Experience Grow Share 2012

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Experience grace in worship Grow in Grace in Groups Share grace in Ministry Grace abounds. God generously gives grace in all situations... sometimes we see it, feel it, know its effect. Other times we are unable to sense God’s presence, mercy and help. These stories from our community of grace shed light on some of the places and ways, persons, and groups that embody grace. Take some time to savor the stories and contemplate your own story as a way of growing in grace.

Contributing Storytellers: Allison Carter Carrie Hoye Barbara Radowick

Experience Grace in

Worship Worship of God transforms Christians. It happens anytime or place that we turn our focus toward God. At Chapelwood, we provide worship experiences of many kinds, so whether it is Saturday or Sunday, late or early, we have a service for you.

Kathy Jo Curran - From Houston Streets to Mercy Street

W

hen I was little we used to go to church all the time, but then my dad was killed on my thirteenth birthday and my life changed. When that happened I pretty much turned my back on God. I threw away all my trophies and VBS certificates, and anything that had to do with God. I ended up marrying the first guy who told me he loved me. I was fifteen years old. He was real abusive though, and three years later I got married to my other husband. I had four daughters with him, and had a son already. My mom got sick, so we came here to Texas. I kept going to visit my mom, and things got really bad at home, and then got worse. Long story short, I ended up getting divorced right about when my mom died, about seven years ago. She was like my best friend. I didn’t have any other friends, and when she died I just couldn’t take the crack pipe out of my mouth. I eet r t S y was even late for her funeral. All c r Me my family hated me. I turned ting a e r c t u to the streets because her dying is abo hurt so much. My oldest three rbor girls went to live with their a safe ha dad. Mom and her husband urt, h e h t r o f had been helping take care of my youngest daughter, so d an the lost, she went to live with him, and then they moved to ing the seek Oklahoma. I was alone.

hey so that t erience p x e t h g mi cal the radi God · grace of ecome and so b oted fully dev s of follower

t

I used to sleep on the street right across from SEARCH, literally on the street. There were times when I didn’t know where I was or when it was. I was drinking and drugging, and worse. Time would

Experience Grace in Worship

go by, and it’d be months later, and I wouldn’t even know it. It‘d be June, and I thought it was just March. I don’t even know where I was all that time. Where did I sleep? What was I doing? I don’t even know. But I always remembered Mercy Street fed me. I had to be down at this one place by St. Joseph at 9:00, because Mercy Street came around then. I’d always sit in the back and have somebody go up there and get me food, and bring it back because I was so ashamed. But I always stayed long enough to hear what they had to say. I really liked what they had to say.

the streets I don’t know what else to say. I couldn’t have done recovery without God. Mercy Street taught me how to love God, and love myself. I don’t like church - I mean regular church. Mercy Street taught me how to love God again in my own way, you know? It’s the way they threw it at me. My way, you know? It’s not about being all quiet, and acting with manners. You don’t really have manners when you first come here, anyway. It’s so cool to just to be able to be yourself here.

Everybody’s like, “You’re you, and I’m me” and that’s what I like about it.

I went through drug treatment a couple of times, and would always ask the place if the Mercy Street vans came there. Some places they did, and some places they didn’t. If the rehab place didn’t do Mercy Street, I didn’t want to go. It was that big of a deal. I went to Santa Maria once for thirty days, and thought I had my problem licked. Then I relapsed. I went back to Santa Maria and did the ninety-day program there because I really wanted to get clean, and I wanted to keep going to Mercy Street.

Everything I learn here I just pass along to the next person. I want to be an advocate to people, to be a voice for people. There’s lots of people that are out there on the street, and they don’t know who to go to. They think they don’t have enough clean clothes even to go knock on doors asking for help. That’s really sad.

And I was like that, like all those people running around down by Greyhound. I want to say, “Call me any time.” You know, “…here’s a number, here’s this, here’s that. If you can use it, take it. Anything.

Here’s a cigarette, here’s a dollar.

If you use it for beer, I don’t care, at least you’re not dehydrating.”

You know what I’m saying? It’s ok.

Do something. Go get yourself somewhere. And then they’ll get somewhere and do something because they know somebody loves them. Someone cares.

I love Mercy Street, I really do. I started going about five years ago, when I first started trying to get clean. Some time after my mom died, I tried to get myself up, but I just kept falling down. Every time I’d try to get myself up, I’d go to rehab, and they’d take me to Mercy Street. I am so grateful to be here. I asked them if I could volunteer, and they said, “yes.” It’s like it was meant to be. I volunteer every Thursday now, answering the phone, making copies of the handouts we have on Saturday night and doing other things like that.

I’ve been doing this since about the beginning of May. I take three buses to get here. Rain or shine, it doesn’t matter, but it’s easier when it doesn’t rain. It’s so far out here, you know, but if I could come here every day I would. It’s perfect out here.

I live at the Women’s Home. I’ve been there ten months and I’m doing the whole program. I’m just so thankful to be off

If I was in a program that fed me, and I had food stamps, I’d go make a bunch of sandwiches and fill up a cooler and go give food to all the people. You don’t have to be treated like “less than” just because you’re homeless, or in a rut. There are people out there who are mentally ill, who haven’t gone to a doctor. They’re literally sick. And they’re walking around in the heat, and they’re hungry, and they’ve got bad addictions, they can’t help it. Be nice to them. Be kind to them. Let them come in here even if they smell bad - they can sit in the back. Or in the front – wherever. Let them know someone cares about them, and then they’ll do something about themselves. literally sick. But if they don’t think someone they’ll never do anything for walking around cares, themselves.

...They’re And they’re in the heat, and they’re hungry, and they’ve got bad addictions, they can’t help it. Be nice to them.

Be kind to them. Let them come in here even if they smell bad - they can sit in the back. Or in the front – wherever.

Let them know someone cares about them, and then they’ll do something about themselves...

I love seeing Gregg at Mercy Street, knowing he’s so supportive, even when I was addicted. Because of Mercy Street I know there is a God. Who would have figured a year ago that now I’d be working for the Lord, in the Lord’s house, instead of doing the Devil’s business? My very favorite part of Mercy Street is at the end when Gregg prays for everybody. He says, “Everybody look up” when we pray, and we do.

I don’t understand why people don’t normally look up when they pray, because God’s up there, everywhere.

What would you want to look down for? That’s one minute of my day I can look up and really say, “Thank you.” That’s the best.

Marty Shroff - Contemplative Listening

Expereince Grace in Worship since I was diagnosed almost two years ago that I would be able to live with grace and die with grace and accept whatever came with this disease.

And He just said “Yes.” I promise you, I had absolutely nothing to do with that total and complete acceptance. That was not Marty. I didn’t work on it. I wasn’t intentional about making the best of a bad situation – I just never felt any sadness, or loss, or regrets. I still haven’t looked back with sadness. That is the biggest surprise.

All I had done was pray for acceptance, and God said, “Yes, you will have it.”

Now is that a God gift?

I

’m a very different person now than I was when I was a Memorial mom. I’ve done many things at Chapelwood, but my heart for God really didn’t grow and develop until I was in my sixties and started attending the Contemplative Worship Service.

Contemplative Worship and my husband Gerald’s AA recovery came along at about the same time. He had moved from his corner office with the big title and salary at a large oil and gas consulting firm, to his own small business. The change was not entirely a bad one, but it meant our lifestyle changed dramatically, from living on a very high scale in the Memorial Villages to living in a much smaller home.

Gerald later said, “I cared more about money, I worried more about money, I

was more obsessed with money when we had it than when we had none.”

Contemplative Worship has changed my spiritual life. It gave me permission to believe and feel and love God the way I felt in my heart, and not to be totally orthodox about it. Rules and regulations are not important to me – and now I have a more personal relationship with Jesus Christ and with God. Until that point I had always had a very intellectual religion. But, when Gerald and I studied some of the books recommended by Jerry Webber and came to the Contemplative Service, our hearts connected. Our last years together were the best years of our marriage. They were the richest. The biggest reason was that we finally shared our hearts. We attended Jerry’s

classes, and we shared Contemplative, and even near the end when Gerald could barely make it to church we would still make every effort to attend that early morning Contemplative Service. Sometimes we’d stay for the Sanctuary Service but often he wasn’t strong enough.

Because of the Contemplative Worship Service now I can pray. I was sixty years old – sixty! – and wasn’t a good prayer.

I believe the Holy Spirit is in our hearts and that our hearts need to be open to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

That is how I pray without ceasing.

When I say, “I’m praying for you without ceasing” what I don’t mean is that all day long I say, “God, be with Allison, God, be with Allison.” My definition is putting Allison in my heart

And now that my lifestyle is changing so that I can’t do, I can just be. I can feel the all the people and the love surrounding me. One of the greatest gifts God ever gave me was moving to Chapelwood, with its people and spirit of loving and sharing and outreach. Chapelwood has grown and changed – from being very locked-in to being open to all kinds of new ways to worship. I get so excited when I see twelve motorcycles in the parking lot on Saturday night.

At a neighborhood in the middle of Memorial! Twelve motorcycles! That shows that everybody is God’s kid.

where the Holy Spirit lives, connecting that person and the Holy Spirit in my heart. That is a constant prayer. I can pray for any number of people without ceasing. Every time that name comes to me then I lift that person up. “God, remember. Remember Allison. I’m praying for her, she’s in my heart along with you.” To me that’s what praying without ceasing is. It’s connecting you with the Holy Spirit in my heart.

I have multiple myeloma, which is cancer, but not a bad cancer. I’ve had chemo every week now for a year and half and I still have my hair. About three months ago I hit a mail truck with my new car and realized that it was time to give up driving, for good. And then, I fell and ended up in the hospital, which meant I needed physical therapy, rehab, and someone to be with me after that.

Because of that fall I missed the prayer shawl retreat celebrating five years of the prayer shawl ministry. I had been on the retreat design team for four or five months and was so excited about it I could hardly wait. Unfortunately, I was in transit from the hospital to

rehab the day of the retreat and couldn’t participate.

That Sunday morning lying in bed at the Forum, I woke up with a thought: “Why am I so full of joy? I missed the retreat, I’ve lost my independence, I’m very, very limited now with disabilities, so why am I so at peace?” At that moment came the word “acceptance.” I thought yes, God, I have prayed to you

One of the staff members at Chapelwood has a saying: when you want to feel God’s love, just pretend you’re sitting under a waterfall and it’s pouring down on you. Well, I feel like I’m sitting under Niagara Falls.

The Contemplative Worship Service changed my life, and I am richly blessed because of it. God is good.

Allison Gower - It’s 8:25 and the Kids are All Right

Experience Grace in Worship morning when Jim asked if anyone wanted to become a part of Chapelwood, they joined! I’ve heard them tell people several times they joined Chapelwood because this is where their grandchildren go to church, and so this is where they need to be.

About the time Will turned four he was old enough to join us in the Sanctuary.

I was a little worried, as he’s a little rambunctious, but the Miners were ready for him. Everybody was coaching him, and cheering him on, saying “Will! You’re here!

Welcome!” They made him feel so special; he was so excited to be sitting in church.

Now our family takes up the entire pew.

We’ve got our friends surrounding us each week; it’s just wonderful. We really feel like part of a community.

O

ur family normally goes to the 8:25 service. Gillian, who’s nine, and Will, who’s five, absolutely LOVE church. It’s one of their very favorite things.

When I was growing up, we moved all over the country, frequently. Consequently I didn’t really have very much consistency with schools and friends and activities.

Moving wasn’t ever an issue; it was just the way it was. One thing was consistent: when we moved, the first thing we always did was find a church home. We usually lived where churches were not as large as Chapelwood, so there would be only one service and our family would worship together. There was never any sort of option for parents to be one place and children to be another. I remember distinctly my sisters and I sitting there scribbling on our bulletins before we could write, making little circles pretending we were writing in cursive. Later, we got old enough to pass notes. There was never any sort of debate or question about going to church. This is just what we did. Some of my best childhood memories are from church. It was lovely.

After college, my sisters and I all lived

in different cities, and somehow my dad brought us all back to Houston, and we ended up living essentially within three blocks of each other and starting our families.

At the time my parents attended a different Methodist church, and we daughters joined them there. However, when Gillian got to be about three and a half, I decided that we needed to find a different church – one with a slightly better fit – and the first church I visited was Chapelwood. I saw online that the 8:25 service was the family worship service, and I thought that sounded like what I was looking for. I’d been focused on my career for a long time, and then I’d been focused on my children’s individual needs, and I realized, “Now we need to start building our community.”

When I was growing up, no matter where we lived and what church we went to, we always sat in the same spot: about eight rows back, on the right-hand side. So, that’s where I sat with Gillian. (My husband Jeremy was at home with our newborn son.) You know how it is with a three or four-year-old, you’re concerned about her being too noisy and disruptive. It was just such an amazing God thing, but where we sat we happened to be surrounded by

long-term members of Chapelwood who were unbelievably welcoming. Helen and Jim Miner and their friends were sitting in the pew right behind us. They took a real interest in us and made us feel very welcome. I worried that we might be a little noisy - getting Gillian’s books out, helping her color, getting her settled in - and they said, “Oh, no, no, we have grandchildren, we love this!” So they made us feel very, very welcome. That first day we showed up, Dr. Jackson was preaching about getting out there and getting involved, there was a children’s sermon, we had been greeted so warmly, and I just thought, “This is it! This is where we need to be.”

My sister has twin girls, Ava and Olivia, who are about the same age as Gillian. They kept hearing her talk about how much she loved Chapelwood and Jim Jackson, so they convinced their mom to start coming to Chapelwood. They started joining us on Sundays, so we’ve expanded our Sunday family by four: the girls and their parents, Rachel and Brian. All three girls joined children’s choir, and started being in choir musicals and singing occasionally on Sunday mornings. My parents would visit when the girls sang, and unexpectedly, one Sunday

The children’s sermon has a lot to do with making the kids feel welcome because it gives them a real part in the service. When the children’s choirs sing, same thing.

Because they feel so much a part, they assume anybody they see in that service is a friend; age doesn’t matter. That’s probably the reason that service is so important to me, because it’s so hard to feel connected in such a big city. You have your physical neighbors, but unless you have kids the same age in the same school you don’t necessarily know each other. The way to have your kids learn what a community is like is to have them participate in a church service where they meet people. Now they can be walking through the church, and grown-ups they know speak to them. Gillian and Will just walk up and talk to adults if they’ve seen them in the service and gotten to know them a little. They know the kids in the Wesley Choir by sight, and can speak to them in the hallways, and not be scared of them at all.

I hear a lot of parents say they are nervous about bringing their children into the Sanctuary, because they feel like it’s too formal, or they might not be accepted, or it might bother other people sitting nearby.

It was by the grace of God that I sat in front of the Miners that August morning.

If we had been seated where somebody

gave me a “look” I probably would have felt unwelcome, and not returned. But God directed me to a place where the people couldn’t have been more loving.

Some days when I’m not in church because I have something else going on, my kids sit in our pew with my parents, or my sister.

There have been times when cousins are visiting that my parents have had as many as six grandkids sitting with them. On days like that the Miners and whoever‘s around sort of move in to help supervise.

They’ll help pass the crayons, or put a gentle hand on a shoulder as a subtle nudge that reminds everyone that there are a bunch of adults around, so paying attention would be a good thing.

...They made him feel so special; he was so excited to be sitting in church.

Now our family takes up the entire pew. We’ve got our friends surrounding us each week; it’s just wonderful. We really feel like part of a community...

Whenever there’s an opportunity for a young person to get involved in the service, that resonates with the kids. A few months ago, a young girl did the announcements during the service. Children really perk up when things like that happen; I know that all the kids around me were like, “What’s going on?” They really enjoy seeing a peer participate in the service. They love watching the Wesley Choir, too. It’s very aspirational. There’s one boy who’s probably in middle school now who’s been an usher with his dad since he was five. I’ve gotten to know him because he’s always the one who hands us our bulletin, which my kids

absolutely love. Not too long ago he read the Scripture, and did an amazing job.

I grew up with church being so much a part of my life. It was like going to school, or the grocery store, or piano lessons. The easier we can make church attendance for families, the better. I’m very appreciative of the fact that Chapelwood is so accessible for my kids, and that they’re so welcome. There are so many different ways to involve children in the service so that they don’t always think, “This is for grown up people.” That’s where you lose people, when they keep thinking “This is not for me, it’s for somebody else.”

That’s when you start being on different pages as a family. The more you feel a part of something together, the harder it is to lose, and that certainly applies to worship.

You may misplace it for a short time while you’re at college, but it’s a part of you and you do get back to it.

Maybe in the olden days before our lives were all on fast forward, we didn’t spend so much time apart from our family members.

Right now I’m sitting here at work, my kids are at school, my husband is at his job, we’re all separate and that’s the norm. I think sometimes it’s a lost opportunity when kids are in Sunday School while their parents are elsewhere. Everybody doesn’t hear the same message, and that’s one less conversation point that your family has.

And it’s not just about what happens in the Sanctuary. The Miners are involved with Esperanza, and that made it much more interesting to my kids. I’d say, “You know, Jim Miner does such and such over there,” and they’d perk up and say, “Oh, really?”

For us, that’s been a way to turn connections into service opportunities. We hear about how people we know in the Sanctuary are serving, and suddenly that becomes very interesting to my children. The fact that there’s an seventy-year age difference doesn’t matter whatsoever.

I think young children can really, really benefit from spending time in the Sanctuary.

Anything that we can do to make people feel welcome there with their young kids, I think that’s a really big opportunity.

Experience Grace in Worship Contacts

Your Story Continues ... Questions for Reflection

SATURDAYS, 5:30 p.m. - Fellowship Hall Mercy Street is a community that creates a safe harbor for the hurt, the lost, and the seeking so that we might all experience the radical grace of God. Whether you have faith, struggle with faith or have lost faith, we open ourselves to you. You’ll find live music, authentic faith journeys, and practical messages set in a very casual environment. More than anything, at Mercy Street you’ll find hope.

Gregg Taylor, Pastor of Mercy Street gregg@mercystreet.org (713)354-4401

SUNDAYS, 8:25, 9:45 and 11:10 a.m. - Sanctuary Each week Chapelwood offers three Sunday morning Sanctuary Worship Services: 8:25 Family, 9:45 Contemporary, and 11:10 a.m. Traditional. You may also view these services live and online at www.chapelwood.org.

Tom Jaber, Director of Sanctuary Worship Pamela Moore, Administrative Assistant pmoore@chapelwood.org (713)354-4480

Kathy Jo Curran – From Houston Streets to Mercy Street What life experiences have you responded to in less-than-productive ways?

In what areas of your life do you feel unworthy of God’s love?

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SUNDAYS, 8:45 a.m. - Chapel Each Sunday worship service is unique and offers extended times of stillness, Scripture reading, music, sacred reading, healing prayer, meditation, and Holy Communion.

Marty Shroff – Contemplative Listening Are you satisfied with your current relationship with God?

Jerry Webber, Pastor of Contemplative Worship / Director of the Chapelwood Center for Christian Spirituality jwebber@chapelwood.org (713)354-4477

SUNDAYS, 10:30 a.m. - 3911 Campbell Road The Family Worship Service in Spanish is central to this community. Our mission is to know (conocer), share (compartir), and celebrate (celebrar) the hope (esperanza) of God with Hispanic people in Houston.

Luis Palomo, Pastor of Esperanza lpalomo@chapelwood.org (713)895-8300

SUNDAYS, 11:15 a.m. - The Upper Room The Upper Room is a community of grace devoted to living the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Sunday mornings are designed for those who desire highly experiential worship featuring a full band in a casual environment with practical teaching about the good news of the Gospel. The Upper Room also has a growing network of homebased community groups.

What have you prayed for that has been absolutely, unconditionally answered?

Rob Rossy, Director of The Table rrossy@chapelwood.org (713)354-4467

What crises in your life have turned into blessings?

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Allison Gower – It’s 8:25 and the Kids Are All Right

Christian Washington, Director of Upper Room cwashington@chapelwood.org (713)408-7072 SUNDAYS, 5:30 p.m. - Fellowship Hall The Table, a community of emerging generations, is connecting the unconnected, so that they can experience the grace of Christ through authentic relationships, genuine worship, and selfless service.

How do you give of your time and resources to further God’s work in the lives of those who need it?

What worship habits do you have today that can be traced to worship with your family as a young child?

What people in the Chapelwood community have been an unexpected blessing in your life?

Whether or not you are a parent, what benefits exist for you relating to children participating in worship?

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Carl Sandlin - People, Missions, and Worship Converge We spent a week working on a lady’s house. She came by on about Thursday of that week and told us a little bit of her story.

She’d spent her savings on temporary housing because her house was unlivable. We were trying to get that home back in a position where she could live in it again. I think we all got a lot out of that. Also, we’ve built two wheelchair ramps. Rebuilding Together Houston will give any group a location and materials, and all you have to do is provide the labor. They’ve got a list as long as your arm of folks who need ramps. Building ramps for people who needed them was a terrific thing. I wouldn’t have done that if I weren’t a member of a Sunday School class.

Grow in Grace in

Groups The Christian life is meant to be lived in community. We need fellowship, prayer support, common goals and the guidance of Scripture to grow in grace. The stories that follow show how Chapelwood groups have strengthened the faith of persons of all ages who meet together for a variety of reasons.

F

or me, worship and small groups and missions are all intertwined. Our best friends have always been found in our Sunday School class – a small group – and the mission trips I’ve been on are, in essence, a way for a small group to make a difference in other people’s lives. When the church doors open and we’re supposed to be there, we’re there.

I grew up in a little bitty church outside Union City, Tennessee, that had about one hundred people on the roll. My mother was in the choir, and I started singing in the choir as soon as they would let me. We had probably 18 or 20 in the choir. There were some really nice voices there, so my experience with music and worship has always been really positive. That’s part of what made worship important to me. Now, I feel like I need to go to worship because that’s just part of who I am.

There are a bunch of worship communities, and then there are the small groups: discussion groups, Sunday School classes, choir, handbells, whatever groups you want to name.

I have often said that our best friends, from wherever we’ve lived, come from our Sunday School class. I just can’t imagine not having that experience in whatever church a person’s a part of. It’s terrific, becoming good friends with the people you see every week, knowing that they’re going to be there on Sunday, and doing stuff outside of church with those same folks. Small groups are terrifically important. Chapelwood is a collection of small communities. That small group can be choir, or it can be a Sunday School class, or it can be a Bible Study, or Wednesday Night Study, or it can be any one of a number of different things. You just keep enlarging that until you include the whole congregation. We’ve got a whole bunch of ministries that allow you to get involved however you want, and to me, that’s important.

For example, in the Good News Sunday School class, there was a group that went down to Galveston for Hurricane Ike relief.

I’ve been on a number of mission trips from Chapelwood. Our trip to the Ivory Coast stands out because of the interaction with the local people. The Ivorians had never seen white people do manual labor, so the first day we were there, the folks just kind of stood around and watched. The second day we had a bigger group standing and watching, stunned, because not only were white folks doing manual labor, they found out we were all volunteers. The third day they started helping, and on the fourth day we did an on-site devotional. We sang some songs as a part of our devotional. We sang in English, and they joined us in French. That was pretty terrific – we found we had an unexpected connection, through hymns. That was a worship experience I won’t ever forget.

The most recent mission I went on was to Cuba. We spent about a week working on a parsonage for a new minister and his wife, but the real value was in letting the Cuban people know that there were people in the world interested in how they are doing. By showing up and worshiping with them, and by being with them for a week and showing that we were willing to partner with them, that meant a whole lot more.

Some people say that it would be better just to send money instead of traveling to do missions. There might be a place for that in some cases. However, there’s also a place for making the effort and going to whatever place you’re talking about, so that you can show that you care about the people. In Cuba, the family that we lived with didn’t have a washing machine. We were able to provide the funds so the pastor’s wife could buy one. That would have taken several years’ worth of salary for them, which means they never would have gotten it. We could have just sent the money ahead of time, but now every time she uses that washer, she’ll think about the group of folks who came to help build their house. And the payback will be a lot more than if we’d just sent cash.

It’s not the amount of physical work you do as much as it is just showing up. Just being there, and showing that you’re willing to be a part of their lives.

Carol Winn - Finding Your Way Back

Grow in Grace in Groups

I

left my marriage at 1:30 in the morning with a fractured skull, a busted lip, my two children, and the clothes on our backs. Two years later, after not being a part of any church, I landed at Chapelwood by God’s grace and the invitation of Suzanne Jones.

I grew up in a wonderfully loving family – Ozzie and Harriet, if you will. I met my future husband in the eighth grade, so he certainly wasn’t someone I had known only a short time. Once married, we were always very involved in our church. I’ve sung in choir all my life except, interestingly enough, while I was married. He sang in choir, though, and it was important that I show up every Sunday. He would stand up in the choir loft to see that I was there – when everyone else was sitting down.

The first time he hit me I was eightand-a-half months pregnant. He slugged me in the stomach. I should have called that a clue. It went on for eight years, and I never told anyone.

Even so, the physical heals. The effects of the verbal and mental linger, for years, and years . . . and years.

Friends picked up the boys, my niece, and me from our house that night and took me to the hospital. It’s humbling to see “assault” written by your name on the emergency room board. The police wanted me to file charges, but I was too scared. I never went back home.

It was December 12, 1991.

At Chapelwood I quickly found a home in the music ministry. Immediately joining a group like that wasn’t in my character at all. Normally, I would wait, and try to get to know people a little first. I was emotionally bruised, but I knew I needed to get back to a church, if only for my kids. They were about five and ten at the time.

One Wednesday evening in choir, Dana Runge introduced me to a man in the bass section who she worked with. There was quite an age difference between us, so it was easy for me to let my guard down and chat with him. His name was Tom, and he and Dana

were part of a group that went dancing at Wild West occasionally and, although I didn’t take them up on their repeated offers to join them, we all went to lunch one Sunday. Tom and I sat next to each other and joked the entire time. At choir rehearsal next week he said “You really need to meet us all and go dancing.” I told him, “Any first, third, or fifth weekend I can go.” (I didn’t have the boys those weekends.) About two months later he said, “Well, if I’ve done my math right, you don’t have your kids this weekend. Want to go dancing?”

Wow. You could have knocked me over with a feather - he remembered. We went to a barbecue wild game cook-off and went dancing. We went to a choir member’s wedding the very next night and danced at the reception. We were married sometime later.

Was it a coincidence that Tom and I crossed paths at Chapelwood? I don’t think so. I believe that God led me to Chapelwood, and had already selected Tom for me. God’s grace is so evident.

I was someone with no self-esteem, and while I still struggle with simple things like asking for help, I feel very blessed.

I’m still here, while many who have walked in those shoes aren’t.

When I got pregnant with Jackson, Tom and I shifted our focus from choir to a Sunday School class, and occasionally I help Rita Stuckey with the sets for children’s choir musicals. We belong to Foundations.

Our class is amazing. Nobody would hesitate to pick up the phone and ask for a favor or a prayer from anyone else there. You know, you would be hard-pressed to find men anywhere as close as the men in our class. It’s just not common for that many men of that age to be so tightly knit. It’s incredibly, incredibly special.

Tom is my “knight in shining armor.” In addition to my awesome husband, I now have three wonderful sons, two dogs, and a mini-van. I’ve recently started a floral design business – flowers are my passion. It’s a tremendous amount of work, and I absolutely love it.

And, if you’re parents of high-school- or college-aged kids and are looking for a Sunday School class, come visit the Foundations. Our class rocks.

Grow in Grace in Groups Nadine Herrera - A Testimony of God’s Grace

Carolyn Taylor - Special People, Special Art victim assistance programs. I felt I was making a difference.

And now, I am still able to make a difference, but in a more gentle way.

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f someone had said to me, “I’m going to give you no budget, maybe no talent, no art background and a group of special needs artists − and you’re going to touch the world,” I would have said, “What? What are you talking about here?” Yet that is exactly what has happened.

When we moved to Houston, we visited a lot of churches. Then we heard about the Circle of Friends, and brought our daughter Cameron here. Everyone was just so embracing.

My husband and I started attending Sunday services. I was blown away by the first sermon I heard from Jim Jackson. I thought, “We’ve found a home.” In this city of six million people, where we didn’t know anybody … it was just so wonderful. I love Chapelwood’s emphasis on how we live this life in community with one another − how we serve and how we think of others. Our church doesn’t need to have a Circle of Friends special needs ministry, but it does.

As I watched Cam’s involvement with the program, I started thinking about what we hear all the time at Chapelwood, that “we are blessed to be a blessing.” She had just graduated from high school, and I thought now it’s not just about people serving her anymore, but what was she going to do in the community? How could special

needs young adults touch the world in a way that is going to mean something?

Then an idea came to me: art cards.

Someone could start a program encouraging the kids to make handmade cards and send them to the homebound. I loved the idea. I sure wished someone would do it. It wasn’t until I had carried the idea to many people, trying to find someone to bring it to life, that I realized I had not been listening to God’s voice: “You can do this.”

The Special Artists in Action have been meeting for about a year. Our artists get together every Monday morning to create cards. There’s an array of disabilities and abilities in our class. Some of the kids (including my daughter) aren’t fluent with their verbal skills. But what we have created is an opportunity for kids with autism or dyslexia or any of those labels -- to leave them at the door. You join the group and you don’t have to say a word. You just come in and let your imagination and creativity take over.

You let your light shine.

We have created beautiful art which is being shared around the world.

We have sent Christmas cards and Valentine’s cards to a medical unit in Afghanistan, we have sent cards to And now, when I look back at His Chapelwood members, to the Ronald timing, I realize what had happened. McDonald House and to Houston God had removed the obstacles that Hospice. Next is a special needs would have prevented me from starting group at a church in Estonia and then Special Artists in Action. Two years working with veterans at VA hospitals. ago, I had eye surgery and it went very Special Artists in Action is a love fest. wrong, my cornea was badly damaged.

It’s joyful. I have never left a session Now I am pretty much blind in one without being uplifted, without feeling eye and I get “eye migraines.” I cannot that our light is shining into the world. work.

The rest of my week may be up for But what would I do with my life grabs, but I do know this: on Monday without work? For a long time, mornings, I make art with my friends. my career had been my identity. I worked for the United Nations as Chief of Minefield Clearance Policy. I traveled all over the world: Tajikistan, Cambodia, Bosnia, Zambia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

We would go out to the minefields and set up programs. From there I got involved with victims and mine

The Learning Ministry Core Team

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he problem – Inferiority Stronghold I have seen myself as unattractive and inferior to others for as long as I can remember. I used to say to myself that I had nothing to contribute to intellectual conversations or that I was not good company to others. I know where my inferiority stronghold came from, and I have forgiven the people who contributed to it, myself included; but it was still deeply rooted inside of me. My lack of self-esteem led to extreme shyness, social awkwardness, and a fear of being rejected, especially by men.

These strongholds also created isolation because I always believed no one could be interested or care to know about me or what was going on in my life. This prevented me from reaching out to others.

In the still moments I spend with God, who am I?

God’s answer to the problem— Keep my eyes focused on Him Throughout the past 12 years, God has been molding me in different areas of my life and I praise Him for what He has achieved in me. His grace has sent me to Esperanza to continue training for His kingdom and where I have received encouragement, support, and a real feeling of belonging. Even though I have only been at Esperanza for a short time, I have already realized that my feelings of inferiority have no place in my life any more. The Lord is teaching me not to resist the leadership qualities that He has given me and to use them for his glory at Esperanza.

I know now that by God’s grace I am able to be a blessing to others as long as I keep my focus on Him!

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_____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Who is the real me and how I have been created to be in this world? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

How can the struggles in my life be seen as invitation to bring healing to others in the world who are hurting? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Grow in Grace in Groups Contacts Cindy Booth, Director of Children’s Ministry cbooth@chapelwood.org (713)354-4413

Reflecting God’s love, we teach children about God, lead children to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and encourage children to grow in His likeness. Sunday School classes and activities are available Sunday mornings at 9:45 and 11:00 a.m.

Nursery for infants through preschool age children is available Sunday morning’s beginning at 8:15 a.m.

Suzanne Hale, Mercy Street’s Director of

Community Connection shale@chapelwood.org (713)354-4419

In addition to the Saturday evening worship experience, will you participate in other groups and studies in the community? Will you invest yourself in relationships? At Mercy Street we value relationships and believe that God shows up as we show up in each other’s lives, forming healthy, safe and genuine connections with each other.

Josef Klam, Pastor of Children’s and Student Ministries jklam@chapelwood.org (713)354-4409

The Chapelwood Student ministry sees its role in the greater Chapelwood community as a community where students and their families grow in their love for God and for others. All students in seventh through twelfth grades worship together on Sunday mornings at 9:45 a.m., August through May. We challenge students to see how the Kingdom of God impacts: selfdiscipline, friends, everyday interactions, depression, drugs and drinking.

Your Story Continues ... Questions for Reflection

Teresa Rossy, Director of Learning Ministry trossy@chapelwood.org (713)354-4407 The Learning Ministry invites all adults to experience and share God’s grace through our wide variety of classes, Bible studies and small groups that are designed to help persons grow into deeper relationships with God and each other.

Nancy Sterling, Director of Praying Ministry nsterling@chapelwood.org (713)354-4458

Carl Sandlin – People, Missions, and Worship Converge What could you and your friends do together to make the world a better place?

What are the different ways you can benefit from serving others?

How do your actions reflect God to people who see you on a daily basis?

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We are a praying community that seeks to involve each Chapelwood member in making our congregation a “house of prayer.” The Center for Christian Spirituality is an extension of the Praying Ministry. The Center provides resources for prayer and spiritual formation in order to help people grow in relationship with God.

Wick Stuckey, Pastor of Pastoral Care wstuckey@chapelwood.org (713)354-4430

The Pastoral Care Ministry of Chapelwood seeks to provide ministries of support, care, spiritual direction, and pastoral counseling to those experiencing personal, relational, vocational or spiritual concerns in their lives. Ministry to families who have experienced a death is also provided.

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Carol Winn – Finding Your Way Back What conditions in your life do you need to change?

In what ways have the people you know at Chapelwood changed your life?

How has God transformed difficult circumstances in your life into blessings?

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Carolyn Taylor – Special People, Special Art

Liza Kutner, Director of Relational Ministries Anne Kadlecek, Administrative Assistant akadlecek@chapelwood.org (713)354-4447

We offer a Special Needs Ministry for teens and adults. Circle of Friends meets Wednesday nights for dinner and a variety of activities. We also offer Sunday School for special needs children, teens and adults. Pals Place, a group for teens that meets the last Friday of each month for food, fun and fellowship. The Signs of Grace Ministry provides signing at the 9:45 a.m. Sanctuary worship service and other special events. Our recovery and support groups include: 12-Step, depression/bipolar, grief support, divorce recovery, and cancer support.

Why do you keep coming back to Chapelwood?

What new things could you do that would share God’s grace in different ways?

What activities in your life leave you feeling joyful and uplifted?

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Lo Becker - The View from the Summit

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Share Grace in

Ministry Whether you prefer to get your hands dirty on a project, rub elbows with strangers here or abroad, teach the ways of Christ to the next generation or knit a prayer shawl, you are in the right church. At Chapelwood, there are many ways to share grace in ministry. Here are a few stories from folks who enjoy helping others.

his was my first year to go to SUMMIT (the summer mission trip for youth), and I went very reluctantly.

I went because my daughters wanted me to go, and I wanted to go and share that experience with them. But, in my heart, there was resentment about taking a week off when I’m so limited on my vacation time.

So I said to God, “If You want this to happen, You make it happen and let it fit into my schedule.” However, I wasn’t going to go particularly out of my way to see that it did.

Somehow, everything came together: a training class at work was canceled, my boss was fine with my being out that week, and SUMMIT still needed adult volunteers just three weeks before they left. I thought, “Dang it. Out of excuses. Oh, well, guess I’m going.”

The girls were so excited. They told me what to pack, and what to do, and what to expect. I thought that was pretty cool. If they were that excited at nearly sixteen years old about my being there with them, as a mom, I should jump all over that. My expectation was that I would go to Bullard, work outside in the heat, help someone in need, and maybe because of that, feel better.

What I got out of it was so much more.

The middle school kids who were on my work team were great. They worked so hard. They painted, they scraped cabinets; they picked up junk. You know, for the most part, Chapelwood kids come from privileged backgrounds.

To see them work hard for somebody they don’t know, for somebody who can give them only a word of thanks, is remarkable. One of our jobs was replacing screens on windows, which I’d never done before. I was totally out of my comfort zone but to find out that I could do it was a good thing. I asked an adult I saw installing a sink what he did as a profession. He was a geologist or something like that. When I asked him how he knew how to install sinks, he said, “I don’t. The key is to look like you know what you’re doing. I’m just here to figure it out.” That was a perfect illustration of the saying, “God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called.” It’s not about what you can do, it’s about your willingness to show up, and say, “I don’t know what I’m here to do, but use me.”

On Client Night, the people we work for tell their stories.

One person in tears said, “These kids came out and built me a deck, and it changed my life, because for the first time in a year I can get out of my house.” My daughter Nicole’s client said that because of the work Nicole’s group did, she could now sit outside and look at the stars.

There are a lot of stories like that. That’s powerful.

It wasn’t until Tuesday night’s worship that I was convinced in my heart that SUMMIT was where I needed to be. I felt so much remorse over the resentment I had about giving up my vacation. The week wasn’t close to done, and I already felt renewed and refreshed. Normally you go on vacation and come back exhausted, but I knew this time I was going to come back even more energized than when I left. I was in the right place for a reason. When we got back I told my husband Doug that I thought my misunderstanding of how spiritually moving it was happened because all these years, the girls told us in detail how hard they worked, what they did, and how hot it was, and that “Oh, yeah, they also did worship.” I understand now why they explained it that way, because while it’s easy to tell how to build a ramp or paint a house, you can’t explain the worship. You have to experience it.

The lunch devotionals and candlelight groups at night were cool – hearing the kids pray, and talk about stuff that’s real.

Getting their perspectives was such a neat experience. A personal high note for me happened one night during worship. I looked over and saw both my daughters with their hands lifted up in praise, and thought, “I never get to see that. I’m off in big church, they’re off doing their thing; I never get to see them in praise and worship.” And there they were, lifting their hands to God. To be able to sit back and think, “Those are mine,” that’s awesome.

I would go back, wholeheartedly, with absolutely no reluctance. I loved it, and I loved the kids. All these years I’ve told people, “Send your kids to SUMMIT,” but I need to revise that now to say, “Send yourself to SUMMIT. Oh, and bring your kids with you.” You need to go and experience it.

Jim Spencer - PEG24T: It’s a Guy Thing

Share Grace in Ministry people who play with us on a regular basis who are not Chapelwood members. That’s ok – they’re men, and they need care just like everybody else. It’s a way of having Christian fellowship without requiring church membership. It’s turned out to be a great thing.

Well, about two years ago, somebody said, “We need a name for our group.”

Bob Bening said, “I know what to call it: PEG24. Pray, Eat, Golf, second and fourth Tuesdays.” We added the “T” to the end, so now it’s PEG24T. But half the guys at breakfast didn’t play golf, so people asked me how that was going to work for those guys. I suggested we change it. So now it’s Pray, which we do, it’s Eat, which we do, but it’s not just golf, G stands for Grow – Grow as men, Grow as Christians.

Because you’re here to fellowship, you’re here to find out what you can do around the church, so you’re growing as a person and as a Christian.

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hen I retired in 1995 I started looking around for things I could do at the church and other places, and I saw the men’s breakfast mentioned. It was held on the second and fourth Tuesday mornings of every month in the Fellowship Hall, and had been going on a long, long time. So I started coming on Tuesday mornings. I enjoyed it - we’d come up here and have a nice breakfast, and sit around a table with usually about eight people, get to know everybody, and then we’d have a program of some kind.

It doesn’t have to be men who are retired, but it works out that way because those are the guys who don’t have to go to work.

It’s a real good way to meet men who have gone through a career and now have free time on their hands. A lot of them don’t have a clue as to what to do now that they’re retired. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked, “What do you do all day?” I’ve been retired for fifteen years, and I say, “Well I don’t know, I don’t get paid by anybody any more, but I seem to

work very hard. There’s a lot of things you can do, you just have to find things you enjoy doing.”

Many men my age, after they retire, lose their identities because they were heads of corporations, or something like that, and they had staff to do everything they wanted to get done. What do they do now? They don’t know. Nobody calls to go to lunch all the time like they used to, and so they kind of flounder around, and some of them lose their way. They’re not happy in retirement − a lot of them even go back to work because of that. They don’t use the capabilities they’ve got, not realizing there are a lot of opportunities to use those capabilities. It’s a good thing to be in the same boat of life that other people are, to go through those experiences together. We’ve had a lot of men who’ve had illnesses and surgeries and stuff like that, we all know we’re going to be there eventually. It’s just a process of me helping you, and knowing you’ll help me when I need it.

So after I’d been attending for a couple of years, I guess, I was talking with Jack Hillman, and we decided to go out and play a round of golf after Tuesday’s breakfast. Soon we realized we needed to get some more people involved. So we talked to our breakfast group and started with one foursome, then we had more than one foursome, and then it kept going. I now have 34 people on the list of guys I contact about golf. We usually have about fifteen to twenty playing on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. At one point, several of the Tuesday morning guys said, ”I’ve got a friend who would like to play with us – is that ok?” We said, “Sure, bring him on out.” So we’ve now got a fellow who lives off Telge road and belongs to a different Methodist church who plays with us on a regular basis. When his wife passed away, four of us showed up at her funeral. He was stunned, because we didn’t belong to his church. That meant a lot to him and it meant a lot to all of us. We’ve added two

We’ve lost some people – Roy Dye was one of the primary ones. His death hurt us a lot. But, it gave us an opportunity to do something good. The First Tee program, sponsored by the USGA, trains kids to play golf and be good citizens. I had contacted the lady who’s in charge of it here in the Houston area and told her we were a group of golfers who had spare

golf equipment, and could she use any of it if I could get it together?” She was delighted. So I raised the possibility at our Tuesday morning breakfast. Everybody said, “Yeah, I’ve got some stuff, and I’d be glad to give it to you. Why not put it in the hands of kids who can use it?“ We set April 24 as the day to bring the equipment up here. We decided not only would we do this, but we’d do it in memory of Roy Dye, who started the annual Chapelwood golf tournament. Even the non-golfers could easily participate by buying a dozen golf balls and bringing them. Well the day arrived and we filled the back of Shane Schlemeyer’s pickup, and the back of my van with golf equipment, and took it all up to the First Tee headquarters at Redstone.

The First Tee representative was stunned when she saw it all. I guess there’s another meaning now: Pray, Eat, Give – because we gave away the stuff we had.

Thursday mornings I go to the men’s Bible Study, which is a different group.

Back when I started, I sat with a group of men much older than I was at the time, and little by little we’ve lost most of them.

For a while there were just two or three of us left at our table, but we’re slowly but surely building with younger guys coming in. One young man came in and sat with us at our table for about a month, and

when we got to know him we found out he was a recently retired school principal.

We kept talking with him, and found out he likes to play golf. So he went out and played with us two weeks ago and loved it, so he’s now joined the PEG24T group.

He wouldn’t have joined if we hadn’t asked the question. Now he’s not only going to the Thursday morning Bible Study and the Tuesday morning breakfast, he plays golf with us, and there’s no telling what else will come of it.

I’ve met guys who I never would have had a chance to meet because of this. It gives all of us an opportunity to talk to people and say, “Well, you’re in the same boat I am, would you like to come to breakfast and see what our group is like?” And so we’ve grown from an average of 30 people at every session to 50 people at every session.

We have tables of eight, and I know there are always at least six tables and they’re pretty much packed every time.

And so that worked out. Our group’s got a lot of capacity to do things. One of these days some guy will say, “Well I’ve got an idea, I want to do this,” and we’ve got a group of fifty guys sitting there ready to make it happen. Anyway, that’s our group.

And we’ve had a ball with it – really had a good time.

Equipment donated by the men of PEG24T

Dave Luther - Finding My Purpose, All Over the World

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was at the peak of my career, working for Exxon, my two kids were in college. Everything was going great.

But, I was in a no-man’s land, a fog. There just wasn’t anything that was getting me excited. I asked myself, “What is the purpose of what I’m doing here? Is it just to earn money or build a career?”

But, what made me decide to go was the greater fear I had of disappointing Kathie. She was pretty adamant that I go.

She said, “I’ve already paid for the trip, you’re going to go. This is the time. I’ve set you up, you’re going to be there.”

In Seguin, we were sent to an area that was devastated by floodwaters. The homeowners who were there, that was all they had, all of their belongings.

Floodwaters had washed away everything.

It was overwhelming.

I heard her. And very reluctantly, I went.

My wife, Kathie, recognized that I was lacking something. So, she started looking around. And at the church we were going to, they had a small mission trip to Seguin planned – a short, threeday excursion to help flood victims. She signed me up.

I was concerned I would have a hard time talking to people. I envisioned that they all had a very strong faith and they’d be talking about God and Christ and the path and everything else. What I found out was there were several other people who felt the same way. They were lost and trying to figure out the way. They didn’t know their purpose; they didn’t know their faith.

Talking to the people there, I could see the emotional side of what they were going through. But, they never lost hope.

They told us that having somebody care was what helped them through the struggle. They could talk about their losses with us and at the same time try to figure out what they were going to do.

I had 100 different excuses for not going: I had no talent, I had no skills, I had to go play golf. But, it really came down to one thing that was holding me back: fear. My perception of missionaries was at the core of that fear. They preached the Bible, recruited people, spoke the word of God; they were up on a pedestal.

I never envisioned myself that way.

My halo never shined. I had enough challenges and problems. I couldn’t aspire to that. What good am I going to do?

It gave me an environment in which I could ask questions about the Bible and faith and not be embarrassed about asking. I was able to get some answers and direction that allowed me to sort of open myself up – to expand my faith.

But, remember: I didn’t go there for faith. I went there for Kathie.

I really hadn’t planned very well for this trip, so I only had one set of work clothes.

It was hot, sweaty work. You can imagine what we were like by Sunday morning when we decided to go to a small Methodist church in town. There were about 12 of us. We determined we’d go to church, then back to finish working.

So, we went to church wearing our work clothes and sat in the back, trying not to call attention to ourselves.

When the pastor came in and started the service, he asked the team to come

Share Grace in Ministry forward. Reluctantly we did. It wasn’t a big church, but every single member stood up, came over and hugged us. The tears just started rolling down the faces – ours and theirs.

way you start to realize it’s not about the house, it’s about the relationships you grow there. When you leave, the kids and parents there are crying. It’s not about the house, it’s that someone cared.

And, I think at that moment, that’s when God really spoke to me. He said: “Now, Dave, you know what you need to do.”

God had now given me a direction, a purpose.

And, don’t worry about not having talent or the skills. You’ll learn the skills. What they want is your heart, your mind and your soul – to be there and give back to others who are in need.

I came back from that trip and told Kathie about it. She could see the effect it had on me, and she said, “OK, let’s start doing this.”

Missions have helped me become a better person, a more caring person.

It has strengthened my marriage. It is probably one of the best things that Kathie and I have gone through, because it is something we do together. We share the ups and downs and the challenges.

We listen to each other more, we share a lot more in common. Instead of looking at our own personal needs, we look at the other person’s needs.

After that, we were hooked. We started going on mission trips to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico and Cambodia. Our first faraway trip was to Africa. Kathie went on her own the first time. We were at Bear Creek United Methodist Church at the time, but she went with a group from Chapelwood to be trained as a team leader so she could come back to Bear Creek and lead groups to Africa. When she returned you could see the passion. Her faith had grown and she had a determination to give and do more. She said, “Dave, you need to go to Africa.”

Every mission trip we go on, three things happen: It opens our eyes to the needs that are out there, it makes us appreciate what we do have, and our faith becomes stronger as we continue our walk with Him. Selfishly, we go there because we want to strengthen our faith. It allows us to keep ourselves going in the right direction, and it has become very much a cornerstone of how we live our lives. We couldn’t survive if missions and the church were suddenly taken away from us.

On each mission, you learn something about yourself and your place in the world. The project may be about building a house. Somewhere along the

It was that very first mission trip to Seguin 20 years ago that started my walk.

It’s been a long walk since.

When our daughter, Sasha, was a teenager, we took her on a mission to Africa. She wanted to go because of all the animals and how cool it would be. She took her curlers, her hair dryer, all her clothes. At that point in her life, it was all about her, and there was no advising her on what to expect. That first night, she went to take her shower and I could hear the scream -there was no hot water. She said: “I can’t live like this!” She was ready to leave. But where was she going to go?

It took about three days, and then she started interacting with the kids, and you could see the slow transformation.

Those nice clothes she had brought, she was cutting them off to make shorts and comfortable shirts. And she was just dynamite with the kids – she could relate to them and they to her. No matter what the language barrier, there are some common things that teens all share: music and dancing.

After that three-week trip, she came home and her whole outlook was different: She realized that a shower doesn’t need to take 20 minutes, and she can use only one towel. That trip changed her life. In addition to how she perceived the world, she changed her idea of what she wanted to do as a career. She’s now a teacher.

Since joining Chapelwood, our mission work has continued, and this past year was probably one of the most gratifying trips I’ve been on because of what we are doing in the Philippines. We are helping to develop their education. In the southern Philippines, it is mostly farmland with little industrialization.

Unlike the northern region where missionaries tend to go, the interest in the southern region has been somewhat overlooked.

We didn’t know what to expect three years ago when we first went to the Southern Philippines Methodist College to help, as we were the first group allowed back in the Philippines in 40 years. It’s a small theological school, but it needs a lot of resources.

It’s taken us three years to lay the groundwork and develop relationships to determine what is the best fit for our mission to help them grow and develop.

But, after this last trip, we knew we were finally on the right path. So, it’s back to the Philippines next spring to ensure we’re staying on course and continue the mission.

What I would tell people who are thinking about giving missions a try is to start out with a small trip – something that will take a few days. I would make sure that they were prepared and went with a leader who could really help them.

But it all comes down to the joy of giving of yourself. When God puts you in a place to help someone else, that’s when you know you are blessed to be a blessing.

Share Grace in Ministry Contacts Melissa Maher, Pastor of Serving Ministry mmaher@chapelwood.org (713)354-4494 Chapelwood is a serving community. People are equipped to use their spiritual gifts serving in the kingdom of God so that our church, city and the world are transformed. For opportunities to serve outside the walls of the church around Spring Branch, Houston, and the world, contact Serving Ministry.

Teresa Cannon, Director of Chapelwood Foundation tcannon@chapelwood.org (713)354-4485

The Chapelwood Foundation exists to provide perpetual funding for significant projects and programs consistent with the priorities of the church.

Scott Endress, Pastor of Reaching Ministry sendress@chapelwood.org (713)354-4470 The Reaching Ministry helps provide a welcoming worship atmosphere through ushers and greeters on campus. Off campus, relationships are maintained with those who are hospitalized or homebound.

Karen Firenza, Director of Marketing and Communications kfirenza@chapelwood.org (713)354-4411

Your Story Continues ... Questions for Reflection

Ivan Rhone, Director of Kitchen Ministries irhone@chapelwood.org (713)354-4414 The Kitchen Ministry invites you to come and share your bread with us as we provide “daily bread” for church and community events held at the church. We praise and play in the presence of the Lord. As we share the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are promised the blessing of constant fun and fellowship.

Cason Sicking, Director of Recreation Ministry csicking@chapelwood.org (713)354-4416

Lo Becker – The View from the Summit What is God calling you to do that you have been postponing or ignoring?

What excuses do you use to remain in your comfort zone?

How can some of the small, simple things you do make a tremendous difference in the lives of those around you?

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The Recreation Ministry is a center of activity where the love of Christ is shown through Christian fellowship. We reach out to people of all ages by offering quality recreation programs that meet the needs of Chapelwood and people across west Houston.

Jim Spencer – PEG24T: It’s a Guy Thing In what ways can you merge recreation and your spiritual life?

Who might be waiting for an invitation to join you in your Chapelwood activities?

What would a group that meets your needs look like?

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Reaching the congregation and our community through media in order to inspire, inform, and invite participation in the life, mission, and purposes of the Church.

Dave Luther – Finding My Purpose All Over the World

Susan Hall, Office Manager shall@chapelwood.org (713)354-4456

The Administrative Ministry is responsible for Chapelwood’s ongoing business operations. It takes many volunteers behind the scenes to support our communities.

What is lacking in your spiritual life?

What is your life’s purpose?

What are the first steps you could take toward making your life a richer, more fulfilled one?

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Don Morrison - A Passion for the Past

I

’ve always been fascinated by history and context. My favorite quote is from George Santayana, who said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” History matters for another reason: so much of the Bible you can’t really understand well unless you know what was going on when it was written.

Teaching Sunday School is a late-blooming passion for me.

Years ago I started out to be a Lutheran minister. I went to prep school and seminary, but failed Hebrew. That was a problem: in order to be a Lutheran minister you had to pass Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German. I did great with Greek, Latin, and German. Not so with Hebrew. It just didn’t gel with me. It reads from right to left, and bottom to top, and it has hardly any vowels or adjectives. When reading aloud, it sounds like you’re clearing your throat, which could be why the Talmud is sung. Probably the real reason I didn’t pass Hebrew is that I couldn’t get up at seven in the morning to go to Hebrew class. Because of that I changed my plan from seminary to teacher’s college. So, I enrolled in Concordia Teachers’ College in Nebraska and got a degree in education. Unfortunately, when I graduated there was no call in the Lutheran School System for teachers – same in the secular world. Even with a minor in history, I found there just wasn’t much need for high school history/psychology/ theology teachers. But I needed to eat, so I went to work at a small muffler and tail-pipe manufacturing company owned by Tenneco. By 1979, the Rocky Mountain “oil boom” was on, and Tenneco was looking for warm bodies with college degrees to work in the administrative sectors of their oil company, so I moved to the oil business. I didn’t even have to know anything about oil. I learned, though, and now have been doing oil company work for 34 years.

I got started teaching at Chapelwood due to my participation in the Fellowship Class. I’d go to Sunday School, and some question would come up, or somebody would say something, and I’d say, “Well, no, it was actually such and such …” After a little of that, Ron Woliver said “You ought to be teaching these classes.” About the time he said that I ran across a book about the apostles called Twelve Ordinary Men. I thought it would be really neat to take these twelve ordinary men and then look at what eventually happened to them. You don’t hear about that much. Plus, I thought it would be really interesting

to go through all the symbology associated with each of them and look into what they were really like, based on what we know. So, I built a Sunday School lesson out of that. Symbols were especially important during the dark ages because back then, most people couldn’t read. So, when they went to church, they could look at the symbols in the stained glass windows and know who the story was about. If they saw loaves and fishes, it was probably about Andrew, and if they saw a rock, it was probably about Peter, and so on. So I looked at all of the Apostles and filled in the gaps of their lives, i.e., their individual symbols, what they may have looked like, what happened to them after Calvary, how instrumental they were in the spread of the Gospel, etc., and put it all together into a series of six lessons in a PowerPoint presentation. The class liked it, and I just loved looking up all that stuff. Finding pictures of what some people thought the apostles really looked like was entertaining. Artists all through history have painted the apostles in clothing appropriate to the time and place the artist lived.

So maybe you find a picture of the apostles and they’re all dressed in Flemish army outfits.

It’s interesting when you realize that’s how people often thought of the apostles – as men dressed in clothing like their own.

I offered those lessons up to our class when we had a gap to fill. It was very, very well-received, but then a couple of women in the class asked, “What about the women of the Bible?” So I created a new lesson series: “Twelve Extraordinary Women of the Bible.” Very similar, but it was more challenging as there wasn’t quite as much source material to work with. The next thing I know, the class is saying, “Well, what about our Bible?“ So, I developed another class on how we got our Bible: how it progressed from stone tablets to papyrus, what was included and what was left out and why, how it was voted on, and so forth.

My real area of interest is in the New Testament days – the church and its beginnings, Paul and the apostles, and what happened to them – AD 1, through about 300. Jim Ledbetter, another member of the Fellowship Class, had experienced the teaching series on the reasons that Christianity spread as it did.

It was called, “Why There and Why Then?” The Jews figured largely in that story, and so I said to Jim, “You know what? We really need to do a history of the Jewish people. ” So, we did.

The idea was that that would help a lot of people understand the uniqueness of Hebrew and Jewish thought processes, and

Experience · Grow · Share how, of all the religions at the time, Judaism managed to stick around. Think about it – nobody’s worshiping Baal anymore. Nobody’s worshiping the Greek gods anymore. One key to why Judaism lasted, and why Christianity spread so quickly, is location. That particular corner of the Mediterranean was wanted by everybody for trade, and all those established cities with people moving through them were ideal for spreading the word.

Teaching Sunday School is a perfect melding of my interests and capabilities. I took Methods of Secondary Education in school, and in business, I’ve done a lot of presentations. PowerPoint is almost second nature where I work, and helps illustrate historical lessons well. Everybody loves pictures, and it helps keep people focused. I have noticed that Chapelwood’s classes have very different compositions. The Candlelighters and the Wedding Band absolutely love this sort of stuff. I don’t know why that is, but they can’t get enough of it.

However, when I teach these materials to classes with a younger demographic, I get a much different response.

I feel that there is less interest in lecture-style Sunday School classes in the younger groups, and that they aren’t quite as interested in Christian history as some of us older folks.

Currently, I’m thinking of developing a series of lessons about the book of Daniel. Daniel is fascinating to me because it’s a book written mostly in Aramaic. Daniel the man is a Jew in captivity who has dreams that foretell what’s going to happen to all the surrounding great and powerful empires. Nobody heeded his words, though, and what he said all came to pass. Nebuchadnezzar, who was king at the time, was a perfect example. He was basically a good guy, he just didn’t believe what he was hearing from Daniel, and the country suffered for it.

I love developing classes, and teaching them. The research is the real fun, and sharing with people who are interested in hearing about what was going on back then just makes it better. This is what my wife and I so love about Chapelwood and one of the primary reasons we joined. Not only are there so many different ways to put one’s God-given gifts and talents to work in service to the Kingdom, but there is such a welcoming spirit among Chapelwooders that encourages the “stretching” of one’s self into areas that may have never previously been considered. It’s how an “oil man” became a Sunday School Teacher!

What are your passions in life? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ How can you use those passions to share the glory of God? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ What would “stretching” yourself into a new field of service look like? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________

Looking to Connect?

Whether you are new to Chapelwood, looking to get connected, or to reconnect, the Connecting Ministry will help you find meaningful worship, small groups, and learning and serving opportunities to strengthen your partnership with Jesus. Chapelwood has many relationship ministries, including; Marriage, Men, Senior Adults, Singles, and Women, all of which provide wonderful opportunities to grow in grace.

Ginny Itz, Director of Connecting Ministry gitz@chapelwood.org (713)354-4446

Donna Lowe, Project Leader of Connecting Ministry dlowe@chapelwood.org (713)827-3915

Ann Mobley, Pastor of Reconnecting Ministry amobley@chapelwood.org (713)465-3467 ext. 129

Fred Lowe, Director of Membership Development flowe@chapelwood.org (713)827-3916

The only requirement for full membership at Chapelwood is a Christian Baptism and Profession of Faith in Christ.

Chapelwood recognizes the validity of your previous baptism. Whether you are a first-time or long-time visitor we are available to meet with you, answer your questions, and welcome you as a member of Chapelwood.

Chapelwood Executive Leadership Team Jim Jackson, Senior Pastor Judy Sharp, Administrative Assistant

jsharp@chapelwood.org (713)354-4443

Bob Johnson, Executive Pastor bjohnson@chapelwood.org (713)354-4431

Bob Lindsey, Business Manager blindsey@chapelwood.org (713)354-4495

11140 Greenbay • Houston, TX 77024 (713) 465-3467 • www.chapelwood.org