Monterrey Mission Trip 2009

The FUMC Prayer Ministry Needs You

PRAYER MINISTRY TEAM UPDATE

Worship Services Available on Video DVDs

Joyful Toons of the Week

Changes in Building Use for 2008

WANTED: CURRENT E-MAIL ADDRESSES

DIRECTORIES FOR SALE

Attention Seniors – 50 and over

Please Let Us Know

NEW TAX-SAVINGS FOR DONORS 70½ YEARS AND OLDER

Parkinson's Exercise/Speech Therapy Group Needs Your Help!!

Concerns About Community Concerns

ENERGY COSTS HIGH AT HOME? THEY ARE HERE, TOO!

Senior Pastor David Turner
and
Associate Pastor Sammy Hargrove

Invite you to participate in a new
Spirit of Revival
at
First United Methodist Church Irving - (972) 253-3531

Announcements & Messages

Service Above Self

Sunday, June 28
Opportunities to Serve

... and be served

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. 1 Cor. 12: 4-6

David's Sermon Series

Legalism: The Death of Christianity

Psalm 77:11-14 & Galatians 5:13

Last year our church played an active role in the building of a new Methodist sanctuary in Monterrey Mexico. We sent a team to help build the new sanctuary and helped to fund the building supplies. The congregation in Monterrey is now enjoying the fruits of this labor and recently celebrated their first wedding.

We are excited to once again partner with Go International to send another group to Monterrey this summer and begin building the new Education wing. Would you like to be part of this exciting venture? The dates for the trip are July 27 – August 3rd.

FYI . . . In case you didn’t know, on Monday mornings, some of our ladies take the Altar Flower arrangements from Sunday, divide them up into small arrangements, and take them to our members in the hospital, or to shut-ins, etc. At the present time, they are in need of small or medium vases. Bring them to the church office!

Feed Your Spirit. Feed Your Church. Feed Your Community...

GO TO CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL - BE A PART OF THE FAMILY

OUR FAMILY / GOD'S FAMILY

Prayer is the one weapon the enemy cannot duplicate or counterfeit.

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. 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. For more information please contact Yvonne Mullen.

As our small group prayer meetings are coming to a close, we are excited to share the next church wide prayer opportunity. We are challenging all members to sign up to participate in 100 days of prayer over the summer to honor God and embark on a spiritual strategic journey. We are anticipating this will mark a new beginning for the entire congregation.

“Prayer and Share Triplets” will begin on May 17th and end August 23rd during our homecoming event. The idea is for three people to covenant and then pray and share together approximately every ten days in this spiritual relationship and discernment exercise. We will begin signing up starting on Sunday, 4/19.

Gary Jones, Prayer Ministry Team Chair

The Church That Prays Together - Stays Together

for God's Purpose

.. FUMC News Clips ..










If you shop regularly at Tom Thumb, they offer a program where a portion of the savings from use of the Reward card can be passed on to Irving Cares. To get more information, visit the Good Neighbor program page of their web site or visit your local Tom Thumb store.
Return to Top As a result of the declining economy and just the calamities of life, many more families now find themselves coming for assistance. The Food Pantry at Irving Cares needs your donations of the following foods to stay up with the demand from people the influx of people. Irving Cares also needs your dollars to buy hard goods, bulk foods and to pay for operating costs. They are a 503(c) organization so your generous donations are tax deductible. Contact Leigh Eitson at 972-721-9181 x209 or for more information. Donations are accepted Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 3:30 PM or online at www.irvingcares.org. Thanks for your support! Remember, you can designate a portion of your Reward Card savings from Tom Thumb stores to Irving Cares. See the Tom Thumb Good Neighbor web page for details.

	Susan's Notes
Susan Smith, Director of Music Ministry	Pentecost Season
	The word ‘Pentecost’ comes from the Greek; it simply means ‘fiftieth’. The church used to celebrate Pentecost all week, right through to the next Sunday worship services. Today, it’s usually only marked for Pentecost Sunday itself. The rest of the church year, until Advent, is named as the Sundays after Pentecost. Pentecost represents God’s gracious enabling presence at work among His people. Calling and enabling us to live out in dynamic ways the witness of being His people. It is a day to celebrate hope, a hope worked by the knowledge that God through His Holy Spirit is at work among His people. It is a celebration of newness, of recreation, of renewal of purpose and mission. It is a celebration of God’s ongoing work in the world. Yet, it is also a recognition that His work is done through us, as His people, as He pours out His presence upon us. The sanctuary color for Pentecost is red, the color of the church. Red symbolizes both the fire of Pentecost, as well as the apostles and early followers of Jesus, who were gathered in the Upper Room for the empowerment from God to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world. Pentecost is a time of red – a color of fire and zeal and passion. Pentecost is not a solemn occasion. It is a time for vigor, excitement, energy, birth, fresh air and fresh commitment. If Pentecost has a sleepy feel to it in your life, wake up!! Wake up early and pray that the Holy Spirit moves among all of us. Take some time to think about the gifts the Spirit has given you and how to use them to build up or bring healing to others, to the credit of God. Susan Smith

Courtesy Mike Waters

Return to Top

MORE NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ...

The Connexion Newsletter

LOOK FOR IT IN YOUR MAILBOX!

What is the "Connexion"? It's the next edition of our in-house every-other-week newsletter. If you think we have misspelled "connection", it is actually "an old Methodist word for the community of Methodists engaged in a common mission to witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ in the world". It's even in Webster's Dictionary. So, look for "Connexion" in your mailbox at the beginning and middle of the month or read it on-line. Don't get Connexion by email? Send keri@fumcirving.org an email and ask her to add your email address to the list.

We now offer DVD recordings of our worship services. There is a request form on the back of the church bulletin for you to fill out. A DVD will cost $5 if you pick it up at the church or $7.50 if you want it mailed. Fill out the form on the back of your bulletin or this on-line web site form and then bring them to the church office with your payment.

If you want a DVD of Centennial Sunday Worship, September 7, 2008, please contact the church office 972-253-3531 Special Price: $5.00

CEMETERY SPACES FOR SALE

FUMC, Irving, has two (2) cemetery spaces located in the Irving OAK GROVE MEMORIAL GARDENS for sale. They are located in a closed section of the cemetery known as the Garden of Vespers. For additional information, please contact Barbara in the church office (972-253-3531) or call Frank Sinclair, a church trustee (972-438-5965). Thanks!

First of all, as of January 7th we have a new janitorial service coming each evening Monday – Friday. They will be responsible for cleaning most areas and will then lock our facility each evening by 10 PM. Paula Gonzales will continue to serve as our custodian all weekdays. Please familiarize yourself with the following:

Please be sure that any meetings or other functions being held during the week are completed by 10 PM.
When scheduling use of the church buildings, please complete a form in the office for any special requests and setups needed.
All weekly activities should be held using rooms on the first or second floors to minimize the need to cool, heat, lock and unlock the facility.
When using the main building on any day other than Sunday, please enter and leave by using the SOUTH ENTRANCE doors closest to the church offices. Energy costs will increase during 2008, so we all need to be diligent stewards of our church buildings by remembering to turn off lights, air conditioning and other appliances whenever we finish use of a room including restrooms.
Any need for custodial services on Saturdays must be requested THROUGH THE CHURCH OFFICE prior to the date needed.

Hopefully these changes will make us more efficient and help lower our building use expenses through 2008. Thank you!

The Tree of Remembrance

The Tree of Remembrance has now been installed on the wall of our sanctuary narthex. It includes gifts to the building of the sanctuary in amounts of $200 and up for the time frame through 2004. It does not include gifts of hymnals and Bibles; these honorariums are noted in each book given.

The tree has blank leaves and rocks on it for additions, the first of which will take place after the current pledge time frame is completed in March, 2008. The tree is designed for the addition of islands to either side and above the tree and of course rocks at the bottom. These will be added as needed.

Should you have any questions about the inscriptions or other information regarding the tree, please call Barbara Canafax, our Financial Secretary, at 972-253-3531.

In case you haven’t heard, postage rates are going up and, as a result, so will our expenses. It’s possible that, for those who have email, we can save some costs. If you will commit to checking your email regularly, we can save money by using this form of communication. So, please update your email addresses with the church office ASAP.
(Ph. 972-253-3531) Thanks!

If your email address has changed, please let us know!

At the present time we have some additional FUMC directories available. All are $10. Have you ever considered sticking one in your car? Or taking one to your office?
Well, these won’t last forever. Come by the church office and we’ll be happy to help you. Also, we do have a very limited number of the “mini” directories.

Where will you be next Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m.? If you are a senor (50 and over) you could be meeting with the KEYSTONE SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS and gaining a better understanding of the SCRIPTURES as presented by our experienced teachers.
Why not start next Sunday? We are on the ground floor (room 102) of the Family Life Center and we will be looking for YOU.

If you have a question about the KEYSTONE CLASS, please feel free to call Wanda Lanier at 972-255-3127.

Please, when you know of someone who is in the hospital or who has lost a loved one, notify the church office. Do not assume that someone else has notified us. In the past few weeks we have not been able to give our support to members of our church family because we, in the church office, were not made aware of the need. We would much prefer hearing the same report several times rather than missing it once.

All help will be greatly appreciated.

Congress has recently taken important steps to strengthen America’s retirement system while encouraging additional charitable giving. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 offers you new opportunities for tax-free charitable giving to your church.

You may contribute funds if:

You are 70½ years or older.
The gifts do not total more than $100,000 per year.
You make the gift on or before December 31, 2007.
You transfer the funds directly from an IRA or Rollover IRA.
You make the gift to a public charity. This includes First United Methodist Church, Irving, but excludes gifts made to charitable trusts, donor advised funds and supporting organizations.

Please contact Barbara Canafax in the church office if you have questions. 972-253-3531 or barbara@fumcirving.org

For Seniors 70 ½ Years of Age or Older
Do you have an IRA account that requires you to make a distribution of money each year? If you do, our government has extended the legislation that permits us to make a tax free
distribution to a non-profit organization, such as our church. To make it acceptable with the IRS, we must have our IRA custodian send the distribution directly to the non-profit organization. As I am sure you know, the IRS treats normal distributions as regular income. If you have questions, call Frank Sinclair at 972-438-5965.

Please, unless you are physically unable to do so, do not use the parking lot by the church office. We need to save these spaces for our physically handicapped church members.

Thank you!

If you have Parkinson's, or know of anyone that does, please come join our exercise group. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00 a.m. for one hour at the First United Methodist Church in the Parlor.

It is FREE to all people with Parkinson's and their caregivers. This special group is offered as a service from the Dallas Area Parkinsonism Society (DAPS) and is conducted by a licensed Physical and Speech therapist.

Group meetings are in a very relaxed, comfortable atmosphere that allows you to exercise at your own pace and activity level.

Speech therapy is offered from 11:00-12:00 on Thursdays only. For further information please contact Deb Cantrell at 817-801-1247 or simply visit us at anytime on Tuesday and Thursday.

Knowing that we all want to do what we can to help those who have real need whether it be housing, food, clothing, bus fare, etc., we need to be cautious in how this is handled. The church office keeps records that include driver's license numbers and Social Security numbers in order to be aware of who and how these requests for assistance are handled.

Giving out cash is not an effective way of handling them. In an effort to address these requests, the church office presently has a policy in place. We would encourage all requests, whether in the parking lot, the hallways, or on any other of our church property, be directed to the church office or to the pastors.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD

Painful moments, TRUST GOD

Every moment, THANK GOD

Please note that our average ELECTRIC BILL is $6,112 per month. PLEASE be responsible to TURN OFF AIR-CONDITIONING UNITS AND LIGHTS as you leave rooms/buildings. If you're not sure whether you should or not, please ask someone in the church office. If in doubt or you can't find someone, just TURN THEM OFF!