Tapestry. Meet next Sunday s guests in preaching and singing. This Week at Wilshire

Transcription

1 This Week at Wilshire Tapestry Weekly newsletter of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas Building a community of faith shaped by the Spirit of Jesus Christ Volume 63 No. 27 u July 5, 2015 Meet next Sunday s guests in preaching and singing Next Sunday, Wilshire welcomes two gifted worship leaders as part of the summer series while Senior Pastor George Mason is away on sabbatical. Grammy-winning vocalist Mela Dailey will sing in both services, and the guest preacher will be Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church of Richmond, Va. Jim was a featured preacher at the Friday night session of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Dallas in June. Prior to arriving in Richmond, he was pastor of the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., for seven years. He previously served as pastor of Wingate Baptist Church in Wingate, N.C., and First Baptist Church in New Castle, Ky. He was one of the featured preachers at the Festival of Homiletics at the Washington National Cathedral in His articles and sermons have been published in Christian Century, Leadership, The Upper Room, Preaching, Lectionary Homiletics, and Preaching Great Texts. Born in Selma, Ala., Jim moved with his family to Wise, Va., and then Boone County, W.Va. He grew up as the third of six sons of a Presbyterian minister who had a special ministry to the poor in West Virginia. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and earned an undergraduate degree in art and English from Georgetown College in Kentucky. He also earned both the master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Jim and his wife, Christy, have two daughters, Ellie and Catherine. Mela Dailey is the daughter of Wilshire member Julie Owen. She has received recognition in a wide variety of musical genres including opera, oratorio, art song, musical theater, vocal jazz, gospel, country, and popular music. Her professional debut took place in 2003 at Carnegie Hall with the Grammy-winning Conspirare Company of Voices directed by Craig Hella Johnson, a group with whom she also records for the Harmonia Mundi label. She took part in Conspirare s album The Sacred Spirit of Russia, which earned the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Mela s solo CD Shelter with cellist Scott Kluksdahl and pianist Rick Rowley is on the Pierian label. She will be heard on Hanan Townshend s score to the feature film The Vessel to be released in Fall 2016 as well as on a CD of spirituals with the Miami-based choral ensemble Seraphic Fire. She also serves as artistic director of Life in the City, a United Methodist Church in Austin, and as a lecturer in vocal technique at the University of Texas. She is married to Peter Bay, who is conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Today 8:30 a.m. Worship 9:40 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Worship 12:00 p.m. Youth Sunday School lunches Monday, July 6 9:00 a.m. Preschool Friends Camp Room :00 a.m. Cooking Camp 9:45 a.m. Youth visit C.C. Young 10:00 a.m. 42 Monday Room 1205-G Tuesday, July 7 8:00 a.m. Bright Fellow. Bible study Parlor 9:00 a.m. Preschool Friends Camp Room :00 a.m. Cooking Camp 11:00 a.m. Youth Tuesday Missions: Reading Fair 12:00 p.m. Yoga Room :30 p.m. Stephen Ministry supervision Room 1100-B Wednesday, July 8 9:00 a.m. A Matter of Balance class Room :00 a.m. Preschool Friends Camp Room :00 a.m. Cooking Camp 10:00 a.m. Gentle Voices 11:00 a.m. Koinonia Café 12:00 p.m. This is My Story 1:15 p.m. Adventurers Committee Room 1205-L 6:00 p.m. SAM s Place Room :30 p.m. Youth group Study-n-Swim 7:00 p.m. Sanctuary Choir Sanctuary Thursday, July 9 9:00 a.m. Preschool Friends Camp Room 2219 Continued on page 2

2 As each season of the year changes to the next, I m always reminded of the variety in the world God made. As a young child, I quickly learned to mark new seasons by what my mom thought I should wear. As odd as it may be, I remember knowing that a new season was coming when mom changed out the clothes in my closet. I guess she must have wisely known that I couldn t choose the wrong clothes for that season if there were only good choices available. Growing up in Alabama meant having definite expectations of the weather and how to dress accordingly for each season of the year. As I grew older, I started looking forward to the changes that each season brought. At that time in my life, summer meant free time to play with my brother, sister and friends; fall meant the beginning of school and hopefully making new friends; winter meant bundling up in warm winter clothes, drinking hot chocolate and getting excited about what to give each person for Christmas; and spring meant new colors in the world since flowers were blooming and new things were growing. Another Voice Variety I still find that I love variety in life. It brings the unexpected pleasure of change and often beauty. However, we all know that variety can often be called change and to many people that may not be a good thing. Some changes leave us with the feeling that normal doesn t exist anymore. These feelings can be scary and unpredictable, making us wonder what just happened and why. While we may never have all the answers to the questions these times can bring, we are sometimes able to look back and realize that the variety that change brought also helped us walk closer with God. Sometimes we find that these times make us seek God more and make time to talk with God. Often we look back after times of change and realize we grew closer to God because we began to see and interact with God in different ways. Today, I hope you ll take advantage of the opportunity to embrace, celebrate and appreciate the variety in your life and in the world around you. Joan Hammons This Week at Wilshire Continued from page 1 Thursday, July 9 9:00 a.m. Cooking Camp, Community Hall 12:00 p.m. Women s Ministry brown bag book study, Room 1205-L 1:30 p.m. Knit Unto Others, Parlor Friday, July 10 9:00 a.m. Preschool Friends Camp, Room :00 a.m. Cooking Camp, Community Hall Saturday, July 11 10:00 a.m. All-church baby shower for Mustains McIver Chapel This Wednesday at Wilshire Come join the fellowship at Koinonia Cafe, from 11 a.m. to noon, this Wednesday in Community Hall, followed by This is My Story, Wilshire s summer testimony series. This week s This is My Story program is by Bob Coleman. The Wednesday evening meal and studies are on hiatus for the summer. Koinonia Café July 8: Carved honey glazed ham, chicken crepes, scalloped potatoes, steamed broccoli, buttered carrots, grilled vegetables, fresh fruit salad, wheat rolls, brownies and fresh fruit. July 15: Roast pork loin, chicken cacciatore, linguine with herbs, steamed broccoli, carrots and leeks, smothered green beans, tuna salad, Parker House rolls, apple pie. July 22: Carved assorted sausages, chicken jambalaya, roasted sweet potatoes, collard greens, squash casserole, sautéed tomatoes and basil, tossed green salad, garlic cheddar biscuits, bread pudding. July 29: Carved rosemary chicken, salisbury steak, mashed redskin potatoes, fried okra, green beans amandine, buttered cauliflower, coleslaw, yeast rolls, assorted cake slices. Condolences to: x Ray and Peggy Hill on the death of their son, Thomas Todd Hill, June 21. x Mark and Carolyn Murray on the death of Mark s father, John Tom Murray, June 26. Tapestry (USPS ) is published weekly except Christmas week by Wilshire Baptist Church, 4316 Abrams Rd., Dallas TX Periodicals postage paid at Dallas, TX. Telephone: (214) Website: Editor: Mark Wingfield. Contributing writer: Sue Coffman. Postmaster: Send change of address to 4316 Abrams Rd., Dallas TX

3 Briefly x Adventurers ice cream social. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, Aug. 25, for the Wilshire Adventurers ice cream social in Community Hall. All adults 65 and above are invited to make your own ice cream sundae for $3 and to hear a musical program by the group Celtic or Not. No reservation is required; just show up. x Consider automated giving. If you re away from home and church this summer, consider switching to an automatic bank draft for your tithes and offerings. To learn how, contact the financial office at (214) or explore more at wilshirebc.org/give. x Volunteer leader needed. Wilshire will serve again this year as a relay center for Operation Christmas Child. A relay center serves the community by collecting shoeboxes from other churches, non-profits and businesses in the area. Last year we collected from our neighbors almost 1,100 shoeboxes that were then delivered all over the world. A volunteer relay center coordinator is needed. This person would need to be available for training the week of Nov The primary responsibility is to mobilize volunteers to operate the collection of shoeboxes during collection week. If you are interested in this service opportunity, contact Julie Girards, minister to children at (214) or jgirards@ wilshirebc.org. x Zentangle classes. Zentangle method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Classes will be taught by Sarabeth Smetzer, a retired public school art teacher, on two Wednesdays from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. Dates are July 29 and Aug. 5. The classes are free, but pre-registration is requested. Contact Holly Irvin at (214) or hirvin@wilshirebc.org. Join us each Wednesday this summer at noon in Community Hall to hear the life story or faith journey of one of our members. Make new friends or learn about your old friends. Be inspired. Lunch is served each Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon. July 8: Bob Coleman July 15 Jessica Capps July 22 Jill Granberry July 29 Conrad Wolfman Aug. 5: Karen Kimball Aug. 12 Mary Keller Aug. 19 Jon-Erik Schoellhorn Themes from 2015 Youth Choir tour By Mark Wingfield Associate Pastor Hearing His Eye is on the Sparrow sung in a homeless shelter sounds a lot different than hearing it in a church sanctuary. And not just because of the acoustics. Emily Hughes, a member of Wilshire s Youth Choir who just graduated from high school, sang this Gospel number several times during the choir s weeklong mission tour to New Mexico. In between songs from the full choir and Shekinah, several students offered solos. This song took on new meaning as we heard it sung before rows of men and women, and sometimes children, who had come to a shelter as their only place for nutritious food. The contrast between the words of the song and the realities faced by the people hearing it could not be more stark. Why should I be discouraged and why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, a constant friend is he, His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me. Looking out over the crowd while hearing Emily sing gave me pause. Is this promise of Scripture really true? And if it is, why are all these folks having such a hard time? And then one day, one of our other adult chaperones asked me if this year s choir tour had been planned intentionally to coincide with Wilshire s new emphasis on Christian advocacy and hunger awareness. I hadn t thought of that before. Even though I had worked with Doug Haney and Heather Mustain to plan this year s trip, I had missed seeing the common thread of hunger advocacy. The answer I gave the other chaperone was that no, this wasn t intentional, but it just might illustrate the direction of the Holy Spirit as all the elements of the trip came together. Unplanned, most all our mission work turned out to have an element of feeding the hungry. The choir sang in two homeless shelters during meal times. We worked in the only food bank in New Mexico, and we worked in several other agencies that receive food from that bank for local distribution. On Wednesday our group of 73 students and adults sorted through huge bins of onions, potatoes, canned goods and fruit at the Roadrunner Food Bank. This included sorting out lots of rotten food that had been donated. By the end of that morning, most of us hoped never to see a potato or an onion or a zucchini again. But guess what? The next day, some of us showed up at a smaller food distribution point that had just received a delivery from the Roadrunner Food Bank, including potatoes, onions and carrots. The very types of food we had labored over in the warehouse, we now got to process into home-size bundles for hungry families to pick up. We experienced both ends of the process, all driven by nonprofit agencies staffed largely by volunteers like us. We sometimes say that as Christians we strive to be the hands and feet of Christ in a needy world. Maybe we also need to be the eyes of God, whose eye is on the sparrow. When we see the world as God sees it, we are more likely to put our hands and feet to work. 3

4 Day by day with Youth Choir Mission Tou SUNDAY Amarillo/Albuquerque Sixty-one junior high and high school students, along with 12 adults, traveled to New Mexico for a week of singing and service on this year s Youth Choir mission tour. The choir sang at First Baptist Church of Amarillo; worked and sang at Joy Junction, a homeless shelter; served and sang at The Rock at Noonday, a lunchroom for those who live on the streets; sang on the Plaza at Old Town Albuquerque; sorted food at Roadrunner Food Bank; worked at several other food ministries; visited Bandelier National Monument; sang an outdoor concert in Los Alamos; visited El Sanctuario de Chimayo and sang an outdoor concert there; visited Santa Fe and sang an outdoor concert on the Santa Fe Plaza; toured and sang at Saint Francis Cathedral; and on the way home stopped to sing at Spring Creek Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, where John Jay Alvaro is pastor. See more photos at 4 MONDAY Albuquerque

5 Tour 2015 TUESDAY Albuquerque WEDNESDAY Albuquerque/Los Alamos/Bandelier 5

6 THURSDAY Albuquerque/Chimayo 6 FRIDAY Santa Fe

7 The numbers Report for June 28 Sunday School Officers Preschool...88 Children Youth Young adult Median adult Senior adult Total present Total previous week Total last year Generosity Unified Budget received $82,668 Unified Budget projected $101,530 Unified Budget YTD $2,345,540 Unified Budget projected $2,464,097 Pathways Endowment received YTD $193,748 Pathways Endowment current fund value $3,629,650 December 31 goal $5,076,475 December 1 goal $4,416,533 November 1 goal $4,010,415 October 1 goal $3,655,062 September 1 goal $3,299,708 August 1 goal $2,842,826 July 1 goal $2,462,090 June 1 goal $2,055,972 May 1 goal $1,649,854 April 1 goal $1,269,118 March 1 goal $812,235 February 1 goal $456,882 Unified Budget Kathy Smith and her husband, Bob, have been married so long (47 years) that it s difficult for her to separate their life stories. One distinguishing factor, though, is her habit of taking the path less traveled. She spent her earliest years in Mount Airy, N.C., where her father was pastor of First Baptist Church. When she was a year old, he took the family to Mexico. There he taught Greek in Spanish at a Baptist seminary for a year, she said. Then the family moved to Monterey, where we lived next door to a Spanish family. I learned Spanish from them before I learned English, so my neighbor had to translate for my family. The family then moved to El Paso, where Kathy s father taught in a Baptist seminary. Over the next few years he served churches in Philadelphia, Miss., and Fayetteville, Ark., where she graduated from high school. She played the organ and accompanied the choir at University Baptist Church, where her father was the pastor. When I was about 4, I picked out the melody to Happy Birthday on our piano, so my family knew I had talent, she said. At age 6 she started piano lessons. In high school she accompanied the girls chorus and played clarinet in the band and orchestra. I knew I would major in music, so in my senior year of high school, I worked as a secretary to pay for my first year at Baylor University, Kathy said. As an undergraduate she worked at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly for two summers. At Baylor she took voice lessons from a retired opera singer and as a senior was a student government representative from the music school. She also rode the bus to a nearby town to play piano for its classical dances. I had to have formal gowns, which my mother made, but she never asked what I needed them for, she said. She also went to I Am Wilshire Kathy Smith unofficial off-campus dances held by her sorority. Before enrolling at Baylor, Kathy had unsuccessfully applied for a piano scholarship. That was a blessing in disguise, as the music office sent her to play for a new voice professor s lessons. That professor was her future husband. When Bob s students didn t show up for lessons, we would talk, and we started dating fairly soon, she said. We had to sneak around. I lived with the same group of girls all through Baylor, and they were the six attendants at our wedding, which took place three months before I graduated. I moved right from the dorm into his apartment, so I ve never lived alone. In Waco Kathy joined Columbus Avenue Baptist, which was not the church that most Baylor students joined. It had a different atmosphere, she explained. After she graduated from Baylor, Bob enrolled at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and she taught first grade across the river in Indiana. After Bob graduated, he became music director for a church in Lebanon, Tenn. Two years later he took a position at Bluefield College in Virginia. The family lived in West Virginia, and she continued to teach. Both worked on advanced degrees at West Virginia University in Morgantown. We had a good experience, even though we had to drive five hours through the mountains to attend classes, Kathy recalled. Some of our teachers had sung with the Metropolitan Opera, and my master s degree in music education was completely funded by a scholarship. After finishing his doctorate in 1971, Bob became chair of the music department at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton. After seven years there, the family moved to Austin, where he worked for the Texas State Health Department for 18 years, and they were members of River Bend Baptist Church. Kathy taught for 37 years. The last eight years of her career were as an assistant principal and principal. In the Metroplex, she was the first principal at Valley Ranch Elementary School. When Bob retired, our decision about where to live was easy, as all four of our children lived in the Dallas area, she said. Their son, Mark, is an engineer for American Airlines; Amelia (Amy) is an office manager for a company that makes computer parts; Robin is a salesperson for a computer company; and Laura is rearing four children. We have nine grandchildren and 20 people in our immediate family, Kathy said. We joined Wilshire in Wilshire has been the greatest blessing we ve had anywhere, even at other churches that nurtured and cared for us, she said. Everything about Wilshire has been wonderful, even though we have to drive from Plano. At every church we ve belonged to, I ve sung in the choir, she noted. It s been a blessing for us to sit in the congregation now and listen to the choir for the first time in our lives. Kathy has served on the Music and Worship Committee, and she and Bob are directors of Koinonia Class, which provides a wonderful supportive environment. I ve also helped Sarah Stafford with children s choirs, which I ve done nearly everywhere we ve lived. 7

8 Wilshire contacts To any member of the Wilshire staff, use the first initial with the full last name and then To phone staff, dial (214) 452- and the four-digit extension: Pastoral offices George Mason (3132) Debby Burton (3132) Mark Wingfield (3128) Kathi Lyle (3130) Pathways to Ministry Geri McKenzie (3159) Brent Newberry (3152) Britt Carlson (3153) Erica Whitaker (3156) Matthew Broyles (3154) Business offices David Nabors (3157) Teresa M. Newtown (3131) Susan Kimball (3108) Dale Pride (3101) Sandy Allen (3150; sgallen) Beverly Faubion (3111) Wilshire Baptist Church 4316 Abrams Rd Dallas TX PERIODICALS RATE 8 Age-graded ministries Jessica Capps (3129) Darren DeMent (3102) Julie Girards (3103) Joan Hammons (3141) Holly Irvin (3106) Care ministries Tiffany Wright (3107) Debby Burton (3132) Missions/advocacy offices Heather Mustain (3110) Katie Murray (3126) Sandy Allen (3150) Music offices Doug Haney (3123) Sarah Stafford (3121) Barbara Clayton (3125) Jeff Brummel (3122) Food services Chris Terry (3117) Weekday Education Mary Browder (3115) Parish nurse Linda Garner (3151) Library Jeri Baker (3114) Reception desk (214) Next Sunday, July 12 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Acts 11:1-18 Peter recounts the details of his vision that led to accepting Gentiles into the church. The Spirit told him not to make a distinction any longer between those who were called clean and unclean. Receiving Gentiles into the church was the first big breakthrough in the church s missionary adventure. It happened because of a revelation of God to Peter, not from human reasoning. It was then confirmed by the genuine faith of a Roman centurion, Cornelius. Preaching: Jim Somerville Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. Music: Mela Dailey, Austin, Texas... a bold witness to the way of Christ in our time.