TAC Times - November 2015 Time Change Please make note that on Sunday, November 1 st at 2:00 a.m., our time changes by falling back one hour to Central Standard Time. Beginning Sunday, November 1 st, our 9:00 a.m. Sunday Bible class will be led by Fr. Matt Hill. Our guiding text for this time is To Be A Christian, published in 2013 through the Anglican Church in North America from a task force led by J.I. Packer. This Anglican catechism (text used for the instruction of Christian disciples) presents the essential building blocks of the Apostles Creed, The Lord s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. This class will continue through Sunday, December 13 th, then will resume after a 3-week holiday break on Sunday, January 10 th. Please join us! All Saints Day Sunday, November 1 st This holy day allows us to honor all the saints, known and unknown. The Collect for this day is: Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
International Day of Prayer Sunday, November 1, 2015 On this day, orange ribbons will be available for worshipers to take and wear, to raise awareness of this issue and to remind us to pray regularly for the persecuted Church around the world. Each month, 322 Christians are killed for their faith, 214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed, and 772 forms of violence are committed against Christians. Here are 10 ways to pray for our persecuted family: 1) Pray that persecuted believers will sense God s presence (Heb. 13:5); 2) Pray that they will feel connected to the greater Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:20, 26); 3) Pray that they will be comforted by God when their family members are killed, injured or imprisoned for their witness (2 Cor. 1: 3-5); 4) Pray that they will have more opportunities to share the gospel (Col. 4:3); 5) Pray for their boldness to make Christ known (Phil. 1:14); 6) Pray that they will forgive and love their persecutors (Matt. 5:44); 7) Pray that their ministry activities will remain undetected by authorities or others who wish to silence them (Acts 9:25); 8) Pray that they will rejoice in suffering (Acts 5:41); 9) Pray that they will be refreshed through God s Word and grow in their faith (Eph. 6:17); and 10) Pray that they will be strengthened through the prayers of fellow believers (Jude 20-25). First Sunday Celebration & Speaker We will have our 1st Sunday Celebration on Sunday, November 1 st in the HCA Cafeteria immediately following the worship service. Please bring food and friends, and partake of the wonderful fellowship. We will be blessed to hear a presentation from Beverly Pop, the daughter of our own Val and Mickey Atkins, who has been teaching us about ministering to Muslims. Shawl Ministry Formation Meeting Immediately following the 1 st Sunday Celebration lunch next week, there will be a brief formation meeting of the Shawl Ministry in the cafeteria. If you are interested in joining this ministry, or just want to see what it s about, please attend. Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Veterans Day O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy. Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Christ the King Sunday Sunday, November 22 nd is The Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday. This is the last Sunday after Pentecost, and the last Sunday of our liturgical year. On this day, especially, we celebrate the kingship of Christ: Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 26, 2015 Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Beginning the Season of Advent November 29 th is the First Sunday of Advent, and begins our new liturgical cycle. The Advent season consists of the four Sundays before Christmas, and ends with Christmas Eve. The word Advent means coming or arrival, and the focus of the season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, as well as the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. This provides a basis for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live "between the times" and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God s people, confessing our own responsibility to "love the Lord your God with all your heart" and to "love your neighbor as yourself." Advent is a time of preparation that is marked by prayer. These are prayers of humble devotion and commitment, prayers of submission, prayers for deliverance, prayers from those walking in darkness who are awaiting and anticipating a great light! The spirit of Advent is expressed well in the parable of the bridesmaids who are anxiously
awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom (Matt 25:1-13). There is profound joy at the Bridegroom s expected coming, but also a warning of the need for preparation. Still, even then, the prayer of Advent remains: Come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel! Upon This Rock Update As we approach the end of this calendar year, we will also reach the halfway point of our capital campaign, Upon This Rock. We will engage in several different activities throughout the months of November and December in order to celebrate what God is doing among us and to re-commit ourselves to the second half of the campaign. There will be three separate mail-outs from the church two letters from Fr. Don and a recommitment card. We will also hear a sermon series on prayer and biblical stewardship. On Sunday, December 1 st, we will celebrate with a Construction Party, seeing video of actual progress on the property, turning in our re-commitment cards, and sharing a meal. Finally, on Sunday, December 8 th, we will take up a special offering during the worship service for the building of God s Kingdom. The OSL Corner by Sharon Parker The Order of St. Luke the Physician is an inter-denominational, international ministry for healing of body, mind and spirit. The November monthly OSL brunch and meeting will be held on Saturday, November 21 at 10:00 am in the HCA Cafeteria. Please bring your pot luck dish and join us as we fellowship together and learn more about the healing ministry. For the newer members of Transformation who are not familiar with this organization, the Order of St. Luke is part of the healing ministry of the church. I say part because there is also an intercessory prayer team that meets weekly on Wednesday morning. We invite you to submit your prayers requests so that either or both teams can be lifting you to the Lord in prayer. Anyone in the church is welcome to attend the OSL meeting. Those who feel led by the Lord may inquire about the possibility of joining this ministry. Just call Sharon Parker at 972-524-9382 or speak to her and/or Deacon Bill Schulgen at church. We are currently teaching the OSL Immersion class to train our members. Those who desire to be inducted at the end of the course and serve members of Transformation in their prayer needs are required to attend. We are meeting at the home of Sharon and Will Parker in the country neighborhood of Poetry, which is East of Rockwall and you are welcome to attend.
Recently, we have been learning how important it is to know that Jesus has given us authority to use in healing. Faith and thanksgiving are very important in this process. We have to have faith to pray and to believe that the Lord hears our prayers and will answer them. Prayer should start and end with thanksgiving. How can you give thanksgiving before you pray and if you are not sure you will receive an answer? That is where faith comes in. Sometimes, it just means you have to set your heart and mind to believe even before you see the answer. Is this easy to do? No it s not, but it is part of the process of stepping out in faith and just trusting Jesus. Pray and trust Him to do what He knows is best. Not always an easy thing to do because we are human and we want to control the outcome, but trust we must. God is compassionate, merciful and loving, and He will answer, whether yes, no, or later. Austin Street Center Ministry by Larry Maupin We had another successful Austin Street Center meal delivery at the end of September. Volunteers from our church and beyond showed up to make 800 sandwiches, take all the other food items to Austin Street Center and serve more than 350 homeless men and women there. We prayed as a group before heading down there, and the Lord gave us a word of encouragement. That evening we heard more than once those exact same words. Praise be to God! There are two huge blessings in this one activity: everyone who helps enjoys the fellowship and feeling of accomplishment by working on this together, and secondly, the folks at ASC are blessed to receive the food we serve. How do we know this? The workers say so and the folks at ASC tell us how much they appreciate us. We hear sincere comments like thank you so much and bless you for coming out tonight all evening as folks go down our food line. And we love to watch the eyes of some folks looking way down the line trying to decide which fancy cupcake they are going to get. But we couldn t do this without all the cash donors, supplies buyers, cupcake bakers, egg boilers, sandwich assemblers, van drivers and food servers who helped that afternoon and evening. You are appreciated and we thank you so very much! As we left the ASC, we were each handed a card reminding us of why we do this. To sum it up, WE ARE A BLESSING TO BE A BLESSING! Our next time to serve a meal there is Wednesday December 30 th. Two things we know we will need are cash and workers to bake cupcakes, boil eggs and make sandwiches. Did I mention cash? We have a line item in the TAC budget but it doesn t cover the cost to buy everything. So any help you can give is appreciated by everyone involved. Thank you, and God Bless!
1 Time Change 9:00 a.m. Worship Service 11:30 a.m. 1 st Sunday Celebration & Speaker 8 9:00 a.m. Worship Service November 2015 ~ November 2015 ~ Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 2 3 4 5 6 7 9:30 a.m. 7:30 a.m. Intercessory Women s Bible Men s Bible Prayer 9 10 11 Veterans Day Intercessory Prayer 12 9:30 a.m. Women s Bible 13 14 7:30 a.m. Men s Bible 15 9:00 a.m. Worship Service 22 9:00 a.m. Worship Service B Seth Carr & Sara Maneval 16 B Shannon Champe 23 B Don McLane 17 18 Intercessory Prayer 24 B Jennifer Horan B Avery Lovorn 29 30 Notes: 9:00 a.m. Worship Service 25 Intercessory Prayer 19 9:30 a.m. Women s Bible 26 Thanksgiving Day A Rick & Sara Maneval B Carrie Jones B Bill Lawler & Barbara Shaver B Tina Gwinn & Bryant McDonald 20 21 7:30 a.m. Men s Bible Order of St. Luke 27 B Hal Hines 28 7:30 a.m. Men s Bible B Jack Hesseltine B Rick Maneval
November 1, 2015 November 8, 2015 PROPERS OT Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 24 NT Revelation 21:1-6a Gospel John 11:32-44 LAY SERVERS Capt/CB......Myra Lenoir NT/CB... Christy Hopkins PS... Dawn Hall PP/CB... Mary Kadane CB... Jimmy Seay OT... Grace Mathews ACOLYTES AA1 Benjamin Craddock AA2....Jean Howk PRAYER MINISTRY Don Newman* Linda Celaya Daymon Schulgen Debbie Sharp USHERS Arvo Mallay Will Parker GUEST RECEPTION TEAM Set up.ed Figueroa Greeter Hal/Susan Meeder Guest Hosts..Larry/Susan Maupin TELLER TEAM Bill Thorogood Hilda Blevins LAY EUCHARIST MINISTERS Betty Spillman Sue Orite PROPERS OT Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 Psalm 127 NT Hebrews 9:24-28 Gospel Mark 12:38-44 LAY SERVERS Capt/NT/CB... Bill Thorogood OT/CB... Glenna McLane PP/CB... Jim Blevins PS/CB... Don Lennert ACOLYTES AA1.Pete Howk AA2 Daniel Mathews PRAYER MINISTRY Sharon Parker* Dawn Hall Sue Griffin JoAnn Craddock Tom Ryan Alice McDonald USHERS Ed Figueroa Nathan Figueroa GUEST RECEPTION TEAM Set up...dick Davenport Greeter... Sue Orite Guest Hosts...Dick/Nancy Davenport Name Tags..Mary Kadane TELLER TEAM Sue Hesseltine Sharon Figueroa LAY EUCHARIST MINISTERS Rick & Sara Maneval
November 15, 2015 November 22, 2015 PROPERS OT 1 Samuel 1:4-20 Psalm 16 NT Hebrews 10:11-25 Gospel Mark 13:1-8 PROPERS OT 2 Samuel 23:1-7 Psalm 132:1-19 NT Revelation 1:4b-8 Gospel John 18:33-37 LAY SERVERS Capt/CB... Hal Hines NT/CB...Sara Maneval OT/CB... Marianne Gwinn PP/CB.... Debbie Sharp PS..Tim Sharp LAY SERVERS Capt/CB... Don Newman NT/CB... Mark Dillow PS... Sharon Barnett OT... Nathan Figueroa CB... Jim Messler PP/CB Richard Ritz ACOLYTES AA1.June Hines AA2.......Trey Gwinn ACOLYTES AA1..Nathan Figueroa AA2.......Jim Blevins PRAYER MINISTRY Larry Maupin* Susan Maupin Ann Smith Holly Lawler Sue Orite Mary Kadane PRAYER MINISTRY John Shaver* Barbara Shaver Donna Miller TBD USHERS Rick Maneval Jim Ayersman USHERS Arvo Mallay Jim Watt GUEST RECEPTION TEAM Set up... Don Newman Greeter... Elaine Smith & Donna Miller Guest Hosts... John & Francis Oliphant Name Tags..TBD GUEST RECEPTION TEAM Set up... John Shaver Greeter... Barbara Shaver Guest Hosts... TBD Name Tags.Mary Kadane TELLER TEAM Jean Howk Brad Flanders TELLER TEAM Rick Maneval Linda Celaya LAY EUCHARIST MINISTERS TBD LAY EUCHARIST MINISTERS Larry & Susan Maupin
November 29, 2015 OT Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:1-9 NT 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Gospel Luke 21:25-36 PROPERS Capt/OT/CB... Don Newman NT/CB... Myra Lenoir PS/CB... Bill Thorogood PP/CB... Hal Hines LAY SERVERS AA1...Pete Howk AA2.......Jean Howk ACOLYTES PRAYER MINISTRY All Available Prayer Ministers USHERS Arvo Mallay Will Parker GUEST RECEPTION TEAM Set up... Don Newman Greeter... Donna Miller/Elaine Smith Guest Hosts... John/Francis Oliphant Name Tags..TBD TELLER TEAM Rick Maneval Linda Celaya LAY EUCHARIST MINISTERS TBD
Transformation Anglican Church Redemption Inspiration Transformation We are redeemed through faith, inspired with hope, and transformed in love. Office Location Address: 663 Justin Road, Rockwall, TX 75087 Phone: 972-772-5525 Website: Hours: www.transformationac.org 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday Worship Location Heritage Christian Academy 1408 S. Goliad Street Rockwall, TX 75087 Staff Don McLane, Pastor Matt Hill, Assistant Priest Bill Schulgen, Deacon John Shaver, Executive Director of Ministries Randy Wills, Music Ministry Jennifer Horan, Nursery Coordinator Anne Horan, Parish Administrator Advisory Council Jim Blevins Sharon Figueroa Rick Maneval Larry Maupin Senior Advisor Ken Craddock Treasurer The deadline for each issue is the 10 th of each month to be published in the following newsletter. Please send your articles to john@transformationac.org. ALL ARTICLES ARE SUBJECT TO EDITING AND MAY OR MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED.