* The following letter is from Hillsdale’s bulletin this Sunday, January 13, 2019.
Welcome to Hillsdale!
I anticipate with JOY our church family being together this Sunday after a month of interruptions and holiday travels! December is a month of celebration and holds loving memories of childhood for most; however, how blessed we are to celebrate a New Year and the possibilities of a new beginning! The past is behind us and the slate for 2019 is open before us.
Dr. Michael and Sheri Privett
I continue my new series in the Epistle to the Philippians this Sunday morning and look forward to challenging you with Paul’s contagious JOY and example of “Abounding Love: One Spirit, One Mind, and One Passion”(Philippians 1). Dr. Michael Privett and his wife Sheri will minister to us in our 6:00pm service. Dr. Privett was formerly the Director of Church Planting with Gospel Fellowship Missions and is dedicated to training national pastors around the world. [Note – Children’s Choir will meet this evening and throughout the year with few interruptions].
Hillsdale’s Winter\Spring Semester Classes
New Bible study classes begin this Wednesday and I urge you to make a fresh start this New Year. Join us for Dinner (served each Wednesday, 5:00-6:00pm) and choose from a wide variety of new classes. Dr. Ted Martens is teaching a new Bible Institute class that is a study of the Church in the Book of Acts. Pastor Barber and Linda are teaching and leading a practical class series on Evangelism and Encouragement (a “How to” course). Mrs. Pat Youstra is leading a Ladies’ Class and a study of Bible Characters through their prayers. Travis and Tanya Henry begin a new parenting class titled “Character Matters”. Classes begin at 6:30pm.
Pastoral Staff, circa 1983 (Youth Pastor Travis Smith, Senior Pastor Blaine Farley, School Principal Jim Webster)
To God Be the Glory!
Sheilah and I celebrate 40 years in ministry this Sunday. January 1979, fresh out of Bible College, we arrived at the First Baptist Church of Sterling Heights, MI where we labored under the founding pastor of that ministry, Dr. Blaine Farley. For nearly seven years, God blessed our work as Youth and Music Pastor. We saw the youth ministry grow from 20 to over 50 teens and at one time had twenty enrolled in Bible colleges.
Dr. Alan Bradshaw
Through circumstances and a providential phone call from Dr. Alan Bradshaw, we came to come to Hillsdale October 1, 1985 and spent the next ten years as the Youth Pastor before Pastor Bradshaw’s sudden home going on June 21, 1995. As some might say, “the rest is history”. As Sheilah and I celebrate God’s faithfulness, we are indebted to your love and patience with us through the years.
With the heart of a shepherd,
Travis D. Smith
Senior Pastor
pastorsmith@hillsdalebaptist.org