The DC Pulse Your Connection to a Church with a Heart for the Community
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The DC Pulse Your Connection to a Church with a Heart for the Community The Purpose of Christmas An excerpt on "A Time for Celebration." The following article is an excerpt from Rick Warren's The Purpose of Christmas. Christmas is a party. Specifically, it's a birthday party — for Jesus — and birthdays are meant to be celebrated. It's why we say "Merry Christmas!" Ironically, at most Christmas parties the person whose birthday we're supposed to be celebrating is completely ignored. He's never even mentioned. Although Jesus is the reason for the season, he's often overlooked or merely mentioned along with Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, the Grinch, elves, and a long list of celebrated fictional characters. As I was writing this little book, I decided to take a survey of Christmas shoppers. I asked, "What are you celebrating this Christmas?" Most answers had nothing to do with Jesus: "I'm celebrating that I made it through another year." "I'm celebrating being home with my family." "I got a Christmas bonus." "My son is home from Iraq." "The candidate I voted for got elected." "I'm celebrating that I've finished all my shopping." "I'm not celebrating anything. I'm just trying to survive." Preparing for Christmas can be a lot of work, especially for moms. With the pressure of buying gifts, sending greeting cards, decorating our homes, putting up lights, cooking, attending parties, and cleaning up afterward, we have little time to actually enjoy the meaning of Christmas. The first purpose of Christmas is celebration! We learn this from the angel's opening statement to the shepherds of Bethlehem. God had wonderful news for us that would cause us all to rejoice, celebrate, and throw a party: "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." (Luke 2:10) The good news of Christmas is worth celebrating for three reasons. It is personal: "I bring YOU." It is positive: "GOOD news of great joy." And it is universal: "for ALL the people." It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, where you've been, or where you're headed — this news is for you. A national magazine used to carry a feature called "News You Can Use." I always read that section first. The angel brought us news we can use. It's the best news in the world: God loves you! God is with you! God is for you! Continued on page 8 Monthly Announcements December 2018 Celebrate DC Seniors with December Birthdays! Emil Hyman December 3 Alex Brown December 5 Lorena Griffin December 6 Carolyn Harvey December 8 Bernice Miller December 9 B. Shirley Easley December 11 Marietta Noel December 17 Pauline Starnes December 17 Cecil Reed December 18 Nicholas Gibson December 20 Ora McCormick December 22 Rosie McCall December 26 Jewel Moore December 28 Are you a senior adult with a birthday not listed? Call or email the church office. FINANCIAL MINISTRY DECEMBER TIP Merry Christmas David Chapel! There is no time like the present to think of your savings! According to Bankrate, about 20 percent of Americans do not have a savings account, and out of the ones that do, about a fourth of us are saving less than 5 percent of our income. Become future-oriented when saving, even when plans don’t go exactly how you imagined. Remember Proverbs16:9 says, “the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps”. Say you want to buy a new car, go on vacation, or put the kids in braces. You’ll need to save for those specific goals by assigning a dollar amount and a time frame to your goal and begin today! Want to know more? Read “3 Ways To Quit Neglecting Your Savings Account” at crown.org. As Pastor stated in his November 18th sermon, “Be not only attentive in hearing but be retentive after hearing!” Your life can show that you are a “do-er” of His financial principles! Blessings, Your David Chapel Financial Ministry 2 UNDER the BRIDGE MINISTRY “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:25 Hello DC family! We are asking for donations to help our Austin homeless through the “Under the Bridge” ministry. The following items are needed: blankets, gloves, caps, coats, pants, shirts/sweaters, shoes, underwear (men and women), and toiletry items. Gently used clothing items are also accepted. Please bring the items to the church and drop them in the box marked “Under The Bridge” before the December 21st deadline. Thanks in advance for your help. Chair: Renae Sanders Co-chair: Sophia Williams Volunteers: Eunice Bouldin-Ransburg, Margaret Boston, Bessie Evans, Beulah Harris, Pat McGraw, and Olivia Ussery LOIS M. UPTON COLD WEATHER SHELTER Austin's lack of shelter space forces many homeless people to sleep outside during winter months. In demonstration of its heart for the community, David Chapel has continued its partnership with the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) and other churches to provide a warm and safe overnight shelter for the homeless population from November through February when inclement (freezing) weather has been forecasted for the Austin area. DC will provide shelter for twenty men. To make this initiative a success, program coordinators need from 8 to 10 volunteers to prepare hot meals, clean-up, give oversight to the shelter throughout the night, and provide a welcoming environment. To sign-up or get more information, please contact Charles Walker by telephone at (512) 897-3859 or (512) 680-5559. Mr. Walker is also available via email at [email protected]. Please consider volunteering. This is an extraordinary opportunity to touch a life. 3 Congratulations Graduates! DANIELLE HAYNES-HARPER Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Legal Studies Texas State University - San Marcos Commencement Friday, December 14, 2018 -- 2:00 p.m. Strahan Arena at the University Events Center 700 Aquarena Springs Drive, San Marcos RONNIE MITCHELL Bachelor of Arts in Political Science Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi Commencement Saturday, December 15, 2018 -- 2:00 p.m. American Bank Center Arena 1901 N. Shoreline Boulevard, Corpus Christi DARIAN MICHEL SCRUGGS Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Marketing) Texas Tech University Commencement Saturday, December 15, 2018 -- 9:00 a.m. United Supermarkets Arena 1701 Indiana Avenue, Lubbock Every Sunday in December, and the first Sunday Church in January, the nursery will be closed during Nursery worship service. The nursery will reopen Closed January 9, 2019. 4 Youth Bible Study Kicks Off With As part of our Discipleship model, the iAM Youth Ministry kicked off our enhanced Bible Study with a series entitled God’s Plan. It was based on Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer Drake’s song “God’s Plan.” Yes, we even listened to the secular song during Bible Study. Youth discussed the song’s theme- success is divine will- and expressed their opinions about it. Ultimately, we went to the Bible to figure out what God’s Plan really is. We explored the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37- 40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) where we outlined our five spiritual purposes- worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship, and discipleship. This is God’s Plan for our lives as Christians. As a cross reference to the Great Commandment and Great Commission, we studied various passages of scripture: Worship – The greatest expression of worship was demonstrated for us by Jesus (see Luke 22:41-43). Jesus says, “not my will, but yours be done.” Ministry – Jesus washed the Disciple’s feet. So not to (ceremonialize) this act, Sister Parker demonstrated the washing of the feet during this session. Thanks to Noah for being a gracious participant. Ministry is serving others and leading an others- centered life. Basically, don’t be selfish and follow the servanthood of Jesus. Evangelism – This can be a scary word because Christians often do not know how to practically live out this responsibility. Acts 1:8 gave us a roadmap for witnessing. Today, there are so many things to try to cause Christians to be fearful but, if we are to go in to all nations, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to be fearless. Noah volunteered to facilitate this session and did an awesome job. Fellowship – We focused on relationships, our roles in relating to God’s people, and how God can use our fellowship for the sake of ministry. Our scripture reference was Acts 2:42-47. Discipleship – “Who do you say iAM?” - Who we say God is dictates our response to Him. Our scripture reference was Luke 9:18-36 and we studied what it means to be a Disciple. In one of our last sessions for the series, we evaluated ourselves on each of the five spiritual purposes. Some of us gave “churchy” ratings, but when we pulled back a few layers, we realized our ratings changed a bit. This rating was not to point fingers or to judge one another. Rather, the ratings helped us be honest with ourselves and see where were stood against God’s Plan. Finally, we issued three life books to each youth. Shout out to Rev. Emerson for reaching out to the Youth ministry and providing the books. Each youth wrote their name in one book in an effort to read the book on their own. For the other two books, the youth were encouraged to write the names of their friends-believers or non-believers- in an effort to give the book and share the gospel.