Church Family Moment for Sunday, December 14, 2025
December 9, 2025
From the SMPC Cookbook: Spiced Tea and SMPC’s ‘Famous’ Punch
December 15, 2025Women’s Advent Tea Stirs Up Fun, Memories
On Saturday, SMPC women and friends (and Zach!! 🎹) enjoyed a holiday tea and special message about trusting God’s plan by church member Mary Elledge. It was such a wonderful morning of connection and tradition. We loved seeing familiar faces and meeting all of those who came to the tea for the first time! Thank you to our incredible Hospitality Committee for once again hosting such a beautiful event! 🫖🎄
Welcome, Dr. Sandy Hull, to SMPC!
On Sunday, December 7, we welcomed our new transitional pastor, Dr. Sandy Hull, and his wife, Belinda, to their first Sunday at SMPC. We are so grateful for his leadership, compassion, wisdom and warmth he brings to this transition time at our church. If you missed his sermon, you can listen to it on our podcast. We think you’ll find so much energy, purpose and LOVE in it!
Thank you to our Lemonade Ministry leader, Terry Gaines, and her team for treating us to delicious holiday trail mix and oatmeal cookies after worship! We asked and have been told that the secret to such amazing trail mix is in the Elf on the Shelf cereal (you heard it here, y’all!).
SMPC Shops for Those in Need
Thank you to everyone who shopped in person at our Alternative Gift Market! So far, we have raised over $12k for agencies carrying out incredibly important work in our community and our world! There is still plenty of time to shop online – a gift from the AGM is perfect for a friend, teacher, book club partner, running friend, anyone in your life who wants to help others in need! We also have Christmas cards available in the Connection Center or the church office.
Thank you to our AGM agencies for coming to SMPC on Sunday morning, meeting with us, sharing your stories and just overall being a LIGHT in our community! We are so grateful for you!! And thank you to our wonderful AGM volunteers and this ministry’s new leaders, Heather Carpenter and Leanne Royster!
Never a Dull Moment!
If you’re getting the feeling that Sunday was a busy morning at SMPC, you’d be right. Not only did we have a new pastor, 13 guest agencies in our narthex, Communion Sunday and heavy fog outside, but we also had a gas leak scare! Don’t worry, it was all fine, but if you arrived at the church around 9:30 a.m., you were probably greeted by three or four fire trucks with their lights and sirens. Thank you to the Charlotte Fire Department and Piedmont Natural Gas for their swift action and dedication to our safety! ‘Tis the season!
Sugar and Spice: SMPC Youth Get Creative
Our middle and high schoolers met Sunday night for their annual Christmas party and gingerbread house “construction” – they had a BLAST! We are so lucky because the youth will be displaying their works of gingerbread house art in the narthex on Sunday, December 14. Come check them out for yourself!!
Photo credit: Rev. Lindsey Odom
Men’s Groups Unite in FellowshipÂ
Two of our men’s groups, the Men’s Evening Study Group, led by Jon Myers, and the Friday Morning Men’s Group, led by Curt Ireland, united this week for fellowship and study. Given that these groups have diametrically opposite bi-weekly meet-up times (7:30 p.m. vs. 7:30 a.m.), we applaud their camaraderie and willingness to step outside of their “regularly scheduled programming” – and we give kudos to their selfie skills! We love seeing groups of all ages and life stages come together – there is such meaning and power in sharing experiences and wisdom!
Photo credit: Jon Myers
SMPC Chapel Named in Retired Pastor’s Honor
The church presented Dr. Matt Brown, now retired pastor, with a special honor before he left: the chapel will now be called the Dr. Matthew S. Brown Chapel. We gifted the plaque to Matt during his last worship with us on November 23, 2025, and crews officially installed the plaque outside the Chapel building last week. We are grateful for this constant reminder of a beloved pastor who helped shape SMPC.
