Family Camp

Join us for Morningside Family Camp (The Wilds, Nov. 11 - 12). All language ministries will be blessed by the preaching, fellowship, food and activities. Translation in Spanish and Chinese will be available for most sessions.

Families and individuals can choose from a variety of accommodations. Morningside is offering an early bird discount (50% off) October 2 - 16. Payment is required at the time of registration. Cash or check is accepted. Look for our registration table in the lobby through November 6.

Check out our guest speaker, packing list, dress, tentative schedule and activities, accommodations, and rates and make your plans to come. For additional questions, contact Pastor Huffman.

our guest speaker: Jon crocker

Jon and his wife, Andrea, served as missionaries in Mexico City for 10-1/2 years. They have 5 children. Jon is GFA's new Executive Director. He is deeply committed to serving missionaries around the world and is passionate about motivating young people to give their lives to fulfilling the Great Commission. Jon is a bilingual speaker.

packing list and activities

What to bring: Bible, camera, and casual clothes and shoes for informal sessions and recreation. Linens and pillow provided only for those staying in the Lodge and Inn.

What NOT to bring: Alcoholic beverages, drugs, tobacco or cigarettes of any kind, fireworks, ammunition, guns, weapons, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, drones, magazines, apparel with inappropriate graphics or lettering.

What awaits: Cool Beans Coffee Shop • Land Trolley • Paddle Boats • Canoes Game Room • General Store • Snack Shop • Craft Shop • Frisbee Golf • Archery Range • Slingshot Range • Mountain Hikes • Basketball • Volleyball • Human Foosball Third Falls Zipline • The Giant Swing

Dress: Casual dress is appropriate for the informal camp atmosphere. Modest necklines and knee-length shorts are requested by the camp.

Updated weekend schedule

(Revised since Brochure Printing)

November 11-12, 2022

FRIDAY

5:00 - 7:15 Check-in

6:00 - 7:15 General Store/Cool Beans

7:30  - 8:05 Supper (Dining Hall)

8:30 - 9:00 Funtime (0-4 Childcare) - Fireplace Room

*9:00 - 9:30 Session 1 English (Spanish and Chinese translation) - Fireplace Room

9:30 -  10:15 General Store/Cool Beans/The Snack

SATURDAY

7:30 - 8:00 Cool Beans 

8:15 - 8:45 Breakfast

*9:15-10:15 Session 2 English (Chinese translation) – Fireplace Room

Spanish God & I Time and Freetime

*10:15-11:15 Session 3 Spanish – Fireplace Room

English and Chinese God & I Time and Freetime

11:15-12:30 Giant Swing/Land Trolley/Wall/Craft Shop

12:45 - 1:20 Lunch 

1:20 - 1:30 Group Photo in front of General Store

1:30 - 5:30 Freetime 

1:30 - 5:15 Craft Shop

1:30 - 5:30 Boats

1:45 - 3:15 2nd and 3rd Falls Hike and ZIP (arrive by 2:45 to ZIP)

2:30 - 5:15 General Store/Cool Beans/The Snack

3:00 - 4:00 Archery/Superslide (Tentative)

5:30 - 6:05 Supper/Dismissal 

* Nursery and childcare available

• Ages 0-2 should be taken to Conference Room B (lower level of Inn II) before services and be picked up there immediately following the services.

• Ages 3-4 should meet their leaders in Conference Room A (lower level of Inn II) before services and be picked up there immediately following the services.

• Age 5-5th grade should meet their leaders at the Pavilion before services and be picked up there immediately following the services.

Freetime Activities

Daytime and Lighted Activities                   Saturday Freetime Activities

Volleyball                                                         Boating (Adult supervision/life jackets for all)

Basketball                                                        Self-service Hikes (Adult supervision)

Soccer Arena                                                         -Turtle Rock (Trail across the grass to the right of Lake)

Human Foosball                                                    -2nd & 3rd Falls (Follow to ZIP then Trail signs)

GaZEEball                                                        Frisbee Golf (Disc and map by Land Trolley)

Mini Golf

rates and accommodations

Adult rates for meals, lodging, and activities range from $50 (Sat. only) to $150 per person, and a 50% discount is available through October 16. For full details, pick up our brochure in the lobby.

Lodge Rooms: Motel rooms in the main building, with one queen-size bed and two sets of bunk beds, including linens and pillows.

Inn Rooms: Located 150 yards from the Lodge area. Motel rooms with one queen-size bed and one set of bunk beds, including linens and pillows.

Duplex Cabins: Located down the hill, several hundred yards from the Lodge area. Each unit is an individual, winterized cabin with one queen-size bed and four sets of bunk beds and large bathroom. No linens or pillows provided.

See above for schedule updates since brochure publication.

Homecoming Events for your Family

Join us Oct 2-5 as we gather for Homecoming events for the whole family.

During the week of our Gospel Conference, men, women, teens and kids are invited for times of fellowship, food and reflection from God’s Word. Ticket for the Men’s and Women’s events begin 9/18 in the Lobby (suggested donation of $10 per person). Kids and teens may donate $5 at their events.

Sunday, October 2

10:00 AM Homecoming Service

5:00 PM Sacred Concert, Frazor Team

Monday, October 3

6:00-8:00 PM Women’s Dinner (Pork Loin, sides & dessert) and Corn Hole Tournament

For ladies 6 years and up. Invite a friend.

Tuesday, October 4

6:00-8:00 PM Men’s Dinner (Beef Short Ribs, sides & dessert) and Corn Hole Tournament

For boys/men 6 years and up. Invite a friend.

Wednesday, October 5

6:00-8:00 PM Kids’ Dinner and Awana (Nursery open. Serving dinner to K3-5th grade only. This is a date night for parents)

6:00-8:00 PM Teens’ Food and Fun (Cola Wars).

Annual Church Picnic

Pig Pickin’ is a yearly tradition where we enjoy eating fantastic BBQ and fellowshipping with our Morningside family and friends.

This year’s Pig Pickin’ is 4-7 PM on Sunday, September 25 at the Pavilion Recreation Complex (400 Scottswood Drive, Taylors). The cost is a suggested donation of $3/person or $10/family. Food will be catered by Mike & Jeff’s BBQ.

Activities begin at 4:00 pm with kids’ face painting. Food will be available 4:30-5:30 pm. Your family may wish to bring lawn chairs for the outdoor events and socks for any wishing to ice skate or play in the bounce area.

Every Pig Pickin’ is special. Enjoy some of our memories from last year!

Come and fellowship with us!

Awana Kicks Off

We are excited to begin this year’s Awana Clubs on September 7. Children 3 years old through 5th grade are all invited to join us at 6:45 PM on Wednesday nights throughout the school year.

What is AWANA?

Awana is designed to help your child understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our caring, trained volunteers develop engaging relationships and teach Bible truths so that Christian discipleship can happen. Your kids will not only memorize truth from God’s Word but will also receive guidance in understanding it.

Games and special dress up nights create a fun environment and help kids earn team points, and missions focus happens twice a year too! Check out our Awana calendars at Morningside Kids for more details about special themes, memory verses and events.

Cubbies (K3-K4) features Bible memory, snacks, crafts, puppets and age-appropriate hands-on Bible learning in a setting that fosters love and respect for God. Cubbies resources will encourage and equip you to actively nurture your child. Our volunteers will work alongside you to guide children into truth.

Sparks (K5-Grade 2) learn and memorize God’s Word with an emphasis on developing caring relationships with their leaders. Bible biographies show children how others in Bible times interacted personally with God. Sparks learn that they can also know God personally through the gift of His Son, Jesus. Sparks also experience fun through songs, games and periodic crafts.

Truth & Training (Grades 3-5) kids begin with games, and our volunteers always have a Bible application for each one. Clubbers then transition to a Bible lesson, songs, and Bible memory in small group discussions led by caring adults who want to help them grow in their walk with the Lord.

If you would like to serve in Awana, sign up to volunteer at morningside.org/kids. We will look forward to working with you.

Back to School Splash

On Wednesday, August 10, we welcomed over 250 people to our Back to School Splash! Our volunteers gave away over 100 school boxes and 50 backpacks provided by Select Health. Kids enjoyed crafts, water wars, carnival games, popsicles and the giant water slide. We were thankful to be a part of helping families prepare for school on a cooler summer night!

Back to School Event

Last Friday, we were able to partner with Select Health/First Choice in our front parking lot to give away backpacks and school supplies to well over 200 families. Paul Mitchell School also joined us to give free haircuts. In addition to giving away free school supplies, we also invited carloads of families to our upcoming Back to School Splash happening Wednesday, August 10 from 7-8:30pm. Our Back to School Splash includes a water slide for the kids, water games, craft stations, popsicles, free school supplies and signup for Awana. Please pray that families will come and enjoy the fun and free things, but more importantly will return to worship with us, find hope in Christ and build relationships at Morningside.

Life Groups

Life Groups are launching on July 24 to help us fulfill our mission of loving each other.

What are morningside life groups?

Life Groups are small groups of Morningsiders (6-10 adults, plus children) that meet in homes to fellowship (food optional), pray, and discuss application questions from Pastor’s sermon.

When do they meet?

Life groups will meet on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month as an alternative to the Sunday PM service. We will still have a Sunday evening service at church 52 weeks a year. But Life Groups offer an alternative every other Sunday for those who want to build close connections in Christian community.

Why do we do life groups?

When we look at the priorities of the early church, Acts 2:42 says they devoted themselves to: Doctrine (Sun AM, SS), Prayer (Wed PM), Breaking of bread (Communion), Fellowship- They were meeting “from house to house.” They received their food with glad and generous hearts (v. 42) 

When Paul lists the marks of a true Christian in Romans 12, he says we should be “given to hospitality” (v. 13). Hebrews 13:2 reminds believers, “Do not neglect to show hospitality. Peter tells even persecuted believers, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9).

Life Groups are launching on July 24 to help us fulfill our mission of loving each other. 

Life Groups are small groups that meet in homes twice a month to fellowship, pray, and discuss application questions from Pastor’s sermon.

Learn more about our life groups and sign up at Morningside.org/Life-Groups today.

New Associate Pastor

We installed Jeriel Ontoy as Associate Pastor on May 8.

Jeriel had the privilege of being born and raised in a Christian home in Houston, TX where he was first exposed to music and most importantly the gospel. Because his family was so involved in their local church and Christian school, Jeriel was often roped into accompanying for special music and congregational singing, conducting choirs, and organizing rehearsals. Jeriel looks back on these early years with fondness and views them as the foundation for his future ministry.

Jeriel earned his undergraduate degree in communication and minors in business and music. While in school, Jeriel further developed his piano and conducting skills, directed a music ministry team, participated in collegiate-level choirs, gained leadership experience, and developed the Rooted music ministry at Morningside. Most recently, he mentored under Mac Lynch and led the choir and congregational singing at Catawba Springs Christian Church (Apex, NC) where his father-in-law pastors.

Jeriel has an MA in Biblical Studies. When he’s not making music, Jeriel enjoys traveling to new places with his wife.

Jeriel and his wife Carmel were married in 2020.

Online Giving Update

This month, our online giving platform is changing. If you haven’t been giving online, this is a great time to start.

Navigate to our website at morningside.org/give. Find the button that says “Give Online Via Our New Platform.”

That will take you to a secure donation form where you can choose whether to give once or set up recurring gifts, decide which fund to support, and provide necessary contact information. You can even decide whether to remain anonymous.

If you have any questions, our office will be happy to help. We are so thankful for the faithful gifts of our church family and so many others.

Graduation Sunday

for 2022 Graduates

We plan to recognize this year's graduates on May 1. We want you to know how proud we are of you.

Finishing an educational milestone is a great time to think about what God has done and to look forward to what He will do in the future.

We will recognize our graduates on Sunday, May 1 during the 10:00 am service. For our kindergarten and high school graduates, please email name and picture to mypicture@morningside.org by Sunday April 24.

We truly are proud of you, graduates, and we look forward to recognizing you!

Easter at Morningside

April 17 is Easter Sunday. Our 10:00 service will celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead. Kids can enjoy an Easter Egg Hunt after the service, and high-quality family photo sessions will be available.

Easter is a wonderful day for many reasons. Plants are blooming, eggs are hatching, and we remember the day that the Son of God conquered death to enjoy eternal life. We dress up, we plan fun activities for our children, and we thank God for proving that Jesus told the truth about Himself.

Our Easter service is always a special one. The choir and orchestra provide great music about the Resurrection, we praise God together, and our pastor preaches about how Jesus’ resurrection applies to everyday life.

Pastor Crockett’s Easter 2021 message, “Much Wisdom Is Much Grief,” came during our series Living for More.

All morning long, a corner of our lobby is buzzing with activity as families and friends line up to take pictures in their Easter outfits together. We’re so thankful for the gifted photographers in our church family who serve this way. We always send the pictures out so that everyone can keep their memories later.

Family photos are available in our coffee nook from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM.

We cap off the morning with an Easter egg hunt, telling our kids that there’s something worth remembering in the promise of new life that comes every spring.

Our egg hunt is a few minutes after the morning service. Thanks to Pelham Road Elementary School for the use of their lovely field!

We are excited to celebrate again this year. Will you join us?

ODBM 2022 Golf Tournament

Open Door Baptist Missions Golf Tournament

Please join us for the annual Open Door Baptist Missions Golf Tournament on April 23, 2022. The annual tournament is one of the ways that ODBM can keep costs so low for its missionaries.

The last two tournaments were in July, but this year we return to our regular spring date. We will have a great day of golf at the beautiful Links O' Tryon in Campobello, SC. The golf tournament will be Captain's Choice, and registration will begin at 11:30 AM. Men, women, and juniors are all welcome. Your registration will include lunch at 12:00 PM, before golf, and door prize and awards following golf.

Register now and remember to invite your friends to play. Thanks to the many local vendors who have donated already.

Thank you for your support of Open Door Baptist Missions.                  

Date: April 23, 2022

Times: 11:30 am

Fees:

Individual Golfer: $110.00
Late Registration - after April 18, 2022: $120.00

One Body

What does the Bible say about racial reconciliation?

On the evening of February 20 we learned about racial reconciliation from a multi-ethnic panel. The theme of the panel was "One Body: A Christian Perspective on Racial Reconciliation."

Pastor Dave Smith moderated, and guest panelist Ben Gordon (Hope Baptist Church) joined Dr. Mary Mendoza and several of our staff members.

After Pastor Ben Gordon shared a short challenge, we celebrated Communion together. Afterwards, the Pursue life group hosted a church-wide fellowship in the chapel. We enjoyed meatball subs and activities in the gym.

Missions Conference

Our 2022 missions conference is on January 30th, February 2nd and 6th. Our theme for the conference will be "Every Believer. Every Platform. Every Nation."

Dr. Rick Cross from Acorn Global Advance will be our special speaker on January 30th.

With an interactive exhibit in our church lobby and through our in-person service on Wednesday, February 2nd, our conference focused on the gospel opportunities in China. The world’s most populous nation, China is officially closed to gospel work. But God’s plan is not closed, and we are excited to share what the Lord is doing there.

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Living for More: Looking Back

UPDATED JANUARY 24

One of the reasons we can look forward to 2022 is what God showed us in 2021. Members have received our beautiful annual report.

And here’s our moving Year in Review video. Thanks to Rich Streeter and the media team for putting this together.

Immediately following the 5 pm service we held a fellowship in the chapel. We provided drinks and pizza. We invited everyone to donate cans of soup the Greenville Rescue Mission can serve this winter.

After you finish eating, we hope you can stay and fellowship with our church family now that our newly renovated gym will be open. And please bring your favorite board games to play in the chapel.

Sanctity of Life & Baby Bottles

During our January 16 online service, we celebrated the Sanctity of Life. We acknowledged that all life is precious to our Creator God. We are all created in His image from the time of conception (Psalm 139:13-14). We also took time to lament and seek God’s mercy for the millions of lives lost due to abortion.

In an effort to support life, we have partnered with Piedmont Women’s Center to fill baby bottles with change, cash or checks. Please pick up one bottle per family in the lobby and return to the Welcome Center by the end of February. Our liaison to Piedmont Women’s Center, Beth Cofer, shared other ways we can all get involved and support life especially through our prayers for staff and clients. Watch below to hear what Beth shared on Sunday.

Sanctity of Life Sunday

EDITED JANUARY 16: Baby bottles available in the lobby when Morningside reopens!

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One way we can show God’s love to our world is by standing for life.

You can support our local gospel partner the Piedmont Women’s Center this Sanctity of Life Sunday, January 16.

We’ll have baby bottles in the lobby for you to take–and to bring back with change, cash, or checks.

Piedmont Women’s Center will use your donation to help parents choose life.

Interview with Shelly Hamilton

Christians often struggle to reach out to or support those dealing with mental illness.

Jonathan Hamilton dealt with mental illness for much of his life, and his mother Shelly has written Always Only Good about their story. Pastor Josh Crockett interviewed Shelly about her book on December 12, and Shelly signed copies in the lobby afterwards.

Shelly wrote, she says,

to share my son’s journey because of my great love for him

to give others . . . a snapshot view into the life of someone living with mental illness and thereby help them be better supporters

to impart how I personally discovered God is good through and because of mental illness

to assure those dealing with mental illness that they are not alone.

Building Plans for 2022

Our members voted on Dec. 5, and in 2022 we’re planning to begin a redesign of our auditorium and to renovate a first-floor hallway into a multi-purpose room.

Our auditorium sound system is original to our 1999 building, and many of us have been hoping to replace it for many years. While we prepare for a new sound system, we’ll make sure any updates to the auditorium will be included in the design so that the sound will keep working once they’re done.

While we launch that, we’re planning to continue renovating our first floor.

Open Door Baptist Missions offices currently occupy several small rooms in this hallway near the gym:

ODBM plans to turn two upstairs classrooms into a main office and a meeting room (both with windows looking out at our green space!)

Then we plan to turn the space they’ve vacated into a large multi-purpose room suitable for small groups and fellowship. Here are some early renderings. We are excited about the possibilities!

Holiday Schedule

The holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are all full of meaning for believers, and we are celebrating each season in many ways. Our special Christmas programs will be December 12 (choir and orchestra, O Little Town of Bethlehem, 10 AM) and December 19 (children’s choir, Wow! It’s Christmas, 5 PM). Click or tap here for our full holiday schedule.

Our choir and orchestra and children’s choir combined their programs in 2019 and 2020, and this year we’re thankful to plan separate programs again.