Vol. 2, # 15, Nov. 21, 2003

Christ the King Sunday Is this Sunday

RRCB is finally winding down the Pentecost season, which seems to last almost half the year. Maybe it takes a half a hear for most of us to get the message of the birth of the Holy Spirit and to feel it. PH was not aware of the season of Pentecost until PH became a member of RRCB. The Southern Baptist church in which PH grew up never mentioned Pentecost except maybe once a year. When PH became a member at RRCB, PH thought maybe the whole season of Pentecost was to honor Religious Herald Editor Julian Pentecost, but apparently this Pentecost naming preceded Shepson Julian. Thus, this Sunday is Christ the King Sunday. Who knows? Maybe we will sing "Lead On O' King Eternal. And the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent.

Dick Morris Is Still Taking Checks, Paper Money and Even Coins (the larger ones)

The campaign to raise money for our mission projects is underway and will continue into early December. The Duffel Bag project will be the first ISH mission project of the year 2004. Make your checks payable to Richard Morris, but ask Dick to give you a letter of acknowledgment and appreciation (receipt).

As reported in last week's PHA SSBSC Missionaries Charlotte and Bill will probably start shopping for duffel bags the first week of December in an effort to have 40-45 bags in hand by the time the campaign begins on January 1. If anyone has nice, clean outgrown, no-longer-needed clothes at home, which would be appropriate for girls and boys from infants through age 17, C&B would be happy to have them. They are particularly interested in shirts/sweaters, jeans/pants, and pajamas/sleepwear. Questions? Call Charlotte and Bill at 285-3185.

Known SSBSC Events for December

Saturday, December 13 - Christmas Social at the home of Carolyn and George Thomas. 6:00-7:00 PM - fellowship; 7:00 PM - dinner until there is nothing left.

Friday, December 19 - CARITAS.

Wednesday, December 31, 2003, to January 1, 2004: Fifth Annual Twenty-first Century New Year's Eve Social at the home of Brenda and Henry Holland.

And in addition sometime in December Shepsons may get a chance to ring bells for the Salvation Army. We could all feel like Big Ben Ringers. Speaking of bell ringers, the Chancel Bell choir performed excellently last Sunday. No one fainted and no one dropped a bell; although a lot of bells banged in rhythm on the table. Attached to this PHA is a photo of the Chancel Bell Choir (formerly the Not Ready for Prime Time Bell Choir) in Christmas Red.

The Baptist General Assembly Did Meet

PH has not received this week's Religious Herald and is unaware of what happened at the BGAV. One friend who was present did tell PH that the money usually appropriated for Averette College was escrowed. This probably means that some committee will be formed to examine the issue and if this committee is composed of a majority who has no understanding of the dynamics of a homosexual identity, then Averette University likely will be deprived of funds of over $300,000. In addition, the new Leland Center apparently will be funded more generously than the Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond. Hopefully PH is in error, but it should all be in the next issue of the Religious Herald.

Prayer Rounds

PH received an E-mail, which indicated that Donald Deer will be having surgery for kidney stone removal. The E-mail from Donald reads:

"On the afternoon of Oct. 29, at 3:35 p.m. right in the middle of translating a sentence in the commentary on Luke (I have a contract to translate from French into English), I had a kidney stone attack. I was hospitalized Oct. 30, had a procedure on Oct. 31, and was released from the hospital Nov. 2. The procedure, introduction of a stent, was a stopgap solution; an operation is scheduled for December 1 to get rid of the kidney stones. I've been recovering at home since Nov. 3."
Donald Deer

PH has learned that RRCB member Ralph Kinsey is hospitalized in serious condition. Ralph was a realtor when the Slatton Family moved to Richmond and helped them find the house in which Lee and Jim still live thirty-two years later.

Remember in your prayers Donald Deer, Ralph Kinsey, Nancy Werner's nephew Doug Baumgardner, the family of Julia Shepherd, the family of Peggy Pruden's mother, the family of Woody Hasty, Dot and Cecil Sherman, Chester's parents, Nancy Gayle Smith, Kathy Wade, the Church staff, the Pastor's Search Committee, and those only known to you.

Also the church's Fall Business Meeting will be held next Wednesday after dinner and before the Thanksgiving service. The report of the Nominating Committee will be made and hopefully a lot of Shepsons will be nominated. Keep this meeting in your prayers.

Campbell Soup Labels Needed

RRCB member Wyatt Heisler sent out the following E-mail:

Friends,

I missed the Spire deadline for the Campbell's soup labels campaign. Could you possibly mention it in your Sunday school classes this Sunday so that people can save labels from all those holiday green bean casseroles?

As you know, Gracie Kirkpatrick, director of Camp Alkulana (RBA summer camp for inner city children), needs a computer and has begun a Campbell's label collection campaign in several of the RBA churches to buy one. I think any Campbell's label is collectable. The labels do not need to be trimmed because ladies at a Baptist church in Sandston are trimming them as a project.

Hope everyone read Norma's great ideas!

Wyatt

Today's Birthday and Anniversary

Former FMB missionary Dorcas Fowler is twenty-nine today and Betsy and Chris Foster will celebrate thirty years of marriage today.

Thanksgiving

Next week we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day, a tradition that is truly American, going back in time to either Plymouth and/or Jamestown. We should be thankful not only for the food harvest, but our freedoms. President Bush is winding up a state visit to the United Kingdom. Some Brits went to the streets to protest his presence. Thankfully the British people and we Americans have the freedom to protest in a peaceful manner. President Franklin Roosevelt emphasized the freedoms that we value in a speech on January 6, 1941. This speech was later called the "Four Freedoms" speech. FDR said;

"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and _expression - everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way - everywhere in the world

The third is freedom from want - which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings, which will secure to every nation a healthy peace time life for its inhabitants - everywhere in the world.

The fourth is the freedom from fear - which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no one nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor - anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation."

PH

Poor Henry's Archives

November 14, 2003
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