What a night!

On my other blog, I write about our V-Club Banquet. Check it out - there are pictures here, too - it was a night to remember! Click here for the link.

The time of singing has come

Solomon wrote these beautiful words:

For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth,
The time of singing has come.

We've had so very many things to sing about at Chapel lately. We've been especially grateful for the new little lives in our church family.


Nicolette was born on St. Patrick's Day,


and had her church debut on April 6th. Congratulations to Johnny and Elisa, and big brothers Johnny and Anthony - we're so happy for all of you!

And then there's Grace.

We knew ahead of time that her life would be marked by struggle - but that she would also be safely guarded by her Heavenly Father. She was born on January 30th - and she has already had 13 surgical procedures. She is a witness to God's faithfulness, and to answered prayer.

When she came into church for the first time last Sunday,


she caused quite a stir.

Pastor is here with Dennis, Dina, Baby Grace, and big sister Jessica, to sing the song we sing each Sunday, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God."


We thank the Lord that Baby Nicolette and Baby Grace are a part of this Family of God.

Welcome spring

A Chapel Christmas

It's been a feast - a Christmas feast, at Chapel on the Hill. We've had music, drama, art, film, messages, and food - to say nothing of fellowship, love, and joy.

Our Christmas Celebration began with a musical program on December 14th. After a time of preparation and rehearsal, everything was made ready


for a beautiful evening.


Pastor Anderson led the 30-voice choir in majestic anthems of praise to God,


of rejoicing in the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection.


The candlelit service


also included drama, with a focus on the writings of the Old Testament prophets,


Micah and


Isaiah, and the writer John,


whose Holy-Spirit-inspired theme of "the Word became flesh" echoed in song throughout the sanctuary.


We included Mary and Joseph, and a wonderful duet


of "My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation."


And then it was time for the kids with Pastor Bill, as they rushed in,


carrying over a hundred shoebox gifts, in a re-creation of our yearly participation in Samaritan's Purse's Operation Christmas Child.


Pastor Bill spoke for a few minutes about the vision Pastor Anderson has shared for a "CUPBearers" ministry (supporting ministries that seek to reach the enslaved girls of Cambodia, the child soldiers of Uganda, and the street boys of Peru). It's an intense message for Christmas - and when we watched a short movie showing these little boys, drug-addicted and abandoned, living on the streets of Lima, our festive mood darkened. But when we showed the sequel - what Shama House is doing to rescue, rehabilite and (by God's grace) redeem these young souls - the true spirit of Christmas permeated.


Pastor preached of hope - of the importance of getting what's important at this Christmas time, the message of Emmanuel: "God with us."

Afterwards, several of Chapel's people saw a need for one of their Pastors, and met it - in an extraordinary way.

On Friday night the 21st, Chapel opened its first Christmas Art Gallery. What an array of God-given talent, in drawings,


many paintings,
(below by 16 year old Katelynn DeMeo)






sculpture (by 14 year old Nathan Breckenridge),


quilts,


woodcarvings (done by 15 year old Matt Kenny),


origami,


and wordcraft.


The participants enjoyed the Art Gallery


as much as the onlookers.



Afterwards, we had a great Movie Night, watching "The Nativity Story" and eating popcorn.

"Christmas Sunday" brought more preaching of the Word by Pastor,


more singing (from Pastor and Lois doing "The Family of God"


to the choir's concluding "Hallelujah Chorus")


and then a real feast: a Christmas spread like no other.


The church gave gifts to their Pastors - generous, love-blessed gifts. We ate, we laughed, we sang - again (this time


with the Salt and Light Band)


and we had a very special event:


we watched Bethany and Alison


and the Spirit Wars kids


perform a powerful mime to David Phelps' "End of the Beginning."






It was the dessert to the season for us.


A Chapel Christmas.



A body of believers, celebrating the Savior who came to be one of us, so He could die for all of us. We are rejoicing. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Christmas in the air

The snow fell this past Sunday, and that means Christmas can't be far behind.


Saturday was spent decorating the sanctuary,


working together on props,


and deciding where everything should go.


There was time for conversation,


some rehearsing,


and just hanging out at church.


Saturday night was Cross Culture - which means


games,


fun,


laughter,


and giving thanks.

And of course there was lots of food - both for body


and soul.


Next morning the snow came,


and so did new members to our fellowship.

Monday was a night for more practice - both for the choir


and for the kids


There's excitement in the air - as we anticipate the Salt and Light Showcase this Friday night, Chapelccino and our Worship Service this Sunday, our Christmas Celebration on the 14th, our Art Gallery and Movie Night "The Nativity Story" on the 21st, and our Worship and Lunch-time Dinner on the 23rd.


There's a lot ahead - and in the words of the choir, "Christ is born - sing Alleluia!"

Picture of Praise

The news is full of stories of those who got up early on Black Friday, to beat the crowds and get the deals. But the news at Chapel was of those who got up early on Thanksgiving Day in order to praise God for His mercy and blessings to us.

With coffee and cider, pastries and oranges, we met for just an hour - but there was no lag, no break in the testimonies. One after another stood, some who have done it year after year, others who for the first time publicly gave praise to God.


There were those who recounted God's faithfulness this past year - whether in miracle pregnancies, surgical recoveries, or mercies following a terrible theft. Others stood to speak of God's care for them in the little, daily provisions of life. Some said they had given up on church - until they came to Chapel, and experienced "authentic Christianity" in the lives of true brothers and sisters in Christ. There were testimonies of gratitude to God for the outpouring of Christian love in our church toward their spouses, their children, their families. And there were those who said it simply for everyone, "I want to say thank you for Jesus Christ."


There are many good ways to celebrate and enjoy Thanksgiving. Those who came out Thursday morning to be with the family of God all believe they had found the best way.

"Suffer the little children..."

Jesus made it clear that He loved children, and wanted them to be able to approach Him and learn of Him. And so at Chapel on the Hill, we want to be like Him in that way.

Recently we renewed our long-standing prayer program entitled "Faith Family." The idea of our Faith Family is for adults in church to volunteer to pray daily for one of the children of our church. We match up Faith Family prayer partners, and it's exciting to see young people seeking out their "Faith Family" and to greet them each week.


As each adult committed before the Lord to pray daily for one special child, we trusted God to continue to guard, protect, and 'grow' them in Him.



This Sunday at Chapel, we'll extend that concern beyond our walls. It's "Shoebox Sunday," the day we bring in shoeboxes we've filled with gifts for boys and girls around the world, for Operation Christmas Child. This ministry of Samaritan's Purse shares God's love this way around the globe. Last year, 7.6 million shoeboxes were collected and distributed in many different countries. One of those countries was Zimbabwe.

Johnny, a seventh grader at Chapel, received a letter from the boy who received his gift box.


The letter read,

"Hi John. My name is Kida. I am 11 years old. I like to play hockey, cricket and rugby. I am in sixth grade. I really enjoyed the things in the box. I was born on the 25th of September 1995...I also enjoy reading books. Thank you. Please write back and we can be friends or pen pals."

As we send out these boxes, we pray for those who receive them - that they will be introduced to the love of Christ, and that many will come to know Him through the follow-up discipleship program.

This past weekend was the Missions Conference at Chapel. We sat and ate together, listened to presentations from some of our missionary family, and prayed over what we could give in this coming year to support our missionaries and missionary endeavors.



Our focus was on Dick and Kathy Page's ministry to orphans and needy children in Russia (the Pages are seen here speaking to some of the kids at Chapel),


David Virkler's evangelism ministry, the Camp Elim ministry in Haiti, a ministry to People With AIDS in Greenwich Village, Bible translation work in the Philippines, a church plant in the Yukon Territory, ministry to those displaced in the Sudan, and more...

And God is calling us to go even beyond this - especially for the lost children of the world. Pastor Anderson's heart has been moved to action, as he's learned of children in some of the darkest places of the earth. He is writing a book, "Habitations of Cruelty," about young girls trapped in sexual slavery in Cambodia, young boys turned into murderers as child soldiers in Uganda, and children living in the streets in Peru.

Pastor's message from Sunday is here, on Oneplace. His passion is to see these forgotten, invisible children reached with the transforming, rehabilitating power of the Holy Spirit. We look forward as a church family to doing all we can to share the love of Jesus Christ to these young ones trapped in these "Habitations of Cruelty."

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. We want to be part of seeing that happen, by asking God to use us however He can - through praying for our own children at Chapel, through sending out a simple shoebox gift somewhere in the world, and through setting up a ministry of financial and prayer support for those who are fearlessly and faithfully working in these dark places.

Jesus laid His hands on those little children, way back in Bible times. And He's still doing it today. We want to be His vehicles, His vessels...His hands, for the children's sake.

Chapel Summers

Summertime...and the livin' is - exciting!

Some of Chapel on the Hill's regular programs go on hiatus over the summer - but others kick into high gear.

Chapel's youth group, Cross Culture, had their infamous "Lock-In" - yes, most of the kids stayed up all night! It started out with one of Mr. Mark's legendary tail-gate picnics (the tail gate that's been everywhere from Mississippi to Autumn Blaze...)



The highlight of the night (and that's saying a lot) was Star 99.1's Radio Personality David A. Dein.



David shared with the kids how he got into radio - and what Jesus Christ means to him. His humor, honesty and encouragement were used by God to touch our kids' hearts.



The give-aways were a hit, too!

And what's a Lock-In without going out? We headed over to Boonton for some Midnight Bowling:



laser lights, mirror balls, music, the works.



Then it was on back to church for a snowball fight.



(Snow? in summer? Leave it to Bethany and Nate to come up with this. The snowballs were knee-hi's filled with flour, and tied. And yes, they cleaned it up.)

* * * * * * *

The Ladies Fellowship had their annual Banquet,



with a veritable feast of culinary and baked delights



and an evening of song and message that thrilled and inspired everyone who came.



* * * * * * *

Chapelccino is a monthly celebration at Chapel -



and for Father's Day, the women decided to honor the men with a fabulous spread. They cooked up all the guys' favorites -



French toast, SPAM, made-from-scratch fried doughnuts, and even fruit smoothies, for good measure.



* * * * * * *

Our start-of-summer church picnic was held on the church grounds,



with lots



and lots of food



in sunshiny abundance, and fellowship



from grown-ups



to kids



to the littlest ones...



* * * * * * * *

The newest addition to the Chapel calendar has been our Friday Nights at the Movies. We've had the popcorn machine popping as we've split our sides over Thou Shalt Laugh, and cheered and cried our way through Facing the Giants. This week, we'll travel back in time with Queen Esther in One Night With The King. And in August and September, we'll see the work of Michael Landon, Jr., in Love Comes Softly, sequel Love's Enduring Promise, and the fresh-from-the-theaters and not-to-be-missed powerful adaptation of Francine Rivers' novel The Last Sin-Eater.

* * * * * * * *

Our most important program is on Sunday morning - when we worship together,


sing praises to God,



read His Word



and study it together.



And our Pastor's messages can be heard even if you're not able to join us each Sunday!



Just go on over to Oneplace.com and listen here - our URL is www.oneplace.com/ministries/Chapel_On_The_Hill.

It's summertime at Chapel on the Hill - and the livin' is better than ever!

Thank you, Lord, for Ruth Graham

For Donna-Jean's memorial on the life and ministry of Ruth Bell Graham, click here.

Praying for Virginia Tech

Pastor has written to campus missionaries Charles and Susan Pugh at Virginia Tech (we learned of them through Chapel missionaries David and Marilyn Clark who will join them in that ministry on May 1st) and learned of how we can pray specifically. That prayer list is on my blog here - check it out. Also, thanks to Christian radio personality Cindy Swanson
here are some other important links - Campus Crusade's Virginia Tech page (with personal stories of VT students), and Campus Crusade's Call to Prayer.

Chapel on the Hill joins the church worldwide in praying, today and in the days to come, for the families of those killed, those still recovering in the hospital, those survivors who witnessed unspeakable horrors, and those involved in counseling and comforting, in the name of Jesus.

Contemplation on Calvary

Good Friday - April 6th, 8:00 p.m.

Through Christ's death on the cross, we have been redeemed. Each year, we reflect on that historic incident. Through the ministry of the Chapel Concert Choir and dramatic presentations, we will be drawn back to that memorable moment. The theme of the evening's message from our pastor will be "Cross Purposes."

Easter Sunday - April 8th, 10:30 a.m.

Dramatic anthems will be heard throughout the auditorium. Music that has blessed the hearts of God's people down through the years will be presented by the Chapel Concert Choir. We will also present more contemporary selections that will uplift your spirit and remind you of the significance of the resurrection in today's world. Our pastor's timely message will be on "The Relevance of the Resurrection in this 21st Century."

For more information on Chapel on the Hill, including directions, go to www.chapelonthehill.org.

More Blessed to Give

We do what we do for the Lord, leaving the results with Him. But sometimes we get to see how our God-directed efforts have blessed others.


This fall, women of all ages from Chapel on the Hill made and sent nearly 500 total hand-knit and crocheted scarves, hats, mittens, gloves, and slippers to Soar International for its annual Stuff-A-Stocking ministry to needy children in orphanages in Russia.


What a blessing to see the pictures of those children opening up the stockings and wearing the gifts we sent them.


Soar International reports that they were able to deliver over 2400 of these stockings (each filled with hygiene items, toys, school supplies, warm clothing, and a Bible). They said they "traveled by bus and train (and even by snow machine in eastern Russia!) to more than 25 different sites in central, northwest and eastern Russia." In some areas SOAR team members even added a clown costume, just for fun.

Pray for the churches and pastors in Russia who worked alongside SOAR and will continue ministering to these children. And pray, too, for the coming Easter Baskets of Hope (go to SOAR for more info) which will be going to Russia April 14-21st. And pray for the children of Russia to know the love of Jesus.

Foundational Work

Back in November, a team of nine men from Chapel on the Hill set off for another missions relief trip to the still devastated-after-Katrina-but-rebuilding Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

Pastor Bill Breckenridge, Pat Arthur, Marc DiEdwardo, Scott Enchelmaier, Johnny Fabrazzo, Steve Hangge, Frank Scerbo, Mark Schoonfield, and Stan Zimmerman went to Lakeshore Baptist Church and this time they were able to begin building a home.

"Ms. Peewee" has been living in a FEMA trailer since Katrina hit, over a year ago.

Our men started to work,

to dig, put in cement blocks,


and mix and pour concrete.


They laid the foundation for a new home for her.


By the time they were done, the cement block foundation (with a little memorial "Chapel On The Hill" graffiti) was all in place.

The men prayed with Ms. Peewee, asking God's blessing on her and on the future He has for her in her coming new home.


The guys were also able to work on James' house - putting up drywall and spackling.

It was hard for them to leave - they wanted to continue, but time was up for this trip.

Now that they've been home for awhile, they've learned that other teams have come in and were able to build on their work. Another team came to put up the walls


and still more teams came to continue building this much-needed house.


As we look back on the several Chapel-sponsored trips to Mississippi and the Gulf Coast (Pastor Bill to Louisiana with Samaritan's Purse just a few weeks after Katrina hit, the first men's team in October of 2005, the second men's team in January of 2006, Pastor Bill and Donna-Jean's trip in March of 2006, the women's team in April of 2006, and now this trip), we thank God for the small part we had in helping those whose lives were so rearranged by this disaster. We pray that the foundation of their future is laid by putting all their hope and trust in Jesus Christ. We will not forget them.

(click on any picture to enlarge)

What's Happening at Chapel on the Hill

God's at work - in our church, in our lives, in our hearts!

"New Beginnings" - Chapel's evening Bible study for women - started last week, and on the first and third Wednesday of each month, Pastor's wives Lois Anderson and Donna-Jean Breckenridge (yours truly) will be teaching on the Women of the Bible.



Our first session was to a packed house (Maria's, that is), where we studied Priscilla, her busy, stressful life, and her passion for making God's Word a priority. "That I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10) is our goal - so we each took the name of another woman there that night, and promised to pray for her each day, that she would draw closer to God and walk with Him more accurately and effectively. Our next study - February 21st - will be on Hannah, and what we can learn from her about prayer.

Not to be outdone, our men met together for a fabulous breakfast - with Lou and Joe and Scott cooking, it had to be great! Along with the great food, they had a time of study and planning - they are truly "Ironmen" (each praying for the other, Proverbs 27:17), "Minutemen" (ready to help, serve, and even go at a moment's notice...whether in Mississippi for Katrina relief or in our own building, with the reflooring they finished last week, or in helping one another), and "Workmen" (II Timothy 2:15 - workmen who don't need to be ashamed because they are rightly dividing the Word of truth). They're putting together ideas for their next way to 'bless' Chapel in a big way, and we're excited about it! (Ask one of them...)



Cross Culture continues to grow in numbers and enthusiasm.

We pray for the youth of our church, and we're grateful to Bethany and Nate and their continued desire to lead, befriend, and disciple them...


...even when they act a little zany.

Our "Friday Night Family Place to be" is Salt and Light Club. Officially for preschool through 6th grade, it's become The Place for anyone and everyone who loves the band, loves the kids, loves the study and movie devo time, loves the fun....


...and loves the Lord.

V-Clubs! That's Valor Club for boys, Virtue Club for girls. It's a complicated time to figure out who you are as a young man or young woman in today's world - and we want our Christian kids to know God's Word in this, and the support of their church family. So what times we've planned for them! The first night was memorable - the boys are still talking about it (ask one of them!) and the girls, too (read a bit about it here, at the end of the article). We'll meet again next week.

SHARON (weekday women's Bible study), Ladies Fellowship, Children's Bible Hour, Chapelccino,

Connections Bible Study (where we take time as a church family to dig deeper and pray more specifically for our church family, our missionary family, our community, our world), our Sunday morning time of worship and praise led by Paul (this week we'll join hundreds of churches across America and around the world in singing "Amazing Grace" in recognition of the 200th anniversary of Christian leader William Wilberforce's fight to end the slave trade...join us in this!), our choir's lifting up of the name of Jesus in song -

and some very wonderful news:

Chapel on the Hill is heading over to Oneplace.com! If you're new to Oneplace, it's the "leading provider of Christian audio content on the Internet" (a great place to go, you can listen to everyone there!) - and very soon, Chapel's weekly messages will be heard there, too (we'll announce it here as soon as we're 'up and running'). We hope to start with Pastor Anderson's message series on the Song of Solomon. It's worth waiting for!

God is so good to us.

Christmas Expectation

That was the title for this Sunday's morning worship and celebration time: Christmas Expectation, for Christmas was just a week away.



Christmas is coming - are you ready? No, not are all your gifts bought and wrapped - but are you ready for the blessings God has for you this Christmas season?

And once again, our sanctuary was filled with song - "Canticle of Joy" (for each of these music links, scroll down the linked page to Audio Previews and click on 'full-length' to hear the song), "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne",



and "Bethlehem Joy" ("Good news! Great joy! Mary's had a baby boy...").

Some of the Chapel kids and teens came to the front with me



and after seeing how they used to trim trees in the 'days gone by' (Pastor Bill's childhood Christmas home movie!)



we made our own version of a "Crismon Tree" - apparently it's the 50th anniversary of this tradition, but our first time at it, and so we had made "crismons" (Christ monograms - gold and white handmade ornaments that depict names of Christ or aspects of His life and power). Different women and girls in the church made each of ours in counted cross stitch



(there were no pattern books I could find anywhere - so I 'clicked to enlarge' the crismons shown here and figured out the patterns from looking at the pictures.)



The Chapel kids hung the crismon ornaments on two of the trees and added candy canes as well, to remind us of the shepherds who were the first to worship Christ.

Paul D'Angelo and the choir sang the moving song "Who Is This King?" -

Who is this King
That sets the captives free?
Who is this King
Who makes the leper clean?
Who is this King
who has the power
to forgive the darkest sin?
Jesus is His name...

as our hearts were softened to hear the Word of God preached with power and the anointing of God.



Our messages are rich - there is no other word for them. We have heard about the tetragrammaton - the holy name of God, and the hypostatic union - the complete divinity and humanity of Christ in which He retained all of His divine nature but humbled Himself and became poor (not royal, not even middle class, but poor), for us...totally human yet still totally God -



and Pastor presented these truths in such a way that young and old, visitor and Chapel family member, could thrill to them as much as to the music and the setting.

And when the service was over, we feasted!



Instead of our usual 'potluck,' we had a first-time Christmas Family Dinner catered by Eight Hills in nearby Verona. One hundred and fifty of us gathered downstairs for chicken savoy, roast beef, meatballs, penne vodka, salad, fruit and cheese platters and more. A banquet worthy of the occasion...



Chapel people brought desserts (what a spread that was!)



and we even had a special treat -



the cotton candy machine we had used that Friday for our Salt and Light Night at the Movies (we showed the kids "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" to cotton candy and popcorn)



- and everyone got into the act.



What fun we had...



Pastor and Lois, still romancing after fifty years of marriage...



Then it was time for the Salt and Light Band -