This Week: May 23, 2020

EVERYONE DEEP LIGHT

We are so excited about our new Deep Light series! What is it, you ask? Well Deep Light is weekly interviews hosted by our very own Mark Davis and Tommy Obenchain. You will hear fun, meaningful, and life-giving stories from members and friends of PCPC. Deep Light is available on YouTube at youtube.com/c/ parkcitiespca. Don’t miss it and be sure to subscribe, like, and share with friends and neighbors. We have great interviews with Nancy Guthrie (Good Grief), Joe Januszewski (Baseball Joe), Tommy Obenchain (Pilot), Chad Scruggs (Chad Who?), Russ Whitfield (Faithfulness), and more to come!

Thanks to contributions to the COVID-19 & Disaster Relief fund, the bulk food distribution project will continue for the next several weeks as long as there is a need. Our supplier is able to provide food for 100 families each week, and the Response Team targets areas of our city experiencing the most food scarcity. This includes refugee and immigrant communities, as well as West and South Dallas. This week’s recipient was For the Nations Refugee Outreach.

We anticipate food scarcity will continue to be an issue as high unemployment rates across the U.S. persist, so please pray for families who are struggling financially. We continue to hear of needs for household hygiene and cleaning products, as well as technology that will allow children to continue learning over the summer. Additionally, Since April 1, the Good Samaritan Committee (fielding specific requests from non PCPC members) has assisted 11 applicants requesting emergency financial assistance.

VOL. XXXI, NO .10 | MAY 23, 2020 PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH TRICIA COTHRAN, EDITOR 4124 OAK LAWN AVENUE DALLAS, TX 75219-3152

The Response Team is deeply grateful for financial contributions that continue to pour in! The Lord has truly blessed the PCPC congregation with a spirit of generosity, and our city is being blessed on a daily basis as a result. If you’d like to give, you can donate online at pcpc.org/give/ or write a check to Park Cities Presbyterian Church with “COVID-19 & Disaster Relief” in the memo line.

We serve a sovereign and faithful God who cares for the least, the lost and the lonely, and allows His people to be His hands and feet. If you or anyone you know has physical, material, or spiritual needs, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact us by emailing deaconhelp@pcpc.org, and someone from our diaconate will follow up with you.

CHURCH UPDATE

Visit pcpc.org/coronavirus/ to keep up-to-date on recent information, directives concerning safely gathering together again at PCPC, and COVID-19 response efforts.

PRAYING & WRITING TO OUR MISSIONARIES

214-224-2500 pcpc.org facebook.com/parkcitiespca twitter.com/parkcitiespca

THISWEEK@PCPC

COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM UPDATE

Would you like to pray specifically for one or more of our missionaries? Would you like to send an email or a card to encourage them? We long to encourage and support our missionaries during this pandemic. Email Cindy Rhea and she can give you current prayer requests and addresses. cindy.rhea@pcpc.org

WORSHIP ONLINE

THISWEEK@PCPC

VOL. XXXI, NO. 10 | MAY 23, 2020

Our 9:30 a.m. Worship Service will be live streamed at pcpc.org/live. We encourage you to share the link with friends, family, and co-workers. We will also live stream to Facebook, YouTube, Roku, Fire TV, the Apple TV app (search Park Cities Presbyterian), and the PCPC app.

Navigating Marriage

Our January Vacation Bible School leadership meeting was brimming with energy and excitement. Eager to bring the program back to PCPC grounds after two summers away, we began planning and preparing ourselves to take on what we considered a formidable challenge: bringing hundreds of children to a building still under construction. Little did we know, God would soon make our concerns about space constraints and building safety completely irrelevant. Instead, as we spent the next several months “sheltering in place,” our new challenge became clear: How can we roll out a Vacation Bible School program in a time of social distancing?

W

e have a God who continually pursues, loves, and refines us in preparation for our heavenly home. He continually makes all things new, even our marriages! He calls us to rejoice even when the world order shifts, and we wake up to pandemic stay at home orders, causing us to negotiate work and relationships differently. Who knew it would be this long? But He has provided the Holy Spirit to transform this suffering into hope - life and relationship changing hope.

God has offered up marriage as the strongest earthly representation of how we can best understand Christ’s relationship to His Bride, the Church. So how are marriages doing during this strange time? What might God be trying to communicate to us through marriage? What might He be communicating about His nature? In Part 2, we continue to ask PCPC married couples - new marriages, marriages with kids at home, and empty nesters - questions about what they're learning during this time.

—Bill Bogart

For almost a year, our plan for VBS 2020 has centered on a “School of Rock” theme – think bulldozers, not guitars! With PCPC literally a construction zone, we believed this summer would be an ideal time to utilize a construction metaphor to teach children God’s Word. Plus, we figured that the enormous crane in our new courtyard would really take our VBS decorations to the next level!

The School of Rock theme is centered on Psalm 62:2, which says, “He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” That verse has proven to be fitting during these tumultuous months. When the pandemic began, it took only a few brief conversations to determine that we still wanted to host VBS. Our thoughts quickly shifted to planning a virtual VBS – something foreign to us! With support from PCPC leadership and collaboration with incredible volunteers, by the grace of God, our virtual program is coming together! Something that had become so instinctive has been transformed into a new, fun project of learning, communicating, and creating in innovative ways! During this season of uncertainty, we truly are leaning on the certainty of Christ…He is our Rock!

Beginning on June 9th, we intend to launch four daily VBS 2020 videos. These video packages will include the same wonderful content that would have been provided onsite and in person at PCPC. Our beloved VBS band and music leaders will offer a time of worship, with fun songs that our children will love. Daily lessons will be taught by two phenomenal teachers, with skits to illustrate and reinforce what our children have learned. We will hear from the VBS Missions team and from missionaries around the world. And, of course, there will be crafts, complete with “how-to” videos! At the virtual School of Rock, we intend to share how God:

at H o m e To g e t h e r Pa r t 2

OUR FAMILY

births • Frances Woods Rhea, daughter of Madison & Caroline Rhea (Out-of-town member) on May 10, 2020.

deaths • Laurence “Larry” Gott (CC#03) on May 10, 2020.

sympathies • Vern Gillis (CC#13) on the loss of his brother, Dean Gillis, on April 16, 2020.

• Martin & Vicki Yung (CC#08) on the loss of mother, Esther Yung, on May 6, 2020.

• Patrick & Windy Cook (CC#01) on the loss of her father; Reese & Harrison Cook (CC#01) on the loss of their grandfather, Neil "Toby" Yows Jr., on May 8, 2020.

• Mark & Christy Mesec (CC#12) on the loss of his brotherin-law; Stephen & Brittany Frazier (Out-of-town members) on the loss of her uncle Eric Wiscavich, on May 10, 2020.

Care Clusters – pcpc.org/care/care-clusters/

What message of hope would you like to convey to our church body?

I truly see this as a gift from the Lord as it has brought us closer (to talk, laugh, dream, and pray) using this time to show us how to be better spouses to each other.

—Cassie and Michael Guerrero (1) has a BIG PLAN for us, (2) wants to BULLDOZE sin, (3) wants us to BOLT into the Rock of Jesus, and (4) wants us to BUILD a life and STAND FIRM through any storms.

Remember, Jesus is our ROCK! The best part of all is that VBS 2020 will be available to everyone!

Because the videos will be posted on PCPC’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/parkcitiespca), anyone can access them! Along with the daily videos, we will offer our curriculum manual, a list of supplies needed, and online training in presenting and preparing for VBS. If someone feels led to host a Backyard Bible Club with a small group, access to the resources needed to produce a successful club will be made available through the website. This is one small way we can help EXTEND this wonderful program and the Good News well beyond our campus – even globally!

We continue to praise God for allowing VBS to continue for His glory, especially under these challenging circumstances. Year after year, we are reminded that VBS has a foundational impact for so many. We hear wonderful stories of fondness and longing for VBS – from kids, from parents of VBS students, and from generations before us. A true highlight of summer break is Vacation Bible School, and we intend to keep it that way!

- Barrett Ball and Heather Squibb

We have been praying for marriages…that HOPE will come from this time of uncertainty…that “shelter in place” yields His ability to heal marriage covenants.

—Ashley and Brant Ferguson God is for marriage. I’ve been struck by the gift of time He is giving us to really lean into our marriages.

—Mary Love and Phillips Koons So many people are alone and longing for connection at the moment, and having a best friend and love with you during this time is a gracious gift of the Lord.

—Lindsay and Scott Schardt During the most difficult circumstances in the past, our marriage and spiritual life have grown the most.

—Nancy and Jay Turner

Cassie & Michael Guerrero

GENERAL FUND

budget

2019/2020 operating budget

$13,500,000

July 1, 2019—May 10, 2020 budget

$12,028,754

July 1, 2019—May 10, 2020 giving

$11,849,527

Budget Variance

–$179,227

How do you think you or your marriage will be different on the other side of COVID-19?

We will be closer, without a doubt. Loving each other and trusting each other more than we did before.

—Cassie and Michael Guerrero We have been struck by the simplicity of life that the Lord is inviting us into. We’ve also become more present. Our minds are not in a million places…and we have been moved into a greater dependence on the Lord. Our prayer is that we would spend more time together and more time at home. That we would commit to these rhythms of life instead of over-programming and becoming ships passing in the night all in the name of doing “good things”.

—Mary Love and Phillip Koons Confidence and hope that our marriage can survive the most difficult circumstances.

—Nancy and Jay Turner

Lindsay & Scott Schardt

Would you like to speak to someone in our Marriage Ministry?

Contact Melissa Hecht: melissa.hecht@pcpc.org