This Week: July 4, 2020

EVERYONE WELCOME BACK

We’re excited to be gathering for worship in person again! For the safety of our community and in accordance with CDC guidelines for places of worship, the 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. worship services at PCPC will be limited in capacity.

We ask that you arrive early to allow for time to be seated before the service begins. As we assess the safety of our worshippers on a week to week basis, we have decided to REQUIRE all attendees to wear masks or cloth face coverings over the nose and mouth while in the church building. If you are uncomfortable with this, we understand and ask that you attend worship online. To help ensure we hold our worship services safely, we ask that you reserve a seat for you and your family online at pcpc.org/reserve-seat/.

If you or anyone in your party have had any of the following in the past 7 days, we ask that you please worship online with us at pcpc.org/live.

• Fever Over 100 • Cough or Sore Throat • Shortness of Breath • Contact with anyone confirmed to have COVID-19 (in the past 14 days) There is no rush to return. Our desire is to lead the Body in worship of our Lord and Savior whether in person or online. So, we will continue to live stream our services at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. for any and all who would prefer to worship online at pcpc.org/live.

Have you watched our Deep Light series 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/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), Nathaniel Blackburn (Getting Real), Claire Dillahunty (Not Yet I), Annie Roberson (God's Word is My Life), and more to come!

VOL. XXXI, NO .13| JULY 4, 2020 PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH TRICIA COTHRAN, EDITOR 4124 OAK LAWN AVENUE DALLAS, TX 75219-3152

PCPC@WORK FALL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Join Pegasus for one of our learning communities this fall! The Fellowship is designed for working professionals who seek to integrate their faith with their whole lives. There is a specific focus on work and how your vocation fits into the work God is doing in the world. City Ecology is an intentional community seeking a deeper understanding of our city (or neighborhood) and how we are uniquely equipped to serve it. There is a specific focus on what it takes for a city to thrive. Register by July 10. There will be summer reading. Classes start August 4. blake.schwarz@pcpc.org

MEET AND PRAY FOR OUR MISSIONARIES

We now have our Summer PCPC Missionary Prayer Requests available to you on our PCPC website!

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

THISWEEK@PCPC

DEEP LIGHT

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THISWEEK@PCPC

VOL. XXXI, NO. 13 | JULY 4, 2020

To download the online version of Summer 2020 - Missionary Prayer Requests go to pcpc.org/world/pray/.

To look up your favorite missionary for their location, sending organization, and prayer requests, go to pcpc.org/world/meet-our-missionaries/.

This summer, the PCPC Daily Prayer Guide has one missionary prayer request for each day. You can find it on the PCPC app.

Unfortunately, we are not able to put the requests from missionaries in Restricted Access countries online. Email Cindy Rhea if you would like those requests by email or a printed copy of the booklet.

Thank you for your faithful service to pray for our missionary friends in Dallas and around the world. Now, more than ever, they need our prayers. Like us, most are not able to travel, which means many are not able to return to the U.S. for home assignment visits, and some are here in the U.S. and not able to return to their country. cindy.rhea@pcpc.org or 214-224-2551

Godly counsel for a weary person is like receiving a watering of the soul when we are dry from the many trials of life. During the past three months, we have witnessed a worldwide pandemic, economic downturn, racial injustices, and political polarization on top of our usual trials of life. Who isn’t feeling “dry” and in need of God’s watering from His Word? We all are, right? Yet there are times when these trials dry us out, and we need another person, a counselor, to pray and speak God’s truth into our lives.

In Psalm 145:3-6, David is praying to the Lord for mercy from the things crushing his soul. He says: “For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that You have done; I ponder the works of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land.”

As I have spent so much time tucked away in my little home these past few months, my counseling times have been over the phone, primarily.

As God brings a woman into my day who needs a watering of her soul from God, I know this is someone God has matched me up with, so He must have something for me to pass on to them. Often, it is something that I have just been studying and reading in God’s Word myself. God’s Spirit is our Comforter, our Guide to the truth, so I pray as I talk with this woman, “Lord, what are You doing in her life, what would You have me say to encourage her?” He graciously gives me something every time. Isaiah 50:4 speaks of this “The Sovereign Lord has given me a wellinstructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.”

The trials of depression, grief, fear, and anxiety are enemies that will war against us and often will cause us to experience a drought within our souls until we go home to be with Jesus. Until then, praying for one another and speaking God’s Word in step with the Spirit of God reminds us of God’s loyal, steadfast love that brings refreshing rain to our souls like none other.

LISTENING

—Kari Stainback, Director of Women's Ministries | kari.stainback@pcpc.org

WAT E R I N G

Last month I bought three pots of beautiful flowering plants for my front porch. Fresh out of their nursery, they looked beautiful for a while.

Soon the summer heat escalated, and my efforts to keep them watered and happy did not work. The flowers faded and stopped their blooming, and many of the leaves began to turn yellow and brown. That was until God sent rain, His glorious water to nourish my potted plants. Within such a short time, the leaves were greener, and new buds began to bloom—all after receiving what only God could send, His watering from the heavens.

Recently I had the privilege of visiting with a couple. Unfortunately, the conversation was over video conference call, but what happened on our visit was quite remarkable.

The woman started immediately by saying she was completely overwhelmed by all that is going on in our world today. I asked the husband if it would be okay for me to pursue that with his wife and for him to observe how I dealt with her being overwhelmed. He readily agreed, and with that, I simply asked his wife to tell me more about being overwhelmed.

I could easily identify with everything she was saying as I have been experiencing it in my own life and have heard dozens of others share about it in other sessions. I asked her a few open-ended questions and a few clarifying questions along the way, but for the most part, she did all the talking. I said very little, and the husband said nothing but did nod his head supportively several times.

After forty-nine minutes, something truly amazing happened. Yes, after forty-nine minutes of simply listening and asking a few important questions, the woman paused and quietly said, “I guess I just have to trust in the Sovereignty of God.” I could have easily told her that after two minutes, but it was far more important for her to process through her emotions and be able to come to that conclusion herself. It was beautiful, and she expressed it with such a deep abiding peace and conviction. I paused and said, “I agree.”

This woman did not necessarily need to see a counselor, and she did not necessarily need to see a theologian. She needed to be heard and helped along the way to be able to draw upon a deep truth that already existed within her heart. She had lost sight of that when the circumstances had gotten difficult and eventually overwhelming. The husband, like many of us, needed to learn to listen first rather than try to fix first. She needed someone who would patiently listen to her. In this case, for forty-nine minutes. The result? Our Father was the Wonderful Counselor to her and for her. He then reminded her that she could rest in Him as He is Sovereign.

How are your listening skills? Are you more prone to fix, or can you patiently listen? May the Spirit of God do a deep work in you and through you.

—Pat Hobin, Director of Counseling & Care | pat.hobin@pcpc.org

OUR FAMILY

births • William James Heath, IV, son of Jay & Meredith Heath (CC#04), on June 17, 2020

deaths • John L. Estes (CC#13) on June 14, 2020.

sympathies • David B. Giles (CC#18) on the loss of his mother, Evelyn Giles, on June 14, 2020.

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

GENERAL FUND

budget

2019/2020 operating budget

$13,500,000

July 1, 2019—June 21, 2020 budget

$13,255,158

July 1, 2019—June 21, 2020 giving

$12,644,219

Budget Variance

–$610,939