All right, folks, we want to thank you for being here for our end of the year award ceremony and of course the program that you're about to see and the kindergarten graduation. This time, we're going to go ahead and get started. So get your cameras ready, whatever you want to use, not a problem. And I hope you really enjoy what has been such a long amount of work, a lot of effort put in with these young people and the teachers. And so I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. Hope you have a good time tonight. So. so 2A 3.30 x (-0.001") We wish you a Merry Christmas! Oh, It's I see it hanging on the wall. And when I see it, I say more. I'm straight in my back, and I'm proud to be true. I love the flag with the red, white, and blue. I'm sure you get what I have now. It stands for America Fair. This time, would you please stand as we present our plaque. As you remain standing, this time we're going to say the Pledge of Allegiance together. All right, kids. If you would, take your hand, your right hand. Let's place it over our hearts. Here we go. Pledge of allegiance to the American flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. As a Christian school, we also pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Bible, and we're going to do that this time. Allegiance to the Christian flag. Ready? Salute. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands, one Savior crucified risen and coming again with life and liberty for all who believe. And now to the Bible. Ready, salute, pledge. I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's holy word. I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God. Audience, you may be seated. From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, far and wide. The land of America, our home sweet home. tribute to our heritage, we would like to introduce the Pilgrims that come to our country many years ago. The Pilgrims came from England long ago to America's fair shore. They came for freedom and for peace and for hope and for our country too. We want to worship God and pray and let him be their God. Our prayer is that this group of theirs will never, never die. Also, we would like to welcome our first president, George Washington. It is impossible to outrightly govern our nation without God in the Bible. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to our country from France. She became a symbol of freedom. Give me your tired hands, your poor and your home masses. You need to breathe free. I live my life beside the golden door. Another part of our heritage is Uncle Sam representing our patriotism. I love America. I love America. I want you to love America too. ♪ The field was white from every mountain high ♪ ♪ But little did he know the hard work I did ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ As a part of our celebration of the bicentennial of Alabama, let me introduce the governor of our great state, Governor Kay Adams. in our great state of Alabama. God bless America and God bless Alabama. As a tribute to our heroes, I would like to welcome one of our wounded soldiers. I will live out my life for my country. Let's try that one more time, boys and girls. And let's watch Miss Decker and stay up with her, okay? We're not trying to run a race here, so let's stay together. Thank you, Lord, for helping us protect us every day. for their courage to stand in your way. We pray for freedom and for peace and for everything. Help us to honor the sacraments we always strive to do. All right, at this time, we're gonna focus on the flag. We got our soldier over there standing by the flag. Why don't you all stand with us one more time and sing with us our national anthem as we sing our flag. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] ♪ O say can you see, by the dawn's early light ♪ Climbing the hill, at the twilight's last gleaming, Through the troughs and by the spires, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? so so Alright, that concludes the first part. Didn't they do a good job? I had a lot of young'uns to try to keep together, speaking and singing the exact same stuff, and it all went very well. And we're about ready to get into the second half of what we're gonna do tonight, heading towards the graduation for our kindergartners. But as they're getting ready to come up in cap and gown, we have a small, might say a memory video here, presentation, a little bit of what has gone on over this past year at school. so so so so so so so so so so you so You've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. When you're rolling rough ahead And you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed You just remember what your old pal said Boy, you've got a friend in me Yeah, you've got a friend in me You've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. You've got trouble, and I've got them too. There isn't anything you wouldn't do. We speak of seeing through, because you've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. Some other folks might be a little bit smarter than I am, say it's a story too. Maybe. But none of them will ever love you the way I do. It's me and you, boy. It isn't yet over. Our friendship will never die. You're gonna see it's our destiny. You've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. Okay. Yeah. so so a a a a a Pastor Decker, I would like to present to you the graduating class of Bethel Baptist Olivia Race Curtis. Don't pay for Xagermax. All right, you all worked hard. Graduates, you now have permission to toss your caps. and an At this time, we have a few awards that we would like to present to the kids. Ms. Carvel said she was going to cry. I'm going to cry. This is our first year here. We came last, the end of last August. And we have really, really enjoyed working with your children and being able to see them on a daily basis. They're such a blessing to work with. And they kept telling us about this fundraiser called a bike-a-thon. I'm like, what in the world is a bike-a-thon? They said, the kids raise lots of money with this, and they bring their bikes, and they go round and round and round, and they raise money for the school. I said, really? Well, I want you to know that the bike-a-thon this year raised $5,558.46. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and getting the bailouts out and the kids for all that they did to raise that money for the school. So, with the Bicathlon, to qualify for first place, you had to at least raise $250. To qualify for second or third, you had to raise at least $200. This year we decided to go ahead and award in each class. That way it gave all the kids, more kids a chance to win a prize or to get something in recognition for the money that they raised. So we're going to start off with Ms. Chesser's class. And in Ms. Chesser's class, we only have had one first place winner, which is Landry Minor. He raised more than $250. So Landry, would you please come get your prize? In Ms. Hill's K3 class, we had one first place winner that raised more than $250, and that's Ms. Lucy Witten. In Ms. Mistledove's K4 class, we didn't have any that raised at least $200, but we had a couple that were close and they tied and each raised like $185. So we wanted to do something special for them for their efforts. So if Liam Burrell and Colton Merritt would come, we have a $10 gift card for them. And then in our K-5 class, we have a first place winner who raised more than $250, Ms. Lorelei Fagerman. Second place that raised at least $200 underneath Ms. Lorelei is Neil Fagerman. And then third place in Ms. Harville's class was Will Bright. I just want to thank all of you kids for all that y'all did and all the hard work you did trying to raise money for the school. This year, we decided to give out a Bethel Baptist School character award in each class. This is someone who has exemplified great characters throughout the year by being kind to their neighbor and obeying no teacher. Several of our teachers were like, I can only pick one, because they had several of mine. I'm like, yes, narrow it down to one. So this year, in Ms. Chester's class, it's Landry Minor, who gets the BBS character award. In Ms. Hill's class, it's Tatum Reed. Good job, Tatum. In Ms. Mitzeldine's class, it's Dawson Spencer. And in Ms. Farwell's class, it's Neil Fackerman. And then Bethel always gives out a principal award, which is K-5 elementary and high school. And since we only have K-5 this year, the one student who gets the principal award, and this is somebody who exemplifies excellence in academic and Christian character, goes to Miss Ellie Crouch. this time we're going to switch places and all right we have some outstanding staff and no they're not a staff infection okay but they They honestly for somebody just coming in and feeling like I haven't got a clue what I am doing. We had a lot of things to work through, a lot of things to figure out. And our staff has made it extremely easy to work through the bumps in the road and by that. By the end of this school year, we have actually gotten things, I believe, working very, very smoothly, a lot of things figured out. And they educated me a lot concerning how to handle things. So it has been a lot of fun and some frustration, you just never know what a day is going to bring. I was talking to another friend of mine, he's a pastor and principal and everything else, just today. And we were laughing about the fact of that statement of, no, it's not what a day may bring forth. And every day you wake up, it could be a surprise. But it has been a joy working with these individuals. And we want to recognize our staff, and we wanna start with our teachers. And so as I call your name, if you would, I know most of y'all, you're watching the kids, so this is gonna be interesting. I was gonna have you come and stay up here, I'm just gonna have you come up and receive it and then go back to your kids so we don't lose all control, all right? So I'm gonna start off, Ms. Chesser, if you would please come up. Ms. Chesser has been working with one of our K-3 groups and has done an outstanding job. If you need a laugh about midday, every now and then she'll walk in the office and typically, somehow, someway, we end up cracking up over something, but she's been a lot of fun to work with. Also, Ms. Hill. Ms. Hill also works with our K-3 class and she has been a pleasure to work with as well. Then probably, and you gotta be careful when you say something like this when you're dealing with a lady, the oldest standing person. And that doesn't mean age, that just means she's been around as long as Moses has been here. But Miss, if y'all can already guess who that is, right? Miss Misseldine, she is the one who has been here for a very long time. She works this year, she has worked with our K4. And one thing I have learned, I don't care where you go in Hartzell, everyone knows Ms. Misseldine. And if they're talking, they don't know if she's still here. First thing you get is, is Ms. Misseldine still there? And I say, yes, what do you think? She's been very faithful. Thank you, Ms. Donna, I appreciate that. And one of the joys that we've had is working also with our K-5 teacher, and I thought we were going to lose her. I told her husband the other day, I got to meet him, and we bought one of the meals they were selling at her fundraiser at the church, and the first thing I did was say, thank you. Because Ms. Harville was not going to be coming back, and she was going to retire, and we were going to lose her, and then her husband went and bought her a vehicle. And because of that, she's coming back to help pay for it. So I appreciate that. Ms. Harville, thank you. Ms. Harville, isn't it? Yeah. She has been an absolute blessing. I'm so glad we get to keep her around. And then working in our kitchen, of course, those are our teachers. And thank you so much for our teachers. We also have a whole bunch of other staff that do various different things that make the day run smoothly. Without them, it would be absolute chaos trying to get it all taken care of. And one of those that has worked in the kitchen on a regular basis as well as helped us in the childcare timeframe and aftercare is Miss Judy Sinclair. And I would like to have her come forward as well and wanna give this to her. I thought I saw her here. We'll make sure she gets that. But thank you, Miss Judy. If she goes back and watches it live, then she will make sure she understands we recognized her tonight as well. Then we also have a lady who is, she's not one of our official teachers, but she is a teacher's assistant and has helped in, oh gracious, many different ways. And she has tirelessly worked And we really appreciate all that she's done. Ms. Stewart, if you would come. Ms. Stewart is a very hardworking villain. She pretty much goes, she's our gopher. Go for this, go for that. She does anything and everything she's asked to do, and she is a pleasure to have around. Also, someone else we got a chance to meet this year, and she has been an absolute pleasure to work with. She works with our aftercare and has filled in many different times for different individuals. And that's Ms. Robinson. What a blessing she has been. Then we've had a couple of different people, but one in particular has helped fill in at different times. And we want to recognize her as well, and that's Miss Jones. There she is in the back. Come on forward. I've got three more, and we'll wrap this up. Call the ones from the very back. I've got to make sure I give them time. We also have a lady that has, without any monetary compensation or anything of that nature, she has just volunteered her time faithfully to come up and do library day, reading books and different things with the kids. And we really appreciate Ms. Fagerman and all that she's done to help. And I'm gonna have her, if you don't mind, would you come forward, right in the middle of the pew. I'm gonna have you come forward as well. And this lady works all the time. She not only works with the school side of things, but she is our all-around secretary. Church, school, doesn't matter. If I need something from Walmart, just go get it, all right? No, I don't do that to her. But typically, I'm looking for reasons to get out of the office, so I'm like, I volunteer. I'll go get it. Ms. Beth Taylor has worked constantly, all the time. Many of you probably talked to her on the phone. When you call, she's the first voice you get, and it is probably the kindest secretary voice I've ever heard in my life. It is always chipper and exciting. Some of you don't know, just before you call, it's like her hair is pulling out, and then all of a sudden, the phone rings. Beth will not discharge. And so, I mean, she is the best secretary. If you want to call it the one time that it's right to be a hypocrite is when you're a secretary and you're about to scream at the computer and then the phone rings and you answer it and nothing's going wrong. It's a beautiful day. But Ms. Beth Taylor works very hard and I'd like to have her. And the last one we have, I saved this individual for last. He often doesn't get seen. and notice very much, unless of course you hear him down the hall or in the auditorium. If you notice in here, the carpet has lines. It looks like a football field, all right? Brother Harry Jones works all the time cleaning and keeping things going and his favorite thing to do. Brother Harry, why don't you go ahead and start making your way this direction. I'll give you plenty of time. I've got plenty of stories I can tell. But his favorite area to clean is the bathrooms. And if you believe that, I've got oceanfront property in Colorado. Brother Harry Jones works very hard and we greatly appreciate all that he does to keep this place clean and smelling good every single day. Not only do we have this card for you, Brother Harry, but we wanted to give him, we couldn't give him a flower bouquet, so we wanted to give him a bouquet of a toilet brush and some dusters with, of course, the patriotic American flag to go along with it. And so hopefully this will help you in your endeavors around the bathrooms, all right? A little bit of nutty M&Ms, because you've got to be kind of nutty to do the job he does. Yes, sir. Thank you, Brother Harry, so much. All right, this time, what we're gonna do is, y'all just remain seated for a moment. And we are going to dismiss the kids, give our teachers a chance to get them into the gymnasium there, get them set and ready for y'all to come grab them. And then we have food ready, all right? We've got hamburgers and hot dogs. A lot of our church folks are in there, have been preparing and working, getting things ready for everybody that's here. And so we would like for you, if you don't have anything pressing, we'd like for you to please, please come and join us for some food and some fellowship. And of course, you can talk to your kids' teachers one more time and all as we wrap up the evening. But we do want you to go ahead and stick around. And then I want to, while they're heading out, I want to explain something. Now, the presentation video that you saw, we have the ability to duplicate those videos on a DVD for you, if you would like one. To give one, what we need you to do is, if you got one of the bulletins for the ceremony. Have a little bit of a memory DVD of this past year. And so if you want that, please avail yourself to the envelope and everything and turn that envelope in the basket over there. All right, there is a table with a basket as soon as you go in on the left. If you want to just drop that envelope in there, we'll get that and take care of it and make sure to mail those to you. Also, Summer Kids is on us, and some of you might have heard about it, might have known what we're doing. We have brought back an open enrollment to people that are not just part of Bethel, of the school and all, but others as well. But we're capping off at 60, and there is still room. There are some in the school that maybe have intended to be a part of the Summer Kids program as well, but you haven't maybe filled out the information. I do need you, please, if you intend for your child to be a part of Summer Kids, starting this next week we're out, but the following week, the very first week in June, will be the starting of Summer Kids. If you intend for your child to be a part of it, and you have not registered them, We really, really, really need you to get a registration form on the table out there and fill it out and turn that in so we can get you registered ASAP and make sure that your spot is reserved starting in June. All right? All the information is contained there in the little booklet and the form as to what is needed and required. All right? I believe that is About it as far as I know that's all we do want to thank each and every one of you now again We have the food out here. We're going to pray in just a minute and ask a blessing on the food And then you'll have to go of course pick up your children in the gymnasium. So just stick around and eat And uh, and we'll it's always hey, listen, it's always a good meeting when there's eating and at least that's the way we feel about it But if you'll stick around there's plenty of food for everyone. Love to have you be a part of it I just want to remind you And I know this this will sound a little churchy But I am a preacher, sorry. But everything you saw right here was wonderful. And it's a lot of fun. We live to some degree, parents, grandparents, we live for these moments. But the most important thing beyond the moments of life that we experience is what we're gonna face one day called eternity. My question to you tonight is simply this. As much as you've enjoyed the moments, according to God's word, will you get to enjoy eternity? There is one of two places, according to the Bible, that we will get to spend all of eternity. And that decision is up to us. It's the choice that we make in these moments right now, and that choice, that opportunity we have, receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. If you do not know Christ as your Savior, if you are unsure of where you would spend eternity once eternity hits us, once there's no more life here and now, but it's all what we're expecting in the future. If you don't know for sure where you're going to spend eternity, I would ask you Why don't you find me or my wife or some of our church people will be serving out here and just tell them, listen, what he said about eternity, what he said about knowing for sure where you're going to spend it, I'm not sure. Would you talk to me about it? Would you show me what the Bible says? We'd be more than happy to take a little bit of time. Won't take a lot of your time. We'll just show you enough. What the Bible says concerning how you can be for sure that you're on your way to heaven. That's my preaching. tonight. I don't want to bring together a group like this without an opportunity to let you know you can be for sure that you're on your way to heaven. So thank you again for being here, being a part of that, of all that we've done, and I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. Why don't you stand with me and we'll pray, pass a blessing on the food, and then we will go out and enjoy our time there in the gymnasium. Heavenly Father Lord, we thank you so much for this evening