The Link
The Weekly E-Newsletter of Disciples Christian Church
March 5, 2009
In This Issue
- Updated Prayer Requests
- Right Naborly
- Pastor Search Update
- Daylight Savings
- Congregational Meeting
- Rev. Clark’s Address
- Note from Rev. Diane
- Men’s Bible Study
- BBPS Spring Rummage Sale
- Summer 2009 Camps &
Conferences
- Relief Nursery of
- From The TechnoManor
- Music Notes
Updated Prayer Requests
- Rev. Diane Clark is back home after successful
surgery on Wednesday, February, 18 having both knees replaced.
- Gena Hurst has gone to be with her brother, Brian, who is battling cancer and to also help celebrate their
father’s 90th birthday.
- Rosie Lewallen is dealing with some health issues.
- Jan Sullivan’s son-in-law is leaving
- Ean Sullivan’s brother-in-law has been diagnosed with
cancer.
The prayer requests in The Link each week are recent
updates. A list of ongoing prayer requests appears in our worship bulletin each
Sunday.
Right Naborly
Sunday will be an exciting day. The Pastoral Search Committee will bring to
the congregation its candidate for the position of the next pastor of Disciples
Christian Church. I know that the
transition time has seemed long but actually fifteen months is about average –
even a bit short of average. It is
sometimes hard to be patient, but the process of calling a minister is
important and needs time. Now the time
has come.
Calling a minister is, I think, a bit like an arranged
marriage. Someone (in this case the
Search Committee), after looking around and considering carefully, says to
congregation and candidate, “Oh, you will be so right for each other.” You don’t really know each other; you
haven’t had the opportunity for a courtship; you just know what you have been
told about the other. But it seems right
to you and you trust the one(s) who pronounces, “Oh, this is a match made in
heaven.”
On the strength of that, you, the congregation and pastoral
candidate are invited to agree to join hands and hearts in faith; you are being
asked to make a commitment to share your lives and to love God together. You are being asked to marry and then fall in
love. And as with any good marriage, there will be many good
times and some occasional tough ones.
As with any good marriage, communication, trust, forgiveness and love
serve as keys to keep the relationship strong. As with good marriage, it takes
intentionality to keep the love alive; it takes continued acts of
thoughtfulness, encouragement and caring.
This Sunday you, Disciples Christian Church, are being
asked if you are ready to enter into an arranged marriage. There is, however, a very important
difference between arranged marriages in human relationships and an arranged
marriage between pastor and congregation. If the Search Committee members, the
pastoral candidate and the congregation have prayed faithfully, listened
carefully, sought diligently to discern, then it is God who is the matchmaker.
And the marriage can be celebrated as “a God thing.”
Blessings on this church and its
future.
Pastor Search Update
The Search Committee has been working together over 15
months and has reviewed, in depth, countless sets of Search and Call papers,
conducted telephone interviews, met together and prayed together. It has reviewed several candidates; some
outstanding. But there are so many
factors to consider and, in some cases, the relationship just could not go
forward. The Committee has felt the
frustration of the congregation as well as its own in the inability to find a
good “fit” both for Disciples Christian Church and for the candidate.
We now have an excellent candidate. The seeming haste (although, because we have
worked long and hard at the process, it is not hasty at all) to move the
process forward is neither capricious nor rash but is based on prayer,
thoughtfulness and extenuating circumstances.
The candidate, David Nordyke, brings experience beyond his
years having been Sr. Pastor at
He is respected and loved by his congregation who called
this young man prior to his completion of undergraduate work. He finished his degree while their
pastor. He has now been offered a full
scholarship to Brite Theological to complete his ministerial studies.
While serving at FCC Branson he met and married his wife,
Kristina, and they have a one-year-old daughter with their son expected at the
end of May.
This brings us to the extenuating circumstances for moving
the process forward. With a son due the
end of May, it is important that if they are going to be called they make the
move as soon as possible and they are willing to do this. Kristina and David will need to establish a
relationship with a physician and make hospital arrangements in advance of the
birth. Waiting too long will necessitate
staying in Branson several more months.
Additionally, Brite would like David to begin studies in
late August and he would prefer to have time to meet and focus on the
congregation as well as to work with the congregation to look to the future
prior to starting studies.
A copy of his resume will be available at the
congregational meeting on Sunday for you to review if you wish. The meeting is to give you an opportunity to
review the information and discuss the opportunity.
Daylight Savings
Please
remember that Daylight Savings
begins this coming Sunday, March 8, so this Saturday night before you go to
bed, remember to set your clocks FORWARD one hour (yes, that means one less hour of sleep!).
Congregational Meeting
Please
plan on staying after worship this coming Sunday,
March 8 for a very important congregational
meeting. The Pastor Search Committee will be there to review David
Nordyke’s qualifications and answer any of your questions.
Rev. Clark’s Address
For those wishing to send Rev.
Diane a get-well card, their address is:
Note from Rev. Diane
“Thanks to
you all for the many prayers, the cards and good wishes and love sent my way.
It all
helped to make things better! It has been a tough go, but I'm on the way
up!
Good luck with the search. You are all in our prayers.
Blessings,
Diane
Clark”
Men’s Bible Study
Calling
all men! Come join us at IHOP (
BBPS Spring Rummage Sale
This spring 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, with a
maximum of 4 spaces per seller. Please register and mail your rental
fees ASAP as our sale fills up quickly!
PARKING SPACE
RENTAL FEES
1 space $12 each
2 spaces $11 each
3 spaces $10 each
4 spaces $9 each
*Rectangular tables available for
rental at $7.00 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: Saturday,
April 25, 2009 (Rain date: May 2nd)
WHERE:
Disciples Christian Church Parking Lot
TIME: 6:00am-7:00am
Arrive and Set-up
7:00am-1:00pm Rummage Sale
1:00pm-2:00pm Tear-Down
Deadline for RSVPs and payments:
Wednesday, April 1st
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
Summer 2009 Camps & Conferences
Information about the Tri-Area
summer camps and conferences is now available.
Copies of the flier are available on the Welcome Table in the Atrium
which includes camp dates and pricing.
Relief Nursery of
The Relief Nursery is now open! We are able to provide a
part-time therapeutic classroom for toddlers (expanding to 0-5 years when we
reach full implementation), scheduled daytime respite care for children 0-5, a
clothes closet, parenting education and more. These services are available free
of charge to families who need a break and/or an expanded support system. We are currently accepting applications for children in our
classrooms, as well as accepting applications from prospective volunteers.
WISH
LIST:
·
new or gently used child and adult
clothing
·
new
or gently used children's books and toys
·
car seats (new, with original
instructions included; convertible infant-to-booster seats give the longest
service and best versatility)
·
diapers
·
wipes
·
baby formula
·
child-sized clothing hangers
- Monetary donations are always
helpful, and are tax deductible because we are an approved 501(c)3 organization.
For more
information, please call the Relief Nursery office at 972-665-0298, or check
out reliefnurserycc.org on the web, or talk to Laura Young after church. Thank
you!
From
The TechnoManor
I'm not much for watching television. That might surprise you given I'm a
technology guy. I'm even less a fan of
TV, since all I have are “rabbit ears.”
So, when I hear about TV programs that sound interesting (either from
friends or radio programs), I get an itch.
I realized recently I can satisfy that itch through the
Internet. Yup, TV programs can be found
in various corners of the Web. As part
of some research for this article, I found episodes of The Time Tunnel on the Web.
(It’s a sci-fi show I watched when I was in grade school, and
it's still pretty hokey).
So, what good is watching TV on the Web? Well, a few things come to mind:
- You can watch programs on your schedule...and
you don't need a TiVo (digital video recorder) or VCR. You can even dredge up programs from
your distant past!
- You can watch programs on your laptop
computer...wherever you can get an Internet connection.
- Most of it is free, although you still have to
put up with commercials.
What do you need to watch TV on
the Web? A recent-model computer,
something you purchased within the last 3 or 4 years will do. You may be able to use older computers, but
you may also be disappointed with the results.
You also need a high-speed broadband Internet connection, such as cable,
DSL, or Verizon's FIOS. If you connect
to the Internet using a dial-up modem, you will be painfully disappointed.
Does your computer need any
special software to watch TV on the Web?
Yes, but in most cases, you already have it. Web sites use Adobe’s Flash, Microsoft’s
Windows Media Player, or Apple’s Quicktime to play the TV programs. I talked about Flash in my January 15, 2009
column. All Windows PCs come with
Windows Media Player. Most PCs also have
Quicktime pre-installed (or visit www.apple.com
to download). If you watch TV programs
from Netflix, you need to download software from Netflix before you can watch
the TV program.
Why would you want to watch TV on
a computer monitor? Well, that’s the
downside of TV on the Web. In many
cases, you may not want to do this. Some
of the programs appear in postcard-sized windows on your computer monitor. Others can be enlarged to use the entire
screen, but they look grainy.
If you’re looking for a
big-screen experience, TV on the Web isn’t there yet. If you’re like me, who spends a lot of time
sitting in front of a computer monitor, watching TV on the Web is the next
logical step. It’s also a good diversion!
Where can you find TV on the
Web? Following are a few sources I’ve
stumbled on:
www.hulu.com – A good
source for a lot of…stuff. To see what The Colbert Report was all about, I came
to hulu.com. I also found The Time Tunnel here when browsing
through the Science Fiction section. If
you’re a parent, and you manage your children’s TV viewing, you may want to
keep an eye on your kids surfing to this Web site. There are programs on this site meant for a
mature audience.
www.pbs.org – You
can watch many of the TV programs that air on PBS (e.g., FRONTLINE or NOVA). This is an example of what makes the Web a
good resource.
www.netflix.com – If you
have a Netflix subscription, you can watch some of the movies and TV series on
your computer. The quality is very
good. I must confess,
I watched a few of the original Star Trek
episodes here.
www.youtube.com – I
thought I could watch TV programs here, but not really. It looks like you can watch clips of TV
programs, but not entire episodes (unless members uploaded them). I included YouTube in the list to be
complete.
I made this week's article brief. I'm part of the set-up crew for the North
Texas Irish Festival. So, while I'm
away, send your Celtic techno questions to:
I'll answer one each week in The Link, and may the Luck O' The Irish go with ya!
Dave
Gillen
Music
Notes
by Laura Young
MUSIC NOTES:
Our
Chancel Choir has returned to our usual rehearsal schedule and will be meeting
from 6:30-730 Wednesday evenings and 9 - 9:25 Sunday mornings as we prepare for
Easter.
The Handbell
Choir still has an opening for at least one new member. If you can
count to four, distinguish between your right and left hands, and like to learn
and have fun with other people, come try us out! Please call or email (youngzoo@sbcglobal.net)
Laura Young if you are interested in ringing.
UPCOMING
CONCERTS:
The
Richardson Community Band will present a children's concert on Sunday, March
29th, at 2 p.m. at the
If you are
interested in knowing more about joining one of the musical groups at
Disciples, or know of upcoming music and arts events you wish to have included
in the Link, please contact Laura Young, DCC Music Director. Thank you!
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
Dr. Charlotte Nabors, Transitional Pastor
Laura Young, Music Director
Linda Gulick, Preschool Director
Julie Chen, Pianist
Jan Carter, Administrative Assistant
Dave Gillen, Webmaster frenchygrey@gmail.com
Stacie Doss, Nursery Attendant
email: theoffice@dccplano.com
phone: 972-398-2240