New month, new theme. During the month of November, we're going to tackle the roller coaster of emotions. Being human is an emotional experience - we all have our moments of happiness, sadness, anger, depression, and anxiety. Our teenagers can experience extreme highs and lows, sometimes in a 5 minutes time period. These mood swings are often unpredictable. It's all very well to say that we have to learn to deal with these feelings, but how do we do that?
This week we’re talking about fear. Fear can be a good thing. It makes us alert to danger and prepares us to deal with it. Feeling afraid is very natural — and helpful in some situations. But where is God when we're afraid? Youth may sometimes wonder if God even notices, and if God does notice, does He even cares about what they're going through?
A reminder that Student Outreach is high energy and high noise, but the kids are having great discussion in their Family Groups. They’re growing in their faith as they play tackle the tough issues in their lives.
Remember!
Don't forget that Daylight Savings time begins this Sunday. If you don't "fall back" you'll be an hour early for Sunday School!
Walk to End Alzheimer's Saturday, November 12
The Youth Group will walk in the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk on Saturday, Nov 12 for the 3rd consecutive year. The Walk has been moved from the Zoo to Fair Park this year and PPUMC will be there.
Although there is no registration fee for this event, we encourage all walkers to raise money for the cause. Raise $100 or more and receive a 2011 Walk to End Alzheimer's™ T-shirt!
There is a sign-up sheet in the Youth Hall, so we can arrange transportation for all the walkers.
Click the link to join team PPUMC, sign the waiver and follow the instructions to register. This should take you directly to our team's page - encourage your youth to join us as we raise funds
for research to change our kids' futures.
Senior High Work Day Saturday, November 19
The Senior High Youth will join the Trustees and do some work around the church on Saturday morning, Nov 19, 9 am – noon. Mark your calendars now to join us for a couple hours as we clean up the church and prepare for the Christmas season.
It is very important for us to have a worship service that honors our loved ones that have joined the church triumphant in the last year. We know the ones where we were involved in the services, but your family members that their services were not held here, or that Dana or I did not preach, are a mystery. Yet, we understand that your grief is very real. Therefore, we are asking you to tell us if you have a relative that passed away this past year (since last All Saint’s Sunday) that you would like have their name read during the All Saint’s services on November 6. It would be our honor to lift their name to God during worship for prayer. Please be sure to turn any names that you would like us to include into the Church Office by Monday morning, October 31. Phone: 972-255-4185 or bhamilton@ppumc.org.
Going away to college is a very exciting time. But amidst all the excitement can be hard times: new friends, a new town, and tough classes. During the month of October, the Youth Group will be collecting items for care packages for our away college students.
Students love to receive anything in the mail, but especially a care package that was put together to show how much that student is loved and missed by their church. We identified 21 college students living away from home in dorms or apartments.
Here are some suggestions for items for care packages: 100-calorie snacks, Easy Mac, granola/cereal bars, microwave popcorn, Ramen noodles, candy/gum, instant oatmeal, hot chocolate/cider packets, cookies, crackers, dried fruit, sticky notes, highlighters, mechanical pencils/pens, anti-bacterial lotion, Tylenol and cough drops.
You may drop your items off in the Youth Hall or in the marked box in the Ministry Center. anytime during the month of October. Thank you so much for your support.
An Irving Women’s Club is sending packages and/or phone cards to the Military personnel in Iraq or Afghanistan. If you would like your relative or friends that are serving in either place to receive a package, please send their contact information to the Church Office or to Joyce Howard Pittman.
Bring your favorite children in their favorite costumes to Trunk or Treat on Saturday, October 29 from 4pm-5:30pm. We will have lots of fun things to do like face painting, inflatables, and balloon animals. This year it will all be outdoors in the east parking lot so be sure to dress accordingly. Activities begin at 4pm with Trunk or Treat starting at 4:30.
If you don’t have children or grandchildren, you can still participate in Trunk or Treat by bringing your decorated car and handing out candy to all the little cowboys and ballerinas. It is lots of fun for all ages so make plans now to be here!
Members of the PPUMC Youth Group are on the move to fight Alzheimer’s! We will once again be walking in the Dallas Memory Walk on Sat., Nov. 12 at Fair Park.
Currently, more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's and that number is expected to grow to as many as 16 million by 2050. The future of our youth people is at risk unless we can find a way to change the course of this disease.
Please make a donation to help the Alzheimer's Assoc. advance research into prevention, treatments and a cure for Alzheimer’s. For millions already affected by the disease, the Association offers care, education, support and resources in communities nationwide.
If you would like to support one of our Youth, please contact Peg at peg@ppumc.org or drop a check in the offering plate (indicate Memory Walk or Alzheimer’s in the memo line).
Thank you for joining our movement! The end of Alzheimer’s disease starts here. These youth are our present AND future.
The Senior Class will begin selling the famous PPUMC Cheese Balls this Sunday, October 30. Sales will continue for three weeks, with pickup scheduled on Sunday, November 20.
Stop by the Ministry Center for a sample and to place your order. Cheeseballs are $10. Payment should be made at time of order. Stock up for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as your holiday parties, dinners, gifts and football games!
All proceeds from the sales of Cheeseballs help finance the Senior Trip for the Class of 2012.
Members of the youth group will be selling Schermer Pecans once again this year to raise money for their Spring Break Ski Trip.
We are offering one pound bags of mammoth halves for $12, 10-12 ounce bags of chocolate covered, glazed, cinnamon glazed and chocolate pecan clusters for $10. Pecans will be available in the ministry center on Sunday mornings beginning October 30.
Be sure to pick up plenty of pecans for your holiday baking and gift giving.
This Wednesday, Oct 26 is our annual Halloween Costume Party. Please encourage your youth to come in costume! There will be lots of prizes for costumes – categories include Most Creative, Scariest, Cheapest, Most Difficult to Figure Out and many more. We’ll have games, music, dancing, and food!
Speaking of food. . . . we’ll need donations of chips, 2-ltre soft drinks, bags of candy, cookies and/or cupcakes. This has typically been a big crowd. If you would like to contribute, please let me know!
And yes, Game Six of the World Series will be playing somewhere in the Youth Hall so we can keep up with what is happening in St. LouisJ
Haunted House Saturday night
Don’t forget that this Saturday night, Oct 29 is the date for our visit to the Haunted House. We’re going to the Mansfield Terrorplex. The Terrorplex has 4 haunted attractions, an outdoor maze, plus other Dark Amusements. We’ll leave from the church at 6:45 pm and return around 9 pm – depending on the crowds.
Tickets are $18. You must sign up and pay by sign-up in the Youth Hall and pay by tomorrow night, Wednesday, Oct 26.
Sunday School
Providing breakfast at Sunday School this week, Sunday, Oct 30 is the Nicholls family.
The past several months, we’ve been running out of food, and have been forced to closely monitor the kids so that the 15-20 youth that attend the P3 worship service have food available for them when they come in from worship. This is not as much an issue of not enough food, but more the result of parents and college kids coming in to help themselves to breakfast.
Just a reminder that the breakfast brought by parents is for youth attending Sunday School and their teachers. We can not expect one family to feed the entire church!
Thanks for your cooperation.
College Care Packages
Just one more week to collect goodies for our college care packages. We’ve identified 21 college students who are living in dorm rooms or apartments. Nothing says love like a box full of snacks! We want our kids to know that there church is thinking about them and remembers them as they are away at school.
There is a box in the Ministries Center – or you may bring donations to the Youth Hall. We’ll mail out boxes the first week of November.
Walk to End Alzheimer’s Saturday, November 12
The Youth Group will walk in the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk on Saturday, Nov 12 for the 3rd consecutive year. The Walk has been moved from the Zoo to Fair Park this year and PPUMC will be there.
Although there is no registration fee for this event, we encourage all walkers to raise money for the cause. Raise $100 or more and receive a 2011 Walk to End Alzheimer's™ T-shirt!
You can join team PPUMC by going to http://2011walktoendalz.kintera.org/faf/home/waiver.asp?ieven , signing the waiver and following instructions to register. Search for PPUMC under Teams and encourage your youth to join us as we raise funds for research to change our kids’ futures.
Sisters and brothers, I awoke in the middle of the night last week with
a start! It came to me that All Saint's Sunday is fast approaching. In
the church office we are deep in the process of preparing for the All
Church Conference on October 25, so deep in the process that All Saint's
Sunday has slipped up on us.
It is very important for us to have a worship service that honors our
loved ones that have joined the church triumphant in the last year. We
know the ones where we were involved in the services, but your family
members that their services were not held here, or that Dana or I did
not preach, are a mystery. Yet, we understand that your grief is very
real. Therefore, we are asking you to tell us if you have a relative
that passed away this past year (since last All Saint's Sunday) that you
would like have their name read during the All Saint's services on
November 6. It would be our honor to lift their name to God during
worship for prayer.
United Methodist churches try to be as democratic and transparent as
possible. To that end the Discipline of the United Methodist church
allow for two events which accomplish the same objective.
A "charge conference" and an "all church conference" do the same thing:
vote on the budget for the next year, vote on the pastor's salaries,
vote on the report of the Committee on Nominations, and accept the
reports of the Staff/Parish Relations committee, Board of Church
Trustees, the pastor, and the reports from all the various groups
working within the church. The difference between a "charge conference"
and an "all church conference" is who makes the decisions. In a charge
conference, only the members of the administrative council vote. In an
all church conference, all full members of the church can vote.
My experience has been that transparency is better served when the whole
church votes on the direction of the church for the next year.
Therefore, we will have an all church conference on the evening of
October 24, at 7 pm. The purpose of that conference is to do all that I
outlined in the above paragraph. This is the event where we can "cuss
and discuss" among ourselves, (pardon the use of west Texas idioms), and
together come to some consensus concerning the direction of our church.
Normally, the members of a church are not too interested in the workings
of a church conference, unless there is some controversy swirling about
within the life of the church. With the hint of controversy, the
membership will show up in full force! This year is a pretty quiet year;
there is nothing controversial on the agenda. It is, however, in your
interest to attend the meeting. One of the orders of business is to
select the membership of the Committee on Nominations, which must come
from the floor. Not being there to protect your interest could result in
a committee membership you hadn't counted on!
Our all church conference is a time when we can come together and
support the direction of our church. Your attendance and participation
is appreciated.
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We serve all people in the following communities in and around Irving, TX: Grand Prairie, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, University Park, Las Colinas, Valley Ranch, Coppell, Carrollton, Grapevine, Keller and Southlake!