Volume 67, Issue 5 May 29, 2020 Published by The Hill Baptist Church Mission Statement: “Our mission is to love God, love people, and make disciples of Jesus Christ.”

2019 Week ofr Mis-sionaries

Online Sunday School and 11 a.m. Worship Service!

-Online Resources Will Continue-

Online

REOPENING THE CHURCH Sunday, June 7, 11:00 a.m. Worship

Sunday, June 7

Ron Jones III, Ethan Dixon, and Cope Simpson

VBS IS POSTPONED

Join us for Sunday School at 10 am via Facebook and Zoom.

Go to www.facebook.com/thehillbaptistchurch to watch the Sunday service that will post on Sunday at 11am.

Go to www.thehillbaptist.com and click on “Online

Service” which is located on the top right of the page.

You will be able to watch the video of the latest Sunday

morning worship service.

Online Wednesday Prayer and Bible Study! Go to www.facebook.com/thehillbaptistchurch or Zoom and join the “Wednesday Evening Bible Study & Prayer” group to participate in our Wednesday gathering. I will begin a live video on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm. You will be able to interact with me during this video. You can share prayer requests, ask questions, and make comments about our study.

Cassidy will be posting a story each week for the children to listen to.

Truellen will be posting a video each Sunday at 10 am for the children to watch for Sunday School.

The youth will be gathering on Zoom on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 pm.

Hey guys! My name is Logan Moore. I am a sophomore at Augusta University, and I am majoring in Psychology. I am from Savannah, Georgia. My church back at home is Goshen Road Baptist Church. I was extremely involved there and I cannot wait to bring the same energy to your church! I am excited for this summer, and I hope that everyone is staying safe! Hope to see y’all soon!

Hey everyone! My name is Ron Jones. I am 18 years old and I will be starting my freshman year at college in the fall. I am from Winston Salem, NC and I have been a part of this church for over 9 years now. I am super excited to be your summer youth intern alongside Logan and looking forward to having an awesome time despite the setbacks of the situation we are all facing!

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Dear Church Family, I hope this letter finds you well! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two months since we last gathered together in our church building. During this time we’ve become more familiar with

Facebook, YouTube, Zoom, and worshipping the Lord together online. I’m thankful for the technology that we have available to us. At the same time, I recognize that nothing can take the place of physically gathering together.

This is an interesting time for the church. We long to gather together but we also want to guard against spreading the virus that threatens those most vulnerable among us. Thankfully we have seen the number of cases of those infected with virus decrease in our city and state. With the decrease in cases, the governor has lifted many of the restrictions on businesses and other activities. In view of this trend, the deacons and I believe that we can begin to safely reopen our church facility. This reopening will be gradual. We will seek to adhere to the guidelines for gathering suggested by the Center for Disease Control and the executive orders by the governor of the state of Georgia. We are continuing to monitor the virus situation locally and will modify our decision if necessary.

On Sunday, June 7th our church will have a worship service at 11am in the Sanctuary. Here are some things you need to know if you plan on attending the worship service.

• There will be no Sunday School, Children’s Church, or nursery.

• We ask that you refrain from shaking hands or touching anyone. Greet each other with a wave.

• We ask that everyone enter through the front of the Sanctuary. If you need to enter through an entrance that is handicap accessible please let me, one of the deacons, or one of the ushers know prior to the service.

• We will have the ushers open the doors for you or the doors will be propped open. We ask that you try to refrain from touching the doors.

• There will be hand sanitizer in the vestibule. Children under the age of 2 should not use hand sanitizer.

• The ushers will escort you to your seat in the Sanctuary. We will follow social distancing guidelines which require us to be six feet apart. People living in the same household may sit together. At the end of the service we ask that you remain seated until the ushers dismiss your row. This will help us maintain the social distancing guideline throughout our service from beginning to end.

• Wearing masks is optional. We will have masks available for you to use if you need one. Masks should not be used on children under the age of 2.

• We will have offering plates set up in the vestibule. If you would like to give your offering you can place it in the offering plate before or after the service. We will not be passing the offering plate during the service.

• The bathrooms located directly behind the Sanctuary will be open. We ask that only one person enter the bathroom at one time unless you are escorting a child. We ask that children be escorted to the bathroom by their parent or guardian to ensure these guidelines are followed.

• We ask that you do not go into other parts of the church facility at this time.

• We ask that if you’re sick that you do not attend. We ask that if you’ve been around someone who has shown symptoms of COVID-19 in the past 14 days that you do not attend. We will record the service and make it available online.

• We ask that if you’re in the vulnerable category that you continue to shelter-in-place until the governor’s executive order is lifted on June 12th.

Following these guidelines will allow us to begin to safely gather in our building. As time goes on we will gradually restart our other activities. Please continue to pray for me and the deacons as we seek to make plans that are wise. I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon. In the meantime, let us continue to trust the Lord who is our refuge and strength and let us continue to represent Christ well to our city!

In Christ,

Pastor Ron Jones

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Church/Religious Music? In light of the past three months of "sheltering in place" and recorded or streamed worship services, where might church music be headed? How do we

determine the God honoring method to express worship musically? You will probably hear many ideas of what "not" to do and even some ways to modify our worship so as not to harm one another. I would like to give you some scriptural and spiritual thoughts that should be included in every thought and discussion about worship, especially musical worship. We have been in a state of transition for the past 10 to 15 years with our church music ideology. On the one hand we have our "contemporary worship" which uses band instruments along with soloist and/or small worship teams to lead contemporary worship songs. On the other hand we have our "traditional worship" which uses organ, piano, and occasional orchestral instruments such as strings or winds to lead hymns and spiritual songs and anthems. Which is best? As it is often said, "beauty is in the eye or ear of the beholder"! Going forward, I feel that we need to view the direction of church music from a scriptural and spiritual perspective. Here are some questions that we all need to keep in mind when we worship through music. What is the scriptural basis of the text? Where does the music seem to originate (spiritual or cultural)? Are we hearing God speak through the words and tune? What gets our attention most, the rhythm and beat or the words and story? These questions along with spiritual discernment will lead us forward to where we are headed. There are over one hundred and twenty references to music in the Bible. Two verses speak to me and I want share with each of you. Psalm 100 speaks to how we should musically respond to God, joyfully. Ephesians 5:19 tells us: "speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord". My understanding of these and other scriptures is that we should build upon the foundation of our rich musical heritage and be discerning about what our culture brings to us through media popularity. We will find that music of all origins will speak God's truth and the test of time will preserve the best scripturally and spiritually. Floyd Montgomery Director of Music Ministry

Special Message from Christy Bagby

Golden Harvest has a new volunteer opportunity available that community members of all ages can participate in from home.

Write A Note To A Family in Need: Golden Harvest is collecting notes of encouragement for families who are

struggling during the COIVD-19 crisis. The notes will be included in boxes of emergency food that are distributed across our service area. This is a simple but meaningful way for our

community to stay connected and encourage one another during this difficult time. To participate, simply write a handwritten

response to one of the prompts below. • Prompt 1: Write down your favorite scripture or prayer and

include a drawing that illustrates your scripture or prayer. • Prompt 2: Write a note of encouragement and illustrate it with

an image that symbolizes hope for you, like a rainbow or sunrise.

**Please sign the note with your first name (s) only. You can mail your notes to Golden Harvest, or drop them off at the Augusta or Aiken warehouses and leave the notes in a drop

box located outside the main office door during office hours (Monday-Friday 8 am-12 pm and 1 pm-5 pm).

Drop notes off at: Golden Harvest Food Bank Augusta 3310 Commerce Drive Augusta, GA 30909

STAY-AT-HOME VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Mail notes to: Golden Harvest Food Bank Attn: Volunteer Notes 3310 Commerce Drive Augusta, GA 30909

Dear Youth and Parents,

Most of the Youth were on the Zoom call in April when I announced that I would be stepping away from being the Youth Director, but for those who were not I wanted to make sure you knew. I have absolutely loved getting to hang out with you all on Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, Vacation Bible School, lake days, and trips to the beach! I wish I was able to continue to be a part of those special times, but with my new job and the entire family being home, I feel like God needs me to focus my time and attention on them. You are very fortunate that Celia (and Ron) Jones has offered to step in and lead via Zoom while church is still virtual. Ron is looking for someone to help out when church starts meeting “normally” again, plus the plan is to have 2 Youth Interns this Summer. Clay and I hope to find a way to be a part of the Youth program but even if we can’t, we will still be around the church. Parents, you have really great kids and have done a wonderful job raising them to look to Jesus. Youth, I truly love you all and continue to pray for you. Please contact me anytime for anything!

Much Love, Christy

The Beacon (USPS 579-320) is published monthly by

The Hill Baptist Church, 2165 Kings Way, Augusta GA 30904-4497

Periodicals postage paid at Augusta, GA

POSTMASTER.: Send address changes to

The Hill Baptist Church, 2165 Kings Way, Augusta, GA 30904-4497

The Hill Baptist Church 2165 Kings Way

Augusta, GA 30904

The Staff of The Hill Baptist Church

Pastor: Rev. Ron Jones Director of Music: Floyd Montgomery Administrative Assistant: Jocelyn Owens Pianist: Jan Sutton Associate Pastor Emeritus: Rev. Fred Gunter

Phone: 706/736-8446 E-mail: office@thehillbaptist.com

On Call

Minister on Call

Rev. Ron Jones 706-945-7619

If you cannot reach the minister on call, please call the deacon of the week.

Deacons on Call

June 7 Ken Curry

June 14 Steve Mullins

June 21 Ed Stalnaker

June 28 Adam Diehl

Memorial & Honorarium Gifts

The church appreciates these donations:

Memory Honor

Jackie Robinson Margaret Rice Connie Blanchard

That have been received since the previous issue of the Beacon. The names of donors have been provided to the family contact for the deceased person or to the honoree.

P r a y e r L i s t

Richard Arnold Carolyn Atkins Edwin Blanchard

Matthew Bruner Wayne Bruner Jaydean Cook

Michael Cook Donald & Sarah Dickert DJ Chandler

Elizabeth Doggette Ernestine Gattis Bo Gibson

Nita Gibson Zach Gilmore Ann Gunter

John Harris Ruth Harris Emily Herrin

Pat Henderson Chuck Kee Rachel Kee

Laterra Key Chris Kitchens Ruth Lewis

Carter Loftis Bengovan McNeace Jimmy Mills

Sharon Murphy Albert Pearson Johnny Stanfield

The Terzia Family Ricky Thompson Cynthia Usry

Jennifer Usry Information as of 5/27/2020

Canceled until further notice.