Later this month, January 22, we will be dispensing bottles for the Baby Bottle Boomerang!

What’s the BBB you ask?

Huntersville ARP has been a long time supporter of the Mooresville Community Pregnancy Center, helping young women (and men!) deal with crisis pregnancies, offering counseling, ultrasounds, adoption assistance, and recovery from post-abortion trauma.

The Baby Bottle Boomerang involves three steps:

1. Get a bottle (Starting January 22)
2. Fill a bottle (with change cash, or a check)
3. Return the bottle to the church

Got questions? Contact Mike or Krista and they’ll be glad to help!

See you in Worship!

For our newly elected officers, Pastor Lee will conduct Officer Training Sessions on Sunday January 8 and 15 during the Sunday School hour. If you are newly elected, be there or be square!

(Location to be announced)

Below you may listen to and download the Welcome Message and Tribute to the life of Bill Brown as delivered by Rev. Lee Shelnutt on December 26, 2011

Below the first message you may listen to or download the Sermon delivered at Bill’s service, also delivered by Rev. Lee Shelnutt.

Huntersville ARP bids farewell to Elder Emeritus William “Bill” Orr Brown, Jr., 84. Bill went home to the Lord on December 23, 2011 while at the NC State Veterans Home.  Bill was born May 17, 1927 in Huntersville, the son of the late William Orr Brown, Sr. and Minnie Christenbury Brown. He was a member of Huntersville ARP Church serving as an Elder, Deacon, Sunday School Teacher, Congregational Chairman, and a Trustee. He has been active with the Gideons since 1972. He was a Founding Member of the Loch Norman Highland Games. Mr. Brown was a Navy veteran serving in World War II. Mr. Brown was a graduate of Huntersville High School and the International Architectural School. He was Vice-President of Wade Manufacturing Company and retired from the Holland-Linder Construction Company as Superintendent. He was known in the community and by friends for his beautiful and bountiful vegetable garden and sunflowers.

Survivors include his wife, Shirley Knox Brown; two daughters, Mrs. June B. Overcash and husband Richard of Huntersville and Mrs. Sharon B. Allen and husband Richard of Eden Prairie, MN; brother, Fred O. Brown, sisters, Mrs. Lois Porter and Mrs. Mary Benard, all of Charlotte. He is also survived by six grandchildren, Daniel Overcash, Adam Overcash, Ashley Overcash Cook and husband Glenn, Andrew Wight, Morgan Allen and Rick Allen; two great-granddaughters, Hadley Overcash and Cameron Cook. He was preceded in death by two brothers, T. Clyde Brown and Banks M. Brown.

Memorials may be made to the Huntersville A.R.P. Church (Memo: Christian Life Center), P.O. Box 316, Huntersville, NC 28070 or to The Gideons International, Charlotte North Camp, P.O. Box 2232 Cornelius, NC 28031.

The family would like to give special thanks for the loving care he received from the doctors, nurses and staff of the NC State Veterans Home in Salisbury and Olde Knox Commons in Huntersville.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 Monday, December 26, 2011 at Huntersville A.R.P. Church with Rev. Lee Shelnutt officiating. Visitation will be in the church sanctuary one hour prior to the service. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Samuel S. James, Funeral Service Lic. of Huntersville is serving the family. www.samuelsjamesfsl.com

We will be holding a Christmas Eve Candlelight service at 7PM on Saturday, December 24, 2011.

Communion Will Be Served.

We welcome all visitors, as well as our extended families to join us in worship to celebrate the remembrance of the eve of our Lord’s birth

From left to Right: Nathan Trice, Beard McAulay, Anthony Navarro, Garth Radley, Lee Shelnutt, Morrie Lawing, David Smith, Doug Petersen, Jerry Shope

November 20, 2011, was a joyous day for our congregation as we held the installation service for our new pastor, Lee Shelnutt.

The service of worship was held at 5PM. The sermon, The Mystery of Gospel Ministry, was delivered by Rev. Nathan Trice of Matthews OPC. The Charge to the Pastor was delivered by Rev. David Smith of Covenant Fellowship ARP in Greensboro, NC, and the Charge to the Congregation was delivered by Rev. Morrie Lawing of Christ Church in Denver, NC.

Each of their messages may be listened to below.

Listen to the Charge to Pastor Lee from David Smith

Listen to the Charge to the Congregation from Morrie Lawing

Introductions From the Installation Bulletin:

Garth Radley — After years of occasional interaction with Garth at Presbytery, I had the pleasure of serving with him on the Minister and His Work Committee. Always willing to serve, even in very difficult situations, Garth’s wisdom, love for the Church and friendship were of immeasurable help to me when I served as chairman. Garth is a Ruling Elder at the Back Creek Church.

Mike Dunn — Mike served as the chairman of the pastoral search committee and has proved to be a great help to me during candidating and now in this period of transition. I am very grateful for his friendship, administrative skills and zeal for the glory of Christ.

Doug Petersen — I have known Doug since beginning my ministry in First Presbytery; but, over the past several years I have grown to know him much better. He is the father of our friend and pianist at Westminster, Karen Claxton. Over the past several years Doug has proved to be a wise mentor and a great source of encouragement. For many years he has served as the pastor of the Boyce Memorial ARP Church, in Kings Mountain.

Jerry Shope, Anthony Navarro, and Beard McAulay — Along with Roger Birdsong, Pete Bridge, Mike Dunn and Richard Weimer, these men serve as the Session of the Huntersville congregation. They have all graciously received us and encouraged us as we have received the call to serve here. I am blessed to be able to serve God’s people with such gifted and godly men.

Nathan Trice — I have been blessed by the dear friendship of Nathan for almost as long as I have lived in North Carolina. Our times of regular fellowship and study have been integral to my growth in grace as a believer and as a minister. Nathan serves as the Pastor of the Matthews Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I am honored to have such a gifted teacher, minister and friend give the sermon in tonight’s service.

David Smith — When we first moved to North Carolina and while I was still a student at RTS, I struck up a friendship with David Smith, who was then the Associate Pastor at the Back Creek ARP Church. Not long thereafter, David and his wife Tracy moved to Chicago in order for David to begin doctoral studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I am thrilled that after several years of being away, the Lord has brought this brother back to First Presbytery where he serves as the pastor of the Covenant Fellowship ARP congregation in Greensboro.

Morrie Lawing — Morrie, pastor of the Christ Church ARP Mission in Denver, NC, has been serving Huntersville during this time of transition as the moderator of the Session. Yet, for me personally, it has been his service to me through years as one of my dearest friends and colleagues in ministry that I most appreciate. We have shared tears of sorrow and joyous laughter together as we have labored in First Presbytery. Passionate for Christ and His bride, Morrie has been a true friend and constant source of encouragement through the years.

Indeed, I am blessed to have each of these men here tonight and blessed to have them numbered as brothers in Christ and dear friends. The Lord is Good!

-Pastor Lee

Pastor Lee Shelnutt

Greetings, Members and friends of Huntersville ARP!

We are excited to inform you that two Sundays from now, on November 20, we will be having the installation service for our our new pastor, Lee Shelnutt, in the HARP sanctuary at 5:00PM. An Installation service is presided over by a committee of First Presbytery, and is conducted as a service of worship

Our normal practice would be to hold a small reception afterwards, but given the fact that we are in the midst of construction and the Fellowship Hall and kitchen has been cleared out, we will not be able to host a reception but members and guests will be welcome to spend some time in fellowship within the sanctuary or any of our many local restaurants as the service will conclude around dinnertime.

To help make up for the inability to hold a reception is one of the reasons your Session is holding “Meet and Greets” at their homes for a time of fellowship with Lee and his family. This atmosphere will be more intimate than a general reception and we hope these events will help expedite your getting to know your pastor better (and for him to get to know *you* as well!) these first few weeks into his ministry with us.

We look forward to seeing you in Worship this Sunday!

-Your Session

The Women’s Ministries (also known as the Women of the Church) is active again! We want to share our vision, some activities we have planned, and changes you will see over the next year.

Our vision is similar to that of the Synod level of Women’s Ministries. First, we want to encourage every woman to cultivate a personal relationship with Christ. This includes providing opportunities for group Bible study and fellowship such as the Circles and the Tuesday morning Bible study. We also seek to encourage women to use their gifts for Christian service through service to HARP and outside of the church. We want to help the women of HARP appreciate the opportunities offered for women through the entire ARP denomination.

The changes we have implemented include updating the structure of the board for Women’s Ministries at HARP. In 2005, Laura Navarro was the last elected President of the WOC at HARP and no further elections have occurred since. We are now working to reactivate the board structure. To get this started back up, two representatives from each Circle have met to form the first board.

At our first meeting we identified the basic officers from within our board to fill the positions through 2012. That gives us time to advertise that we will elect new officers for 2013 and have time for the board to identify people interested in filling the positions. At the Presbyterial and Synodical level, a specific nominating committee is identified each year to pursue nominees for each position. At HARP we decided that the board will also be the nominating committee at this time.

The board for 2012:

• President – Patti Snyder
• Past President – Laura Navarro
• Vice President/Secretary – TBD
• Treasurer – Barbara Birdsong
• Historian – Tina Aldridge
• At-large members: Millie Brown, Kathy Young, Sue Barnette, Myron-Alice Ingram, Jill Gazzaway

Upcoming actions include the Tuesday morning Bible study restart up October 4. This study had been led by Nancy Winburne, and it is one of the many reasons we miss her. Through a series of announcements in the bulletin, at the start of Worship service, and phone calls, Jill has identified a number of women interested in attending and ensured we have babysitting provided. She is starting with the study book suggested by the Synodical Women’s Ministries for this year, David: Encountering the King Who Reigned in Power by Michael Bentley. We are still looking for a few more people willing to facilitate and of course.

We also have three Circles (a traditional name for a group of women that meet for Bible study and fellowship) that meet each month. The Covenant-McDowell Circle meets in the middle of the day on the third Thursday of the month. The Friendship Circle meets the evening of the first Monday and the Circle of Grace meets the evening of the third Monday of the month.

Of course, there is the annual Beach Trip the first weekend of November. Contact Donelle Whitby if you haven’t reserved a spot yet. This is always a time of fellowship and fun. The devotions this year are from the book The 7 Hardest Things God Asks a Woman to Do by Kathie Reimer and Lisa Whittle (they probably aren’t what you think).

We are also planning a Saturday brunch in December, with hopes of giving all the women of HARP an opportunity to fellowship together. We have reserved space at The Acropolis for a brunch buffet starting at 10:00 am on Saturday, December 10. We hope you all can attend. Cost is $11 (tax and tip included), please RSVP to Barbara Birdsong, with a check made out to the church.

Plans for 2012 include more general social get-togethers and some service activities. We also hope to have a group attend the Family Bible Conference at Bonclarken in July, the First Presbyterial Retreat at Bonclarken in November of 2012, and preparations for the First Presbyterial Annual Meeting to be held here at HARP in the fall of 2012.

Click the image on the left to read the Blog that was recorded by our 2011 Missions team to Rio Verde, Mexico