Don't forget there are more events and activities on theYouth Notesand the Just for Kids pages, too!
Encounter
Weekends Locally
If you'd like great depth,
growth, and enrichment in your relationship, you'll like the
difference a Marriage Encounter weekend can make! The
next weekend in the Dallas area is April 9-11. For
information and to make reservations, go to
www.encounter.org or contact Mickey and
Linda Wheeler, jamesw3681@aol.com or 972-594-0232.
This Weekend will add a greater depth,
growth and enrichment in your relationship
United Methodist Expression
Affiliated with the General Board of Discipleship of the United
Methodist Church
What are some results of
the Marriage Encounter Weekend?
We have over 25 years in helping couples enhance their
communication and strengthen their relationships and
documented effectiveness. The National Institute for Family
Study reports these findings about Marriage Encounter.
The
divorce rate for couples attending a Marriage Encounter
Weekend is just 2% versus the 50% rate as a national
average.
The
Weekend experience benefits not only the couple and
their marriage, but also has a positive effect on family
communication and parenting.
Less than
15% of the couples rated their marriage as "excellent"
before the Weekend, but nearly 65% rated their marriage
as “excellent” after the Weekend.
For information contact: Mickey and
Linda Wheeler
Home: (972) 594-0232; ; Linda, FUMC, Irving - (972) 253-3531
Travel Fellowship
Feature Trips for
2010
The many excellent trips for 2009 have
come to a close, but ... there is a new group of outstanding
tours and travel opportunities of a life time. Now
you can see the
sights you have always dreamed of. Now they can be a
reality. See the 2010 Itinerary listed below.
All the trips and the trip itineraries
can be found in detail on the
Travel Fellowship web pages. Don't forget to read the
What you Must Know
page. HURRY! These trips are filling up and going
fast!
Please contact Shirley McGee at 972-444-8945 for
complete information.
2010 Trip Itinerary
The Travel Fellowship of
First United Methodist Church of Irving invites
you, your family, and friends to travel with us
in a Christian environment to fascinating places
at reasonable prices. ‘This year we plan the
following trips for your traveling pleasure:
There are due dates and travel restrictions, so
if you would like to be a part of these fabulous
tours, please contact anyone in the Travel
Fellowship or Shirley McGee 9972-444-8339 or pttsmc@airmail.net as
soon as possible.
Oasis is Back !!
the return of Family Night at FUMC! Our
youth have Refuge! Adults & children now
have an
Oasis – something
that provides REFUGE, relief or pleasant contrast.
from Webster’s Dictionary
Bible Reading Challenge 2010!
Get your Bibles
ready!!! Get your Bookmarks!
(Bookmarks are on the table right outside the church
office.)
We have begun a new year -
and a new challenge!
You can start your year anytime!
How are you doing with
your Bible Reading Challenge? Several people have
told me over the last few months what a blessing it
has been reading through the scripture this year.
The Word of God is so important to our spiritual
health. In the Psalms, David says "Thy Word have I
hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee."
Reading and remembering the Word of God will help us
avoid the many pitfalls we face each day. Sin is
everywhere and often in disguise. The Word of God is
a light for our path, and helps us see through the
darkness and deception around us. It is full of life
and hope! And, best of all, it is available to each
one of us in so many forms now. We can read the
printed Bible, or online versions, or listen to
audio formats in our cars or anywhere, and even
watch video versions of scripture presented with
pictures and sound effects!
Don't fret if you aren't reading
exactly on schedule, just get into God's Word, and
let it get into you! As James 1:22 says, "But be
doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves." It's not too late in the year to start
reading! You can even do one of the great 61 day
plans at www.biblegateway.com before the
end of the year! Read the "highlights" at
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/survey.php
or the Chronological Bible Reading Plan (61 days) at
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/chronological.php
These are great ways to familiarize yourself with
the Bible in a short period of time. You can also do
the plans already highlighted earlier this year, the
Biographical Bible Reading Plan (121 days) or the
Comprehensive Bible Reading Plan (365 days)
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/more.php
Bookmarks with plans are available on the church
literature table outside the main church offices.
God bless you!
Want to read the bible on-line?
There are a number of different ways to do this even
on your pocket pc style cell phone when you are away
from home!. Go to
the
Bible Reading web page to get the details.
-Webmaster
1st Saturday Breakfast
Sponsored by FUMC United Methodist Men
1ST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
An invitation to . . . EVERYONE- MEN & WOMEN from the United Methodist Men to our
sponsored
Monthly Breakfast on first Saturday,
at 8:00 AM in the Family Life Center!
Note the change of Location!
Come and enjoy a delicious breakfast of scrambled
eggs, biscuits, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and
pancakes, only $6.00 per person!
The FUMC Prayer Ministry Needs You
You are invited to join our
Prayer
Ministry. For the programs and missions our
church is preparing or has in process, we most
definitely can use the strength and guidance
that prayer can bring. The more that we pray the
more of a closeness with the Father our church will
have. A clearer discernment
and understanding of
His will and direction for our church is vital
for us in the upcoming year and the remaining
future.
It is vital that our church family pray for
revival in our church, pray for our church and
its leaders and pray for God's continued favor
and grace to sustain and guide us as this centennial year.
Contact Yvonne Mullen at 972-254-1888 for more
information on the Prayer Ministry. To place a
prayer request, fill out a prayer request
form from the card rack on the backside of any
pew or from the church office. You can also fill
out and submit the on-line prayer
request forms on this web site.
When you go by a bulletin board, do
you look at it or just pass it by? You might want to
reconsider if you just pass it by. There are several
boards throughout the church that give great
information about upcoming events, or even pictures
of an event that just happened. You never know when
it is changing or what you might find up there. So,
you say, “Where are these boards?”
1. Beside parlor
2. Beside Director of Christian Education office
3. 2 – large ones in main hallway across from
church office
4. 1 – large one between church office and
library
5. Beside the library
6. In the hallway beside the double doors to get
to Education bldg.
7. 2nd floor of Education wing
8. In the Music Department hallway
The Communications Team
Save A Tree and Help Us Raise Money
Recycle!
Recycle!
Every time you throw
away your newspaper, magazine, office paper, and
junk mail, we’re losing money on our recycle bins.School is over so bring us those old
papers and files and book reports. If the kids have been taking your
recyclables to their school, bring them to us for
the summer and help us fill up those bins.
Family Life Work Area
has placed our recycling bins in the parking lot across the street from
the office, in the back corner of the parking lot
next to Hastings Street.
We would like for everyone to bring their
recyclable paper to the church and deposit it in
these bins. All types of clean (no food attached)
paper is acceptable. This includes
office paper, junk mail,
cereal boxes, advertisements, newspapers,
etc. Do not bring heavy cardboard boxes, pizza
boxes, food take out boxes, soap boxes or used paper
towels.
We know that is may be easier to just put it out
on the curb at home, but this is a church fundraiser
and we would really appreciate your participation.
REMEMBER: NO CARDBOARD OR PLASTIC BAGS!
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE
OF FORT WORTH
The house that love built . . .
POP-TAB ALUMINUM RECYCLING PROGRAM
Those little insignificant tabs you pull to open
your beverage cans make a significant impact to the
Ronald McDonald House. The tabs are made of pure,
high grade aluminum unlike the rest of the can,
which contains paint and other residue.
Irving First is "pulling" for the Ronald McDonald
House by collecting pop-tabs, and then donating them
to the House. Collection can is in the hallway by
the office.
Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00 am – 2:30 pm
Refer a friend and
receive $25 off of your next month’s tuition.
Drop in rates
available
See Joy Turner or
Call Debbie Robinson
972-259-20511
or email:
pdo@fumcirving.org
A Silent Prayer Cell
" . . . and to know
the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that
you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now
to him who by the power of work within us is able to
accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask
or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
Amen." Ephesians 3:19-21
Rules:
Set aside 30 minutes daily of quiet time
devoted to scripture and prayer.
Read scripture.
Intentional prayer
Avoid ruminating any and all gossip.
Specifically pray during services on Sunday
for the Holy Spirit to lead our pastors and the
congregants.
Prayer chain by phone (activated on request
and avoiding unnecessary detail and gossip)
taking only the need to our Lord.
Our work is to take the need to our Lord who
is our intercessor who will present it to His
Father.
Remembering above all else that it is the
work of the Holy Spirit that can and will
change, draw, strengthen, convert and revive the
First United Methodist of Irving, but we must
believe and surrender ourselves to His teaching.
There will be NO meetings: only dedicated
prayers!
Call Yvonne Mullen 972-254-1888 if you wish to be
a part of this!
New to Our Church?
Need a Sunday School Class?
Check out the Sunday
School page on our web site. There are many
opportunities and varieties of class structures and formats
for adults by age and by preference but they all have one
thing in common. They are built on a strong foundation of
biblical teaching, held together with bonds of Christian and
personal friendship and mixed with a whole lot of fun and
fellowship.
For more information regarding our Sunday school classes
for all ages Adult, Youth and Children; contact Joy Turner, Director of Christian Education at
972-253-3531 ext: 27 or by email at
joy@fumcirving.org.
Read
a Good Book Lately
UMC.ORG gives you the latest information on current books!
For more information, click the link box below!
UMC.org Movie Reviews -
Discovering "The Message" in Film
Once a month, UMC.org, the official online ministry of The United Methodist Church, reviews a current film
in wide release. Films are viewed through a spiritual lens, as opposed to focusing on the art form itself,
they are assessed for their spiritual and social elements.