In this issue: Thank You for Love Gifts Thank You for Your Generosity Allen Escadrille to Pasadena 4 4 4 Church Office 5 Rev. Gary H. Speer Out of 5 Sunday, January 3, 201 5 Deck the Hall with Golf Balls Souper Bowl of Caring Kick-off Sunday Welcome our Newest Member The Journey First Christian Church of Allen December 28, 2015 Volume 13, Issue 48 HAPPY NEW YEAR! This is the final edition of The Journey for 2015. All new editions will be forthcoming beginning on January 4, 201 as we begin another new year together. I wish for you a blessed and joyous New Year as we serve together in the ministry and witness of this congregation. Gary
Here s What s Happening December 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3-8:30 pm Girl 4 5 SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT 10:30 am Worship (Advent/Christmas Carols; Advent Candlelighting; NEW Advent/Christmas Sermon Series Continues) 7 8 9 10 Maryse Laurin Out of Office 11 12 13 THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT 10:30 am Worship (Advent/Christmas Carols; Advent Candlelighting; NEW Advent/Christmas Sermon Series Continues) 14 Office 10 am Disciples Women 15 :30 pm Boy Scout Troop #2112 Christmas/ Holiday Party 1 17-8:30 pm Girl 18 19 20 FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 9:30 am Annual Christmas Brunch 10:30 am Worship (Advent/Christmas Carols; Advent Candlelighting; NEW Advent/Christmas Sermon Series Continues) 21 WINTER BEGINS 22 23 24 CHRISTMAS EVE 7 pm Christmas Eve Worship 25 CHRISTMAS DAY! 2 27 10:30 am Worship ONLY 28 29 30 31 NEW YEAR S EVE
Here s What s Happening January 201 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR! Speer out of office/out of town 2 Speer out of office/out of town 3 10:30 am Worship ONLY John Ritchie, preaching Speer out of office/out of town 4 5 7-8:30 pm Girl 8 9 10 10:30 am Worship Rev. Gary H. Speer back in the Pulpit A New Year Series of Messages begins After Worship, Deacon Training 11 10 am Disciples Women 12 13 7-8 pm Re-NEW Bible Study begins again (location to be announced) 14 9 am - 12 noon AECPTA meets here 15 1 17 10:30 am Worship Service of Installment for 201 Leaders New Year s Series of Messages continues Kick-off for Souper Bowl of Caring (1st Quarter) 18 MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY 19 20 7-8 pm Re-NEW Bible Study (location to be announced) 21-8:30 pm Girl 22 23 24 10:30 am Worship New Year s Series of Messages continues 2nd Quarter Souper Bowl of Caring 25 2 27 7-8 pm Re-NEW Bible Study (location to be announced) 28 29 9 am AECPTA Open House 30 31 10:30 am Worship New Year s Series of Messages concludes 3rd Quarter Souper Bowl of Caring After Worship, Church Board meets
Thank You for Love Gifts On behalf of Maryse, Betsy, Lin, and myself, thank you for the year-end staff love gifts. It is deeply appreciated. Gary Thank You f or Your Generosity We knew we were going to come up a little short for the January 1, 201 Building Mortgage payment. I put out an appeal last week, and you responded with such generosity that not only are we able to make our first payment of 201, but we will have some buffer going forward (there was one sizable year end gift included when you see the totals for giving on the last page of this newsletter and all the special gifts received are deeply appreciated). Thank you for responding with such generosity. Again, thank you for your giving throughout this 2015 year this will probably turn out to be one of the strongest years of giving we have had in many years with giving versus budget. Let s continue this as we move into 201. Allen Escadrille to Pasadena We wish safe travels for all the members of the Allen Eagles Escadrille as they travel to Pasadena this week to be part of the Rose Bowl Parade on January 1, 201. We pray safety for all the members and family members who are attending also. We know you will represent our community well.
Church Office The Church Office will be closed December 31, 2015-January 1, 201 in observance of the New Year. We will resume regular office hours on Monday, January 4, 201. Rev. Gary H. Gary will be out of the office and out of town, December 31, 2015-January 3, 201. Sunday, January 3, 201 This Sunday, January 3, 201 while Gary is away, we are so pleased to have John Ritchie sharing the message during worship. We will have WORSHIP ONLY this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Again, thank you John for responding to the request for someone to fill the pulpit along with two others who also said they would be willing to help! Joining with John, Jim Hogan will serve as Worship Leader; Martha Hogan will share the pastoral prayer; and Ron Linder will be serving at the table taking on double-duty in Gary s absence. Please support John with your presence and prayers Gary will be checking the attendance on his return!
Deck the Hall with Golf Balls Soon the Christmas decorations will come down, but we will keep up the Deck the Hall with Golf Balls table through Sunday, January 10, 201. Bring a dozen or more golf balls and help us get a head-start on our April 9, 201 Annual Golf Tournament we give these as part of our goodie bags we give to each golfer. Remember keep bringing golf balls through Sunday, January 10, 201. Souper Bowl of Caring Kick-off Sunday Yes, it is almost that time time for us to kickoff the Souper Bowl of Caring as we get ready to collect food lots of food for the Allen Community Outreach Food Pantry. As in years past I know we will step up to this challenge to bring all kinds of food items. We know this has been a challenging year for ACO with demands increasing. We want to help. clever sayings we can think of to encourage your involvement. Let s see what we can do this time as we get ready for the Souper Bowl of Caring. Sunday, January 17, 201, we will begin our effort. Each Sunday represents one quarter of a game. Sunday, January 17-first quarter. Sunday, January 24-second quarter. Sunday, January 31- third quarter. Sunday, February 7 fourth and final quarter Souper/Super Bowl Sunday. We will encourage piling on running up the score no fouls for lots of food and any other Welcome Our Newest Member With great joy we welcome Randy Barshop as our newest member. Last week on Tuesday in a private ceremony, Randy confessed his faith in Christ and was baptized. Ron Linder was present as an Elder of the church. We welcome Randy and give thanks for his decision of faith.
Open Arms. Open Minds. Open Table. Open Hearts. First Christian Church of Allen (Disciples of Christ) 1207 Twin Creeks Dr. Allen, TX 75013 Tel: 972-727-5384 Fax: 214-383-7422 E-mail: fccallen@att.net Senior Minister: Rev. Gary H. Speer Office Mgr./Admin. Assist.: Maryse Laurin Music Director: Betsy Durnin Childcare Attendant: Lin Rosenquist We re on the Web! fccallen.org Also on Facebook! First Christian Church Allen Worship Ministry for Sunday, January 3 Sermon: John Ritchie Pastoral Prayer: Martha Hogan Worship Leader: Jim Hogan Elder: Ron Linder Deacons: Pat Conner & Tim Love Sunday Morning Refreshments: Richard & Pat Conner Altar Flowers: Richard & Pat Conner, in memory of Richard s father, Frank Conner and in honor of January birthdays.