Found 10 results.
More Than Sunday
February 16, 2018As we have been sharing our dreams for the Access community over the last few months, we've been looking for a way to stay connected with each of you during the week. In that spirit, we want to share with you a dream that is becoming a reality, born out of the idea of having a ‘More Than Sunday’ kind of faith.
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No Expiration Date
November 10, 2017Mark R. Mitchell lost good friends in the massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Along with grieving, Mitchell — lay leader of nearby Floresville United Methodist Church and the Las Misiones District of the Rio Texas Conference — has been trying to offer practical help. “There is no expiration date on our offers of help,” he said. His words this week have had me wondering what else might not have an expiration date.
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Overcoming evil with candy
November 03, 2017Last Saturday my wife, Heather, and I dressed up as Beauty and the Beast-turned-prince for our church’s Trunk or Treat event. We and other church members passed out candy from the trunks of our cars and brought smiles to a lot of children. By participating in this Halloween tradition we also joined in an ancient church traditional of redeeming festivals with dark pasts.
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Take this, negative news!
October 13, 2017We live in a world where bad things happen and people talk about them. News stories and social media feeds fill up with the negative news of the day. Sadly, all that negative news crowds out the often more numerous instances of good news. But this week I received some really good news about hurricane relief efforts. So take this, negative news. Things are about to get positive…
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Dear Hate,
October 06, 2017This week as I have grappled with the horrific shooting on Sunday night, I have been at a loss for words. I continue breathing deeply, feeling the weight as well as the frustration of another shooting. While I have been at a loss for ‘new’ words I might share with you, I came across this song that was released this week called “Dear Hate” by Maren Morris. In the song, she says “Dear Hate, I saw you on the news today. Like a shock that takes my breath away. You fall like rain, cover us in drops of pain. I'm afraid that we just might drown.” I was oddly comforted that someone was naming both my fear and frustration. And yet, just as the song does not stop there, neither does my faith.
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God and hurricanes
September 08, 2017In the aftermath of Harvey and with Irma bearing down, I've had some conversations about how God is involved with hurricanes. A couple people shared that they've been told God is using hurricanes to punish people. But that explanation contradicts what Jesus said and ignores clear guidance he gave to his followers in the aftermath of tragic death.
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FUMCR members work on the Skuinskloof school in South Africa
Why giving to the church multiplies world-changing impact
June 16, 2017The knock on my car door window startled me. I was about to pull out of the Micro Center parking lot and hadn't noticed anyone nearby. I rolled down my window and saw a thin woman in her late 50s. She held a bag from the store. As the wind disheveled her long, graying blonde hair, she explained that her car wouldn't start. "I think it might be the alternator," she said and asked if I could help her with bus fare so she could get home. The excitement of having just purchased a USB Bluetooth dongle (version 4!) put me in a generous mood, and I gave her a $5 bill. Best-case scenario, she used it for bus fare, and my five dollars directly impacted and improved another person's life. Even as a pastor, when I give to the church I don't often see such an immediate impact. At the end of this post I will ask you to give to our church to help balance our income and expenses going into the summer, but before I do that, I want to share why giving to the church has the power to impact and improve far more lives than many other kinds of giving, and I'll do it with a story of how another 5 dollars helped bring dental care to a rural village in Africa.
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Your joyful spirit was noticed this week
June 09, 2017This past week our church hosted an Annual Conference with about 1300 people representing every United Methodist Church in North Texas. Two hundred blue-shirted volunteers from FUMCR shuttled people from parking lots, gave directions throughout hallways, provided snacks during breaks, served meals, and more. Marveling at our volunteers one conference attendee asked Shandon, our Assistant Director of Welcoming Ministries, "How do you do this?" Shandon replied, "We ask people to help." The next question surprised Shandon and revealed something important about the culture of our church – something for which I'm incredibly thankful.
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Students thank Access for help reading books
June 02, 2017Last Sunday we displayed a huge number of thank-you cards and notes from students at Mark Twain Elementary. They wanted to thank Access for helping them read an amazing number of books. In the 2014-2015 school year they read 4,000 books. How many do you guess they read this year?
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Mother's Day founder, Anna Jarvis
Why Mother’s Day founder fought to end it
May 12, 2017Among the 10 Commandments we find, “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 10:12). Setting aside a special day in our country to honor mothers goes back to the early 1900s, and the first such day began in a Methodist church; however, the woman that worked for that day of recognition later tried to put an end to it.
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