| From Pastor Jim | |
Dear Friends,
Two women who were atheists were walking down the street in New York city admiring all the lights, Christmas trees, Santa Claus', elves, and reindeer. They came upon a small Christian bookstore that had a modest Nativity Scene in its window. One of the women turned to the other and said with an air of superiority, "Will you look at that... those Christians are now trying to move in on Christmas!"
Many are concerned that with the commercialization of Christmas, Christmas is losing its meaning. That is why we have the Season of Advent. Advent is here! Advent is the season in which we as followers of Jesus begin preparing our hearts for the 2nd biggest celebration in the Christian year - the Birth of Jesus our Lord and Savior! So how are you and your family preparing? Let me offer you some ways to help prepare your heart:
- Wednesday, 12/05 - Adult Christmas Dinner, 6:30 pm at the Golf Club @ Fleming Island Plantation.
- Saturday, 12/08 - Eagle Harbor Christmas Parade everyone invited, be at the main pool/tennis courts at 9 am.
- Sunday 12/09, 16, and 23 - Adult Class: Exploring the Manger, 8:30 am with Pastor Greg. Classroom #2.
- Sunday, 12/09, 16 and 23 - Christmas Pageant Rehearsal after worship from 11:30 - 12:30 in the Sanctuary.
- Monday 12/10 - Women's Christmas Ornament Exchange, 6:30 pm in the Gathering Area.
- Sunday 12/16 - Advent Pot Luck Dinner and Hayride Christmas Caroling at 5:30 pm in the Gathering Area.
- Sunday 12/24 - Children's Christmas Pageant, 4 pm and Christmas Candlelight Worship, 6 pm. Both in the Sanctuary.
You can put Christ back into Christmas and remember that Jesus IS the reason for the season by your participation.
Remember - God is GOOD! ALL the time!
Your pastor and friend...
Jim Weldon
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| News & Upcoming Events |
CHURCH WIDE EVENTS
Eagle Harbor Parade
- Join your FIPC Family on Saturday, Dec. 8 @ 9 am for the Eagle Harbor Parade (meet at the main pool/tennis courts). This is a great event for the entire family.
- Float decorating will take place Friday Dec. 7 at 5:30 pm at the Youth House.
"Follow The Star"
Children's and Youth Christmas Pageant
 - FIPC second annual Christmas Pageant "Follow the Star"
- Calling all children and youth K-8 to participate (singing and acting) in this amazing portrayal of Jesus' birth.
- Rehearsal Sunday after worship 11:30 - 12:30 pm.
Mark Your Calendars
Dec. 5 - Adult Christmas Dinner 6:30 pm
Dec. 10 - Women's Annual Ornament Exchange
Dec. 16 - Advent Pot Luck @ 5:30 pm
Dec. 19 - ROCK and Youth Christmas Parties
Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve Services
4:00 pm Children's Pageant Service
6:00 pm Candlelight Service
Women's Ornament Exchange
- Invite a friend and enjoy an evening of fun and fellowship.
- Monday Dec. 12 from 6:30-8:30 pm
- In the Gathering Area of our worship building.
- Bring a sweet or salty snack to share and a wrapped ornament to exchange (limit $5-$10).
Advent Potluck  Sunday, Dec. 16
5:30 - 7:30 pm Gathering Area
Potluck, Games,
Hayride and Caroling
Join us for amazing fun, fellowship, and comfort food
"Christmas is the Season for Giving..."
Ways you can make a difference this Christmas Season.
- Christmas Offering - Give your church a Christmas gift towards our Building Fund.
- Love Offering - Show the whole church staff you appreciate them by giving them a love offering.
- Adult Mission Trip - Help sponsor one of our Missionaries go to Haiti.
- Walk of Faith - Buy your friends and family a brick with their name on it for Christmas. Bricks can also be purchased in honor or in memory of a loved one. A GREAT Christmas gift!
Salvation Army Angel Tree
Angel gifts are due to FIPC by Dec. 9.
Thank you for making a child's Christmas Merry
The Empty Nesters Small Group
Contact Shirley Norton at 269-8367 or Sara Dryden @ 705-2785.
CHILDREN'S & YOUTH MINISTRIES
Attention Net and The ROCK Youth Group!
There will be no youth groups this Wednesday. Please join us Sat. at 9 am for the Eagle Harbor Parade.
CHURCH STAFF If you would like to contact a church staff member please go to our website >>>
FACEBOOK
Check out our Facebook page! It's a great way to add photos of events and stay in contact with your church.
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Thanks and Prayer Requests |
 Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving:
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15
Praise / Thanks:
- To God for all the new families He is bringing to us.
- To God for blessing us abundantly.
- To God for His Word revealed to us in the Bible.
- To God for all those who work so hard behind the scenes.
- To God for our Hospitality ministry
- To God for our Sunday School Team.
- To God for our Youth Group Leaders.
- To God for our Great Worship Band and AV team.
- To God for all those folks who pray each day for FIPC.
- Thank Jim, our Pastor, and his family for all they do.
- Worship band sounded amazing.
- Enjoying having Brittany home before she moves to Hawaii.
- Praise the wonderful church family.
- For all the countless blessings God continues to grant me dailey.
- Thank you for my family and all their love and support.
- Answered prayer, Teresa, my daughter, got a job in her field. Praise God.
- Joel O'Steen Friday night was amazing.
- Both eye surgeries went well.
- For the wonderful time of the year to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
- Love the music.
- For strength that God is giving me. My joy will not be taken.
- Sabrina and baby Chandler are both out of the hospital and at home. Praise the Lord.
- Continued provision; happy times in Chicago with my family. Don's feeling better.
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Prayer Requests:
- For our community
- For our church's growth in both spirit and number.
- For our Church's Pastor and Staff.
- The grace to live out our faith.
- For FIPC Pastor and family, Staff and families and Elders and families.
- For our Adult Overseas Mission Trip Planning Task Force.
- For families and individuals who are hurting.
- For the PCUSA and FIPC's response to the changes. For our Denominational Relations Committee.
- Eric Berger deployed to Kuwait and his family here at home.
- James & Martha Williams, health issues.
- Emma going through a hard time.
- Husband, marriage, family
- For friends with hurting hearts. Unspoken.
- Jim B.
- Safe travel for business; to be thankful and content about all things.
- Anyone in the church having health issues.
- Husband's cataract surgery on Monday.
- Please pray for our son, Jayden. He has an appointment Tuesday to see how much hearing was damaged at the Children's hospital downtown.
- Daughter's test results.
- Pray to help my brother's leg so he can get back to playing soccer.
- I would like you to pray for Lauren and that she will have a healthy season on the dance team.
- Finding out Monday if I got the job.
- Healing for friends with serious medical issues. Strength and faith for Lucy, Pam and Michelle.
- Pray for comfort and healing for the sick.
- Job opportunity; unspoken; my son's attitude; Molly gets job that has presented itself.
- For Molly to get the job. For Ginger to graduate.
- For Dawn V. and Jim B. to get well and God's healing hands be laid on them. Pray for all families to focus on being thankful and not on things that don't matter. Pray for Molly to get employment. A job that fills her heart with joy and happiness.
- My sister who is struggling about knowing who she really is. My and family's sins.
- To bring Brittany back into the arms of Christ. The Ally family.
- Life up my mom, Sally, who has lost her husband and only siblings in the past 3 months.
- Kathy B.
- Chris and Evan in college. Gov't officials; Peace in Middle East.
- Unspoken; pray for comfort and courage for those who are hurting this Christmas.
- Baby Celeste, she will need angels to watch over her; courage and strength for Charlene as she starts Chemo.
- Continued organization and financial ability to cover all expenses.
- Healing for church family physical ailments.
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This Week's Funnies
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Teacher to students: "Can any of you think of a solution to end unemployment?"
"Yes, sir!" said one young man, "I'd put all the single men on one island and the single women on another."
Teacher, "And what would they be doing then?"
Student, "Building boats!"
Facts of Life - I became pregnant with my second child when my son, Denis, was four years old. Together, we read a book for children that explained where babies come from.
I ended up having an emergency Caesarian section, so when I came home from the hospital and Denis kept jumping on my lap, it hurt.
"Why don't you show him the incision?" my husband asked, "Then he might understand it better."
I did, explaining that this is where the doctor had cut the baby out of my tummy.
"Didn't he read the book?" Denis asked, with horrified look on his face.
Even though he could not tell time, my three-year-old grandson was wearing a watch when I visited.
Later, when I was putting on my coat to leave, I asked him what time it was.
He looked at his watch blankly, then brightened. "It's time for you to go," he answered triumphantly.
At one point, I asked the class, "How many kids here want to go to Heaven?" All the kids raised their hands-- except for the new kid.
"Don't you want to go to Heaven, Dennis?"
"No, ma'am, my Dad said to come right home after Sunday school!"
Speedy Chicken - I was driving down the interstate in a rural area when a chicken passed me doing 65 mph. I sped up and passed the chicken. A few minutes later, the same bird passed me again; this time he was doing 75 mph. Startled, I floored the accelerator, got my car up to 85, and blew by the bird, for good I thought. But sure enough, five minutes later he went by me again. This time he passed me at 95 mph and made a right turn off the freeway onto a farm next to the interstate.
I immediately exited and drove up to the farmhouse and knocked on the door. When the farmer opened the door, I told the farmer of my experience with his speedy poultry and he told me, "Oh, that must be one of my three-legged chickens!"
I asked, "How did you end up with three-legged chickens?"
He responded, "I have nine children. They all love drumsticks, so I bred three-legged chickens to keep my kids satisfied."
It sounded logical to me, so I curiously asked, "How do they taste?"
The farmer answered, "Don't know -- can't catch 'em!"
"You already know it: We live in a sex-saturated world. No one is exempt; we all are constantly bombarded with advertising and entertainment that is deliberately designed to appeal to our sexual appetites. Repeatedly we are urged to cast aside moral restraints and give free rein to lust, carnality, and even perversion. Our generation has become like that of Jeremiah's day: 'They have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush' (Jeremiah 6:15)...When we come to Christ, God calls us to live lives of purity...God demands sexual purity and faithfulness not because He wants to make us miserable, but because He wants to make us happy. He knows far better than we do that sex outside of marriage always falls short of His perfect plan and can bring heartache and mistrust in its wake. If someone has been promiscuous before marriage, what reason will their spouse have for trusting them to be faithful within marriage? When a man and woman simply live together, one thing is always missing: commitment. And because they have no lasting commitment to each other, their relationship will always have a measure of instability and insecurity - always. An unbelieving world may say otherwise, but so-called "sexual liberation" is actually sexual slavery - slavery to our own lusts." - Billy Graham in his excellent book "The Journey"
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| FIPC Calendar | 
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A Record of our Faithfulness | | |
FIPC is a member supported church. We do not receive any outside funding. Everything we do is made possible through your faithful giving.
Attendance
12/2/12 =220
Ministry & Building Funds
11/25/12 = $5,097.00
(budgeted need = $11,600)
Offering envelopes are now available in the church bulletin for cash offerings. The envelopes are not necessary for checks. If you ever have any questions about FIPC finances, please call our Chief Financial Officer and Church Administrator, Dawn Vanderpool, at the church office. |
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Sunday Worship Service
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Worship Service is held every
Sunday morning
10:00AM - 11:15AM.
Attire is casual. It is an uplifting, come as you are worship service.
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God never intended for us to go it alone!
We want to help you find the Small Group where you can you grow in your faith and have some fun doing it!
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ChristLife - Senior High Youth
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FUEL - Junior High Youth Group
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Christian Counseling Center
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A ministry of Fleming Island Presbyterian Church
The Christian Counseling Center of FIPC is an outreach of the church to our community.
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Thank You Notes | 
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Thanks to the Hospitality Team for Sunday morning refreshments.
Thank you to the counting team for your continued service to your church!
Thank you to our Awesome Worship Band!
Thank you to those who helped usher/greet last Sunday!
Thanks to our Children's Ministry Volunteers.
Thank you to our Youth Ministry Team.
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| Announcements | | |
Announcements for the E-newsletter, and Power Point Slide Show before worship, during the offering, and after worship should be emailed to Sara by 9 am on Mondays.
Announcements for the bulletin should be emailed to Sara Dryden by 10 am on Tuesdays
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