Welcome to Our Newsletter

The Messenger F i r st Un i ted Me tho d i s t Ch u rch , G ran d P ra i r ie , T exa s

Your Worship Attendance is

Important!

When you attend services, please don’t forget to register you attendance in the pew pads, take your name badge or do BOTH!

This way your attendance will be recorded for our

membership committee. Your attendance is an

important part of our church records!

March/April 2014

Volume 5, Issue 1

Ash Wednesday

March 5th

Supper 5:00 - 6:15 pm

Wesley Hall Cost: Adults $6.00

Children (10 yrs. & under) - $4.00

Menu: Jambalaya, Red Beans & Rice,

Salad, French Bread, Dessert.

Child’s Menu: Jambalaya above or

Bayou Classic Hot Dog & Chips

[Reservations Required]

Call 972-264-6148.

Service 6:30 PM

Sanctuary

Lenten Schedule

Sunday, April 13

Palm Sunday NO 8:45 AM Early Worship – Baker Chapel

11:00 AM Palm Sunday Cantata - Sanctuary

“Bystander at the Crucifixion”

Thursday, April 17 Maundy Thursday

7:00 PM Maundy Thursday Service Sanctuary

Friday, April 18

Good Friday

Church Office Closed 7:00 PM Good Friday Service

Sanctuary

Sunday, April 20 Easter Sunday

8:45 AM Early Worship – Baker Chapel 11:00 AM Blended Service – Sanctuary

Monday, April 21

Church Office Closed

Finance Committee Meeting Sunday, April 6

4:00 PM

Items on the agenda include:

Annual Church Audit for year

ending 2013

2014 Pledge Campaign

Spring Pot Luck Dinner

Sunday, March 30 12:00 pm

[following the 11am service]

Come on down to Wesley Hall and bring your favorite dish to share. A good time for visiting and to show your love for your church. Any questions contact Brenda Jonas at 972-263-4440 or Joann Jolly

Cares and Concerns Page 2

Russ Glenn Community Garden

March

Planting Party & Potluck—Spring planting starts!! Row Garden spring plant-ing and weed pathways.

Saturday, March 15th

@10am—1pm at the Garden

Potluck lunch. Bring food to share and a chair...Ice Water and Hot Chocolate will be provided.

Garden Lunch Bunch in Wesley Hall—just to get out and eat with garden friends.

Wednesday, March 19th @noon—1pm

in Wesley Hall.

Everyone brings their own lunch/drink.

son, Theresa Worthy OUR MILITARY Staff Sgt. Robert Adkins, Sgt. Michael Almon, George Au-trey V & Grant Autrey, Shan-non Brown, LT Steven L. Calhoun, Lt. Col. Alexander Covert, Christopher Cox, Brandon Craig, Todd Crowell, LTJG Sam England, Lt. Charles England, Chad Field, Jay Fondren, David & Christi-na Kristynik, Pvt. Thomas Land-Jenkins, Gayland Led-dy, Drew Leddy, Trey Leddy, Kevin Locke, Chris Moore, Elizabeth Payne, Tom Presa-korn, Chaplain Lt. Col. Randy Robison, Alex Schlabach, Kevin Schmidt, Tim Sharp, Lance Corporal Scott Smith, Darron Solensky, Ricky Valle-jo, Nathan Waldron, Dustin Walker, Major Vanna M. Walker, Lt. Taylor Watson, John Webber, Craig Yoke NEW CHURCHES Cockrell Hill UMC – Joe Zinser; Oak Cliff UMC – Ed-gar Bazan; Elevation Church, Flower Mound – Todd Hamil-ton; Bethel United Methodist Church, Raymondville, TX – Marcy Garza

LONG TERM ILLNESS Renee Adams, Cyndi Alexan-der, Lisa Ally, Shirley Altizer, Sally Aust, Thelma Babb, Mary Bassett, John Benge, Joyce Bible, Tim Blackmon, Wendy Blanco, Anita Bos-worth, Grace Bourlon, Ben-nie Bridgewater, John Mi-chael Briggs, Ed Brown, Lar-ry Brown, David Bull, Bobby Burden, Duke & Eddy Burkey, Shane Cagney, C. A. Cain, Jerry Cain, Charles Calhoun, Charlie Campbell, Catherine Carlton, Christina Cassity, Sarah Christian, Anne Clark, Kay Clarkson, Bobbie Collins, Bruce Coomes, Gene Crisp, Hannah Grace Curtis, Isabella Day, Mike Day, Diamond Family, Chuck Eitle, Caleb Espinosa, Christina Felan; Rick, Chante & Alaya Ferrell; Diane Fid-dler, Anita Fleckenstine, Eliz-abeth Forester, Vince Gal-lent, Jr., Glen & Charlotte Gardner, KD Glenn, Debbie Goins, Marilyn Gonsiorek, Kay Harrison, Ben Hartsell, Dr. Tom Haynie, Sheryl Hearne, Gary & Cindy Hog-man family, Charlene Hol-lowell, Cyndy Hood-Mauro, Ivy Howland, Rev. Jane C. Johnson, Laurie Johnson,

Bob Jones, Stan Karkowski, Wilbur Kennedy, Sandra Kerns, Jill Key, William King, Ray & Terry Kirchmeyer, Mark Kirklin, Ann Sheffield Knobel, Janice Lamb, Betha-ny Law, Pete LaMay, Kaiden Loera, Marilyn Love, Kym Lowe, Lukas MacDonnell, Kellie Mandley, Jennifer Mar-tin, Joanne McClaren, Karen & Jeffrey Miles, Don Mitchell, Anne Morton, Crystal Muegge, Mike Murphy, Kyle, Chelsie & Braxton Murray, Mea Neal, Carol Norton, George Oakley, Kelcy Orr and family, Judy Overturff, Paul Padillo, David & Jena Perkins, Hap Peterson, Joe Praytor, Rick Ramsey, Thel-ma Ricketts, Geneva Rideaux, Rosalind Robinson, Gary & Claudia Rogers, San-dra Rogers, Kayla Sanders, John Paul Serrano, Derrell Shastid, Beverly Shawn, Charly Skaggs, Lamar Smith, Carson Snow, Vertis Sorwell, James Southard, Peggy Steele, Barbara Steffey, Joe Stewart, Jim Stoddard, Don-na Talkington, Dez Taylor, Wiley Taylor, Joe Thompson, Mary Kate Vail, Bob Vogels, Beverly Wayne, Jeff White, Pam Wiley, Carolyn William-

March 5– Is the date to re-serve your spot for the Sr. High Mission Trip now! $25 deposit required. You must have completed 8th grade to attend.

Camp dates are July 6-12. March 28—Youth/Scout Game Night. April 4-5—Confirmation Lock-in April 25—Youth/Scout Game Night April 27—Confirmation Sun-day. Contact brian@fumcgp.org for sign-up info.

March Scriptures March 2—Acts 6:1-6

March 9—John 2:1-12 March 16—Matthew 14:14-21

March 23—Luke 10:38-42 March 30—Luke 7:36-50

April Scriptures April 6—Luke 15:1-7 April 13—Cantata

April 20— John 15:1-17 April 27—John 14:15-31

April

Easter Fun Day & Potluck—Work Day but with fun too...River Rock Painting.

Saturday, April 5th @10am-1pm at the

Garden

Potluck lunch. Bring food to share and a chair...Ice Water and Sweet Tea will be provided.

Garden Lunch Bunch in Wesley Hall—just to get out and eat with garden friends.

Wednesday, April 23rd @ noon-1pm in Wesley Hall. Everyone brings their own lunch/drink.

Please let me know if you would like to start gardening with us. We would love you to join us! liesil@att.net

Grand Prairie Food & Clothing Assistance Co-op

Pantry Needs…cash to purchase needed items, Cereal, chili, beef stew, tuna, any canned meats, and mac & cheese. [NOTE: We are no longer able to purchase these items from the NT Food Bank.]

SPRING Clothing Needs…Men and Boys.…Socks and Shoes (all sizes); Men’s jeans (sizes 30, 32 & 34); Boys jeans; Boys un-derwear (all sizes); Women’s and Girls…Shoes (size 9 ½, 10, 11)

Other Items needed… QUEEN & KING SHEETS and TOWELS

Call 972-264-8540 to volunteer or for more information.

NOTE: Please check expira-tion date on all food times. We cannot give out expired items.

Stephen Ministry

in your church.

Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2, NRSV).

Stephen Ministry is the one-to-one lay caring ministry that takes place in congregations that use the Stephen Series system.

Stephen Ministry congregations equip and empower lay caregivers—called Stephen Ministers—to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to peo-ple who are hurting.

For more information contact: Dana Edwards; gpdana@att.net or church office.

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN

We are collecting the following baby items for the Social Services Unit at Dallas Meth-odist Hospital thru March 9:

Receiving Blankets (27"X27” or 30"X30")

Baby Caps (small) Knitted, Crocheted or Purchased.

Baby Booties (size 3" X 4") Knitted, Cro-cheted or Purchased.

A collection bin is provided in the narthex. Your assistance is appreciated. GOD BLESS!

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United Methodist Women…Is collecting EMPTY prescription pill bottles for NEW LIFE CLINIC of Rock’s Medical Outreach. PLEASE REMOVE ALL LABELS and place the bottles in the box in the narthex.

We appreciate your cooperation with the prescription pill bottles collection. New Life Center is very grateful; however, a note of caution: Bottles should be empty, should have contained pills, not liquids; should be completely free of labels and should not be over-the-counter pill bottles.

General Meeting and Fellowship

Sunday, March 9

12:00 PM — Wesley Hall Pot Luck Lunch

Special Program: A Call to Prayer and

Self Denial All interested women are invited to at-tend.

Teen Girls Group

6th grade and up

We meet the 2nd Monday of each month from 7-9 pm in the youth building. Dinner and study materi-als are provided. This session we will be studying "True Femininity" by Leslie Ludy. Contact Lizz Shirey for more info. 817-896-6362 or xlizzlovex@yahoo.com Schedule:

3/10: Lily Among Thorns, Part 2—Radiating Christ From the Inside Out

4/14: The Sacred Claim—Living a Poured-Out Life

United Methodist Men Saturday, May 3 Youth Building

Donation Collections begin…

Saturday, April 26th (8am-2pm) and Wednesday April 30th (6-8pm) UMM will be at the Youth Building to collect your donations for their garage sale. If you have large items for pick up con-tact Dave Crittenden at dave.crittenden@sbcglobal.net by Wednesday, April 23rd. Please include in the email what and how much you have for pick up with an address and phone number.

Boy Scout Troop 195

Meetings are held on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. here at FUMC. Troop 195 Scouts enjoy weekly troop meetings, monthly camp outs, a rigorous merit badge program, and numerous activities towards achieving the BSA’s objec-tives of developing character, citi-zenship, and personal fitness train-ing. Email Scoutmaster Wayne Ellis at bsagptx@yahoo.com for more information.

122 N. Center Street

Grand Prairie, Texas 75050

Office: 972-264-6148

Fax: 972-264-6140

Email: webmaster@fumcgp.org

Iglesia Unida Bi-lingual Service

Third Saturday—6:00 pm in Youth Building

SUNDAY SERVICES

8:45 am Traditional Worship in Baker Chapel

10:00 am Sunday School for all ages

11:00 am Blended Worship in Sanctuary

Senior Pastor: Gifford Long

Associate Pastor/Youth: Brian Dierolf

Associate Pastor/Iglesia Unida: Leonardo Haro

First United Methodist Church

www.fumcgp.org

The Membership Care Team in Action We meet 10:30am to noon the 4th Tuesday, January through November. We send We Miss YOU post cards to members who have not attended church for three consecutive Sundays. We send a card or make a phone call to our homebound members throughout the year. This list is divided among the team so we share in the joy of contacting those who are unable to continue worshiping with their church family.

Please contact Bonnie Cockrum 972-641-7192.

United

Methodist

Men…meet the second Saturday of each month

at 7:30 am for a breakfast meeting at Outlaw’s BBQ; 2334 SE 8

th

Street. All men are welcome to attend.

Cub Scout Pack 195

Meetings are held on Monday eve-nings from 6:50 - 8 pm at the church. One meeting each month is a Pack Meeting where all the dens meet together to give out awards, and show what they've worked on recently. All other meetings are Den Meetings where the individual dens meet to work on the rank achieve-

ments, electives, and other activities. The Dens are divided up by age/grade.

DFW Care Van Program… free

immunizations for 2 months through 18 years of age. Care Van

is held in the Youth Building on the first Tuesday of each month from 5

-7pm (except December and sum-

mer months). Complete immuniza-tion records are required. Children

must be accompanied by parent or guardian. Your child is eligible if

he/she has Medicaid, has no insur-ance, has insurance that does not

cover vaccine, or is Native Ameri-

can or an Alaskan Native. Please refer to www.carevan.org for

schedule updates.

Grand Prairie TX Career Networking Group

If you are unemployed, under-employed or wish to transi-

tion to another career please come join our FUMCGP

networking group. The group will share leads for pro-

spective positions, assist in building reliable resumes, as-

sist in interviewing processes, and will be a support group

for those job seekers. Growing local businesses will be

invited to attend to meet prospective candidates.

Everyone is welcome!

There is no cost to attend this networking group.

When: 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 7:30—9:00 AM.

Location: Friendship Class (WH1– in church basement)

Questions please contact Ron Blackwell @214-868-6465

or ronblackwell@sbcglobal.net.

Yahoo Emails…

We have had complaints from folks

that have yahoo email asking why

they don’t get the church emails.

Please check your spam or junk

email folder for church emails!

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Diabetes Support Group

Meets the 4th Monday of each month in Wesley Hall at 6:30 pm. We offer loving support and educa-tion to diabetics and their families. Each meeting medical professionals present information and facilitate discussions regarding diabetic is-sues. Packets of educational mate-rials are available. Join our group as we learn together how to live healthily with Diabetes.

KIDS IN NEED OF CLOTHING,

INC.

Clothing Needs…

Gently used boys and girls tops

Gently used boys and girls jackets and coats

Pre-K through high school,

school appropriate please

Monetary Needs… To purchase new jeans and

new tennis shoes

You may take your donations

to KIDS, 202 College Street, Suite 101 on Mondays

(between 9am and 3pm) dur-ing the school year (except

school holidays). When you

drop off your donation, please take a tour of KIDS and see

what we’re all about!

Coming May 16

For questions about the

Relay, contact Angie

Fenimore at 972-898-

6992 or angiesfor-

tune@live.com.

Register Now!

If your child or grandchild has

completed grades 3rd-5th grades

they are able to attend Bridgeport

Conference Camp, July 22-26.

Please go online and register at…

http://bridgeportcamp.com/camp-

schedule. Once you have regis-

tered and paid the deposit email

Allison, Allison.marino@gpisd.org.

The children's ministry will need to

have a proper count of how many

campers will be going.

Opportunities for Our Children’s Department..

Easter Egg Hunt will be April 19 at 10am. Hunts will be sep-arated according to ages: 0 – Pre-K and Kindergarten – 5th grade. We need individual-ly wrapped candies (NO

CHOCOLATE PLEASE) and plastic Easter eggs to fill. Vacation Bible School is coming…June 22-26.

We are looking for volunteers. Contact Alli-son.marino@gpisd.org

“Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RunForShelter5k

Register online at: www.active.com

ALTAR FLOWERS

It is our tradition to have fresh flowers on the altar each Sunday. The oppor-tunity is yours to share in this part of

enhancing our worship. Individuals, classes, circles, prayer groups or any-

one may provide the flowers.

The cost is $50.00 per Sunday. Your name will be carried in the weekly bul-letin. You may take the flowers with you after the morning worship service,

but please return the liners.

Contact the church office for available

dates if you are interested.

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