First Christian Church Garland

Men’s breakfast tomorrow morning at 8:30. Hope to see you there!

We prepared more than 10,000 meals with Rise Against Hunger! Thanks a lot!

Below is the video we attempted to show you about Rise Against Hunger in the service yesterday. Please come out and join us for our Rise Against Hunger event on January 21. You can register or donate to the event here: https://rah.my.salesforce-sites.com/events/homepage?id=7018c000001DcGDAA0

Pathways to End Hunger We’re on the road to end hunger, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Goal #2 of Zero Hunger.From the implementation of sustainable community developm...

Here are some pictures from our Trunk or Treat last weekend. Thanks to all those who helped out.

This Sunday from 5-7 the youth will have their fall youth kickoff. They will have a swim party at the Richardsons. We’ll swim, eat, and karaoke. If your youth can come, send Shaun a message and let him know so they know how much food to order.

Ascension, in Christian belief, the ascent of Jesus Christ into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection (Easter being reckoned as the first day).

Mark your calendars for a DWM evening Tuesday, June 6, 6:30 p.m.!

Please join us for a fun evening at the church with snacks and games! Bring a sweet or savory snack to share. We have asked Judy Grasham to teach us how to play a fun dice game called Farkle! Or just come and spend a summer evening together laughing and snacking with friends.

Child care will be provided. Thank you!

It was exciting to learn that FCCG DWM collected $624.03 for our Blessing Box offering this year! We have had a lot of things to be thankful for and those blessings will now bless others, too.

Thank you for your wonderful participation in all of the DWM meetings and events this year and for being so generous in your giving of time, talent and money.

Hope to see you Tuesday, June 6 for a summer evening of fun at the church Fellowship Hall.

Do you want to strengthen your relationship and be the couple God intended?
Let’s do it together! First Christian Church, 115 S. Glenbrook Dr., Garland TX 75040

Join us Sunday in Room 213 at 11:00 a.m.!

A new Sunday School class especially for young couples.

Childcare will be available in the church nursery.

Have you ever wondered why we need to pray for our church? Let me suggest that our churches need our prayers. They need to be lifted up by us and we need God's grace and attention to guide our church leaders in His direction. We need our churches to be energized and spirit-filled.

I wanted to share in part these words from Rev Doug Skinner.
Theophan the Recluse (1815–1894), one of the important Russian Orthodox spiritual teachers of the 19th century, said that there are three ways to pray – with the lips, with the mind and with the heart.

To pray with the lips is to say, or in the case of Theophan’s tradition that used prayer books, to read the prayers. Praying with the mind means that we have some understanding of what and to whom we are praying. But if prayer was to be truly “spiritual” then Theophan said that it would have to finally move to the heart. This was Theophan’s definition of the highest degree of prayer –

“The essence of prayer is the spiritual lifting of the heart towards God. The mind in the heart stands consciously before the face of God, filled with due reverence, and begins to pour itself out before Him. This is spiritual prayer, and all prayer should be of this nature. According to the church fathers, this is the most intimate form of prayer. Prayer is no longer simply words we say or thoughts we ponder, but rather the moving of God’s Spirit within our spirit. This is the goal of all prayer.”

First Christian Church Garland Disciple Women’s Installation of officers.

Jeanne Dunn is outgoing President, Laurie Dodd is incoming President, and Carol White installed all the officers using a cookie theme. Ray Owens and Linda Wimbish led us in an old fashioned song-a-long, and Lease Wolf and Laurie Laurie Kuntschik Owens collected the Blessing Box offerings.

Join FCC Garland Disciples Women for their Installation of Officers Salad Potluck luncheon tomorrow at 11 am. Featuring Carol White, Ray Owens, and Linda Merriman Wimbish!

After serving 22 years of spiritually leading First Christian Church Garland, Rev Dr. Dan Jones has retired. This morning he was recognized for his beloved sermons, his loving pastoral care, and his constant life living ministry. “May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26,

Please join us

Saturday, April 29, at 11:00 a.m.

DWM Board Installation and Covered Dish Salad Luncheon


Also, please bring your Blessing Box offerings to the meeting. April’s Blessing Box:

April Showers: 1 penny for each sunny day in April and 5 cents for each day of rain.

“Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain,
from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain,
to everyone the vegetation in the field.”
Zechariah 10:

First Christian Church Garland Holy Week

First Christian Church Garland

First Christian Church Garland. April 2, 2023

Good morning,

Please bring any of these items on the attachment to our meetings next week. They will then be taken to the DWM area retreat. (the list ends with toothbrushes – it was not cut off).

Thank you.

Laurie Dodd

Early Bird Registration

⚠️Early Bird Discount Ends on April 1st for Summer Camps! ⚠️For more information, https://www.disciplescrossing.org/summer2023

In a pastoral letter to the congregation last month Dr. Dan shared his plans for retirement in April.

Dear Member,
I’ll turn 65 in April, and feel the time is right to announce my retirement April 28, 2023. My last Sunday in the pulpit will be April 23. Between now and the completion of my ministry as your Senior Minister, I’ll continue to work with the leaders of the congregation to plan an excellent season of Lent and Easter, while also attending to the ongoing work of pastoral care.
Though I’ve given considerable thought to this decision, it is nevertheless one made with deep emotion. You have been my church home for nearly 22 years. In all those years, you have walked with my family and me through the valley of grief and have stood with us to celebrate other milestone moments. You have loved us unconditionally. You have given me the joy of preaching to you in all the seasons of the Church’s year. Long after my final sermon, you will continue to hold a special place in my family’s heart.
It’s been 39 years since my ordination as a newly minted 26-year-old seminary graduate at my student church in Pilot Point, Texas. Members of my childhood church in Lindsay, Oklahoma, were in attendance that day, as my father presided over the vows of ordination. Then, as now, the occasion serves to remind me that the Church has been my home through every occasion of life. I often look at the ordination certificate hanging on my office wall, read the names, remember the day, and pray that I’ve been faithful to the trust that was given to me that day. By God’s grace, I believe I have been.
Now it’s right to step aside while a new generation of ministerial leadership is called to serve you. I do so with hope and faith, believing that Christ will hold you in the palm of His hands, gently guiding you as you plan for, anticipate, and begin to envision the church’s continued ministry for years to come.
I feel confident that the church is in the hands of capable and active lay leadership. The recent investment of property sale proceeds affords the church the resources to dream deep and wide. In a short time, I’ve been pleased to see Rev. Dr. Shaun Brown become ever more comfortable and confident in his ministerial leadership with you.
I have spoken and prayed with Rev. Dr. Andy Mangum, our denomination’s Regional Minister, about my plans. I strongly encourage you to partner with him to begin charting all the necessary steps in the call of a new Senior Minister.
In the meantime, I will do my best in the remaining weeks of my ministry with you to point the church in the direction of Christ’s Resurrection and the hope for new beginnings to which Christ’s ministry calls each of us.
In Christ’s Service, Rev. Dr. Dan Jones

At 7 pm Shaun will continue his study of the Seven Last Words of Jesus. Tonight he will look at Word 5: “I thirst” (John 19:28). Here’s the link to the Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85808547200

(Message from Stephanie Gordon)

DISCIPLES CROSSING CAMP DATES
SUMMER 2023

DC FAMILY CAMP​​​​​​MAY 26-28

DC GRAND CAMP​​​​​​JUNE 2-4

DC YOUTH CAMP (6TH-8TH AND 9TH-12TH)​​​​JUNE 19-24

IMAGO DEI (6TH AND 7TH)​​​​​JUNE 25-JULY 1

DC KIDS CAMP 1 (1ST-2ND AND 3RD-5TH)​​​​JUNE 26-30

DC KIDS CAMP 2 (1ST-2ND AND 3RD-5TH)​​​​JULY 31-AUGUST 4

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ​​​​​FEBRUARY 19 THROUGH APRIL 1, 2023
Camp space is limited and fill on a first-come, first served basis. So, check your summer calendars and register now!
For more information go to www.disciplescrossing.org.
To register go to https://disciplescrossing.campbrainregistration.com.

Sign-in | Disciples Crossing This registration site is used for retreats, summer camps, and events programmed by Disciples Crossing. For events planned or programmed externally, please contact your event organizer to complete registration. Please familiarize yourself with our privacy policy prior to completing registration.

First Christian Church Garland Spring Retreat.

Pastor Shaun Brown and four Sponsors (Stephanie Gordan, Sharon Campbell, Renee Godwin, and Eric Dacon) took 8 of the youth this past weekend to a Spring Retreat at Disciples Crossing Camp in Athens Texas.

The study focus of this weekend was Acts 2:42 “They Devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers”.
Apostles’ Teaching (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
Fellowship (Acts 2:43-47; 4:32-37)
Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15)
Breaking of the Bread (Matthew 26:17-30)

The group requested a service project for Saturday and Camp was very appreciative to help facilitate that request. Our group help clean up debris from a dead tree as well as cleaned up a large area of the main camp from leave, sticks, etc. In the end a trailer was full from that clean up, great job!!!!

Lastly free time….it was full of team building, fellowship, bonding, games, campfires, s’mores, FOOD (boy these kids can eat), and everyone’s favorite - karaoke!

True Lent: “Create in me a clean heart, O God”

“Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.” (CCC 1430).

Painting by Sergei Gribkov (1852)

At 7 pm Shaun will continue his study of the Seven Last Words of Jesus. Tonight he will look at Word 4: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matt 27:46). Here’s the link to the Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85808547200