Add any site-wide alert message here.

Public Header: Add up to the minute announcements for your site visitors here! (Hidden from mobile visitors).

Blog

Add any number of blogs to your site. Make them viewable to any visitor, or only your members, clients, staff, or teams.
Found 15 results.

Sep
20

God on the Sidelines - Ryan's Story

Posted by sklein    0 Comment(s)    Add a Comment  comment-icon.png

My father’s career caused us to move every few years during my childhood.  In every new community we settled in my parents were adamant about finding a church home. We grew up attending weekly Sunday school classes, were baptized and confirmed.  Yet, as a high school student I chose to attend a different church as I found a personal connection with another  worship community and my parents were fully supportive of my decision to follow Christ outside of their church. While I was active in my faith but it was often a secondary priority even during those years.

Fast-forward through my undergraduate, my twenty and thirty-something years, a hectic career and more cross-country, career-induced moves and I lost a connection to a church community altogether.  My spirituality played second fiddle to my lifestyle. I attended church on occasion, but I didn’t fully embrace the spirit of worship.   I shoved God to the sidelines  and called him in to my game only when I deemed fit.  During trying times my faith would swell somewhat and then slowly dissipate when life returned back to regular programming.

When my father fell critically ill I dropped to my knees begging God keep him alive – he was too young to die. I bargained with God to keep him healthy long enough to survive a heart transplant.  Days dragged to weeks.  Weeks turned in to months.  I couldn’t fathom why with all the medical advancements and brilliant medical minds why his illness was so labored and not improving.  Eventually the tone in my prayers changed from pleading for God to heal him to quietly asking God to shed mercy on his ailing body and surround him with comfort and peace .   It was those shifts in my prayers that I realized God had been present all along – He’d been waiting for me to realize my faith should be a priority again and that only way I was going to make it out of darkness was with Him in the Captains’ chair in my life.  It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been selfish for so long not making faith a daily priority and in my darkest hours I realized God never left me even when I walked away from Him.

It took the journey of my father’s belabored illness and eventual passing to remind me God is merciful, never leaves us and sheds comfort on us.  On Father’s Day of 2014 just 4 weeks after we held my dad’s hands as he transitioned on, I decided to formally join this church community.  I had been attending as a passive visitor, again moving through my hectic life but not embracing my faith.  I chose Father’s Day Sunday in honor of my dad and because I knew in his last moments with us he was at peace, filled with the Holy Spirit and accepting of it all. In some way I like to think that the end of my father’s life provided me the most wonderful gift – connecting back with a church home and re-launching my faith.

The Access services, music, interactive sermons and accessibility of it all has provided me a safe place to come worship.  I don’t feel vulnerable and I don’t feel like one of thousands in a congregation.   I feel connected and focused and free to be me – scarred with life’s mistakes and disappointments but full of blessings and hope.  Dark events often lead us to dig deep inside and realize we’re never been alone and don’t ever have to be.   Access reminds me that my journey in faith doesn’t have to be alone.  And, it reminds me that my faith is more than just on Sundays.

Ryan Schultz, FUMCR member and ACCESS attendee

Mar
01

New Country, New People, New Church - Andy's Story

Posted by sklein    0 Comment(s)    Add a Comment  comment-icon.png

I arrived in Dallas in March of 2013, new country, new people, new church. Besides my fiancé, I knew no one. We started regularly attending the evening contemporary service, Access, and it wasn’t long before I was introduced to others close to our age, making me feel welcome. We were invited to join up with the small group lead by these now new friends, and again, they went out of their way to make sure that I didn’t feel alone in a new world.

Fast forward a few years and I have come to call Access my home. I was invited to join the band, take part in events and planning the future of the worship service I call my own. There is something different about a church community that cares more about branching outside of their immediate community, and this is one of the main reasons that keeps me coming back. I can’t wait to see what the next chapter brings, but I know that whatever it does, I will be there! If you are looking for a church that lives outside of Sunday, Access is the place for you

Andy Rhodes, FUMCR member and ACCESS attendee

Feb
17

A Place to Be Myself - Christina's Story

Posted by sklein    0 Comment(s)    Add a Comment  comment-icon.png

Growing up, I attended the traditional worship service at First United Methodist Church Richardson.  After college, I was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa on a mission trip with the church in 2014.  While there, I met my now husband who was youth pastor and leader of the contemporary worship service at the partner church.  I knew we’d need to find a community in which to call our own when he moved to Dallas.  I wanted to find a place where we would both be comfortable being ourselves.  That fall, Access sponsored a small Josh Wilson concert which I attended with friends.  I immediately felt that this was the place I could be myself, worship the way I wanted and be active in the community.  I knew I wanted to be a part of this tight-knit community.

Access is a place that offers great music, a good message and personable people that treat you like family.  You can be who you are without fear of being judged for who you’re not.  Each Sunday, I leave feeling inspired to take on the week.

Christina Rhodes, FUMCR member and ACCESS attendee

<12345