The Deacon body continued to serve the congregation of Morningside throughout the last quarter supporting various events with special attention being paid to family ministry.

Please be in prayer for those individuals currently serving our church as a deacon.

If you would like to recommend someone to be considered as Deacon for the upcoming church year beginning 2025, please reach out to Rick Beatty, Deacon Chair, via text to: 706–464–4338 or email to: rckbeatty@gmail.com

The Recruitment Committee will meet during the 4th Quarter to fill vacancies in our 4 committees and for a Trustee. Our committees are Finance, Global Missions, Personnel, and Recruitment. Committee members generally serve a 3-year term. Some of the positions are partial and may have only one or two years left to serve. Please be in prayer for these selections and your willingness to serve.

The Student and NextGen ministry have seen positive signs that the Lord is moving in our ministries. The student ministry has added a Sunday night service that is bringing in many first-time visitors and returning guests. The NextGen ministry is also seeing an increase in participation in the children, and student ministry departments on Wednesday nights. We hope to add a weeknight college and career Bible study before the year's end.

The Young Family group has been walking through a Lifeway study call “Revive Us” in Bible Fellowship over the last few months. The study focuses on revival: how we position ourselves to experience it, how we recognize it when we see it, and what we should do with it. The study should carry us through the end of the year.

The missions Committee as been collection toys for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. To date, we have had a tremendous response. We will have our Packing and Dessert Party on November 3rd at 4:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. In 2025, we will be collecting OCC donations year-round. Stay tuned for more details. We also helped coordinate donations for Western North Carolina. Shay and Barbara Ingle organized the trip to deliver donations to NC. Shay drove the donations to NC.

The Children’s Ministry hosted Movie Night and had the theater full! Wednesday Breakout returned with a new look – Skills, Drills & Thrills! It’s a fun way to offer a mix of activities for students to learn the Bible and how to apply it to their daily lives. We have our Fall Festival with Trunk or Treat on October 26th . We have partnered again with Blanchard Elementary for a family-friendly event. We look forward to the Fall season as well as Christmas. The children are continuing through the Gospel Project and will shift gears going into the holiday season with Advent. To serve in Children’s Ministry, please email Barbara Port.

Morningside men had several gatherings this quarter beginning with a dinner at Ezell's on Sept 19th. Steve Love spoke about his work as a Chaplain at Ft Moore to approximately 30 in attendance. We've enjoyed having him and his family visit with us and look forward to knowing them better. Sept 25 saw the beginning of The Forge discipleship study on Wednesdays at 6 pm which will conclude on Oct 30th. Ten men are participating in addition to the women's and youth groups. If you have a suggestion for a men's activity or desire more information, contact Jeff Ezell 706-577-4958.

During the third quarter, the Women’s Ministry continued to enjoy W.N.O. for food, fellowship, and sharing. Our second Pop-Up Event was attending the movie, The Forge—what an amazing movie.  On Wednesday nights, various ministries are coming together to study the messages from this movie. Our Tuesday morning Bible study is currently Children of the Day by Beth Moore.

Having the W.N.O. on the third Thursday works well for us. Our last two this quarter are Red Robin on the 17th of October and Metro Diner on November 21st. We have a Pop-Up Event planned on October 26th, 7:30 pm at the River Center with a silent movie. The cost is $10 unless you bring a canned item or dress for the movie. Both get you in free. There may be several other Pop-Up Events. Stay tuned.

Our next Tuesday morning Study will be “Armor of God” by Priscilla Shirer and will start on November 5th. The next Wednesday night Bible Study will be “Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament” by Pam Farrel, Jean E. Jones, and Karla Dornacher. It will start on November 6th. Books can be purchased on-line from Amazon, Christianbook.com, and others.

We are sending out a survey concerning Craft Night. Please fill out even if you are unsure of your participation.

We are always looking for new opportunities and events. Please call, text, or email us with your suggestions. You can also talk to us the old fashion way—in person.

The Senior Adult Ministry took a break over the summer. We are looking forward to our Christmas Gathering in December.

After taking off for the summer, the Widows Ministry is up and going. Started off in September with a cookout, October a meal at Olive Garden, averaging about 25 plus in attendance. Looking forward to the November luncheon and a Christmas celebration in December.

Morningside Christian Preschool is striving and thriving! We welcomed the start of the school year with over 90 children and have hosted numerous events including Grandparents Day and Spirit Week. The Reading Support Program with Blanchard starts October 17th to help students with their reading and phonics. We are looking forward to partnering with MBC in our Grateful Gathering luncheon and are in the midst of planning our Christmas Program for December 19th. If you would like to volunteer for the reading program or come on as a sub in the preschool, please email Barbara Port.

The Personnel Committee oversaw the following changes over the course of the third quarter of 2024.  The committee received the resignation of Julie Ann Crane in August.  Although this was unfortunate, the responsibilities of her position as Outreach Coordinator have been dispersed to other staff members or volunteers.  Our core ministry team is still solid and continues to impress with programs and events that aim to grow God's kingdom and improve the spiritual health of Morningside. 

We had the honor and privilege of providing meals and support to the families of Grant Martin, Butch Parker, Jim Money and Tom Martin during the past three months. Our hearts go out to these families who are mourning the loss of their loved ones, but who are confident that they are now in the presence of Jesus. I would like to thank our team leaders who include Rhonda Kees, Cathy Gilson, Diane Padgett and Mary Ann James for their faithful service and to all the generous church members that contribute their time, monies and talents to providing meals and compassionate support to these families. The elders, deacons and Bible Fellowship classes also offer their support and love to these families. It is certainly a group effort and I am thankful we have such a generous and caring church membership.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 
~2 Corinthians 1:3-4