Pastor Earl Jackson from Popular Fork Baptist Church in Warrenton, Virginia, rendered a stirring sermon to bring in the New Year. "Taking Off Things for 2018" came from Joshua 5:8-12 and it encouraged us to understand that "there are some things we need to get rid of in 2018." Just as God instructed Joshua to circumsize the Israelites so that they are consecrated and easily identified as His own before they could enter into the new promised land, we need to cut away old things that keep us from God before we enter into the new year. We can't take our old ways into 2018; we need to be set apart from the world. Therefore, ultimately, we need to "take off anything that keeps us from being renewed, afterall, God is about renewal.  We need to take off the sandals from 2017 before we enter 2018 because where we stand is Holy Ground." 

In 2012, the Church Body started a journey of purchasing property for the Church. The Church acquired a $105,000.00 loan to secure the property beside the church. in 2017, this loan was paid in full. On December 31, 2017, at Watch Night Service, the Loan paper securing the bank note was burned. We thank God for blessing us to make this purchase and we thank the Trustees for the dedication and hard work in ensuring the payments were made and the loan was paid off. Antioch is celebrating going into 2018 debt free from this loan.