God has blessed First United Methodist Church of McKinney Over the past ten years, our worship attendance has doubled in size. Every Sunday morning, we now offer four traditional worship services in our sanctuary, three contemporary worship services in Dyer Hall and two services in Melissa, Texas. In sharing our message in today s digital world, our fastest growing congregations are our online streaming worship services which average 100 computer connections. Depending on how many individuals are watching, this could be 100, 300 or more additional worshippers with us every Sunday! We have welcomed children, youth, and adults into our church family. Children s Sunday school averages close to 200 children each week learning about God s love plus over 500 children participated in our Vacation Bible School (VBS) June 12-15, 2017. Did you know we host a morning and an evening VBS? Our evening VBS reaches children with working parents as well as many children from our summer food program, Food4Caldwell. Each month the Children s Ministry hosts First Kids, Bible Blasters and M&M Kids for our elementary-age children. Our preschool ministry, HOPE School, welcomes over 100 preschool children each school year, Monday - Friday. The youth ministry of First UMC McKinney continues to grow. Sunday school welcomes youth 6th to 12th grade at The Hub. Sunday afternoons and evenings are filled with the activities of a new Youth Ukulele Club, Youth Praise Band practice, Youth Supper and small groups. This past spring break, over 70 youth from the confirmation class up to seniors in high school traveled to Oklahoma to continue in mission with our brothers and sisters of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. This year, our 2017 Confirmation Class included sixty-eight 6th-grade students. The curriculum for confirmation consists of a 9-month journey focusing on what it means to be a Christian and a United Methodist. The confirmands were confirmed on Saturday, May 6 in two services in our Sanctuary. The confirmation ceremony moved to two services in 2014 since one service can no longer hold the confirmands, their
friends, and family who come to participate in this joyous occasion. Our youth also continue to volunteer for our children s camps like VBS as well as host a Fall Festival complete with games, a costume contest and fun for the community. In 2016, we had 365 members join First UMC McKinney. So far for 2017, our numbers are continuing to grow with 226 new members as of June 19. We have had the opportunity to grow in our mission to McKinney and the world. Our commitment with Caldwell Elementary continues to have a positive impact on children who need it most in our community. We continue to reach out with Caldwell Christmas, Food4Caldwell, and Caldwell Jubilee. This past year, we also helped with tutoring Caldwell student with reading skills and other assignments needed for standardized testing. International mission continues to flourish. A team of eleven traveled to Panama in February 2017 to work with United Methodist missionaries David and Cindy Ceballos in Santiago, Panama. Our English As a Second Language (ESL) ministry continues to grow with participants from Afghanistan, Israel, Ukraine, Korea, China, Puerto Rico and Mexico. We ve have continued with local missions by building with Habitat for Humanity and Carter Blood Care during our quarterly blood drives. Our mission focus for the season of Lent was Grace Children s Hospital in Haiti. Because of your faithful support, we collected $102,764.00 to help with the operating budget at Grace Children s. The hospital s needs increased due to the path of devastation left by Hurricane Matthew that hit the area in October 2016. In our continued international missions, two youth family mission trips are planned for Guatemala this summer. Because God has richly blessed us, we have been equipped and empowered to respond. To faithfully continue our mission, we are embarking on a capital campaign that has a threefold focus.
Sharing the Heart of Christ: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Sharing the Heart of Christ Yesterday First United Methodist Church of McKinney has been faithful in the past. We have continually added to our church property and building so that our church family can grow. As a result, we have debt from this past faithfulness that we need to decrease. We have nearly $1 million in debt that we are carrying from the building of Dyer Hall and the children s wings in the 1990 s. Dyer Hall is home to our Wellspring Contemporary Worship service which now meets three times on Sunday with over 400 worshippers each week. Without the faithfulness that built these structures, we would not be the church we are today. In 2009, we had the opportunity to purchase the old post office property on Lamar and Kentucky. We were then able to plan and build a new building that is now the home of our youth ministry. We were also able to renovate the children s wing. The total cost of The Hub project was close to $6 million. Through the faithfulness of our members, that debt has been paid down to $2 million. Our confirmation ministry, youth ministry, scouting ministry and Bible studies use this building each week. In 2015, we had the opportunity to purchase the Heard Craig Auditorium for nearly $1 million. This acquisition was consistent with our policy to buy property adjacent to the church facility. Already the Church Street Auditorium is a vital piece of our ministry and an income producer. Through our faithfulness in the past, we have a debt of $4 million which we need to pay down before we go to permanent financing. The current debt service amount is $271,116 a year. Sharing the Heart of Christ Today In 2012, we had the opportunity to start a new United Methodist Church in Melissa, Texas. Our daughter church has grown in spirit and number. They are a powerful witness to God s love in North Collin County. Currently, our Melissa UMC is worshipping in McKillop Elementary School. They are averaging 175 people every Sunday with nearly
half of that number being children and youth. We have five acres which were given to us off Hwy 5 in Melissa with an additional 6 acres being held for our purpose. The congregation in Melissa has raised nearly $1 million in a capital campaign to build the church. We have the opportunity today to build a home for Melissa UMC. There are plans for a building that will cost $4 million. We can join with our brothers and sisters in Melissa to build a church today that will bless generations to come. Now is the time to move forward in Melissa. May we share the heart of Christ today by building a base for ministry in Melissa, Texas. Sharing the Heart of Christ Tomorrow The North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church has identified the Trinity Falls addition in North McKinney as a vital opportunity to start a new congregation. This planned community will have over 4,200 homes and is attracting homebuyers who are workers for Toyota and other corporations who are moving into the area. The project features include clubhouses, 450 acres of open space, over twenty miles of trails, amphitheater, play fields, canoe and kayak launches, fishing piers, nature trails, and retail and commercial components. This area is one of DFW s largest growing communities. As a result of this projected growth, Rev. Kris Melvin was appointed here last year to spend a year working with Rev. Stacey Piyakhun in Melissa. He is learning firsthand how to start a new church. Over the next three years, Kris will be working with us to build a congregation in the Trinity Falls area similar to what we are doing in Melissa. Our Lord calls us to share his blessed Good News and make disciples of Jesus Christ. McKinney is the third fastest growing city in the US. People moving to McKinney need to have a clear United Methodist option, and we will grow by creating new campuses. One church, different campuses, sharing the heart of Christ! Thanks be to God!
Notes:
315 N. Church Street McKinney, TX 75069 972.562.8556 SharingTheHeart.org