Pastor Chas Gowing and his wife Mary invite you to an Open House at the manse right next to the church on Sunday, December 21, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. Come enjoy finger food and fellowship.

A special treat awaits our youth this month. The December youth event heads to the Royal Theatre to view the animated musical David . It's the story from the Bible about a young and committed boy named David who exhibits faith and hope against the odds. The movie time is 2:00pm Saturday, December 20. We will gather at the theater a little before that to purchase tickets and popcorn. Anyone who wants to see the movie is welcome.

The Garvin County Choral Society will present music sure to warm your spirit this holiday season. The concert title is “Carols, Candlelight, Cookies and Cocoa.” The date is Sunday, December 14, at 7:00pm and it occurs here at First Presbyterian Church as our gift to our community. Admission is free; donations gratefully accepted. Come and enjoy vocal and instrumental music in the presentation of Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols and Daniel Pinkham's Christmas Cantata , a

Our beautiful, meaningful, and heartwarming Christmas Eve Service will be Wednesday, December 24, at 11:00pm. Celebrate the birth of our Lord with scripture, carols and candlelight. There are opportunities for volunteer readers and singers; contact the office if you're interested. O come, let us adore Him!

For December, we are collecting warm hats, socks, and gloves to be given to kids at the Pauls Valley Elementary School and Whitebead School. Oklahoma winters can be painfully cold, especially when waiting for the school bus or playing at recess. Thank you for helping us to keep our little ones warm.

Along with Lent, the liturgical color for Advent is purple. The purple seasons are seasons of preparation. In both seasons, there is a theme of introspection. In my experience, Lent tends to be a time of very personal introspection; we think out our sin and how to live a more righteous life and we prepare for remembering Jesus' death in Holy Week and his resurrection on Easter so that we can be personally more grateful disciples, better disciples, so that we can celebrate

The adult Sunday School class will begin a new Advent series, “Finding Our Place at the Manger,” this Sunday, November 30, the first Sunday in Advent. The class will also follow a new schedule; the time to start the lesson will be 9:50am, with coffee and pastries at 9:40am.  Here's a description of the curriculum from the publisher: We see the nativity scene throughout the Advent season, on greeting cards, under Christmas trees, or brightly illuminated on the lawns of public

Hello, friends, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're with family or friends--people you love and who love you. I hope you're being filled with that love and, yes, with good food, too. I'm thinking today about one of the most important gifts that God has given humanity. Of course, when we think of what God has given us, we tend to think first of things we need: food, shelter, clothing, protection from our enemies. If we went just a little farther in that kind of thinking, I

The Ministerial Alliance Youth Fund works through the counselor’s office to provide Christmas gifts for high school students who are either homeless or displaced by not living in their parental homes. We collected for the M.A.Y. fund this past Sunday, but if you wish to participate, you can still get a check to us. There won't be envelopes labeled "M.A.Y. fund" this Sunday, but you can bring it by the office or drop it in the offering plate. Be sure to put "MAY fund" in the

Our annual Christmas Family Night is scheduled for Wednesday, December 17, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. The event is a very special and joyful time for our church and its legacy of family connections. The evening also includes the Congregational Meeting. Be sure to remind your extended family and invite them to also "Save the Date."

Every year, the Ministerial Alliance of Pauls Valley comes together for a Community Thanksgiving worship service on the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving. This year the Community Thanksgiving Service will be held at Ekklesia on Sunday, November 23rd, at 6:00pm. Rev. Dr. Jaiseong Pi, pastor of First United Methodist Church, will be preaching.

On Saturday, November 29th, we will be decorating the sanctuary for Advent. The first Sunday of Advent is Sunday, November 30th. We will start at 9:00am and will work until we are finished. Remember the old saying "Many hands make light work." We hope you can come and help for as much as you can.

For our November Youth event, we will be making greeting cards to take to shut-in veterans. Our goal is to deliver cards to all veterans in Pauls Valley nursing facilities.  We will gather in the basement after church on Sunday, November 9, and make the cards until finished.

There's a lot of remembrance at this time of year. October 31 is the date Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenburg, and so we remember the start of the Reformation on Halloween, or the closest Sunday. Of course, "Halloween" means "Hallow's eve," or the day before All Saints' (Hallowed persons') Day. On All Saints' Day we remember those who have died in the Lord before us. We believe that "the work begun in their baptism is complete," that

Remember to set your clock back 1 hour this weekend as Daylight Saving Time ends. This way you won't be out of step with Sunday's worship service and other events of the day. See you Sunday!

For November, we are collecting supplemental items for the Pauls Valley Angel Tree program. Items needed are: coloring books, markers, and other art supplies, small to medium sized stuffed animals, books, especially baby and teen books, and small toys and baby blankets. These items will be added to the requested Christmas gifts to augment and complete Angel Tree packages.  For more information, check out their new website at paulsvalleyangeltree.com .

You are invited to participate in the Pauls Valley Angel Tree effort at the Nora Sparks Warren Library .   Starting November 5th there will be "Angels" to adopt on the Christmas tree at the library. Each Angel on the tree represents a child and two gifts they have requested valued at $20 each. The recipient families, with children 0-18 years of age, live in the city limits of Pauls Valley and their school age kids attend Pauls Valley or Whitebead schools. They apply for the g

In anticipation of greater needs as SNAP funding has stopped, the Samaritan Food Pantry is receiving an extra shipment of food. Since this is a special shipment, the Samaritans is asking for volunteers to help unload the food at 9:00am this Friday, November 1. Please consider helping.

There are a lot of moving parts in the plans for Youth Activities in October and some things have changed since we last published them. Fun Fall Fête: The Hay Ride/Weenie Roast/Spook Trail at the Patton compound is still ON for this Saturday, but the time has changed: to accommodate people who want to also attend other activities in Pauls Valley, we are starting at 6:00pm. In addition to all the fun activities previously planned, we are going to be decorating pumpkins for th

Ronnie and Peggy Patton are hosting the October Youth Event at the Patton compound on October 18th from 4:30pm until the kids (and...