The Link

The Weekly E-Newsletter of Disciples Christian Church

March 27, 2008

 

 

In This Issue

 

  • Updated Prayer Requests
  • Clark’s Clips
  • Telling the Good News – Through the Internet
  • DCC Education Department News
  • Evangelism
  • Men’s Bible Study
  • Music Notes
  • Thanks!
  • Young at Heart – TONIGHT!
  • Texas Gardening Seminar

 

 

Updated Prayer Requests

 

  • Congratulations and prayers to John and Cindy Prewitt on the birth of their new grandson, Jonathan Ryan Prewitt, Jr.  He was born  8 weeks early, weighing 3 pounds, 13 ounces and 17 inches in length.   Proud parents are Jonathan Prewitt and his fiancé, Deandra Walters.
  • Nancy Bertschi’s brother-in-law Dennis Shipley, recently had heart by-pass surgery and is not doing well.  He is also dealing with kidney stones.
  • Shane Shupak, Jan and Ean Sullivan’s son-in-law, has been deployed to Afghanistan.
  • Joyce Leraas has fluid in her lungs.  Doctors are unable to determine the cause at this time.
  • Curtis Gulick had testing on his thyroid last week.
  • Miranda Carbone, Diane & Galen Clark’s granddaughter, has several lesions in her brain.  She is still undergoing tests.

 

The prayer requests in The Link each week are recent updates. A list of ongoing prayer requests appears in our worship bulletin each Sunday.

 

 

Clark’s Clips

 

For all the change that is in our lives, we humans resist change.  We want to live in the same place.  We want our kids to go the same schools.  We want our grocery store always to carry our favorite foods.  We want to go to the same church with the same people and the same minister without changes.  But sure as we get used to anything, it seems sometimes, something changes!  Life can surely be unsettling!

 

In face of all this change, your “change” ministers are offering a Bible study in the atrium every Sunday night in April.  Bible Study will begin with light refreshment at 5:30 p.m. on April 6, 13, 20 and 27.  The theme is “Through the Wilderness: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”  The plan is to deal with yesterday the first week, today, the second week and tomorrow the last two. 

 

Won’t you join us?

 

Diane

                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                   

Telling the Good News – Through the Internet

 

by Dave Gillen

 

Missed a copy of The Link?  One of the recent changes to our Web site (www.dccplano.com) is that the current and all of the back issues of The Link are available for your perusal.  Click the Message button to access those issues.

 

Did you (or a friend) sign up for your copy of The Link between December 1st and March 22nd using our Web site?  Sadly, that feature was broken and your request disappeared into the ether.  We’ve fixed it.  Please give us a second chance!  Go to our Web site and click:

 

 

 

Fill in the information to get your email address on our mailing list and click Submit (or Send).  This will get you back on the distribution list for The Link.

 

 

Now let’s say you were getting your copy of The Link regularly for weeks.  Then…silence.  They stop coming.  What happened?

 

We email The Link to you.  Unfortunately, email delivery isn’t guaranteed.  It’s much like the US Postal Service – you put your letter in the box and then magic happens.  We try our best to make sure things work, but problems can arise at both ends of the process.

 

If you haven’t been receiving The Link reliably, here are a few things you can check.

 

·         Protective Email Program.  The Link comes to you as an HTML-formatted email message.  That’s mumbo for “it’s a Web page.”  Some email programs (like Outlook Express) now “protect” you by hiding the content of the message or asking you “are you sure you want to see this?”   If you’re missing (or can’t read) email from others, this may be the culprit.

 

·         Anti-spam filtering:  Make sure the anti-spam filtering on your computer (or with your email provider) allows theoffice@dccplano.com to pass through.  You never know when these programs try to “help” you.

 

·         Clean out your Inbox.  If you’re like me, my Inbox grows and grows with all the email I get.  Some email programs (like Outlook Express) start misbehaving if your Inbox gets full.  When the programs misbehave, they “selectively” receive or reject new email.  Do a little housecleaning of your Inbox, deleting the old stuff or moving it to another folder for future reference.

 

·         Email Provider Limits.  Some email providers impose limits on how many pieces of email you can receive, or how much email you can store on their servers (called “disk quota”). 

 

If you are a very gregarious e-mailer, The Link may be that one piece that pushes you over the edge.  It may be time for a different email provider!

 

If you leave your email on their server, you may be reaching this limit.  Any new email (like The Link) is rejected.  So, it’s time to clean out your email on the server.

 

·         Black Lists.  Some email providers keep a list of email senders who send spam.  The computer names of these spammers are added to a “black list” and email coming from them is automatically rejected.  You need to check with your email provider to learn if they do this and if dccplano.com has been mistakenly added.

 

If you’re still not receiving The Link, and you checked out these tips, please let us know.  Send email to theoffice@dccplano.com with a quick note telling us which issue didn’t arrive, and the email address where you expected to receive it.

 

Dave Gillen – the Web guy

dave.gillen@verizon.net

 

 

 

 

DCC Education Department News

 

By Bob Knoll

 

Youth News

 

   Be sure to mark your calendar for these upcoming events:

 

n       Saturday, April 12:  Movie Saturday, details to follow

n       Saturday, April 26:  Youth car wash fundraiser at DCC parking lot

n       Sunday, May 18:  Youth Sunday with breakfast served before worship. 

 

A Tutoring Committee comprised of PAT BROWN, ROSIE LEWALLEN, and SUSAN SHAW was recently formed to assist youngsters from DCC, FCCC and Holy Grounds needing assistance with a difficult class.  Please contact Bob Knoll if you wish to utilize this wonderful service.

        

Also, the Tri-Area Summer 2008 Camps and Conferences schedule is posted in the Youth room downstairs as well as being mailed out to all DCC children and youth.  Early Bird reservations need to be made before April 15 in order to get the reduced price.   

 

Adult News           

 

n       A Christian Men’s Fellowship group is being organized and plans a spring debut.  Contact Mark Mueller for more information.

n      Bob Knoll is in the process of getting a Christian Women’s Fellowship group together.  See Bob for details.

n       April 6, 13, 20, & 27:  A Pastoral Bible study series will be held on these Sunday evenings at 5:30 pm led by Revs. Diane and Galen Clark.  They will begin with a light supper and end with a time for recreation.  All friends and members of the church are invited, including the youth!  The theme is “Through the Wilderness:  Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.”

n       Newcomers Café … If you are a newcomer, a new member or an established member who just wants to find out more about DCC, then these four Sunday evenings in May are for you:

         — May 4:   “Getting to know each other”

         — May 11:  “Who we are as Christians”

         — May 18:  “Who we are as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)”

         — May 25:  “Who we are as Disciples Christian Church”

         Each session will be from 5:30 pm—7:30 pm and will include light refreshments.  Contact Fred Hall or the church office for more details. 

                                                                                            

 

                       

 

Evangelism

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

By Nancy Hall

   

Ten Surprises about the Unchurched. . . Understanding their Hearts and Minds

 

Taken from The Unchurched Next Door by Thom S. Rainer:  Copyright 2003 by Thom S. Rainer:  Used by permission of Zondervan.  I found this in the March edition of the First Edition, First United Methodist Church, Houston, TX

 

Unchurched refers to an adult (18 or older) who has not attended a Christian church service in the past six months except for a special event or holiday service.  Listed below are ten surprises.  Thomas S. Rainer's research has uncovered about the unchurched.

 

 1.  Most of the unchurched prefer to attend church on Sunday morning if they attend.

 

 2.  Females are likely to be either the most antagonistic or the most receptive to the gospel.

 

 3.  Most of the unchurched feel guilty about not attending church.

 

 4.  More than eight out of ten of the unchurched said they would come to church if they were invited.  Are Christians inviting non-Christians to church? 

      The heartbreaking answer is no.  Only 21 percent of active churchgoers invite anyone to church in the course of a year.  But only two percent

      of the church members invite an unchurched person to church.

 

 5.  Very few of the unchurched have had someone share with them how to become a Christian.  And Christians have not been particularly influential in their lives.

 

 6.  Most of the unchurched have a positive view about pastors, ministers, and the church.

 

 7.  Some types of “cold calls" are effective; many are not.  The definition of a cold call is simply “uninvited".  The type of cold-call evangelism most often

      resisted by the unchurched is an uninvited visit to their homes. 

 

 8.  The unchurched would like to develop a real and sincere relationship with a Christian.

 

 9.  The attitudes of the unchurched are not correlated to where they live, their ethnic or racial background, or their gender.

 

 10. Many of the unchurched are far more concerned about the spiritual well-being of their children than of themselves.

 

 

 

Men’s Bible Study

 

Calling all men!  Come join us at IHOP (Plano Pkwy. just east of Preston Rd., south side of road) tomorrow, Friday, March 28 at 7:00 a.m.  No Bible, No Breakfast!  Questions?  Call Bob Knoll (972-618-8202) or Fred Hall (972-964-2727).

                                                                                                                                                               

 

Music Notes

By Laura Young

Music Director

 

What a beautiful Easter celebration we had Sunday morning! Thank you to Howard Kennedy and Bill Adam for the wonderful trumpet playing they shared with us on Easter Sunday. Thank you also to our youth singers, JoJwan McLeod and Marin Young, who sang "My All in All, "adding so much meaning to our morning communion and "flowering of the cross." The Chancel Choir put in extra time this week and did a wonderful job singing a challenging anthem! I am continually amazed and impressed at how much this group accomplishes and how well it is growing! Thank you also to Julie Chen, who played piano beautifully through our extra worship services this week.  Last week for Palm Sunday, Rev. Galen Clark, Lois Teed-Gillen and Marin Young rang in Holy Week by playing in the handbell choir.  Last Thursday, John Prewitt and Ty Young shared a beautiful song, "By His Wounds," during the Maundy Thursday worship service. I am continually grateful to all of the musicians at DCC for their hard work and great attitudes.

 

 

Upcoming concerts:

 

Kelly Lindsley will be in concert on Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. at Monica Park Christian Church in Garland.  Kelly has been a singer/songwriter for over 20 years.  He has just released his first recording “Inhabit My Praise” (Psalms 22:3) with songs that offer a variety of musical styles and inspired thoughts put to music.  You can visit his website at www.inhabitmypraise.com.  The church is located at 2600 Broadway Blvd., Garland.

 

The Richardson Community Band will present The Musical Zoo on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the Charles W. Eisemann Center located at 2351 Performance Drive at Lookout and Glenville Roads in Richardson. The band will perform in the Countrywide Theatre. The band’s one hour program will include music that has to do with animals and is especially developed with families in mind.  Featured selections will include Carnival of the Animals, The Teddy Bears Picnic and The Story of Mumble Happy Feet.  Tuba Soloist Kevin Miller will perform the solo Elephantine Polka.  Special guest composer Christopher Tucker will conduct his work Animal Krackers.

 

If you would like to share information about upcoming concerts in the area, please submit them to Laura Young for inclusion in "Music Notes."

 

 

Thanks !

 

Thanks to JoJwan McLeod and Marin Young, the girls who sang at the early Easter service last Sunday.  They did a wonderful job and added so much to the Easter spirit!

 

 

Young at Heart – TONIGHT!

 

Don’t forget that the March Young at Heart dinner is tonight at Red’s Patio Grill at 6:30 pm.  The restaurant is located at 4005 Preston Rd. at the NW corner of Preston and Lorimar.

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Texas Gardening Seminar

The DCC Education Department is happy to announce that Lois Teed-Gillen will give a presentation on Texas gardening on Saturday, March 29 at 11 a.m. in the Atrium.  The seminar is open to the public, so please bring all family members and friends who are interested.

 

 

The Mission of Disciples Christian Church
In order to follow Jesus and worship God, we will serve our neighbors. We will minister to our fellow Christians. We will live and tell the good news of Jesus Christ in all we do.


Disciples Christian Church Staff

Diane & Galen Clark, Co-Transitional Pastors
Laura Young, Music Director
Linda Gulick, Preschool Director
Julie Chen, Pianist
Jan Carter, Administrative Assistant

Dave Gillen, Webmaster

Carly Geibler, Nursery Attendant

 

email: theoffice@dccplano.com

phone: 972-398-2240

web: http://www.dccplano.com