Heritage Presbyterian Church

A Concert of Prayer on the National Day of Prayer

Brian Sandifer — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:13:59 +0000

Thursday, May 3 was our country’s annual National Day of Prayer. Many Christians throughout our land gathered publicly and privately to petition God to heal our land, forgive our sins, turn us as a nation back to worshiping the living God embodied in Jesus Christ. We had a “concert of prayer” at 7:00 pm at the church building. The setting was intimate and the prayer time was delightful. How encouraging that we serve a God who can hear our prayers, listens to us, is merciful and gracious to forgive our sins when we humbly confess the sins of ourselves and of our nation. For about 90 minutes a small group of us sang praises to the Lord, confessed our sins privately and corporately, and asked God to show his favor to our land and the Church of Jesus Christ in our land for the sake of his great name.

See the links below for our order of service, and the NDP prayer guides we used as prayer resources. Perhaps they can be of use to other Christians on future National Days of Prayer?

National Day of Prayer – HPC Order of Service
National Day of Prayer – Corporate Confession of Sin
National Day of Prayer Guide 2012
National Day of Prayer Guide (Scriptures)

The College Transition: Seminar hosted by HPC

Brian Sandifer — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:15:23 +0000

On Saturday, June 2, HPC will host a seminar by the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding on making the college transition. The event, which is just as much a community service event as a ministry to our college-bound students and their parents, will aim to prepare students and their families for the Christian’s college experience.

The College Transition Initiative (CTI) aims to achieve the following goals:

To encourage students and parents to think more deeply about this transition by asking the most important questions before they get there
To paint a realistic picture of college life
To cast a vision for how students can make the most of the college years
To help you make the most of college by helping you think about college in new ways

Many students think a seminar like this will simply lecture them on why they shouldn’t party, get drunk or have sex at college. While the seminar does cover these issues, the main point is not what students shouldn’t do, but what they should do to make the most of their college experience. One youth worker provided this feedback: “At the college transition seminar Derek presented the college experience as a transformational opportunity. He challenged students and parents to live thoughtfully, intentionally and engage the culture.”

Download and print the event flyer. Start spreading the word. Save the date. Invite your friends, their parents, and even your pastor or youth worker.

Registration: $10/individual, or $20/family
Date & Time: Saturday, June 2, 2012; 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Heritage Presbyterian Church, 7850 Millfield Drive, Warrenton, VA 20187
Directions: www.heritage-pca.org/visitors/directions-map/
Church Contact Info: (540-347-4627), email hidden; JavaScript is required

More information about CTI and Seminar speaker Derek Melleby.

Watch this video on YouTube.

HMS Pinewood Derby 2012

Brian Sandifer — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:42:05 +0000

Yeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Our 3rd Annual HMS Pinewood Derby has come and gone (Sunday 3/11/2012), but the memories will last forever. Hopefully that will be a good thing. Ha! By God’s grace some memories will fade quickly. Memories of

Hopeful children crying after their first race when they realize their car is slower than Christmas.

Dads “evil-eying” and trash-talking about their competitors’ cars in the adult racing division.
Popcorn and confetti strewn across a sanctuary floor that must be cleaned and restored before Monday morning.

"No funny business, Mark!"

Even the silliness and minor disappointments of a night of friendly competition could not damper the fun. Soon after the last race, hope always springs eternal with cries of “Wait til next year!”

Click here for a slideshow of the night’s festivities to join in the fun.

What is the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)?

Brian Sandifer — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:34:00 +0000

From time to time, our congregation has visitors and attenders from other Presbyterian churches. For many of these folks, the worship, practice, and beliefs of HPC are quite different than what they thought was a uniform presbyterianism. “Presbyterian” no longer describes a single unified church in America for a variety of reasons. The main reason is theological differences that confessional and evangelical Christians within the mainline Presbyterian Church in the U.S. had with the direction that their mother church was taking. These confessional and evangelical Christians, who sought to hold onto the Reformed faith in the midst of what they perceived as encroaching unbelief and apostasy, separated at several points in the 20th century to form more pure expressions of presbyterian and reformed churches. The largest of these separations occurred in 1973 when many congregations in the mainline southern Presbyterian Church withdrew to form a new and separate denomination called the Presbyterian Church in America (a.k.a., the PCA).

For history buffs, the presbyterian denominational chart of the American churches provides some context for why there are so many “presbyterian” churches, that are “tongue-in-cheek” called the “split p’s”. Sadly, this is true. Presbyterians have a history of division, but at least there is also a pattern of reunion.

If you are familiar with mainline presbyterian beliefs and practices (as expressed in the one mainline presbyterian denomination in America, called the Presbyterian Church in the USA–the PCUSA) and the PCA is a little mysterious to you, then you might benefit from a comparison of beliefs between the PCA and the PCUSA.

The PCA has published a summary of its beliefs and a short booklet called a Statement of Identity of the PCA that explains its beliefs in the following areas:

Scripture and Hermeneutics [the Bible and interpretation]
Subscription to Doctrinal Standards by Church Officers
Theological Reflection
Church Polity [governing principles]
Worship
Biblical Discipline
Mission

The PCUSA also publishes on its website a section called Presbyterian 101 that summarizes their core beliefs and practices. A quick comparison of the two may not reveal significant differences (because all churches strive to put their best foot forward and hide their controversial beliefs in the footnotes), but the PCUSA’s positions on controversial social issues demonstrate the fundamental differences between confessional, evangelical, reformed, and presbyterian Christians on the one hand, and mainline presbyterians on the other. These differences are not merely pragmatic, but are at root theologically irreconcilable.

J. Gresham Machen, one of the leaders of an earlier group of presbyterians who separated from the mainline presbyterian church to found the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), wrote a short book clearly and convincingly demonstrating that faithful, confessional Christianity is an altogether different religion than the “liberalism” that nearly all the mainline denominations were quickly adopting in the early 20th century. Since this theological rift, known to history as the “Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy“, evangelical Christians who find themselves unable to fellowship with adherents of the faith of “liberalism” have been tearfully separating themselves from their mother churches to more faithfully serve the Lord Jesus Christ who reveals himself in his holy, inerrant, and infallible Word.

Jorge & María Vasquez Wedding

Brian Sandifer — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Two mainstays at HPC’s Hispanic Ministry, Cristo Redentor, were recently married. Jorge and María invited the entire congregation of HPC and Cristo Redentor to celebrate their marriage with family and friends. It was a joyous occasion (as most weddings are!), but especially since this was a completely “in-house” marriage. So when Jorge and María tell their story, it might go something like this:

Jorge: We met at church.

María: But we knew each other for a while before we fell in love.

Jorge: Well, she loved me the first time she saw me!

María: Well, that’s the way it works for men.

Jorge & María: I love you!

Take a look at the slideshow below for select pictures from the wedding. Felicidades Jorge y María!

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HPC 2012 Bible Reading Plan

Brian Sandifer — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:49:59 +0000

This year as a congregation we are encouraging everyone to read the entire Bible in one year. For those who don’t have a Bible reading plan, we are using Tabletalk magazine’s 2012 schedule. It is one of many Bible reading schedules that are available. This one takes the reader sequentially and concurrently through the entire Old and New Testaments one time. For example, the readings for January 1 is Genesis 1 and Matthew 1. Happy reading, and may God bless your devotional reading of the Bible this year!

Knowing God (Free Audiobook in January 2012)

Brian Sandifer — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:15:15 +0000

Christian Audio is offering during the month of January 2012 a free audiobook download of J.I. Packer’s classic book Knowing God. From the website christianaudio.com:

A lifelong pursuit of knowing God should embody the Christian’s existence. According to eminent theologian J.I. Packer, however, Christians have become enchanted by modern skepticism and have joined the “gigantic conspiracy of misdirection” by failing to put first things first. Knowing God aims to redirect our attention to the simple, deep truth that to know God is to love His Word.

What began as a number of consecutive articles angled for “honest, no-nonsense readers who were fed up with facile Christian verbiage” in 1973, Knowing God has become a contemporary classic by creating “small studies out of great subjects.” Each chapter is so specific in focus (covering topics such as the trinity, election, God’s wrath, and God’s sovereignty), that each succeeding chapter’s theology seems to rival the next, until one’s mind is so expanded that one’s entire view of God has changed.

Author Elizabeth Eliot wrote that amid the lofty content Packer “puts the hay where the sheep can reach it–plainly shows us ordinary folks what it means to know God.” Having rescued us from the individual hunches of our ultra-tolerant theological age, Packer points the reader to the true character of God with his theological competence and compassionate heart. The lazy and faint-hearted should be warned about this timeless work–God is magnified, the sinner is humbled, and the saint encouraged.

HMS Kids Club Christmas Party 2011

Brian Sandifer — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:47:58 +0000

Last Sunday our kids club had a Christmas Party. The lesson was that Jesus in the reason we celebrate Christmas. As you can see from the slideshow below, we expressed our love for many of the Christmas traditions and stories that have grown up surrounding the mythology of Christmas, but that Christmas is a holy day (holiday) because we remember and celebrate the First Advent–the birth of the Son of God 2000 years ago when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Just like we look forward to the celebration of Christmas each year, Christians should look forward to the day when Jesus will return–his Second Advent–on the last day. So have a very Merry Christmas!

Brian Sandifer ordained & installed as Associate Pastor

Brian Sandifer — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:23:52 +0000

On Saturday 12/17/2011 the Potomac Presbytery of the PCA ordained and installed Brian Sandifer as Associate Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church. Brian and his family have been members at HPC since 2006. He completed his seminary education at RTS-DC (begun in 2003) in 2009 and served a pastoral internship at HPC from 2009-2010. Near the end of 2010, HPC voted to call Brian as associate pastor alongside Pastor Larry Yeager. Beginning in 2011, Brian was hired with the title of “Assistant to the Pastor” at HPC to prepare for ordination trials. Thus the ordination and installation of Brian to the office of Teaching Elder (TE) in the PCA was an exciting day for Brian, his family, and our congregation. We rejoice with God for his many blessings, and pray that Christ’s name will be proclaimed and glorified through Pastor Brian’s ministry. See the photo slideshow and video below.

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15th Annual Warrenton Live Nativity (2011)

Brian Sandifer — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:43:17 +0000

Mary, Joseph, Wise Men, Shepherds, Angels, animals, and the main attraction...baby Jesus!

HPC just reached a milestone in the history of our congregation. For 15 years we have been privileged to host a Live Nativity on the front lawn of the Warrenton Courthouse. We are so thankful to the Savior for the opportunity to share the priceless message of Christmas with our neighbors. This year’s photo Christmas card included the following message from our Pastor Larry Yeager for those who stopped by to have their picture taken in the Live Nativity. We also handed out candy canes to the children with a Christmas message about Jesus.

The Christmas card message:

Are you looking forward to Christmas? Spending more than you should (& paying for it for months); every charity asking for money; gatherings with people you usually avoid? I admit, some people really don’t like Christmas – because it’s “so commercial”, or it’s pushing religion down people’s throats, or it’s another reminder of loneliness. Remove Jesus Christ (Messiah) from Christmas and there isn’t much to celebrate. The promise of God to forgive sins, of eternal life and of peace in this life are all worthless if He doesn’t provide the means to give them. But we look back at the 1st Christmas as we look forward to this anniversary edition. God knew we could not make ourselves “good enough” to deserve anything but His judgment. He gave His only Son, in a human body, to suffer all life’s sorrows and trials – without sin. He came to give himself as a sacrifice for sins – that we might have life, real life through repentance and faith in Him. This Christmas, look forward to the eternal life Christ gives as you look back at the sacrifice he made to save us.

The candy cane message

Candy canes remind us of Christmas fun—especially giving and receiving gifts! Its color and shape can help us remember that Christmas celebrates God’s gift of baby Jesus to us. The shape (the letter J) reminds us of Jesus’ name. The color white reminds us that Jesus is perfectly pure (he never sinned by doing bad things). The color red reminds us that Jesus died on a cross to forgive sinners. Jesus is God’s perfect gift of forgiveness and eternal life to all who turn from their sin and trust in him. And that’s the best gift you can ever receive!

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