Parish News. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Bible Babes. Mother s Day. Baccalaureate Sunday

Transcription

1 Dear Church Family, This past weekend I had the honor of serving as the Spiritual Director for the Kairos Outside ministry. This ministry is a global ministry that started years ago for women who have a loved one who is incarcerated. Though I cannot give you details, I d like to tell you about this weekend and the impact it had on me. I came into this ministry last minute as a fill-in for some who dropped out. This team (those of us who worked the weekend) had blow after blow of misfortune, yet all remained positive and constantly said God was making this weekend exactly as it should be. Their faith was incredible and their trust in God was apparent as I witnessed the peace that surrounded the team. Friday night as guests arrived, I saw tired, angry, bitter women who were hard and had huge walls built around them. We, as a team, loved them unconditionally. We offered them agape love as Christ commands us to do and even though some were difficult to offer that kind of love to, it was the most rewarding offering we had this weekend. Throughout the weekend, the women and team participated in various talks, activities, prayers, and special events. Many times women in their 40s+ said, I never had anyone do such nice things for me. My heart broke as I heard their stories; my tears fell with theirs. A life time of pain was wrapped up in each woman...pain no one should ever experience. Almost every woman experienced abuse of some king. I looked around the room so many times and I witnessed prison affects so many people. Many times we think it s only the lowlifes we encounter in life, but in that room sat highly educated women who, by the looks of them, had the perfect life. They may not have suffered abuse, but instead isolation. When the loved one of these women go to prison, those that know about it, turn their back and walk away. Those that don t know about the situation will never know because of shame and the woman won t share that shame. As the weekend progressed, women from all walks of life transformed. Lives literally were changed. The hard shells, high walls, and unpleasant personalities these women built in order to survive and not be hurt again were dismantled. Life became new. The women opened up, they left behind their hurt, they grew over the weekend, saw they were not the only ones, and the joy of Christ filled their once closed off souls. By the end of the weekend these women were smiling, laughing, building relationships, and they knew God did not abandon them. Praise be to God. Now the women were blessed this weekend, the team was blessed. I ask for your prayers as these women return home. Hold them up as they continue experiencing new life and a life with all their new sisters in Christ. May they continue feeling the love offered this weekend. May their tears that fell be the cleansing of the soul they needed. May we all be mindful that none of us are immune to trials and cleansing of the soul they needed. May we all be mindful that none of us are immune to trials and tribulations and we too must remain strong in our faith even when the storms of life seem to be sending us crashing waves and undertows. Love and Prayers, Pastor Ana The Jacksboro Parish Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Dear Church Mouse, Jacquelyn and I sincerely want to thank you for funding our trip to the Ranger s game on Friday. We honestly don t know how to thank you enough. The all you can eat section was taken full advantage of and we both had an incredible time. The generosity of this church never ceases to amaze me! God bless you, Mouse! Sincerely, Jonathan Hartman and Jacquelyn Myers! Bible Babes meets for their last gathering of the school year. This will be our time of celebrating the Past year, so Mother s Day Bible Babes bring a potluck dish and we will dish with one another. We will Check in with each other and talk about summer gathering for a girl s day. Join us May 21st at noon in the Activity Center. Bring a friend...we d love to see everyone! May 11th is Mother s Day...love your mothers, remember your moms, or those who hold a motherly place in your heart. Baccalaureate Sunday Come support the Senior Class as they are honored and prayed for at this special Baccalaureate service. All are welcome. This service is on May 25th at in the High School Gymnasium. May 2014 Inside this issue: Calendar 2 Fish Fry WWW MDO Fundraiser 3 4 Stewardship 5 MDO Easter 6 Youth 7 Pastor s Prattle 8 The Jacksboro Parish P. O. Box North Knox Jacksboro, Texas Phone: Fax: jackparish@att.net

2 May 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu TBA Assembly Mother s Day 18 following morning service 6:00PM Fish 25 HS Baccalaureate Page :30AM Men s Breakfast Memorial Day 14 6:30 MCC 21 Noon Bible Babes Food Bank Sat Fri 15 6:30 Parish Council Hospital Parent- 22 Prom Wishes 11:00PM-4:00AM Jr. High Promotion HS Graduation Page 7

3 Our final book of the school year is The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek by Jane Meyer Perrine. This is the third book of a series we The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek started last year. After several months of heavy reading, it is time for a fun, easy read that we could all enjoy and talk about how churches are portrayed in this book as well as ministers. Let s gather for a great time of talking and sharing on May 18th AFTER CHURCH. Since every Sunday has activities this month, this in the only time possible for us to get together. Fish Fry It s time for us to have fun as a church family in fellowship! We invite you to our Fish Fry on May 18th at 6:00PM at the Salmon/Hackley family homes. We can t wait to enjoy good fish, fellowship and family fun! More information to come, keep your eyes open to see how you can help. May 4th we celebrate our 8th grade and 12th grade graduates. Please join us for this special service and fellowship meal as we congratulate our graduates and their accomplishments. This year we honor Page 6 Lily Brock (Senior) and our 8th grade graduates (Dalton Burby, Hunter Hackley, Luke Dixon, James Congratulations Brock and Angel Branch). Help us make them feel special and rejoice in their God-give abilities. Immediately following the service we will have a potluck meal and fellowship. Page 3

4 Unwavering Conformity: A yearlong study in Stewardship Wild Wonderful Wednesday s are fast approaching. Our first scheduled event is for June 4th at 9:00am. Please make sure you bring a sack lunch (unless otherwise stated) for each date. We already have children starting to sign-up, so please call Shilo at on Tuesdays or Thursdays to reserve your child s spot. We are looking forward to another fun-filled June with Wild Wonderful Wednesdays!! Tentative Schedule: June 4: Fort Worth Zoo June 11: Roller Skating/Picnic Weatherford June 18: Castaway Cove June 25: Graham Movies/Bowling MDO Xtreme is looking ahead to the next school year and will be hosting a Supplies Drive for the entire month of May. Please stop by the office or visit Shilo Cornish to help MDO Xtreme raise money for supplies for next year. Your donation is greatly appreciated and your name will be displayed in the Fellowship Hall. Items that will be purchased: WILD WONDERFUL WEDNESDAYS MDO XTREME SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE Markers Crayons Laminating Sheets Paints Folders Craft Items Binders In this passage Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about two of his greatest passions: providing for the ministry of the Word and caring for the poor. Paul is particular about the principle of regular giving; he asks the Corinthians to set aside a certain amount every week in proportion to each person s prosperity, so that the money will be ready and available when he arrives. This principle is still valid today. Christian stewardship and fundraising professional Wesley K. Willmer explains why this discipline is important. Once we establish the importance of giving to God first, we need to set up practical ways to ensure that we are faithful in our resolve. Often we have good intentions, but are tripped up by a lack of discipline in our method of giving! We can order our lives to set aside a portion of our money for God, a portion for our savings, and a portion for spending. In fact, some people open additional bank accounts in order to separate money to be given to God from household expenses. Others have established automatic withdrawals from their checking account to ensure that a portion of their income goes directly, and faithfully, to God s work. Giving systematically is the key to faithful giving. Pastor Albert C. Winn elaborates on the principle. Deeply embedded in the idea of (giving) is the principle of regularity. To (give) is to give regularly, preferable once a week, week in and week out. This takes giving out of the realm of mood. We don t give just when we feel like it, or just when our heartstrings have been plucked by some dramatic and sentimental appeal. We give when the time comes, regardless of our mood. Regularity takes a lot of the pain out of giving. I think we have to be honest about people s pain in giving, about our pain in giving. People who do counseling tell us that we ought to deal with grief. Money is a part of your life. Money represents days and hours of sweat and tears. Money is a very part of you, and to part with it is a grief process. It s pain. But a decision to give regularly takes a lot of that pain away! You don t have to make a number of painful decisions during the year. As the saying goes, you don t have to cut the dog s tail off an inch at a time. You can make one basic decision, and then it s simply a matter of carrying out that decision regularly and systematically. Regularity also saves us from self-deception. If we give nothing for a time, and then for a heartstring appeal we give a hundred dollars, we deceive ourselves that we are very generous. But if that s divided into two dollars a week, not many of us can claim great generosity from such a gift. This article can be found at The Stewardship Council. You can research more at Page 4 Page 5

5 Dear Church Family, This past weekend I had the honor of serving as the Spiritual Director for the Kairos Outside ministry. This ministry is a global ministry that started years ago for women who have a loved one who is incarcerated. Though I cannot give you details, I d like to tell you about this weekend and the impact it had on me. I came into this ministry last minute as a fill-in for some who dropped out. This team (those of us who worked the weekend) had blow after blow of misfortune, yet all remained positive and constantly said God was making this weekend exactly as it should be. Their faith was incredible and their trust in God was apparent as I witnessed the peace that surrounded the team. Friday night as guests arrived, I saw tired, angry, bitter women who were hard and had huge walls built around them. We, as a team, loved them unconditionally. We offered them agape love as Christ commands us to do and even though some were difficult to offer that kind of love to, it was the most rewarding offering we had this weekend. Throughout the weekend, the women and team participated in various talks, activities, prayers, and special events. Many times women in their 40s+ said, I never had anyone do such nice things for me. My heart broke as I heard their stories; my tears fell with theirs. A life time of pain was wrapped up in each woman...pain no one should ever experience. Almost every woman experienced abuse of some kind. I looked around the room so many times and I witnessed prison affects so many people. Many times we think it s only the lowlifes we encounter in life, but in that room sat highly educated women who, by the looks of them, had the perfect life. They may not have suffered abuse, but instead isolation. When the loved one of these women go to prison, those that know about it, turn their back and walk away. Those that don t know about the situation will never know because of shame and the woman won t share that shame. As the weekend progressed, women from all walks of life transformed. Lives literally were changed. The hard shells, high walls, and unpleasant personalities these women built up in order to survive and not be hurt again were dismantled. Life became new. The women opened up, they left behind their hurt, they grew over the weekend, saw they were not the only ones, and the joy of Christ filled their once closed off souls. By the end of the weekend these women were smiling, laughing, building relationships, and they knew God did not abandon them. Praise be to God. Now the women were blessed this weekend, the team was blessed. I ask for your prayers as these women return home. Hold them up as they continue experiencing new life and a life with all their new sisters in Christ. May they continue feeling the love offered this weekend. May their tears that fell be the cleansing of the soul they needed. May we all be mindful that none of us are immune to trials and cleansing of the soul they needed. May we all be mindful that none of us are immune to trials and tribulations and we too must remain strong in our faith even when the storms of life seem to be sending us crashing waves and undertows. Love and Prayers, Pastor Ana The Jacksboro Parish Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Dear Church Mouse, Jacquelyn and I sincerely want to thank you for funding our trip to the Ranger s game on Friday. We honestly don t know how to thank you enough. The all you can eat section was taken full advantage of and we both had an incredible time. The generosity of this church never ceases to amaze me! God bless you, Mouse! Sincerely, Jonathan Hartman and Jacquelyn Myers! Bible Babes meets for their last gathering of the school year. This will be our time of celebrating the past year, so Mother s Day Bible Babes bring a potluck dish and we will dish with one another. We will check in with each other and talk about summer gathering for a girl s day. Join us May 21st at noon in the Activity Center. Bring a friend...we d love to see everyone! May 11th is Mother s Day...love your mothers, remember your moms, or those who hold a motherly place in your heart. Baccalaureate Sunday Come support the Senior Class as they are honored and prayed for at this special Baccalaureate service. All are welcome. This service is on May 25th at in the High School Gymnasium. May 2014 Inside this issue: Calendar 2 Fish Fry WWW MDO Fundraiser 3 4 Stewardship 5 MDO Easter 6 Youth 7 Pastor s Prattle 8 The Jacksboro Parish P. O. Box North Knox Jacksboro, Texas Phone: Fax: jackparish@att.net

6 May 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu TBA Assembly Mother s Day 18 following morning service 6:00PM Fish 25 HS Baccalaureate Page :30AM Men s Breakfast Memorial Day 14 6:30 MCC 21 Noon Bible Babes Food Bank Sat 1 2 Presbyterian Meeting in Lubbock Presbyterian Meeting in Lubbock Hospital Parenting Class 4 Fri :30 Parish Council Hospital Parent- 22 Prom Wishes 11:00PM-4:00AM Jr. High Promotion HS Graduation Page 7

7 Our final book of the school year is The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek by Jane Meyer Perrine. This is the third book of a series we The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek started last year. After several months of heavy reading, it is time for a fun, easy read that we could all enjoy and talk about how churches are portrayed in this book as well as ministers. Let s gather for a great time of talking and sharing on May 18th AFTER CHURCH. Since every Sunday has activities this month, this in the only time possible for us to get together. Fish Fry It s time for us to have fun as a church family in fellowship! We invite you to our Fish Fry on May 18th at 6:00PM at the Salmon/Hackley family homes. We can t wait to enjoy good fish, fellowship and family fun! More information to come, keep your eyes open to see how you can help. May 4th we celebrate our 8th grade and 12th grade graduates. Please join us for this special service and fellowship meal as we congratulate our graduates and their accomplishments. This year we honor Page 6 Lily Brock (Senior) and our 8th grade graduates (Dalton Burby, Hunter Hackley, Luke Dixon, James Congratulations Brock and Angel Branch). Help us make them feel special and rejoice in their God-given abilities. Immediately following the service we will have a potluck meal and fellowship. Page 3

8 Unwavering Conformity: A yearlong study in Stewardship Wild Wonderful Wednesday s are fast approaching. Our first scheduled event is for June 4th at 9:00am. Please make sure you bring a sack lunch (unless otherwise stated) for each date. We already have children starting to sign-up, so please call Shilo at on Tuesdays or Thursdays to reserve your child s spot. We are looking forward to another fun-filled June with Wild Wonderful Wednesdays!! Ages: completed Kindergarten through completed 5th grade. Tentative Schedule: June 4: Fort Worth Zoo June 11: Roller Skating/Picnic Weatherford June 18: Castaway Cove June 25: Graham Movies/Bowling MDO Xtreme is looking ahead to the next school year and will be hosting a Supplies Drive for the entire month of May. Please stop by the office or visit Shilo Cornish to help MDO Xtreme raise money for supplies for next year. Your donation is greatly appreciated and your name will be displayed in the Fellowship Hall. Items that will be purchased: WILD WONDERFUL WEDNESDAYS MDO XTREME SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE Markers Crayons Laminating Sheets Paints Folders Craft Items Binders In this passage Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about two of his greatest passions: providing for the ministry of the Word and caring for the poor. Paul is particular about the principle of regular giving; he asks the Corinthians to set aside a certain amount every week in proportion to each person s prosperity, so that the money will be ready and available when he arrives. This principle is still valid today. Christian stewardship and fundraising professional Wesley K. Willmer explains why this discipline is important. Once we establish the importance of giving to God first, we need to set up practical ways to ensure that we are faithful in our resolve. Often we have good intentions, but are tripped up by a lack of discipline in our method of giving! We can order our lives to set aside a portion of our money for God, a portion for our savings, and a portion for spending. In fact, some people open additional bank accounts in order to separate money to be given to God from household expenses. Others have established automatic withdrawals from their checking account to ensure that a portion of their income goes directly, and faithfully, to God s work. Giving systematically is the key to faithful giving. Pastor Albert C. Winn elaborates on the principle. Deeply embedded in the idea of (giving) is the principle of regularity. To (give) is to give regularly, preferable once a week, week in and week out. This takes giving out of the realm of mood. We don t give just when we feel like it, or just when our heartstrings have been plucked by some dramatic and sentimental appeal. We give when the time comes, regardless of our mood. Regularity takes a lot of the pain out of giving. I think we have to be honest about people s pain in giving, about our pain in giving. People who do counseling tell us that we ought to deal with grief. Money is a part of your life. Money represents days and hours of sweat and tears. Money is a very part of you, and to part with it is a grief process. It s pain. But a decision to give regularly takes a lot of that pain away! You don t have to make a number of painful decisions during the year. As the saying goes, you don t have to cut the dog s tail off an inch at a time. You can make one basic decision, and then it s simply a matter of carrying out that decision regularly and systematically. Regularity also saves us from self-deception. If we give nothing for a time, and then for a heartstring appeal we give a hundred dollars, we deceive ourselves that we are very generous. But if that s divided into two dollars a week, not many of us can claim great generosity from such a gift. This article can be found at The Stewardship Council. You can research more at Page 4 Page 5