Lake Hills Year in Review 2023

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YO U R P L AC E TO B E L O N G A N D D O L I F E TO G E T H E R

2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

A LETTER FROM JAMES...

Over the past 11.5 years I have accumulated so many wonderful memories and experiences as the Pastor of this great church. Together as a church family we have worked hard to demonstrate the fulfillment of our vision pursuit:

JAMES WA L

Lead Pasto

We are a people UNITED embracing the work of the Holy Spirit, STRIVING to see lives transformed in our community, region, nation, and world.

KER

r

We have a wonderfully talented staff to lead the way and we are all committed to lead as a team by demonstrating loyalty to each other and to our church family. I am grateful for the opportunity as the Pastor of Lake Hills Church to serve alongside so many wonderful people.

We had a firm foundation to build on established by those who came before us, and God has blessed us with so many wonderful people who have joined in with the willingness, talent, and generosity needed to move us into deeper waters.

People matter here. Each of you have been sent here as a gift to this church family and you are important to the future of our success.

I love being your Pastor and I’ll be yours to count on.

But we know this is just the beginning of what God has in store for Lake Hills Church. As we move forward into 2024, we will continue to challenge ourselves with greater ambition and an expectation that God would use us to have a larger impact.

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IN THIS ISSUE...

Reaching & Missions

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LifeGroups, Prayer Groups & Adult Ministry

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Baptism Celebrations

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Worship

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A Look at Next Gen Ministries

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Looking Forward

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Get Connected

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REACHING AND MISSIONS

RY JEFF HEN aching

e Pastor of R istr y and Min

Since coming on staff in spring of 2022, my family has loved being a part of this great church. Through KidsMin, Students, Prayer Group, Life Group, and Bible Studies, we have experienced growth in each of us. Lake Hills truly is a place for every generation.

God is bringing life change to our church. We’ve seen 49 people baptized this year, and we are praying for more next year.

I have loved serving alongside many of you through mission opportunities. We’ve sent people across town to serve at after school clubs or local ministries.

We’ve sent people to help our neighbors in Canton to rebuild homes and to Vermont for Disaster Relief. We sent teams to the Dominican Republic and to the Middle East in Lebanon. We’ve taken Jesus across the street and around the world.

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God is bringing life change to our church.

We’ve seen 49 people baptized this year, and we are praying for more next year.

This year I’m ready for even more opportunities and more places to share the hope of Jesus. We look forward to introducing a new mission partnership in Latin America.

This year has the potential to be the year that you give Jesus your YES. Where will you go to be the hands and feet of Jesus?? In 2024, pray with me that God would use Lake Hills Church to reach more people than ever.

MISSION HIGHLIGHTS

Dominican Republic – September 2023

Lebanon – May 2023

Vermont – July 2023 5

MISSION TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

Disaster Relief Trip to Canton – March

LIFEGROUPS, PRAYER GROUPS, & ADULT MINISTRY I’ve heard it said, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work another day in your life.” Serving at Lake Hills Church brings so much joy and fulfillment that it rarely feels like work to me! I see God working in and through so many lives who long to know God and to make Him known.

“I’ve heard it said, ‘If you do what you love, you’ll never work another day in your life.’ Serving at Lake Hills Church brings so much joy and fulfillment that it rarely feels like work to me!”

This past year we celebrated four new LifeGroups or Community LifeGroups and six new Prayer Groups. We had three jam-packed sessions of Ladies Bible Studies throughout the year, offered multiple discipleship group studies, started a Senior Adult Ministry with six gatherings, and we launched a lifechanging one-on-one discipleship ministry called Small Circle.

There has never been a better time than now to get connected and grow your relationship with the Lord and others. Whatever it may be, I would love to help you take that next step.

I am so very excited about 2024 and the opportunity to join God where He is working. I am most excited for the expansion of our Small Circle ministry.

Discipling one-on-one provides opportunities for both mature believers and those still taking root.

As we move into this next year, I am praying God will call out 10 new teachers to offer new LifeGroups and Community LifeGroups for those who aren’t connected and for those who are yet to come! I’m also praying for 10 new pairings of disciple makers/ disciples to journey through Small Circle.

LEE O’B

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RIA

L I F E G RO U P S , P R AY E R G RO U P S , & A D U LT M I N I S T RY H I G H L I G H T S

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BAPTISMS AT LAKE HILLS RAISED TO LIFE

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WORSHIP HIGHLIGHTS

WORSHIP As I am sitting here looking back on this past year, I can’t help but smile at the goodness and faithfulness of God. God continues to have His hand on our church, and in that, the Lake Hills Worship Ministry. I love seeing how the Lord has changed and shaped this ministry over the past several years. From the newest members to the most long-standing ones, our team of worship leaders, band, and tech crew have seen some great growth this year.

MICHAEL

Worship &

WEST

Ar ts Pasto

r

A lot of the Worship Ministry’s time is spent focusing inside the walls of the church. It’s focused on leading the church in Christcentered worship, praying for each of our church members, and setting the tone for the preaching of God’s Word.

2023 ended with A Lake Hills Christmas, a community outreach event that has been growing over the last 5 years. We saw 1,400 people come through our doors, and by God’s grace, a few of those people come to know the Lord as their Savior.

This year, we also had a unique chance to bring the good news outside of the church walls. In July, the Lake Hills Worship Team was invited to sing to an incredible group of people with songs that focused on our country, but ultimately on the Lord. We saw wonderful relationships forged and saw God working in ways we never expected.

With so many reasons to give thanks behind us and even more hopes and plans for the future, we can’t wait to see all God has in store for us in 2024.

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A LOOK AT NEXT GEN

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YOUNG PROS

I have been a member of the Lake Hills Family for over ten years and on staff for five of those years. I cherish the friendships and relationships that have come out of working with such a sweet church family. Most importantly, I have loved seeing God at work in Lake Hills.

It has been a joy to lead our Young Professionals Ministry seeing God changing lives and growing mature believers. This past year we have seen an active group of 30+ young adults pursuing the Lord and growing in Christ-centered community.

In 2023 we saw our highest engagement yet within our Young Pros community, with over 35 being a part of our ministry.

Outside of our weekly bible studies we had several events including our worship nights and retreats, where we saw hearts and minds challenged, faith deepened, and community bonded. I am proud of our Young Pros at Lake Hills as they often step up to the plate and serve in many ministries at Lake Hills.

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I am proud of our Young Pros at Lake Hills as they often step up to the plate and serve in many ministries at Lake Hills.

I cannot wait to see what God has in store for our Young Professionals Ministry in 2024. Pray that God would continue to breathe life into this ministry, connecting more and more young adults into the life of our church family.

R IAN WALKuEng Pastor of Yo ls Professiona

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STUDENTS Since coming on staff in the spring of 2022, my wife and I have loved getting to be a part of this amazing local body of believers. From corporate worship on Sundays, to finding some of our closest friends, to even getting married in this church, Lake Hills has been an amazing church to be a part of.

DANIEL HOD Pastor of Stu

UM

dents

This coming year, I am very excited for our Student Ministry to grow in number and in spirit. We look forward to our 2024 Dodgeball outreach event, taking students to Centrifuge Camp, and for launching our brand-new Student Prayer Ministry.

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Over that last year, the Lord has blessed our Student Ministry. Not only did we see significant growth in the number of students committed to attending each week, we also saw 16 students follow through with believer’s baptism. We trust that the Lord will bless us with many more in the coming year

Our goal is to be a ministry that serves our church and our community.

Serving alongside our Student Ministry team has been a great joy. We have been able to serve numerous schools in Buncombe County and partner with a few local mission partners.

Our goal is to be a ministry that serves our church and our community.

In 2024, pray that many students would come into our doors, respond to the gospel, and take the gospel out into our community.

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CAMPUS OUTREACH

One of the ways that our Next Gen Ministries are reaching our community is through Campus Outreach at local schools. Some of those partnerships include: feeding the Enka High School Football team each week, packing weekly food bags for Candler Elementary, serving meals to teachers from time to time, helping coach various sports teams, and much more.

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KIDS

HEIDI WIGG

It’s such a privilege to lead the children at Lake Hills Church! I love each child and I love seeing them grow in their knowledge of God and His Word.

In January, we were able to add Valerie Langdon to our team as our new Preschool Coordinator. She has been the biggest blessing and a wonderful addition to our team.

An average of 165 kids have heard the gospel each week through Sunday LifeGroups and Wednesday night TeamKid. We are overjoyed to have seen 17 children make the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior this year.

Throughout the year, we have hosted many wonderful family events. In January, we began the “Pray for Campaign,” where young families were partnered with older generation prayer partners for one year. Through this ministry, multigenerational relationships have grown, and many prayers have been answered.

This summer, over 100 church volunteers staffed our VBS where 300+ children from our church and community attended. We also took a large group of kids and leaders to Centrikid Camp and ended our week at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

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INS

Director of inistries Children’s M

VALERIE L A

N

GDON Preschool Ministr y Coordinato r

“I love each child and I love seeing them grow in their knowledge of God and His Word.

Our goal this year is for every child to grow deeper in their understanding and relationship with the Lord and for all of us to grow closer to each other.

In 2024, please pray for Valerie, myself, and our dedicated volunteers as we intentionally seek to build strong, lasting relationships with our children and their families.

LOOKING FORWARD The Lord has been so faithful to this church over the past year, and we are beyond excited for all He has in store for 2024.

We look forward to adding new LifeGroups and Prayer Groups and connecting more people to find deeper community. We look forward to offering more studies and sermon series to help us all grow in our knowledge and understanding of God’s word.

We already have lots of great events and opportunities planned and are excited to see all that the Lord will do through those.

As 2024 unfolds, we are praying with expectant hearts for the big things we know God will do. We open-handedly step out, ready to be used however He sees fit.

It’s an honor to be on this journey with you!

The Lake Hills Staff

A WORD FROM FINANCE What a joy it is to serve Lake Hills Church as your Finance Manager! 2023 was certainly a challenge in our current economic environment. At the year end, we were short of our set budget by ($38,708). However, our staff worked hard all year to stay within our budget while never losing focus on the vision of the church. Because of this, we were actually able to end the year in the positive, meaning our spending was managed under what we received, not what was budgeted.

KELLI FINK

Finance Ma

nager

With the guidance and approval of our finance team, we applied an additional $473,934 directly towards the debt principal, an amount beyond our required payments. We ended the year with our debt at $1,740,403. This is worth celebrating as we originally started with approximately 5 million after renovations.

I genuinely thank our entire church body for their commitment to Lake Hills Church and look forward to 2024. God is on the move here at Lake Hills and our staff is committed to being great stewards of the gifts He provides.

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GET CONNECTED Here are just a few ways to get more connected at Lake Hills this year.

PARTICIPATE IN WEEKLY WORSHIP Services on Sunday at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m.

JOIN A LIFEGROUP OR PRAYER GROUP Reach out to Lee O’Briant at LObriant@Lakehillslife.com to see what group might be a good fit for you. We have groups that meet on Sundays and throughout the week.

FIND A PLACE TO SERVE Every ministry area has an opportunity for you to serve. To find out more about our current volunteer needs, reach out to Ian Walker at iwalker@Lakehillslife. com FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER To hear more stories like the ones told here and stay in the know about upcoming events and opportunities, follow us on social media or join our weekly E-Newsletter.

Lake Hills Life

LakeHillsLife

LHOUN KRISTIE CA Manager s munication

Com

Newsletter Sign Up

LakeHillsLife.com

As the Communications Manager here, it is my job to not only make sure everyone is aware of upcoming events and opportunities, but to communicate and share who we are as a church and how the Lord is moving here. It’s such a joy for me to be able to share wins and excitement within all our ministries from this past year. I love working alongside all of our ministry leaders, support staff, and volunteers to help their areas grow and thrive. Putting together this magazine and getting to recap on just a few of the things the Lord has done in the life of Lake Hills is an honor. If there is ever anything I can do to better communicate to you specifically, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

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YO U R P L AC E TO B E L O N G A N D D O L I F E TO G E T H E R

370 Lake Drive Candler, NC 28715 (828) 667-4313

LakeHillsLife.com

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