The Link
The Weekly E-Newsletter of Disciples Christian Church
April 3, 2008
In This Issue
- Updated Prayer Requests
- Telling the Good News – Through the Internet
- DCC Education Department News
- Evangelism
- Men’s Bible Study
- Music Notes
- Thank you
- Young At Heart
- A Note from Martha Pusko
- Relief Nursery of
- Invitation from Casa View C.C.
Updated Prayer Requests
- Marianna
Armstrong, friend of Sandy Snyder, whose health is deteriorating from Lou Gehrig’s disease, is moving
to hospice care.
- Curtis
Gulick has nodes on his
thyroid. A biopsy will be done
soon.
- Naomi
Smith, grandmother of JoJwan McLeod and mother of Keely Duckworth, is critically ill and not expected to
live.
The prayer requests in The
Link each week are recent updates. A list of ongoing prayer requests appears in
our worship bulletin each Sunday.
It’s beginning to get green
up on our ridge. Since we’re only there
two days a week we notice it a lot more.
The trees are popping, especially the redbuds, and the underbrush is
getting ‘thick’ again. Bluebonnets ought
to be appearing soon; the grass will have to be mown; and the weeds will have
to be sprayed.
Ah, yes, the weeds! No matter how carefully and systematically weeds
are removed they keep coming back. Sort
of like the way sin keeps coming back into our lives. Sin has to be removed carefully,
systematically, and repeatedly. We don’t
hire a lawn service to take care of our problems, but with sin there is help
available. Mary Magdalene mistook Jesus
for a gardener on Easter morning – maybe a good image for us to remember. Jesus will help us with our sin problems and
root them out.
In this Easter season as we
look to the Risen Lord, let us seek help with our spiritual lives and get them
greening up and renewed.
GGC
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 April 2nd using our Web site? Sadly, that feature was broken and your
request disappeared. We’ve fixed
it. Please give us a second chance! Go to our Web site and click:
|
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Fill in the form and click
Submit. 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.
·
Anti-spam filtering: Make sure
the anti-spam filtering on your computer (or with your email provider) allows
Many
email providers perform anti-spam filtering of your email before it is
passed on to you. If
your provider allows you to read email through the Web (sometimes dubbed
“Webmail”), use it and look around.
You should look for special Options that can disable or manage
filtering. You should also look for a
Bulk or Junk folder to see if email messages (like The Link) are accumulating.
(A tip of the hat to Ty Young for this suggestion.)
·
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.
·
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
DCC Education Department News
By
Youth News
The DCC and FCCC Youth are asking
members of the church to donate to them items they no longer want or need for
the upcoming BBPS Rummage Sale to
take place at the DCC parking lot on
Saturday, April 19. We need all
items to the church by Sunday, April 13.
Contact
Be sure to mark your calendar for
these upcoming events:
n
Saturday, April 12: Movie
Saturday, details to follow
n
Saturday, April 19:
Rummage Sale at DCC parking lot
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
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 Mary
Carroll is forming and coordinating
an exciting group for the women of Disciples Christian Church. The re-immergence of our own Christian Women’s Fellowship group is
happening NOW! To become involved with
CWF, please contact Mary Carroll at 214-673-6151. She can also be reached via email at
m48carroll@hotmail.com.
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. For
the May 18th session, we will have a guest speaker. The Rev. Dr. Newell Williams, President of Brite Divinity School
at TCU, will talk from his vast knowledge of the history and practices of the
Christian Church. Contact
Fred Hall or the church office for more details.
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,
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 (
Music Notes
By Laura Young
Music Director
Youth Choirs for May 18th:
Youth Sunday is coming up in only six weeks, and I am very excited that
Chancel Choir:
Wed. April 2 Chancel Choir 6:30-7:30
p.m.
Sun. April 6 Chancel Choir warm-up 9
a.m.
Wed. April 9 Handbell Choir (preparing for Pentecost)
Sun. April 13 special music TBA
Wed. April 16 Chancel Choir 6:30-7:30 p.m. (preparing for April 20 and 27)
Sun. April 20 Chancel Choir warm-up 9
a.m.
Wed. April 23 Handbell Choir (preparing for Pentecost)
Sun. April 27 Chancel Choir warm-up 9
a.m.
Wed. April 30 Chancel Choir (preparing for May 4 and 11 Mother's Day /
Pentecost)
Upcoming Local Concerts:
The Orpheus Chamber Singers will present "The Soul's Repose" on
Sunday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Cathedral Guadalupe (
St. Barnabas Presbyterian church invites you to an organ dedication
recital by Delbert Disselhorst at 7 p.m., Sunday, April 13th (
Thank You
“Friends
& Staff at DCC – Thanks you all so much for the thoughts and prayers after
the death of our brother-in-law, Victor Lozada.
Please continue to pray for strength for our nieces and nephews as they
are really having a rough time. We hope
to see you all soon, but as you know, all of our extra time is with Theresa and
the kids. Thank you again for the
thoughts and prayers, they are felt each and every day. Daniel & Vicki Gonzalez
Young At Heart
The active senior fellowship group
will meet April 17 at B.J.’s Brewhouse & Restaurant, 1101
North Central Expressway,
A Note from Martha Pusko
“I’ve finally found my own place in
cell: 972-207-4552
I’d love to hear how things are
going for all my family at DCC. I miss
you all dearly. Keep in touch.
Love, Martha”
Relief Nursery of
by Laura Young
Dear DCC members,
For the first several months of 2007, at the request
of Linda Gulick (BBPS) and Laura Young, Disciples Christian Church provided the
fledgling Relief Nursery Advisory Board with meeting space and a mailing
address. This help was tremendously valuable to us as we began the process of
starting our non-profit child abuse prevention program, and we are very
grateful. We are planning to serve
families by September of this year.
Please join us next week to learn more about our progress!
Invitation from Casa View C.C.
Everyone
is invited to come and hear a dramatic portrayal of Corrie ten Boom by actress Evelyn Hinds. Corrie survived the holocaust and traveled around the world with a message of hope and
love. The event takes place at Casa View
C.C. in the sanctuary on Saturday, April
19 at 10 am. The church is located
at
The
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