Respite For Parents, Busy Season For Breathe
We've had a busy season! Fall Respite was held on October 29th. There were 161 participants and 89 volunteers, and this respite was so impactful for our families.

One Mom reported that she was so exhausted that she sat in her car at the church and slept the entire time. She said, "I had planned to do several things with my free time but I could not go any further than my car!"

Our parent hospitality room was also such a blessing to the parents who visited it. They received prayer, encouragement and delicious food.

Sundays - Growing In More Ways Than One!
We have also been seeing so much growth in our young adults who have disabilities  during our Sunday Morning meetings. They are growing and learning more about the God who loves them so much! We have a beautiful new family attending who have one daughter who has autism and four children attending children's ministry. They drive from Hahira every Sunday because they wanted a church where their entire family belong.

Ramping Up
We are so grateful for the new ramp and porch on the Breathe Center. This improvement has impacted all of our families who attend on Sunday mornings. Liam's Dad said "Wow, I don't have to pick him up and carry him down those narrow steps any longer! This is wonderful!"

A Night To Shine
We're not done yet!  We are gearing up for Night to Shine, which will be held on February 13th.

Information Missing...will update soon.

Information Missing...will update soon.

The Storehouse - By The Numbers
The Storehouse produced $92,277 in sales during the fourth quarter, bringing our year-end total to $288,195. We have exceeded both fourth-quarter and annual sales every year since 2020. This year’s total surpassed 2024’s year-end sales of $254,974 by $33,221.

Operational expenses for 2025 totaled 30% of sales, allowing 70% of Storehouse income to be directed toward local, national, and global missions. The Lord continues to bless this ministry through generous donors, loyal customers, and the most committed volunteers we have ever known.

Storehouse Relief Team
This quarter, the Storehouse Relief Team served a record 49 households. These numbers represent touches...ranging from individuals to large families. One household served was a family of six who had no beds; we were able to provide beds, mattresses, bedding, and gift cards. We also assisted two Crossroads residents with furniture and appliances as they transitioned into their own homes.

The Relief Team has become a meaningful bridge to schools, the Red Cross, and many other local nonprofits, meeting urgent physical needs during crisis situations. Each interaction is also approached as an opportunity to offer encouragement, prayer, and guidance toward next steps and wholeness.

Year-to-date, the Relief Team served 146 households, under the leadership of Jay Jordan.

Facilities Update
The 18’ x 60’ building adjacent to The Storehouse is nearing completion. Most of the space will be used for storage, with a designated area for donation drop-offs. Special thanks to Jason Cox and Carrie Saunders for much assistance in overseeing this project.

Appreciation
We ended the year with a Storehouse Appreciation Banquet, with nearly 100 volunteers in attendance. This annual event continues to be a meaningful and anticipated time of celebration and gratitude for our Storehouse family. After a short Christmas and New Year’s rest, the team is already back- energized, dreaming, and casting vision for the year ahead.

Mission Highlights
A major highlight this quarter was the publication of our Advent Devotional, featuring contributions from all of our local, national, and global mission partners. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive- from partners grateful for the visibility, and from our church and community who were blessed by the devotionals and the opportunity to learn about and pray intentionally for each partner.

Special thanks to Lance Ruis for his outstanding design and graphics. We are deeply grateful for his creativity and giftedness.

Our church showed much generosity in partnering with DFCS and the Sheriff’s and Police Depts. on Cram the Cruiser Teen Edition.

Global Missions Updates & Upcoming Trips
Planning is underway for the following 2026 Global Mission Trips:

• Seth Berl - Honduras Medical Mission | Feb. 28–March 7
• Emily Hall - Frontier Turkey Mission (serving Middle East workers) March 11–18
• Clint & Crysti Handfield -Next Gen Honduras (Solohope) March 27–April 3
• Eddie Seagle - Peru Mission June 5–13
• Patti Merdian & Lynn Diers -Solohope Honduras June
• IAM / Johnny Ray —Ongoing Water Purification Expansion Trips

Looking Ahead
A key priority in the coming year is a renewed focus on local missions initiatives, including strengthening existing partnerships and exploring new opportunities to serve our community more intentionally and with greater church awareness and participation.

Knowing, Loving, & Following Jesus
This quarter has been a powerful and joy-filled season of intentional discipleship, family engagement, and outward mission, all rooted in our guiding mission: that every kid would know, love, and follow Jesus.

By The Numbers
Babies through 5th grade averages have been 101 attendees in the first service and 147 for the second service (including our volunteers)! Our PreK kids are consistently leaning catechisms and it is precious to hear the fruit of this from our young ones. Each month families were invited into worship and prayer through our ongoing Family Worship and Prayer for the Nations, held on the second Friday of every month. These gatherings continue to remind us all that faith is practiced together at home and in community.

October
In October we held Operation Christmas Child, helping teach kids at an early age that following Jesus includes generosity and compassion for others. At the same time, excitement began building as Christmas play preparation and practices kicked off.

November
November deepened both gratitude and spiritual awareness. Families were equipped with a Thankful Calendar to practice daily thanksgiving together, while a Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church helped children grow a more global perspective. We finalized Operation Christmas Child with a packing day where 118 boxes were prepared! Each box was an expression of God’s love, traveling far beyond our community. Rehearsals continued, and the season of Advent began with a special First Day of Advent family service, inviting families into the sacred anticipation of Christ’s coming!

December - The Christmas Season
In December, families were resourced with an Advent devotional experience, including a scratch-off calendar designed to engage kids in daily Scripture, discussion, and worship. Families received daily text reminders linking them to Scripture readings, family questions, worship songs, and our own Heritage Church Advent audio devotionals. The Advent journey encouraged families to serve one another with acts of kindness and prayer activities as well as an opportunity to pick up “Happy Birthday Jesus” candle kits and treats from Mama D’s.

The Kids Christmas Play, led by Leah Gaines, was a fun moment for our kids to flex their creativity. We also held family caroling downtown and in nursing homes, bringing Christmas cheer to the community. The Next Gen Volunteers Christmas Party was a huge hit.  We had a coffee truck, bonfire, chili, games, line dancing and fireworks! We are so grateful for our volunteers!

Upcoming Vision
Our team is excited to attend the Children's ministry conference the first week of January to equip and unify our team leadership for a purposeful new year!

Information Missing...will update soon.

Caring ForThe Grieving
During the fourth quarter, our church family came together to care for those experiencing loss and crisis. This quarter, meals were provided for the families of four church members, serving 128 grieving family members. Although the funerals were not hosted at Heritage, our teams ensured that care was extended.

The Storehouse team provided meals for Kippy Adams following the loss of her step-granddaughter and for the Cooper family after the passing of Norris’ sister.

The 4th Quarter Sunday School Class and Greeting Teams assisted with meals for the families of Karrell Scott, Sharon Evans, and Joyce Rogers following the death of their father.

In addition to meals, many others experiencing loss were ministered to through cards, calls, texts, flowers/plants, and personal visits.

Beyond grief care, 44 members were supported through pastoral care during times of crisis this quarter:

• 25 received dedicated prayer ministry
• 19 received Inner Healing Prayer (IHP)
• 9 received follow-up mentoring after IHP
• 2 were referred to professional counseling

Pastoral Care
Pastoral care continues to be strengthened through the involvement of small groups and serving teams, who are caring well for many within our congregation. Brad and Michelle continue to invest significant time in pastoral care and counseling, alongside support from  the Executive Staff Team.

Dawn provides vital leadership by coordinating care efforts, keeping pastors, small group leaders, and Team Life leaders informed of needs, and ensuring care is extended effectively.

Prayer Ministry
The culture of prayer continues to grow and deepen at Heritage through multiple avenues, including Dwell, Sunday Night Fire, the Sunday morning prayer room, 8:30am Sunday Service Prayer, Prayer for the Nation, and Inner Healing Prayer Ministry.

Another prayer initiative, Second Saturday Prayer on the Square, led by Peggy Whitley, continues to grow and now includes a team of 11.

This quarter, the team reported:

• 3 salvations
• Numerous opportunities to pray for and encourage individuals
• Many testimonies of freedom

All written prayer requests from Prayer on the Square are posted and prayed over in the 24/7 downtown prayer room.

Inner Healing Prayer Ministry
Since Sandee and Jerry Williams were affirmed as leaders of the Inner Healing Prayer ministry, the team is growing and is experiencing an increase in IHP applications and requests. Sandee has provided strong leadership by organizing the team, streamlining guidelines and structure, and maintaining excellent records of participants and those moving into mentorship.

A four-session mentor curriculum has been developed to help individuals maintain freedom following Inner Healing Prayer.
Beginning in January, we plan to:

• Recruit and train additional IHP team members
• Start with Sunday prayer team members and others currently serving in prayer ministries
• Intentionally invite and equip more men to serve on the team

Celebration & Looking Ahead
In December, we held a unifying celebration for all prayer and pastoral care teams. Leaders shared highlights, cast vision, and prayed blessing over their teams. This gathering underscored the value of ongoing connection, celebration, and training across prayer and pastoral care teams. Plans are underway for more regular times of gathering moving forward.

We are grateful for the renewed direction of this ministry and excited about the opportunities ahead as we continue to expand Inner Healing Prayer training and further equip our prayer ministry teams with additional tools.

Upgrades Around The Campus
We spent the majority of the fall focused on replacing some exterior mobile doors because of rot or warping.  This led to some replacement of vinyl siding on one wall of south point.  We also experimented with hiring a drone to spray our ponds to try and control the water lilies.  Lighting was updated on the nursery wing with led lights after finishing the remodel and painting of that area.  We have almost completed a ramp and porch upgrade to the front of the breathe building, and we're also adding a storage space to the exterior of the storehouse.  As we finish out the current year, we're planning for the next year's repairs, remodels, and expansions.

Daily Prayer Recordings & Auditions
We’ve put some of our worship team auditions on brief hold on account of using the space for daily prayer app recordings. We are excited to relaunch into auditions after the new year and already have several lined up to start the process. A minor stage redesign of our screens is likely going into the new year as well.

Production Team
New faces are being added to the team, and our Wednesday night trainings for camera operators are going well. More training is ongoing for our media team, with Josie Smith stepping in to fill in for Erica. We are cross-training as many roles as possible in order to make sure that there are no gaps on Sunday mornings due to illness or vacations. Sharing the vision and sharing the load has been a large challenge, but we're seeing growth from it.

Bowling Night!
We had an amazing celebratory Production Team gathering at the local bowling alley, with special cameos by Jason Cox and family and Brad Bowen and family.  Lots of laughs, fun, fellowship, and we can't wait to do another gathering in the new year.

Under Construction
Sunday Support is currently going through what we consider a major overhaul. We are working to combine some of our teams in an effort to better cover the hospitality needs of our church on a Sunday morning. Our mission is to "create an atmosphere of genuine hospitality and love, making sure everyone in the building feels at home so they are open to engaging further with the church’s mission (Salvation/Healing) and community (Restoration/Fulfillment)."

Team Commitment, Growth, and Community
We are asking for more commitment from our team and revamping leadership. This quarter we have spent a good bit of time creating this transition in a way that is the least painful and the most efficient. We also celebrated with Friendsgiving and our annual Christmas Gathering with over 60 in attendance. Guest speaker Benjie Nobles truly blessed our team with encouraging words. We celebrated Mr. Don Hancock and his many years of service leading the Usher team. He will still serve time to time, but we have released him from leading.

New Shirts, New Tech
We will roll out our new shirts and transition to the new level of service on January 4th. We are excited to serve with excellence, making any necessary tweaks along the way. Planning Center is on the horizon!

Generosity At Christmas
Our Annual Christmas Family Tree was very fruitful. We started with 50 envelopes specifically geared toward Cram the Cruiser, Teen Edition all were fulfilled, and added 31envelopes for the people in our church and community. Twenty-five of those envelopes were owned by our congregation. It's a such blessing to fellowship among the generous!