Tuesday, October 20, 2009
New First Church Website/Blog Location
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Local Volunteer Opportunities
Upcoming WID Events
October 23-24th: Jr. High Girls Night
Last year we had 30 girls come to this event. We need Godly women to come serve and build relationships for this night, as it is vital to our ministry. Most of the girls we meet at the Jr. High School will never come to our Wednesday night Bible Study...until they have gone to a girl's night!
This event starts at 5pm on Friday and goes until 9am on Saturday. The location is the women's missionary house at 2729 South Blvd, Dallas, TX. We will need help with purchasing drinks, food, and crafts. As it will be a slumber party, we will be tye-dying pillowcases. Also, we need volunteers to help oversee activities and help prepare food. Please contact Amanda Sherrill atasherrill@worldimpact.org if you are interested.
October 31st : Youth Scavenger Hunt
Every year we partner with Interfaith Ministries and provide an alternative to Halloween. With over 60 kids attending, we will need your help! Starting in the afternoon, we will have 3-4 different teams going on a scavenger hunt across DFW. After hours of fun, we come back to the World Impact Ministry Center for food, games, and fellowship. We will need help in the following areas:
- Donating food
- Decorating our Ministry Center and setting up tables w/food
- Attending the scavenger hunt by being a team leader
- Preparing the scavenger hunt (Contact Amanda or Glen A.S.A.P)
- Preparing games
As this event is still in the preparation stages, please contact Amanda Sherrill at asherrill@worldimpact.org, or Glen Banks at gbanks@worldimpact.org if you are interested.
November 6th,7th: Garage Sale
In order to raise funds for the ministry, we are having a garage sale at the women’s missionary house (2729 South Blvd, Dallas, TX 75215). Volunteers are needed to prepare and help oversee the garage sale. This would be a great event to get your small group involved in for a service project! The garage sale will run from 8am-1pm Saturday, November 7th. However, we will need assistance the day before in organizing, labeling, and moving items from the World Impact Ministry Center to the women’s missionary house. So if you cannot make it Saturday, please come anytime Friday to help! For more information, contact Amanda Sherrill at asherrill@worldimpact.org
December 12th: Christmas Shoppe!
Look out for the flyer coming soon! Every year WID partners with local churches to make Christmas shopping for the families in our community easier. Save the date, and keep a watch for more information in the upcoming weeks! Please contact Glen Banks at gbanks@worldimpact.org for more information.
But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
-2 Corinthians 8:11-12
Monday, October 5, 2009
Diana Drake's Memories from the Colombia Trip
About 2 months ago I went on an amazing trip to Bogota, Colombia with a group from our church. We got to work with a wonderful group of missionaries from YWAM (Youth with a Mission) who live and work in the Bogota area. It was also really neat to actually work in the building that our church helped pay for through the Bigfoot Comedy night fundraiser last year. The building is used as a play center where the street kids in the YWAM program can come to have fun. We got to add some great play areas in that building, like a rope bridge, a texture wall, hammocks to climb on, a basketball court, and we fixed the rock climbing wall. Also, we got to go out and visit some of the schools and drop-in centers that YWAM helps run for the street kids. It was truly incredible to get to be with these kids, both in the centers and on the streets, and experience a small part of what life is like for them there.
I’ve been on short-term mission trips before, and there are always lessons learned and experiences you take from them. For me, there were several experiences that I know will stay with me for a long time to come. One was seeing a perfect rainbow in the mist over the city of Bogota, a reminder to me that there is beauty in the world even in the most unexpected places. The streets of Bogota are often filled with trash, and the homeless are everywhere, living where they can and struggling to survive. Seeing the incredible poverty, I couldn’t help but compare it to the way we live here at home. We have clean streets, safe homes, and an abundance of food and possessions. We are so blessed, but I know that I was reminded that we must never take that for granted, or think that we somehow deserve the blessings God has given us. We are blessed so that we may bless others. I know that it is good for me to be reminded of that, and to keep a sense of perspective in my life and a sense of gratitude for all God has given me.
For me, the most memorable experiences in Bogota were when we got to meet the children. Each day we visited a different school, so we only got to spend an hour or two with most of the children, then say goodbye. I wasn’t sure what kind of impact we could have in such a short amount of time. However, what we got to represent was simply the love of God for those kids. We were there to smile and hug and show them that somebody cares. And they showed us the same. We helped them make a beaded cross necklace, with each color bead representing part of the salvation message. Hopefully these crosses will remind them of God’s love for them always. These children had so little, yet they were able to laugh and smile and show love. We, who have so much, should certainly be able to do the same.
Going to Colombia was an amazing experience, and I hope to be able to go back sometime soon.
Diana Drake
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Update letter from the Scarbroughs
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Update from Adrienne Mickler
September 2009
I am rich.
You are rich too.
For whatever reason, this has become a label that most of us, including myself, strongly dislike. We rarely, if ever, claim that we are indeed rich [in the economic sense], but we are. We have a tremendous and delicate responsibility to distribute these resources to those without, in a fashion that preserves people’s dignity.
The manner and attitude in which we contend for others speaks more than we may realize. It is far more complex than simply giving out a piece of bread. It is discovering a way in which the relationship can be symbiotic, where both parties can give and receive. Otherwise, despite our good intentions, the relationship becomes hierarchical: those who “have” are at the top, and those who “have not” are at the bottom. This is not how it is meant to be. “Love your neighbor as yourself” implies equality.
Upon acknowledging this responsibility, I often feel a deep, overwhelming sense of guilt. I go, I give, and I serve out of this sentiment. I have learned that living with this guilt mentality is destructive and frequently results in feelings of resentment, bitterness, burn out, etc. I must go and give and serve because that is my heart’s desire.
I believe we are created to use our desires for the cause of Christ and for other people. If we are not living out of these deep places of longing, then of course we will feel a degree of exhaustion. If we are created to function in one capacity but choose to live from something else, we are neglecting a fundamental piece of who we are and thus live a life unfulfilled.
When we begin living against our heart’s desires, we start to compartmentalize “ministry”. It is no longer our life, but simply a part. This has become a very common way to ease our consciences. As long as we are doing “ministry” a few times a week, we’re good. But no, we still aren’t living the life we were intended to live and if we are honest with ourselves, we still long for more.
During these next six weeks, the “imagining posture”, we will be looking even deeper into these issues: living out our responsibility with God, gaining a clear sense and pursuit of our personal calling, and exploring and innovating different ways to be communities of faith. We will read Acts and Revelation in the Bible and other notable texts, as always.
Please continue to pray that I would stay focused, particularly at this stage of the year. There have been a plethora of external issues vying for my attention (eg. I miss Ryan!). But I believe that especially now, during the climax of the year, I must remain attuned to God’s promptings.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
With Love,
Adrienne
Thursday, July 23, 2009
2009 Trip Summary
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Update from Adrienne Mickler
July 2009
Aunt Esther. She sits sideways in her big chair, smelling of alcohol, legs propped up on the arm, short white hairs poke out the sides of her lime green knitted hat as she carefully raises the floral porcelain teacup towards her mouth with fragile shaking hands. She is an adorable, elderly Afrikaner lady who is quite witty, despite the fact that she is nearly deaf and blind. When speaking with her, one must sit uncomfortably close and speak at a painfully loud volume. She has her door open from 4am until late at night, even during the colder winter months, for the sole purpose of being able to greet and be greeted by the strangers who happen to walk by. She feels forgotten and alone, and perhaps rightly so. Her family rarely visits and all her friends have passed away. I met her by accident several months ago and have been visiting her weekly ever since. She does not ever remember my name but she knows me as one of the girls that stop by on Thursday mornings for tea and conversation. She is teaching me the powerful value of being present. She cares little about what I could do for her and repeatedly expresses her gratitude for just being with her. She has taught me that my time is the most valuable gift I will ever have to offer.
“Hospitality is Resistance.” (from a book we just finished titled, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, by Christine D. Pohl) This is Christian hospitality: one that welcomes “the least”, which recognizes their equal value, and respects their dignity; one that goes against the hospitality that invites only those with whom we are comfortable. If we are truly welcoming people we must, again, be present and invite in the fashion that Jesus did: sitting side-by-side, face-to-face, engaging in equal relationship with everyone, especially those whom the world labels as inferior. I do not mean to say that if you are not considered lesser then you cannot receive the fruits of someone else's hospitality. But I would like to challenge us to remember those for whom hospitality was originally intended. True hospitality was meant to be a manner in which to care for the marginal groups in society; not as a means of entertaining the elite. I highly recommend reading Making Room. It addresses all the practical barriers that typically inhibit most of us from really engaging in this kind of hospitality.
It is now the middle of the year. Last week marked the completion of the “inviting posture”, where I began learning the fundamental importance of simply being present with people. Today is the beginning of the “Contending Posture” where we will be identifying and confronting issues of injustice, contending for peace and wholeness in people’s lives, and pursuing holiness together. We will spend time studying the prophetic literature in the Bible and continue reading other texts with a focus on contending.
Thank you so much, for everything…
With Love,Adrienne
Monday, April 6, 2009
Update from Adrienne Mickler
You all have played an integral role in allowing me to be here and I want to include you on this journey in a more personal manner than I have in the past. You have given me a rare and beautiful gift: space and time to discover what it means to be attentive and listen with my heart.
The past six weeks (called the “listening posture”) have been a time of recognizing and learning to accept who God has created me to be; even in the ordinary: what I like and dislike, my fears and dreams, my strengths and weaknesses, my needs and interests, my natural inclinations, etc. I have done an incredible job of even deceiving myself about who I am. I believe that accepting my identity in Christ must happen in order for me to identify what I am meant to do and what God desires for my life.
Through this time of self-discovery, I am experiencing something new and exciting: freedom. When I remember that God fashioned me in His image, and I recognize myself as His daughter, whom He loves, I am free. God knows my innermost thoughts, and He created me to experience countless different emotions, each in a particular manner. Rather than negating the value of these, I am beginning to embrace them. The sense of guilt that often follows when I think or feel a certain way disappears when I acknowledge and include God in those thoughts and feelings. If He is welcomed into our mind and heart, we are free of condemnation. This is revolutionizing my life.
On a slightly different note, we are now entering into the “submerging posture”. This entails learning what it means to be more committed and submitted to one another, more connected with and actively serving our neighbors, and grasping the power of the incarnation. We will be focusing on the gospels in the Bible and reading some other texts as well. I will spend more time with a select few ministries in order to decide where to commit for the remainder of the year. Some include work with young girls who have experienced varying degrees of abuse, and working with an economically poor community to start a vegetable garden. The nutrients that vegetables provide are absolutely essential in the treatment of AIDS, which is rampant throughout Africa. The garden would allow for more people to have access to the essential nutrients their bodies need to stay alive.
With that, please pray that I would sense God’s leading in where I can best serve. There is also something of which I need prayer that I rarely reveal to people: I long to sense something that is undeniably from God. I constantly struggle with doubt and skepticism in this area. Although I am learning, I am easily bogged down with frustration for not being able to experience more of God in a personal way.
If you are interested in more detailed, weekly/daily updates and occasional photos, feel free to visit my blog: http://www.xanga.com/nom_AD_ic
Thank you for taking the time to read my updates. I don’t say it often enough but you all mean the world to me. And, if ever you are willing, I would love to know how you are doing as well.
With love,
Adrienne
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Updated Trip List 2009
Hurricane Ike Relief Trip (for men)
Dates: April 1-5
Cost: $100
Contact: Steve Niermann
(stevenniermann@tx.rr.com)
East Asia Vision Trip
Dates: March 13-22
Cost: Trip is full
Contact: Ellen Childress
(ellen.childress@verizon.net)
Quito, Ecuador
Dates: Late July
Cost: $2,000
Contact: Sharon Roelke
(roelke1@tx.rr.com)
Aurich, Germany
Dates: July 24 - August 2
Cost: approx. $1,500
Contact: Bruce & Joanna Breckenfeld
(breckenb@verizon.net)
Kenya
Dates: Late July
Cost: approx. $3,000
Contact: Sharon Roelke
(roelke1@tx.rr.com)
Cambodia
Dates: Late September
Cost: TBD
Contact: Sharon Roelke
(roelke1@tx.rr.com)
El Paso, TX
Local missions working with homeless, children, no heavy labor.
Dates: fall (a Thursday-Tuesday)
Cost: approx. $300
Contact: Susan Sublett
(sublettfamily@gmail.com)
Local Missions Opportunities:
Feed My Starving Children Meal-Packing Day
Dates: June 5-6
No costs, but donations welcome to help cover the cost of the food we are packing
Contact: Abbey Daniels (fmscdallas@gmail.com)
Sidewalk Bible School
Every Saturday 11-noon, in South Carrollton
Bringing Sunday School to underprivileged kids
Contact: Carolyn Giffen
(cgiffen@firstchurch.net)
Crossroads Community Services
Third Monday of every month from 6:30-8:30 (carpool from church at 5:30)
Variety of activities from serving meals to maintaining facilities
An optional dinner is provided for $10
www.ccsdallas.org
Contact Abbey Daniels for info
(abbeyrenee@gmail.com)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Feed My Starving Children
On June 5-6, we are hosting a Mobile Packing Day at the church (actually at CCA) where we will be packing 100,000 meals for children all over the world in a day and a half. We need at least 500 volunteers to be able to do it!
The meals are packets engineered specifically for malnourished children, and only cost 17 cents per meal. They contain rice, soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, and vitamin-fortified chicken flavoring. I have tasted the mixture once it's cooked up, it tastes a lot like Rice-A-Roni.
For more information about the organization that we are teaming with for this, go to www.fmsc.org. All of their meals are packed by volunteers.
Volunteers will work in manageable, two-hour shifts, with one shift on Friday from 6-8, and 6 shifts on Saturday, every two hours from 8am-8pm. If we fill up, more shifts may be added earlier Friday.
Kids and youth are more than welcome. Donations are also welcome, as we will be covering the cost of the meals ($17,000), but are not required.
If you would like to sign up to come pack meals with us, send a donation, or receive more information, email me (Abbey) at fmscdallas@gmail.com. Let me know your name, the best way to contact you (either email address or phone number), and which shift you would like to work.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Cambodia and Nigeria
The Grigsbys would like to lead another trip to Nigeria in November of this year, exact dates to be announced. It will likely be a two-week trip, but it won't be a big deal to have someone come late or leave early, I guess they'll be close to an airport. If anyone is interested in this trip, contact me and I'll get you in touch with Scott Grigsby.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Trips; Kenya, El Paso
Some of you are aware that our church took a group to Kenya last summer; I have posted notes from several people who went on that trip on this blog. Another trip is in the works for this year, but dates and details are not finalized just yet as they wait to hear from a doctor that they hope to take along.
Lois Evans would like to take a group from our church to El Paso for a senior-friendly mission trip. This trip is designed to keep travel stresses and costs to a minimum. Participants will stay in host homes and will collaborate with a network of homeless shelters in the downtown El Paso area to do volunteer work suitable for any physical condition. Cost will likely be around $350-$400. This trip will be in late September or October, but these dates are not finalized yet either.
Both of these trips are still in planning stages, please be sure to check back here regularly for more details as they come together if you are interested in going.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Gospel for Asia Update
Jorhat, Assam
INDIA
Dear sponsors,
Greetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to you for your precious prayers and financial support for my ministry. Please continue to remember me in your prayer. I too remember you in my prayer. May the good Lord bless you abundantly.
In the last six months of my ministry the Lord blessed me and helped me to reach many villages with the message of the love of God. Also the Lord granted me sound health and guided me in His way in the ministry. I thank God for all his blessings that the Lord has enabled me to experience.
At present I am serving the Lord as a pastor and evangelist at Aantimuria. In this area most of the people are non-Christians. These people are economically very poor. But they are giving good response to the Gospel. The Lord is using us very effectively among these people. Please pray for these people and their salvation.
As a church every day we are involving in different activities like outreach ministry, Gospel preaching, house visitation, hospital visitation, door-to-door evangelism and personal evangelism. Through our ministry many people received the Lord as their personal Savior, and they were added into the church. Please continue to pray for my ministry.
During the last six months of my ministry the Lord enabled me to distribute 200 Gospel tracts and 10 New Testaments. As a result of my ministry five people received the Lord as their personal Savior and received water baptism.
Pray for my church believers that they would stand firm in their faith in Christ.
Pray for me in my ministry so that I may be able to do the ministry effectively.
In Christ,
Anadh Kutum
SKG/KS
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A couple more trips
A trip is planned this summer for Aurich, Germany, where a team went last year. They will stay in homes and do a baseball camp. It will be July 24-August 2. The cost of the trip will be just a little over transportation costs, including the flight from Dallas and a train ride.
I have added a little bit of information about myself (Abbey Daniels) and my email to the "About me" section to the right. Another way to contact me with questions is just to comment on the particular blog post, I get those in email form as well.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
I'M BACK... I promise.
First of all, a group of 10 or 11 from our church will be going to East Asia March 13-22. Three or 4 people on that trip will be on their first ever overseas mission trip, so pray for that group! See Ellen Childress or ask me about more information, although I think it's full.
Over the same week, a group will be going to Quito, Ecuador. They will be working with an organization called Extreme Response there that 5 of us from FUMC worked with in December. See Sharon Roelke for more information about that one, or ask me!
Check back for more info, I'm going to start being more regular about posting on here. Holidays are nuts.