in number' (Gen 1:28), God plants a garden (2:8) in which he placed the man and woman he created in his own image. The narrative concludes with the words: 'A man will ... be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame' (2:24-25, emphasis added). The picture of sexual love in this book recaptures that scene, where the woman and the man take utter delight and pleasure in each other's bodies and do so without shame. This is thus God's way of recapturing both the fidelity and the unity and intimacy of marriage, which the enemy has tried to take away from God's people by making it seem either titillating outside of marriage or something shameful and unmentionable within marriage. This inspired author has a different view."

If you want additional info about any specific passage, let me know and I will look it up in Fee & Stuart. We'll launch into Isaiah this Sunday and camp out there for awhile. Happy reading!

"Check out" these new books in the church library!

• The Ornament of Hope and Santa's Promising Christmas by Georgia Ling
• Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
• Christmas Bells and Wedding Vows by Jody Hedlund
• A Royal Christmas by Melody Carlson
• A Very Mercy Christmas by Kate DiCamillo

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox effort this year! That includes everyone who donated boxes, money for shipping, items to go in the boxes, and made dresses to go in the shoeboxes. Also, thanks to everyone who filled a box or boxes themselves and to those who helped transport the boxes to Lynn Haven Baptist Church. We had 460 boxes this year! If you used a "Follow My Box" label or registered your box label online, please let the church know when you find out what country your box went to. Thank you!