Highland Lakes church of Christ

BAPTISM

We rejoiced with William Christian last Sunday, as he was immersed into the death of his Lord Jesus Christ. William is the brother of our Wanda Christian, and he will be attending Highland Lakes on Sunday mornings. We welcome you, William, to our Christian fellowship and hope to be of great encouragement to you, as you will be to us, joining us in worshiping and living for our Father in Heaven. May God bless you richly! His directory information is available from the church office.

NEW CLASSES ARE STARTING THIS MORNING

New adult Bible classes are starting this morning at 9 o’clock. The topic is, “The Beatitudes”, taught by Cary Miller in the fellowship room and Joe Winnett in the auditorium.

This topic is a challenge to a closer walk with Jesus, finding in Him an increasingly greater happiness. His ethical principles, when applied, will make our lives spiritually rich, happy and meaningful. If you have not attended Sunday morning Bible study previously, make it a goal for the future!

IT’S HOT ENOUGH FOR IT: OUR YEARLY ICE-CREAM FWLLOWSHIP!

This evening, after our worship assembly, we will have our yearly ice-cream fellowship. As always, we enjoy both, the home-made ice-cream version, or the delicious store-bought kind. All kinds of toppings are welcome, so are cookies and cakes, or even finger foods. Make your plans for this upcoming evening and enjoy this “cool” fellowship!

WBS WORKDAY!

There will be a World Bible School workday on Thursday, August 13th from 9 AM until the work is finished. Easy work for a great cause and a time for fun and fellowship!

VISITING FOR THE MASTER

VISITATION PROGRAM Team #2 (leaders: Cary & Brenda Miller) will meet on Wednesday, August 19th, at 6:30 pm in the library for their assignments.

BEAUTIFUL FOOTNOTES. . .

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” Mark 9:37. Our congregation has had a long relationship with the Cherokee Home for Children and has supported the work of the Home in many ways. We are thankful for all the work that goes into the care of those beautiful children and pray our help can bless the lives of the children and bring glory to our God. Continue to pray for the children and the Home. For the elders, Ken D.

What follows are some news from the Home this summer. “It’s been vacation time this summer! Our girl’s Cottage 4 family took a road trip to Galveston. Many kids who come to Cherokee Home have never been outside of the town where they live. There’s so much to see in God’s world!

The angels in Heaven rejoiced this summer as one of our young ladies, Sophia, was baptized by spiritual life minister, Robert Baugh, at Camp Blue Haven, and one of our young men, Eric, was baptized by Shawn Hull, Eric’s case manager. Two others of our young ladies, C.C. and Kylie, were baptized recently at the pool here at the Home.

As usual, our summer is flying by with all the exciting things happening. A couple of our staff members spent the other day filling baskets with school supplies for our 32 kids. We like to start early when we remove that many notebooks, 120 packages of notebook paper, 400 pencils, 80 glue sticks, etc., from their shelves.

To those who help us by collecting Campbell Soup Labels, we want you to know that the choices of items we may select for purchase from our soup labels has now expanded. Please continue to send those to us as you can. Thank you for your help!”

New Classes Starting Next Sunday Morning

New adult Bible classes will start next Sunday morning, August 9th, at 10 o’clock. The topic will be, “The Beatitudes”, taught by Cary Miller in the fellowship room and Joe Winnett in the auditorium.

This topic is a challenge to a closer walk with Jesus, finding in Him an increasingly greater happiness. His ethical principles, when applied, will make our lives spiritually rich, happy and meaningful. If you have not attended Sunday morning Bible study previously, this is a good time to get started!

VISITING FOR THE MASTER

VISITATION PROGRAM Team #1 (leaders: Teri & Joe Winnett) will meet on Wednesday, August 5th, at 6:30 pm in the library for their assignments.

It is Hot Enough for It: Our Yearly Ice-Cream Fellowship!

On Sunday, August 9th, after our evening worship assembly, we will have our yearly ice-cream fellowship. As always, we enjoy both, the home-made ice-cream version, or the delicious store-bought kind. All kinds of toppings are welcome, so are cookies and cakes, or even finger foods. Make your plans for this upcoming evening and enjoy this “cool” fellowship!

Beautiful Footnotes . . .

We have been blessed in our partnership in the spreading of the Gospel with the Emperado family in the Philippines. What follows is part of a recent report. Continue to remember them as they work tirelessly in God’s service. For the elders, Ken D.

Dear Family and Friends,

Howdy! We hope this newsletter finds all of you happy and well.

We went to Naval and Leyte to visit the church started from the typhoon relief work in Naval, where we have had over 100 baptisms, and built over 50 homes with help from so many in the church in Texas and Oklahoma.

While I was in Naval, visiting the church there, my brother Orwen was handling the MOSES class in Negros. It was held at a young church we work with, in a place called Canabok, up in the mountains. After the class and church was over, the group headed to our place to have a special fellowship and 10 baptisms.

We also received amazing news from North Garland church of Christ, in Enid, Oklahoma, that someone there had donated funds for us to be able to purchase a new vehicle to replace our old dump truck that was out of commission from all the heavy loads carried during the typhoon relief work last year. We have been limping along the last three months without it and it has been difficult. Carrying people, materials, pigs, caskets, wed ding parties, sand, rocks, bamboos, etc…it is a daily occurrence for us. Not having the dump truck has limited us with what we could do to help those who needed help. Hopefully we will have the vehicle in time to help with all the summer projects, classes, and camps.

We are so blessed with so many opportunities to serve and encourage others to become involved. We are so thankful for the support team we have back home, we are blessed with great churches and families who partner with us in sharing the good news here in the Philippines. We love you all! In Him, Becky, Richard, and kids

VISITING FOR THE MASTER

VISITATION PROGRAM Team #1 (leaders: Teri & Joe Winnett) will meet on Wednesday, August 5th, at 6:30 pm in the library for their assignments.

Beautiful Footnotes . . .

Many recent studies have indicated a continued great potential for the future growth of Christianity among people in the southern hemisphere. There and in other parts of the world, the Spanish language is the primary means of communication. We have been fortunate, as a congregation, to have partnered for many years with the Worldwide Spanish Literature Ministry whose mission is to support evangelistic efforts through translation, publication and distribution of biblically correct Spanish literature to save souls and glorify God. What follows is from a letter to us from James Satcher, its Director, in Wichita Falls.

“We are so encouraged that you have again blessed us with a gift that will help spread the gospel in the Spanish – speaking world. Please take note with joy to know that we send the material that you enable us to print to every country in South America, every country in Central America, all of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean Islands. Plus we have sent it to Spain, England, Germany and the Philippines.

With your continued help we hope that our literature is your representative sent by a loving heart that is concerned about lost souls. Each tract and study is going to our Hispanic brethren who share your concern. They are dedicated to the work of the Lord. They willingly pass out and share this material as tools that help to reach searching and seeking hearts. Our Hispanic brethren work hard to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20). They continue to need our assistance and want these evangelic tools as they work diligently to obey the Lord’s command. May all of us go and do likewise. Thank you for your kind and generous donation. We are indeed privileged to be your servants in this work.”

Other tools of evangelism, other fellow servants in the work, other souls to bring to our Lord, please pray for this ministry. A Dios sea toda la gloria como él salva a los hombres pecadores. To God be all the glory as He saves sinful men. For the elders, Ken D

ATTENTION

On the back table of the auditorium there are some DVD’s that address the question: “Has the Bible Been Corrupted?” These DVD’s are for the members to take and use. Please take the one with your label on it — one per family, please!

VISITING FOR THE MASTER

VISITATION PROGRAM Team #2 (leaders: Cary & Brenda Miller) will meet on Wednesday, July 22nd, at 6:30 pm in the library for their assignments.

FOOD PANTRY NEEDS

A special upcoming need: If you are still willing and able to help with the purchase of school supplies for some of our Pantry clients, please give your donation to either Ken Darnell or David Zoller. Thank you!

Beautiful Footnotes . . .

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you; always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3-5 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul enjoyed a wonderful close and working partnership with the congregation of God’s church in Philippi. They cared for each other and together they cared for the cause of Christ. What a blessing for them both. This last weekend we shared in such a blessing in our time with Sylvester and Sandra Imogoh from Nigeria and with our special missionary to Nigeria, Doug Wheeler. What a wonderful time of fellowship and worship together. There was so much to consider in the report on the work in Nigeria from Doug and Sylvester. Sylvester shared his conversion and reminded us of our long relationship with each other and challenged us to consider our relationship with God in his sermon “Who Am I?”. We enjoyed a physical feast with the Imogohs provided by our wonderful congregation’s cooks. We loved the time loving and being loved by the Imogohs. We thank all the hospitality demonstrated by the congregation in all that was done to make the Imogoh’s visit a pleasant one for them.

The elders and preacher were able to spend time Sunday with Sylvester and Doug and to seriously consider needs for the continued work of taking the Gospel to Nigeria. The things we heard about and are considering doing together is printing 100,000 WBS sign-up forms, helping buy four motorcycles for traveling preachers and helping buy some grinding machines for Nigerian widows. We are also considering helping support two different preacher schools and providing some support to another Nigerian preacher. Pray that our decisions will spread the Gospel and glorify our God.

What a fantastic weekend! What a blessed partnership we are involved in with the Imogohs! Paul thanked God for his every remembrance of the Philippians and we can thank God for our every remembrance of Sylvester and Sandra and our partnership in the gospel. For the elders, Ken D.

TODAY IS THE DAY!

Our Very Special Visitors Are With Us, Sylvester & Sandra Imogoh!

We say a warm welcome to them and also to Dough & Diane Wheeler! We are looking forward to Sylvester and/ or Doug giving us reports about the work in Nigeria in the combined adult Bible class (auditorium) and we will hear, at least, one of them, preach. We are especially happy that Sandra was finally able to come with Sylvester and we wish them a blessed and safe time during their USA visit.  We will have our monthly fellowship meal immediately after out morning worship with a short devotional following. After that we will be dismissed for the day.

OUR MONTHLY FELLOWSHIP MEAL . . .

. . . will take place today at noon! Hosts and hostesses are: Pat DeVore, Bob & Doris Foster and Don & Paula Welch. Be sure and stay, it is another good opportunity to visit with the Imogohs and the Wheelers!

WITH SYMPATHY

Lucille Mayces, who had been a very active member here at Highland Lakes for many years, passed away last Sunday in San Antonio. She had not been well for some time. Graveside services took place on Friday, July 10th, in connection with the Sunset Funeral Home in San Antonio. The family requested, in lieu of flowers, to send donations to Cherokee Home for Children.  We express our love and sympathy to Thelma Thuleen, sister-in-law to Lucille, to Kenneth and all the family and friends. We pray for comfort in the Lord.

FOOD PANTRY NEED

A special upcoming need: it’s not too long until school will start again! As we did last year, we want to help some of our Pantry clients with the purchase of school supplies again. If you are willing to help, we are already accepting donations. Please see Ken Darnell or David Zoller if you want to donate to this good cause.

BEAUTIFUL FOOTNOTES

Ever hear of a Gospel Chariot? No, it’s not the model of vehicle that the Apostle Paul drove. It’s another wonderful tool being used to carry the gospel to parts of Africa. These specially outfitted vehicles provide transportation, a preaching and baptism platform for teams of evangelists in various parts of Africa. What follows is a portion of the latest report from Charles Funk, whom our congregation has supported in this work for over 20 years. Keep it in your prayers. — For the elders, Ken D.

Gospel Chariot Missions Second Quarter Report 2015: Hi Everyone, It is a mess this side trying to keep track of all the work and souls being saved through the different gospel chariots! Ha, ha, but it’s a mess you want to have. There have been over 500 souls baptized in the last 3 months and maybe even 600, I give up trying to keep track, but it’s very encouraging. The brethren are networking and becoming more creative with their plans as they roll those chariot wheels. Lord willing, 2,000 souls can be reached this year, a number of congregations planted and many souls taught through the short term schools and leadership training. I am very excited because this is truly a ministry where Africans are evangelizing Africa. The leaders we’re working with are so effective, so competent and so willing and the momentum is building. Thank you Lord. I like to say it this way, “We can’t help everyone with a Gospel Chariot, but every Gospel Chariot can help someone”. AMEN

The new mini chariot in the Western Cape is up and running and the Namibian mini chariot will be completed in a month or so and should be working by September – that will make it 11 Gospel Chariots. Liberia, Big Chariot Ghana, Togo, Benin, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Venda, Cape, Big Chariot 1, Big Chariot 2 and then Namibia coming soon.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL FOR MAKING IT SO HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL THE SOULS BEING SAVED….That is why God adds and God knows. All I know is that God is working through us all. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Charles Funk