The Link
The Weekly E-Newsletter of Disciples Christian Church
In This Issue
- Updated Prayer Requests
- Mike’s Kids Banana Boxes
- Give 2 the Troops
- Alternative Gift Market
- BBPS Fundraiser
- Jennifer Caughron
- Young at Heart Dinner
- DCC Education Department
- From The TechnoManor
- Men’s Bible Study
- Music Notes
- Children’s Sunday School
Updated Prayer Requests
- Dora Reyna, Laura Young’s kid’s great-grandma and
Krystle’s grandma, is making progress following a hemorrhagic stroke. (Krystle is Christian’s birth
mother.) Krystle’s cousin, Michael,
passed away last weekend. The
funeral was Tuesday.
- Rosalie Dunham, Linda Gulick’s mother, is struggling with melanoma.
- John Krehbiel, friend of the Bertschis, is in a long-term health care
facility.
The prayer requests in The Link each week are recent
updates. A list of ongoing prayer requests appears in our worship bulletin each
Sunday.
Are we
ready? Are you ready? That was the topic of Sunday’s sermon, and as
I thought about it, I realized there is a lot for us for which to be ready in
the future of this church. First, of
course, is the Thanksgiving celebration on the 23rd of this
month. It is a joint dinner after church
with our congregation and the FCCC congregation. I, for one, always look forward to the
combined dinners and fellowship.
On the
same day, we will have the Alternative Gift Market, which gives us the
opportunity to make a difference in the world with our giving. At the market, you may make a donation in
honor of someone and send them a card that a donation has been made in their
name. I know a lot of people who would
like to receive a gift of helping others and making the world better rather
than get another typical gift. So many
of us have everything we need, anyway.
How good it is to reach out to those who don’t.
And, of
course, we have several Advent-Christmas projects that are so important and
help so many, also. Names are available
now in the atrium for people to pick up for the Salvation Army Angel tree to
give to the lesser fortunate in our community.
We have the boxes for Mike’s kids, for clothes and toys for some of the
poorest, the immigrant children and children in
There is
so much we can do for others especially this time of year. Are we ready?
I am, how about you?
See you in
church!
Diane
Mike’s Kids Banana Boxes
Mike’s Kids is a ministry that
supports abandoned children and families that have been forced out of their
homeland to a new country. As Christmas approaches, the North Texas Area
Disciples of Christ Christian Churches begin filling banana boxes with new and gently used clothes and toys to be delivered to Southwest Good Samaritan
Ministry in Los Fresnos. The banana boxes are located in the bulletin board area leading into Fellowship
Hall. Further information about
Mike’s Kids can be found at www.mikeskids.org.
Give 2
the Troops
The Disciples Women’s Ministry is collecting items to send
to our troops through an organization called “Give 2 the Troops”. We have placed a basket in the coffee area
for you to place your items in. There is
also a list of things they request as well as items that they ask us not to
send. The list is also on their web site
give2thetroops.com.
Let’s all give to these wonderful
defenders of freedom.
Alternative Gift Market
The Disciples Women’s Ministry is having an Alternative
Gift Market on Sunday, November 23 from
BBPS Fundraiser
Bright Beginnings Preschool is
announcing their fundraiser, “Ultimate Gourmet and Candles.” The school’s goal is to raise funds for
additional classroom materials. Linda
Gulick, preschool director, has placed the product brochures and order forms on
the Welcome Table in the Atrium.
Deadline for orders is Monday, November 17. Checks need to be made out to “BBPS.”
Salvation
Army Angel Tree
One of our annual
Christmas outreach events, “Angel Tree,”
is ready for business! You can take an
angel(s) off the Angel “table” located in the Atrium, shop for the child, and
return the gifts by December 4. We have
a total of 40 angels to choose from this year.
Bobby Overstreet is in charge of this.
Please call him with any questions at 214-728-4228.
Jennifer Caughron
Jennifer
Caughron, Rev. Diane’s granddaughter, will eventually need a liver transplant. If you are interested in making a donation to
the fund set up for her to help with expenses, you may do so by making checks
payable to “American Liver Foundation Transplant Fund.” Be sure to write “Jennifer Caughron” on the
memo line.
Mail donations to:
American
Liver Foundation
Young at Heart Dinner
The
November dinner get-together for the active senior group will take place on Thursday,
November 20 at 6:30 pm at Aparicio's,
(formerly Plano Tortilla Factory), 1001 18th Street,
DCC Education Department News
by
Youth News
- Saturday, November 22 – Movie afternoon beginning at 11 am.
From The TechnoManor
From the Technomanor
I was
scratching my head this morning for something to write about. When I opened my Inbox, my worries were
answered:
I have three (3) emails in my inbox
with my return address as the sender but I did not send them. What should I do
and is it possible that someone on my email list could get a virus if they open
an email that they think I sent to them?
I’ve seen
these kinds of emails, too. At first
glance, I scratch my head and wonder, “did I do this accidentally?” Then I look a little closer and realize: SPAMMERS!
That’s right, your email address has found its way into the
database of a SPAMmer. They have put
together some obnoxious email offer, plucked your email address from their
database, and sent it all to you. To
sneak past certain anti-spam programs, they’ve also fiddled with the email
header and made your email address the sender, too.
You
wouldn’t filter out email where you’re the sender, right?
True, we
can’t rule out that it’s a virus that is “walking through” someone else’s
mailing list, dispatching nefarious email.
These days, though, it’s more likely SPAM. The profit motive has become very strong on
the Internet.
There are
a variety of questions that pop into your mind when you see one of these
emails. Let me try to address some of
them.
What
should I do?
Try not to
open the email message. You can usually
tell from the Subject line that it’s bogus (lousy grammar and misspellings are
my clues). Ok, even I open these
sometimes out of curiosity.
Absolutely
do NOT click any links in the message.
And Double Absolutely DO NOT OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS. These two things are the ways in which foul
email infects your computer.
Delete the
email message. Even empty the
wastebasket folder!
Will I
get more?
You
may. Take note when these emails
arrive. The pattern I’ve seen is that
you may get a few in a tight cluster over a few days. Then they stop.
If you see
them for more than about five days, then you have a problem We’ll deal with
that, below.
Will
others get them, thinking it’s me?
Most likely not. Again, these kinds of email
messages are generally targeted SPAM.
They’re using your own email address to get past your anti-spam
defenses.
I wouldn't
notify others on your email lists, either.
I'd wait for questions from them.
Chances are they haven't seen anything and your notification would
confuse them.
If you get
a lot more of these, or your friends start getting them (supposedly) from you,
then we worry (see below).
Ok, I’m
worrying. Now what?
Let’s say
that some of your friends have gotten surprise email from you, or you’ve been
“sending” email to yourself for a week now.
Clearly, this issue isn’t going away.
Do these
things:
1.
Get
a new email address. Your current email
address is too compromised to be of value.
It’s time to start with a clean slate.
Give this new email address to only those who need to know it. This is your “safe” email address.
2.
Consider
getting a 2nd new email address.
Give this one out when you purchase things through the Web, or answer
annoying surveys. This becomes your
“disposable” email address. If it
becomes compromised, you can always get another one.
3.
Verify
that your anti-virus and anti-spyware is working and current. If you’re seeing other odd behavior (very
slow computer, strange pop-ups), you’re computer may be infected. This takes a lot more to fix.
In the
last few years, I obtained free email accounts from Google (Gmail), Microsoft
(Hotmail and Windows Live), and Yahoo. I
use them when I buy things on the Web, or when I reluctantly have to give out
an email address. So if one of those
email addresses is compromised, I could close it without much loss. Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo also have pretty
good spam filtering, too.
I do have
an email address from Verizon, but I guard it closely. Overall, this has cut down on Inbox trash.
The only
drawback to my approach: the more email
addresses you have, the more you have to monitor. But that's a manageable issue.
And for
those of you who wonder about my choice of email address:
(where, by the way, you can send your technical questions
that I’ll answer in The Link), let me
explain.
My wife
and I have three rescue greyhounds. They
lie about the house, leave nose prints on my 4Runner’s windows, bark wildly at
squirrels in the neighborhood, and generally permeate our lives. We decided to go with the breed because 14
years ago, we brought home a timid greyhound puppy.
His name
was Frenchy. He was white with black
specks. He had a brindle patch on his
head resembling a French beret. Hence his name.
Frenchy
was from a litter of AKC show greyhounds.
His breeder knew a few would be winners, but Frenchy wasn’t one of them.
Because of
his breeding, Frenchy was elegant. He
had poise, grace and beauty. He was also
clueless, earning him the nickname, “Chowderhead.”
Anyway,
Frenchy passed away three years ago this week from Leukemia. We loved him dearly and miss him. The email address is short for “Frenchy
Greyhound”. It is one way we keep him in
our hearts.
Dave
Gillen
Men’s Bible Study
Calling
all men! Come join us at IHOP (
Music
Notes
by Laura Young
Handbell
Choir rehearsals
are going well! Thank you to all of our
incoming ringers. Our rehearsals are
from
Chancel
Choir will
continue to meet from
Mark
your calendars!
The Chancel Choir will present a Christmas Cantata on Sunday, December 14th
during the worship service. This cantata, "One Small Child," is by
Benjamin Harlan and will include something for everyone. The songs are of many
styles, from old, beautiful carols to contemporary, and the Nativity story is
told in a beautiful way.
For
questions about the music program, or to share local concert information for
publication in the Music Notes, please contact Laura Young, DCC Music Director,
at youngzoo@sbcglobal.net
or 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