The Link
The Weekly E-Newsletter of Disciples Christian Church
In This Issue
- Updated Prayer Requests
- “Connecting Threads”
- Trunk or Treat
- DCC Education Department News
- BBPS Sunny Parents Rummage
Sale
- Disciples Women’s Ministry
- Health Fair this Saturday
- Letter from Dani Loving
Cartwright
- From The TechnoManor
- Men’s Bible Study
- Music Notes
- Children’s Sunday School
Updated Prayer Requests
- Rosalie Dunham, Linda Gulick’s mother, had additional surgery on her
foot last week and is home recuperating.
- John Krehbiel, a long time friend of the Bertschis, is in
- Kim Lewis, friend of the Bertschis, is in
The prayer requests in The Link each week are recent
updates. A list of ongoing prayer requests appears in our worship bulletin each
Sunday.
Paul tells
us in 2 Corinthians
So, on
World Communion Sunday, when we gather at the Lord’s table
and remember the great sacrifice made, not just for us, but for the world,
we have to be mindful of the world. We
have to be mindful of the things that unite us and the things that separate
us. We have to be mindful of our own
pride and prejudices. That is not always
such a comfortable thing to do.
There are
so many things that act as barriers between us and others. And even religion is one of the big
ones! So is race and nationality,
language, color, culture, gender…and so much more!
So this
week we do two things. We give an
offering to help to break some of the barriers, especially race, and we gather
at the table mindful that we are gathered together within the embrace of God
and the whole world.
See you
Sunday!
Diane
“Connecting Threads”
The
congregation is encouraged to call the local NBC affiliate and urge them to
show this documentary!
|
News Release: In this age of natural disasters and injustice, it’s refreshing
to be reminded that ordinary people still can make a difference in the world.
That reminder comes in the form of a new documentary called “Connecting
Threads.” The video is the latest documentary produced by the “Connecting Threads” shows viewers how ordinary people are
sharing their talents and time to work with others for a better world. “It's not often that we have an opportunity to take a trip
around the world in less than an hour,” says the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, head
of the UCC’s communication department. “'Connecting Threads' enables viewers
to experience diverse people, landscapes and religious perspectives; while
being reminded that the Christian faith is global in its reach and inclusive
in its mission." The documentary takes viewers to “Watching ‘Connecting Threads’ brings the voices and lives of
our global neighbor’s right into our homes and hearts,.” says Jan Aerie,
a spokesperson for Global Ministries, a shared world ministry
partnership of the UCC and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
In 2007, Global Ministries had a total of 147 missionaries served in 44
countries. For additional info
go to: http://www.ucc.org/connecting-threads/ Jan
Aerie, Executive Mission
Education and Interpretation Wider
Church and Global Ministries United 216 736
3204 toll free 866 822 8224 x3204 |
|
|
Trunk or Treat
CALLING
ALL CARS!
CAR
TRUNKS, THAT IS!
HELP MAKE OUR 3RD ANNUAL DCC "TRUNK OR TREAT" A BIG
SUCCESS
LIKE LAST YEAR BY USING YOUR DECORATED CAR TRUNK TO SHARE
CANDY AND CHRISTIAN LOVE WITH OUR NEIGHBORS.
THE DATE IS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25TH, 3 – 6 PM.
CALL DUDLEY NESMITH AT 972-758-9743, OR EMAIL BOB AT RNESMITH2@EARTHLINK.NET
DCC Education Department News
by
Youth News
- NEXT Sunday, October 12 – Bowling at Plano Super Bowl immediately following
worship.
- Saturday, October 18 – Habitat for Humanity
starting at 9 am. More details to
follow.
- Saturday, October 25 – Trunk or Treat event at DCC
at
- Saturday, November 1 – BBPS Rummage Sale in DCC
parking lot.
Adult News
n A Christian Men’s Fellowship group is being organized. Contact Mark Mueller for more information.
n Saturday, October 18 everyone is encouraged to participate at the Habitat for Humanity worksite. More details will follow.
n Saturday, October 25 DCC’s annual Trunk
or Treat event will take place on the front lawn.
BBPS
Sunny Parents Rummage Sale
This fall BBPS will be renting “parking spaces” at BBPS
where you can hold your own “garage sale”. This is a fundraiser benefiting
Bright Beginnings Preschool. Everyone is welcome with priority given to
returning participants. We will close registration at 38 spaces. Register
ASAP!
PARKING SPACE
RENTAL FEES
1 space $10 each
2 spaces $9 each
3 spaces $8 each
4 spaces $7 each
*Rectangular tables available for
rental $5.00 each*
For your
parking space fee you get:
Exposure
to
marquee
and web advertising
Use
of our City of
Use
of our parking lot, not your own garage
Free
haul-off of all your unsold items
All your proceeds from your items sold
You must
be responsible for:
Providing
your own volunteers
Seed
money or change
Handling
and security of funds collected
Display
and merchandising
Delivery,
unloading and set-up
Tear
down and clean-up
Parking
across the street at Plano Senior High
Your
children as there will be No childcare available.
BBPS will arrange for pick-up of
all remaining items—donated to charity.
WHEN:
WHERE: Disciples Christian Church
Parking Lot
TIME:
Deadline for RSVPs and payments:
Friday, October 17th
Please make your checks payable to Bright Beginnings Preschool
Mail to: Laura White,
For more information, please
contact:
Laura at 972-964-1141 home or whitehousefullofboys@verizon.net
Disciples Women’s Ministry
The next monthly meeting takes
place on Tuesday, October 7 at
Health Fair this Saturday
COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR
--------------
Casa View Christian Church
214-328-8429
-------------
BLOOD DONATIONS - Carter
Blood Care
FLU SHOTS - Maxim Health Systems $25 for non-medicare
clients
PNEUMONIA- variable fee
Free ADULT EYE SCREENING -
Free ADULT HEARING TESTS -
Free SPINAL SCREENINGS - Van Family
Chiropractic Clinic
REGISTRATION FOR CHIPS AND MEDICAID -
(bring birth certificate, proof of residence, pay check stub)
OTHER AGENCIES
-
-
-
- Solace Therapeutic
Massage
- Xango Dietary Supplements
-
- DonFit, Fitness
Counselor
-
- DPD
Neighborhood Watch
- Pet Love
- Retirement Centers/Nursing Homes
Juliette Fowler, Golden Acres
Letter
from Dani Loving Cartwright
Friends:
I hope that you have registered for the Regional Assembly of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) in the Southwest.
Registration
forms and schedule and complete information can be found at www.ccsw.org!
Everything is there!
Your
congregation is entitled to at least two delegates to attend this Assembly
-- and we hope even more will be with us!
Rev. Andrea
Foster, a new church planter from
Also, tons
of helpful workshops, gathering time with friends, serious conversations on
Saturday morning that will help map out the future of this Region, plus fun
stuff like a Golf Tournament, a Disciples History class, and discount tickets
for Thursday evening’s football battle between TCU & BYU for your
enjoyment!!
Pastors are
encouraged to attend the Pre-Assembly Pastors Gathering on Thursday from
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gFs7_2bgZqK00ojalKdQbhaw_3d_3d
or click on the link at www.ccsw.org
I hope you
will be able to be a part of our big Disciples family gathered in
Blessings,
Dani
The 2008 Regional
Assembly for the Christian Church in the Southwest takes place October 17-19 at
University Christian Church and TCU in
From The TechnoManor
From the Technomanor
This week
I want to talk about your security “family.”
You know, your “aunties”…
Auntie Spam
Auntie Spyware
Auntie Virus
And your forgotten Cousin Firewall.
I
apologize in advance for the poor pun.
I want to
talk about your security family and offer some observations and thoughts about
how to deal with them.
First off,
let’s review what each member of the family does.
- Auntie
Spam: She looks at each email
message and tries to hide the one’s you don’t want to see. Trouble is, the
email changes faster than the instructions you gave her. She lets more in than you expect. Sometimes she gets stingy, and withholds
the ones you were supposed to see.
- Auntie
Spyware: She tries to catch small
gremlin programs from sneaking in to watch what you do. Auntie Spyware is pretty good at watch
she does. However, she has to look
at this big directory to learn the identity of those gremlins. That directory is getting bigger and
bigger. Her eyesight is getting a
little fuzzy.
- Auntie
Virus: She looks at your email and
watches each and every file that you open or create. She’s the hygienist, making sure the
files and email are clean, not bringing in infections. She’s getting a little overweight and
should go on a diet. So, she can’t
dance like she used to.
- Cousin
Firewall: He watches your Internet
connection. He lets good stuff in,
and keeps bad stuff out. He’s
pretty good at what he does, but trying to talk to him will leave you
baffled.
Ok, the
“family” part aside, you get the idea about what these pieces do. And their shortcomings are very real. Yet, this is your arsenal for protecting your
computer.
Do you
need the full family? Mostly. Auntie Spam is optional and I find her more
of a nuisance than a help. You need all
the other members, though.
Here’s
your opportunity to pick your family!
But which should you buy? Here
are some thoughts to consider.
- If
you’re satisfied and comfortable with the security family you have, don’t
change it. You may read reports
touting better products, see ads proclaiming something improved, or hear
glowing testimonials from others.
However, if you’ve got something you’ve learned to work with, if
the price is in your budget, and you feel your security family is doing
its job – leave it alone. In my
opinion, none of the security products is stellar. Some may be better one year than
another. Changing them might bring
an improvement, but is also likely to bring new headaches.
- The
basic security family built-in to Windows and the Mac OS are not that
bad. Don’t be fooled into thinking
they are worthless and should be replaced.
You may need to fill in the gaps (such as Auntie Virus), but
otherwise, your family is complete.
- Less
is more. You’ve heard that aphorism
before. It’s true for your security
family. The all-in-one security
products are often “headaches in a box.”
Buy the member you need, not the entire family.
- Most
security families will allow you to install the family on up to three
computers. So, if you have a
satisfactory security family installed on one computer, you don’t need to
buy another copy for that new laptop.
Fish out the installation CDs and install it – legitimately – on
the laptop.
- There
are suitable freebies. If you know
where to look, there are a few family members sticking out their thumbs,
asking you to take them home for free.
Here are three that I’ve worked with and feel comfortable
suggesting:
Auntie Virus & Auntie Spyware
AVG Free: http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe
Auntie Spyware (only)
Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.spybot.info/en/spybotsd/index.html
Auntie Spyware (only)
Windows Defender:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
- Lastly,
security families from the big-named clans (your Symantec/Nortons,
McAfees, and Zone Alarms) are not always better. If you’re shopping for a new family,
consider clans you haven’t heard of before. You might give Kaspersky Labs, Windows
Live OneCare, and Panda Software a look.
The big name clan security families have become bloated, slow,
confusing, and problematic.
And as
long as we’re picking a security family, what characteristics should you look
for? Here are a few things I’ve observed
on my own and on my clients’ computers:
- How
fast does the family dance? Ok,
maybe dance is the wrong word, but how quick are they? If your computer slows down after you
install your security family, you may have a safe computer, but you also
have a useless computer.
- Give
up any notion of customer support.
You are on your own when it comes to using and fixing your security
family. So, your security family
should be simple and somewhat straightforward to use. Barring that, the maker of the family
should have a usable Web site. If
neither of these is true, consider a different security family.
- Your
security family should not quit when the subscription expires. True, you will no longer get that
updated directory for Auntie Spyware, or signature catalog for Auntie
Virus, but the Aunties should continue to operate. One family I used, Bitdefender 9,
stopped when the subscription expired.
That family no longer graces our computer network.
- Your
security family should keep good logs (and clean them up, too). If you’re trying to track down a
security question, you’ve got to look at logs kept by the Aunties. They should be easy to access and
read. You don’t need them often,
but when you do, you want them to give you a definitive answer quickly.
- You
want the family to be quiet.
Some security families chatter with lots of pop-up windows telling
you what they’re doing or asking your approval. I don’t mind seeing a message
occasionally (it reassures me they’re working), but I don’t want to carry
on a conversation with the Aunties when I’m simply trying to install a new
program.
And you
probably are wondering what security family I use. A few years ago I decided I wanted a
consistent security family on all six of our computers. I’d gotten fed up with the big-named
clans. So, I tried a new service from
Microsoft, called Windows Live OneCare.
Yes,
Microsoft.
Live
OneCare is not perfect. However, I like
how cleanly it integrates with Windows (what a surprise). It doesn’t laden my
computer with a large number of background processes. It actually uses some of the built-in Windows
technologies. The interface is clean and
understandable. It does an adequate job
of detecting and catching viruses and spyware.
And it
includes computer backup software that works automatically, in the background.
Live
OneCare can be a noisy family at times, which is one of my complaints. Still I am satisfied with it.
I’m always
keeping my eye open for a new security family, though.
The
cobwebs are getting lonely in my Inbox.
Please send them a technical question to keep them company! Send those questions to:
I may have
to write about cobwebs if that’s all I can find. Hmmm, I wonder how they relate to computers…
Dave
Gillen
Men’s Bible Study
Calling
all men! Come join us at IHOP (
Music Notes
by Laura Young
Christmas
is coming early!!
Well, just
to the Music Department. Last week, we
chose a cantata and date, and this week we began to rehearse it. (If you want
to sing with us, please join us next Wed., Oct. 8th, and we will "catch
you up.") Mark your calendars for
the 14th of December. On the third Sunday of Advent, "Joy" Sunday,
the Chancel Choir will present "One Small Child" during morning
worship and we pray that it will be an enjoyable and worshipful experience for
all.
Handbells
will meet seasonally, beginning in plenty of time for Christmas. For planning purposes, please let me know if
you would like to participate in bell choir. We start in just a couple of
weeks, so call me this week if you are interested in joining us.
Children's
and youth choirs will also meet seasonally. Please let
me know if you have a child or grandchild who would enjoy singing with us!
As always,
if you know of local concerts or school arts events which you would like to
have publicized in the "Music Notes" column in "The Link,"
please let me know. Thank you!
Laura
Young, Music Director, 972-744-9941
Children’s Sunday School
ALL PARENTS,
GRANDPARENTS, AND KIDS!! A SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS FOR
PRE-K
THROUGH 5TH GRADERS MEET, AT
ALL KIDS WELCOME
BIBLE
STORIES, ACTIVITIES, FUN, MAKING NEW FRIENDS
=
LOTS OF LEARNING AND GROWING!
For more information contact pharbaugh@verizon.net
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 frenchygrey@gmail.com
Miranda Prince, Nursery Attendant
email: theoffice@dccplano.com
phone: 972-398-2240