WITNESS: May 1, 2015

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10 0T H I S S U E

VOL. XXV, NO. 2

Park Cities Presbyterian Church

MAY 2015

(Presbyterian Church in America)

"I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." —Galatians 2:20

Caroline Nowlin reads to VBS children in the Bahamas over spring break. See page 6.

Recognizing the idol of the comfort zone.............................. 2 Praying for a transformed Dallas....................................................................... 3 Volunteers in the Families Ministry appreciated.................................4

Youth spring break in Austin weird at times.................................................5 Army of God's high schoolers unstoppable in the Bahamas........ 6

Youth minister to city small Sweet dreams are made of bites at a time.......................................................7 mission trips...................................................... 10 When Jesus speaks, people PCPC couple has outreach at home and abroad ........................................... 8 listen............................................................................. 11

West Dallas Easter event eggs kids with Gospel........................................... 7

Women walk and talk the Cross-cultural ministry brings difficulty and joy.............................................................. 9 Gospel..............................................................................................................12

there are when we are so committed to operating almost exclusively out of our zone. It can limit our Kingdom work, a movement of the Spirit, deep meaningful relationships with people who are not necessarily like us, true comfort, and growth—intellectual and spiritual.

DO YOU FIND CHANGE INVITING? IRRITATING? OR INTIMIDATING? Very few people like change of any kind. We will do whatever we can to avoid it or minimize its effects in our lives. Jobs change or end and children leave home, which can affect our identity and our purpose. Our capacity diminishes, and now others hold the doors open for us! We downsize, and that stirs up a sense of loss. We long for comfort and predictability, but they can easily be disrupted by change. No wonder we have such difficulty with change!

For four weeks in March, a class gathered on Sunday evenings to talk about navigating change and learning how to embrace it. We began by developing a lens through which to look at life and the change that will inevitably come. However, as much change as we experience in life, we will never experience more change than what we experienced on the day of our salvation. Salvation changed everything!

According to Scripture, my reality (Col. 1:13–14), my citizenship (Phil 3: 20, 21), my identity (I Pet 2:9), my purpose (2 Cor 5:18–20), my Lord (Phil 2:9–11), my capacity (Gal 2:20, 21), and my future (2 Tim 4:6–8) all changed at the moment of salvation. Those huge changes then in turn make a difference in how we look at every other change we experience in life.

We typically find that change rattles our cage. It stirs us up on the inside.

When our cages get rattled, we may find that something has become too important to us. We have started to believe it gives life itself to us, and therefore we cannot afford to let go.

For example, if we are gaining our identity from our job, there will no doubt be an aggressive response 2

when it is threatened. When we live from the truth that our identity comes from who we are in Christ, we realize that, as important as our job might be, it does not produce life for us—letting us live in the freedom that life in Christ offers and allowing us to embrace change.

Even as committed believers in the Word of God, the threat of change can actually make the Bible functionally irrelevant to us. Paul Tripp says in Lost in the Middle, “When Scripture is functionally sidelined, they begin to lose their identity, ethics, mission, and values. It simply doesn’t seem to speak to life in a general way and that what it says is true, but there is a huge gap between the words on the pages of Scripture and the painful details of their lives.” If that is indeed the case, perhaps we can thank God for change, as it exposes a faulty belief system within us which can rob us of living in all the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus.

WORSHIPING OUR COMFORT ZONE Most of us love our comfort zone.

When it is threatened, we can get angry and resentful. We will work hard to protect it, because it is easy to start believing that comfort is the most important thing in the world. While there are many healthy things that can be a part of our comfort zone, we often fail to realize how many limiting effects

Comfort is not bad. Scripture tells us we have a "God of all comfort who comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Cor 1:3-4). Finding our comfort in Him and from those in the body of Christ are good things. Finding our comfort from control, predictability, and self can be concerning, even dangerous.

A great sense of loss may accompany change. While it could be the loss of a loved one, it could also be the loss of memories and sense of familiarity that comes from living in the same house or neighborhood for 30 years. That sense of loss is painful and hard, but learning to deal with it by grieving in healthy ways makes that change something that we can embrace. Grief is looking upward and to the One who can comfort us in our sorrow or sadness. A disdain for change most often prompts looking inward, and as one person put it, “having a pity party.”

There is no life in a pity party. There is no life apart from Christ.

As we navigate change for the second half of life, may we find the Scripture fully relevant in our hearts and lives.

May we live in all the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus.

—Pat Hobin

CAUTION!

CHANGE AHEAD

MAY 2015 • PCPC WITNESS

IMAGINE WHAT DALLAS MIGHT LOOK LIKE IF IT WERE TRANSFORMED TO REFLECT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. God loves cities, and He has plans to reach them for His glory.

What might Dallas look like if churches and nonprofits across the city banded together to bring about measurable change against our spiritual, social, and humanitarian challenges?

GOSPEL MINISTRY IS ONE OF RECONCILIATION. God reached down from heaven and reconciled Himself to us through His Son. We are called to do the same with our brothers and sisters regardless of color, culture, or language.

Chip Ingram, pastor of Venture Christian Church, Los Gatos, CA, tackled what it takes to move from concept "GOD MUST WORK DEEPLY WITHIN US to action. First, God must BEFORE HE WILL WORK SIGNIFICANTLY THROUGH US." work deeply within us before —CHIP INGRAM On January 22, 2,000-plus He will work significantly people from across the through us. What must we as Metroplex gathered to attend a church address in ourselves Movement Day Greater Dallas. The goal of Movement before we can solve the problems of others? We must die to Day is to tackle the challenges with Christian communities self, go to the cross, and follow Jesus if we are to bear fruit. working together to pursue transformative change. It began with a large group session including worship, speakSpeakers Jeff Warren, from Park Cities Baptist Church and ers, and panel discussions. Jim Denison, former pastor of Pastor Bryan Carter, Concord Church, highlighted the imPark Cities Baptist Church and founder of the Denison portance of bridging the racial gap by intentionally buildForum on Truth and Culture, informed us that one million ing relationships. Pastor Carter recommended: 1) See the new believers are coming to Christ in countries such as movie "Selma" to provide a frame for conversation on race South Korea, Brazil, and underground China, yet America relations. 2) Invite someone of a different race to a meal. is experiencing the "Great Evangelical Recession." We were 3) Worship at a church of a predominantly different color. 4) reminded that at the Last Supper, Jesus took off his outer Make new friends from different cultural backgrounds. garment, wrapped himself in a towel and did the unspeakable, washing His disciples’ feet, a task beneath even a Small groups met in the afternoon to focus on areas includslave. The audience was exhorted to collaborative passion ing education, human trafficking, hunger, immigrant care, for the reconciliation of God’s people, beginning in Dallas. financial stability, and prison re-entry. The day ended with worship and a message from Dr. K. Shelette Stewart, from WHY HAS GOD CHOSEN DALLAS TO CONTINUE SMU, addressing the question: How do we move forward HIS TRANSFORMING WORK? It has the largest urban with Gospel transformation across Dallas? She said, "Begin arts center in the US. Large corporations continue to move from within, asking, 'What’s my passion? For what questheir headquarters here. Dallas is a center of finance, medtion is my life the answer? What’s my purpose?'” icine, politics, and transportation. It also has the highest concentration of extreme wealth and extreme poverty of GOD HAS UNIQUELY PREPARED EACH OF US TO any American city. And Dallas’ history cries out for reconDO THAT TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED US. We need ciliation where the racial divide is a reality. Sunday mornnot fear that we will lose because we have His favor. Finaling is still considered the most segregated hour. PCPC’s ly, our history is part of His history. God has a sovereign Trey Hill, Executive Director of Mercy Street, stated, “We agenda, and He will see it to its completion. look for our comfort zones. We flock to where our own are.

We haven’t dealt with the history of pain that caused the Watch for news of a churchwide luncheon after worship racial divide.” We need to deal with that pain in order to services on Sunday, May 31, to continue the discussion. build relationships and move forward.

—Charlotte Medley

More than 40 participants from PCPC attended, including members and staff members.

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Volunteers appreciated!

Dinner fetes all who serve with youth and children

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hen it comes to volunteering with children and youth, often it’s a calling that can be underappreciated and undervalued.

For these reasons, the Family Ministry wanted to not only celebrate and honor volunteers on a special night, but let them know that, year round, our staff appreciates and values their intention, hard work, and commitment to the love and discipleship of children and youth.

The Volunteer Appreciation Dinner was a first-time event for our children and youth volunteers, but it will now be part of the PCPC calendar every year. The theme and the heart of volunteering in these ministries is to remember and share all the Lord has done and continues to do through volunteers as they love and help disciple our kids. It was an evening filled with great food, a hilarious skit from the Youth Ministry interns, giveaways, community, and introductions of the entire Family Ministry team.

The evening was also filled with meaningful reflections that ranged from children

through veteran volunteers. Several young adults who grew up at PCPC sat on a panel and shared the impact volunteers had on their spiritual lives throughout their time in the children and youth programs. The crowd watched a special video in which some parents revealed the fruit borne in the lives of their children from volunteers teaching their kids about Jesus, while children and youth shared how much their Sunday School teachers helped them to know Jesus and have fun at church.

During that same video, some volunteers described the formative impact that serving has left on them and how much they have learned from the kids they teach.

We can never underestimate the presence of mature Christians in the lives of our children and youth and how it will help in the growth and transmission of our kids' faith. It has been noted by several sociologists who study youth and religion in America that a five-to-one ratio is needed for sustainable Christian faith to remain from the earliest ages through adulthood—meaning five active, obedient Christ followers for every one child. This

strategy is weighted by the statistics that show an incredible attrition rate among youth who eventually leave the Christian faith once in college, if not sooner.

The Family Ministry desires that each volunteer fully know that their time, love, and commitment have eternal impact upon the lives of children, youth, and their families.

These verses capture the heart of the night: We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done. that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.

—Psalm 78:4, 6-7 —Austin Ariail

Left, the youth staff entertains with a funny skit.

Right, faithful volunteers of many years, Debbie and Angela Lacy Below, a table of appreciated teachers and helpers

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MAY 2015 • PCPC WITNESS

THE NEXT MORNING we went to Austin for Church Under the Bridge.

It is uncomfortable for leaders and students alike to begin interacting with the homeless. But my favorite memory of the trip happened as one of our middle school students, Josh Nash, boldly asked a young boy under the bridge about his faith. The boy said he knew who Jesus was but that he didn’t live in his heart yet. Josh took the opportunity to tell the boy that he didn’t have to wait—he could have Jesus right now. And he did.

Hearing Josh later telling a room full of

PREPARING FOR A YOUTH TRIP is a lot of work! There are checklists about the checklist, reservations to be made, questions to be answered—Will the kids all fit in the vans? What are we going to do if it rains? Will middle schoolers think that is cool? Going into spring break, the youth staff felt like it had answered all the questions! We had the reservations, the rain plan, the vans, but Above left: Michelle Case and Claire Obenchain which kids would the Lord would sharing pizza at Mission Possible bring us? He brought us an unexAbove, a group delivering meals enjoying the pected smaller crowd, and it was seamstress who gave Dayton Conklin a shirt the biggest blessing. The best part Right, Josh Nash and Carley White at Gruene Hall about the trip, no question, was peers, with tears in his eyes, what had hapthe relationships that were built among pened, was one of the sweetest moments. the students. The small group afforded the Giving our youth opportunities like this opportunity for so much quality face time makes all the planning in the world worth it. with each other. There is something about going somewhere new that breaks down For our last day, we spent the morning dewalls and allows friendships to be forged livering meals to the elderly through Meals that may not happen n Dallas. on Wheels. Sometimes the meals were grabbed from inside the door and that was The Austin City Project is a great mashall, but the goal was to be invited in for a up of service and fun! We did three big conversation. It was so neat to see these elservice projects in the mornings and derly people answer the door unsuspecting finished off every night with something and watch their demeanor change when entertaining. The first day we helped they saw a porch full of young students! an organization called Mission Possible They absolutely loved it and weren’t shy Austin, a unique ministry that is planted about telling us that we had blessed them in the heart of a hurting neighborhood. It by listening to them chat for a while. The has after-school programs and mentorship kids really enjoyed themselves and were so partners that are seriously changing the great at going with the flow. Some groups face of the community. We split up and were invited in to help fix a clock or move went to different playgrounds around the something around. Some were begged to community and just got to play and love watch Star Trek—seriously. My group even on kids. As soon as our vans pulled into visited an old woman who sews German the parking lots, kids were pouring out costumes! She graciously gave one of our of the doors to play! It was such a sweet high school students, Dayton Conklin, the time watching our students interact with shirt to keep and model to his friends! She and love on people who were strangers to was so proud that it fit him perfectly. them that morning.

PCPC WITNESS • MAY 2015

WE THREW SOME FUN IN AS WELL! We had games, meals on the town, even dancing at Gruene Hall. Each night was capped off with a talk from guest speaker Reece Rogers, the director of Waco K-Life.

Through his talks and our morning devotionals, we studied what it means to die to yourself and live for Christ, a concept the service projects helped us put into practice.

We are so thankful for a church like PCPC that supports our Youth Ministry so well.

While we were gone we even had an adult Sunday School community make prayer cards for each kid on the trip as a commitment to pray for them to encounter the Lord while they were away. What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ working together. Thank you, church, for caring for us well!

—Carley White

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THE AFTERNOONS WERE OUR SWEET SPOT! We got to spend them WE HIT THE GROUND RUNNING as

HAVE YOU EVER been

sitting in the pews listening to a sermon and the words have never rung more true? Never been more applicable? Never more clearly just for you? I had this particular experience sitting in a 200-year-old Scottish Presbyterian church in the capital city of the Bahamas listening to a Canadian pastor. Weird, huh?

He said, “Do you believe that God is truly unstoppable? Do believe that you as His army are also unstoppable through the power of His Son?” Wow! Our team recounted how encouraging Pastor Bryn’s message was to our hearts as we prepared ourselves for the next day to go out to serve in Nassau.

We have a Heavenly Father who cares about His church and extending its spiritual borders into the hearts of mankind across the world. It reminded us that we were going out to serve in His name, not ours, with His good news and truth.

We simply were called to be faithful to share with our lips and our lives His love for all of us. That’s exactly what happened in our week in the Bahamas!

OUR SPRING BREAK TRIP began

outrageously early on March 7. Our team of 13 high school seniors and three leaders left excited from DFW! There was so much energy and pure joy before the plane even landed. group prayer time

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soon as we arrived. Our first full day was spent worshipping alongside the congregation at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. We met their church members, who greeted us with warm hugs and kind words.

The church also shared their building with our team while we made ourselves at home.

The next four days were spent serving with a Red Cross Center in a neighborhood of Nassau, Bain Town. The mornings were dedicated to beautification projects, painting, cleaning, a prayer walk, and picking up trash in a neighborhood park. It was really neat to watch the kids go to work—and they worked hard!

"It was heartbreaking to see the poverty that exists in such a popular vacation spot. Getting to spend time with people in the community of all ages humbled me and strengthened me in so many ways." —Anne Maris Russell "God showed me His great love through the kids in their love for His Word and for us. I was reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to have hope in Christ my Savior." —Anna Brink "I learned how to have a servant heart towards others. The Lord broke my heart in order for me to fully surrender to Him and show His unconditional love to kids who sometimes don’t see love everyday." —Sloan Fitzgerald

skipping, playing, singing, hugging, and loving on the kids that participate at the Red Cross Center after-school program.

We put on VBS each afternoon. Sitting outside in the shade, we would sing, read from the Jesus Story Book Bible, and have craft time. I was impressed with their hard work in the mornings, but there was nothing more beautiful all week than seeing our students minister to these little souls.

As the only returning team member from last year, it was so special to see friends that I had made last year. Mrs. Bullard, the director of the Red Cross Center and a faithful member of St. Andrews, has taught me more about faithfulness to a vocational call than anyone I have met before. Many in her community refer to her job as useless.

People tell her to quit because these kids are lost causes. “No, they are God’s children,” is her response. She deeply understands that God’s Kingdom is on the move and cannot be stopped.

At week's end, we flew back to Dallas, though most of the high schoolers tried to make us miss our flight. They didn’t want to leave, I think for two reasons: First, the place is beautiful—not just the country, but the people. When I asked what they loved about the country, they named kids they met. Secondly, our team saw how important it is to share that they are loved deeply, wholly, and fully by our Lord and Savior. They wanted to stay and keep sharing. I am thankful for St. Andrews and their mission to take the Gospel into all parts of their city. They are still there and are faithful lights to their community.

—Grayson Baird

the team of high school seniors and leaders

2015 • PCPC WITNESS MAYMAY 2015 • PCPC WITNESS

Snacks of Blessing is, in every sense of its name, a snack of ministry. It is not a full meal of ministry, but it is a snack.

It isn’t a two-week, hands-on missions trip, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of meeting daily needs for the recipients.

This event gives our students a snapshot into what ministry looks like.

As our crew arrives early on a Saturday morning, we are able to work alongside other volunteers and groups in Dallas to serve those who are not only hungry for food, but also for the Gospel. It is, in a sense, a blind ministry. Our students may never see the faces or know the names of who they are serving, but they are learning what it looks like to be the hands and the feet of the Gospel. Our staff and students truly get to experience a “snack” of missions and what it means to be inconvenienced for others. Through fulfilling a physical hunger, these snacks build the bridge to which various ministries can satiate a spiritual hunger as well as it opens doors to homes with the hope of the Gospel. The Lord uses these snacks to build avenues into other people’s lives. The students get to see that the very food we take for granted is precious in the sight of the recipients.

It is amazing to see how the Lord works through ministry. Our students and staff often leave this event more ministered to than the recipients of the snacks. Our students are encouraged and strengthened by working alongside other volunteers whose hearts are for the Lord. I am always encouraged through seeing the volunteers give the gift that we all guard so closely—our time. We are so protective of our schedules that we rarely allow ourselves to be inconvenienced for others.

This event allows people to step outside of their worlds and schedules to bring joy into other's lives Our prayer is that the Lord will use this ministry to minister to our students’ hearts and to provide both physically and spiritually to those who receive it.

—Phillip Koons

Were eggs on your grocery list before this event, but another element of joy Easter? If you had come by Eggstravais watching the high school and midganza, you could have picked up some dle school students share the Gospel.

Resurrection Eggs and a Resurrection We took three vans of students to the Snack, better than any Central Market event. Before we left PCPC, Christen sample. Plus there were bounce houses, Nutter led the group in discussion and Easter egg hunts, bungee trampolines, vision casting for the event. When we face painting, a dunking booth, and arrived, we showed the students how snow cones. The Eggstravaganza field the Resurrection Eggs worked. Each was full of celeegg has an object brating. PCPC and verse that go youth served at inside the egg, for the Resurrection example, a scarlet Eggs and Resurpiece of cloth to rection Snacks represent when the stations. Before soldiers mocked working at PCPC, Jesus by dressing I had never heard Him as king and of Resurrection Matthew 27:28. At Eggs, but what an first the students ingenious idea to would stick to the walk kids through script, but then I the Gospel story would observe that using a carton of the students were eggs. The eggs making it more begin with Jesus’ of a story. The triumphal entry students would and end with an listen to the piece empty egg to repbefore their egg Youth volunteers serve up Resurrection Eggs. resent an empty and continue the Tucker Russell, Patton Crosland, and Clark Turner tomb. The Resurstory using their rection Snack was egg. And toward an edible craft. the end, the stuThe list of ingredents didn’t have dients included to read their verse, graham crackers, because they had chocolate icing, memorized it. coconut shreds, a The Resurrection powdered donut, Snack found its and a mini Oreo. rhythm as well.

The graham We placed most of cracker would be the middle school covered in icing girls there to start. and coconut, then At first they were the donut stuck on excited about the the icing, reprepossibility of consenting the empty tomb, and then the suming the treats themselves, but they Oreo placed on the side of the donut, soon found themselves engaging with representing the stone that rolled away. the children as each part of the snack The snack would be assembled as the was made. As the day went on, the stuchild went through the line and the child dents would rotate stations. We learned would hear how Jesus has risen. that nearly 450 cartons of Resurrection Eggs were handed out. He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Watching the families and kids listen —Kaelee Abbey to the Gospel is a main reason for

PCPC WITNESS • MAY 2015

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Why not?

Myrna and Doug Dunn are self-proclaimed “average Joes.” They work hard during the week—Doug as an attorney, Myrna as a hospital clinical risk manager—and attend the New Creations community on Sundays. But the hours in between are spent quietly toiling away for the Gospel.

Although the Dunns have been consistently active at PCPC, their interests have gradually shifted toward outreach, beginning with Myrna’s involvement with the Billy Graham Call Center, which fields phone calls from people interested in hearing more about the Gospel.

Crosscultural ministries at PCPC

The Dunns were provided with books and some training, and six years later, they have become a part of the English as a Second Language (ESL) community.

Although they will be “retiring” from teaching at the end of this semester due to an increased workload at Myrna’s job, they look back fondly on the people they have met and the way they have grown.

“The students are ever grateful and thankful, and they’re the nicest, most generous people,” Myrna says. “We’re blessed by teaching them and getting to know them.

I think being involved in ministry helps you grow in your walk with the Lord. You

“The call center was a way of practicing how to witness to people, but it’s not a cold call,” says Myrna, who took over leadership of the call center a few years ago. “You couldn’t ask for a better situation. It’s one of those things that just felt like it was something God wanted me to do.”

That feeling of being led is something Doug and Myrna frequently cite when asked about how they got involved in ministries at PCPC. As they have been exposed to more opportunities, their focus has taken on an international bent, a change they partially credit to Perspectives, a 15-week intensive course on missions that they took at PCPC a few years ago. But it also started with simply recognizing a need, and signing up.

“Someone came to our Sunday school class and said there were a bunch of folks who were not English speakers who needed teachers,” Doug recalls. “My wife and I looked at each other and said, why not? We didn’t have any idea what we were doing, and we certainly aren’t teachers by trade or skill, but we did the best we could with what we had, and what we found almost immediately was that they were really more concerned about how much we cared about them than really learning English.”

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leave America with is that these Christian folks are just wonderful people, and maybe that’s a faith that they would consider.

They’re the future leaders of whatever country they’re from, and ICC is a great way to witness without having to travel abroad. “ The Dunns attended a few gatherings put on by PCPC, and then followed up with the students they met, inviting many of them to church. At least three have now become believers, not, Doug is quick to say, because of the Dunns, but because of their exposure to the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit.

For the last three years, Doug and Myrna have hosted dumpling parties at their home on Chinese New Year, inviting Chinese students and their friends. This year, around 40 people showed up, making and eating dumplings and engaging in conversations.

“The Chinese students are like sponges,” Myrna says. “They were raised in an atheistic culture and weren’t allowed to worship anything. When you talk to them about your faith, they’re just so open. They know they have a void in their heart, and so they just soak it up and want to know more and more.”

Ylli Doci (l), missionary from Albania, with Myrna and Doug Dunn can’t witness to anybody very effectively without creating some relationship there.

You’re the one who’s showing them the way, the truth, and the life.”

More cross-cultural options

That logic also led the Dunns in another direction: toward International Campus Connections (ICC), which provides settings for church members and international students studying in Dallas to meet and build relationships.

“Around the time that we were taking the Perspectives class, we started meeting the students, and we just fell in love with them,” Myrna remembers. “It’s a blessing to think that the impression they would

“One of our Chinese friends told us that up until this point in his life, no one has ever caused him to think deeply,” Doug says. “But going to church did. He has since said he doesn’t believe in Christianity, but the seed has been planted.”

The Dunns have also become involved in personal ministry in Albania. Again, this began with simply filling a need. When an indigenous missionary from Tirana, Albania, needed a place to stay during his trip to Dallas, Doug and Myrna volunteered their home. As they got to know him and his ministry, their love and concern for the country began to grow.

“The Albanians are a delightful people,” Doug says. “They are not difficult to fall in love with. Albania is also known for being one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and they are not the least bit bashful about being corrupt.”

MAY 2015 • PCPC WITNESS

When visa plans for a mission trip to Russia fell through, Doug changed his destination to Tirana and went to visit his missionary friend. Instead of constructing buildings, he found himself speaking to the Albanian church on being a Christian in a corrupt society. He has been back several times since then.

I don’t think it matters whether you come from the east or the west or the north or the south.

We all have a hole that can be filled only by Jesus.

Early last year, as the Dunns planned a 40th anniversary trip to Cinque Terre, Italy, Myrna suggested they tack on a quick trip across the Adriatic to Albania.

Again, the couple found themselves with an audience, speaking at a missionary conference about the art of marriage. And last fall, Doug organized his own business connections between experts in Dallas and business people in Tirana, sending members of the New Creations class to give lectures on information technology to a group of around 100 Albanian professionals. At a dinner following the presentations, the Americans shared about their journeys of rescue and how their faith played a part in their business lives.

“Whether it’s the Saudi students or the Chinese students or the Albanians, we’re all about the same,” Doug says. “We all want basically the same things. I don’t think it matters whether you come from the east or the west or the north or the south, we all have a hole that can be filled only by Jesus. We seek fulfillment in other places, but that’s the only place that hole gets filled.”

“God has been gracious and good; He has blessed us, and I can’t imagine our life without having done the things we’ve done,” Myrna says. “This is just where the Holy Spirit led us. It works both ways: you’re serving others, but you’re getting blessed in return.”

—Julia Schwarz

Cross-cultural ministry is hard... and joyful!

“You are my friend just like Jesus in the story,” she said. Her dark brown eyes stared intently into mine as she linked arms with me.

am sending you” (Jn 20:21). The model for cross-cultural ministry is found in the incarnation itself. Jesus crossed the greatest cultural divide ever—heaven to earth.

“I don’t know if that is the interpretation she should be getting from John 4,” I thought to myself, but I patted her arm just the same, touched by such kind words. She had left everything—her husband, her job, her home—and had come to the United States hoping for a better life without knowing anyone and with minimal English language skills.

When I behold the beauty of my Lord and Savior and realize that He truly rose from the dead, I can’t help but take the Great Commission seriously. Jesus Christ has all power and authority, and He has promised to be with me always.

Understanding the significance of the resurrection and knowing my Lord personally compels me to love others.

Yet, I could never love someone out of my own strength. It is only by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit that I can walk by faith. Honestly, the call of Christ is frightening.

When Jesus called people to Himself in the gospels, He didn’t tell them where they would go or what they would do. Sometimes I try to conceal caveats in my heart, “Oh no, Lord.

You can’t have that. I am afraid of what will happen if I give ____ to you.” “Will you really provide for me? Do you love me?"

That day I learned the surprising joy of unexpected friendship, and I’ve been experiencing the joy of loving others as I’ve continued to work cross culturally. When I think of “ministry” or “service,” I usually picture myself going out to lend a hand to someone different from me, yet I don’t think that is the attitude that our Lord Jesus Christ would like me to have.

However, I’ve often found that I am never more aware of God’s love and purpose in my life than when I work with people from different cultures.

Perhaps this is because cross-cultural ministry is practical, a sort of tangible way of expressing God’s love. For example, international students might need a ride to Walmart or someone to ask them about their family and heritage.

At first, I began working with people from different cultures just because of the way God made me: I naturally gravitated to children speaking different languages on the playground and had Barbies from different countries. Yet, recently I have learned that cross cultural ministry has a deeper theological root than I realized. The one true God eternally exists in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—equal in nature, equal in glory, and distinct in relations— my image of cross-cultural ministry has developed vivid color and rich texture.

Consider Jesus’ words to His disciples after the resurrection: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I

PCPC PCPCWITNESS WITNESS • • MAY MAY2015 2015

However, in the midst of wrestling, I know that when God calls me to something hard, He gives me Himself in it.

Paul said, “ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor 1:9).

Cross cultural ministry is uncomfortable. Yet, whether I am flying across the world, attending a service in a different language, or talking with an international student, I am amazed to serve and to know the God of heaven. God is working in the lives of people all over the world, and His sovereignty and immanence is beyond my understanding.

He is the God who fulfills His promises, just like the one to Abraham, “and in you shall the families of the earth be blessed.” Such promises are indicative to His imperative, “Make disciples of all nations.”

—Mary Kate Barthel PCPC's ICC Intern 9 9

Short-term missions

A dream come true PCPC’s Missions & Church Planting Ministry is thrilled to welcome its newest staff member Corey Page, the new Short-Term Missions Coordinator. We asked Corey a few questions so everyone can get to know her better.

Can you give us a brief bio about yourself (growing up, college, past job)?

I grew up in North Dallas with the best family I could ask for that includes my two older sisters, Ashlee and Lauren, and my parents, Bobby and Marty. Our family of five has now grown to nine with the new additions of my brothers-in-law, Tim and Brian, as well as my two nephews, Colton and Turner. I attended Trinity Christian Academy, where my love for Jesus and people grew tremendously. Later I was lucky enough to attend the best university Texas has to offer, Texas A&M (Whoop!). I graduated in 2013 and moved back to Dallas where I started working for a nonprofit called Apartment Life.

I was there for almost two years before coming to PCPC. It was a sweet time of growth and encouragement, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have worked there.

How did the Lord lead you to this role?

In college, I was able to narrow down these passions of mine for international missions and realized that I would love to be able to organize mission trips around the world and get people excited to go and see what God is doing abroad. This was a dream I wasn’t sure was attainable since it’s so specific, but I tucked it away and prayed it would come to fruition someday. When I heard about the opening for the Coordinator of Short-Term Missions at PCPC, I thought it was too good to be true. I went out on a limb and applied, and I’m so grateful I did! God’s timing never ceases to amaze me.

What has your previous involvement with missions been like?

Back when I was 15, I fell in love with the idea of international missions. Ever since I can remember, my heart has been burdened for the lost in this world in a way that’s hard for me to explain. I went to Africa for the first time when I was 10 and was just hooked. Since then, I have had the privilege of taking part in over 15 mission trips to places like Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Mozambique, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

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What goals do you have in your new role? Or what excites you most about this new position?

Everything about this role excites me! I would always tell people growing up that if I could figure out a way to get paid to travel and tell people about Jesus one day, I would be set for life! I will always jump at the opportunity to travel abroad myself, but the fact that I get to help others go and tell the world about Jesus and get them passionate about something I care so deeply about is so life-giving to me!

What is one thing that not many people know about you?

I am an Animal Planet reality TV star! Okay, star might be pushing it, but have you ever heard of a show called Treehouse Masters? My family was on it this past year. I’m technically in the background of most of our scenes, but hey, I’ll take what I can get!

What is one thing about you that everyone who knows you well definitely knows?

Brazil is my happy place. It has become a second home to me after 11 trips over the past nine years. I’d love to tell you about it sometime!

MAY 2015 • PCPC WITNESS

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Truths of Jesus' First Words:

umorist Will Rogers once observed, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” A recent study reveals that lasting judgments about a person—whether fair or unfair— can be cemented within a hundred milliseconds of meeting him or her. That’s a tenth of a second.

First impressions mean a lot. What is true in our day was true in Christ’s time as well.

And the good news is that the first impression Jesus made—and makes—tells us so much of what we need to know about Him. Consider His first words from each Gospel.

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is first words in Matthew are, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”

He said these words in response to John the Baptist, who “tried to deter him” from being baptized. But Jesus would not be deterred or distracted. His first words in Matthew tell us that He is obedient, humble, and good.

And the Lasting Impressions

by Alan Dowd

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is first words in Mark are, “The time has come… The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Jesus has a world-changing, life-changing message to share. And it is good news. The timeless words of action and urgency cry out to us as believers no matter how many times we read them— and to seekers who stumble upon them at dark and desperate hours. “The time has come,” Jesus says. “The Kingdom is near. I am near. Act, move, believe, change, grow.”

The good news is that God is near. God is Jesus is obedient to the Father, so obedient with us. God knows us not from a distance, that he divests Himself of heaven and steps but from the inside. Jesus, as the author of into the box of time and space, so obedi- Hebrews writes, “had to enter into every ent that He will take part in a ceremonial detail of human life.” Every detail: Jesus cleansing—a cleansing He does not laughed and cried and sighed. He worked need—so obedient that He and studied and worshipped. He thirsted will walk the road to Je"The good news and hungered and bled. He got anrusalem, to Golgotha, gry and sad and tired. He went to is that God is near. to the cross. Jesus is parties and rode donkeys. He ate humble enough to and drank. He had friends and God is with us. become like us, to enemies. He was tempted. He God knows us take on our flesh, to suffered. And He died. not from a distance, wash our filthy feet but from the inside." So He knows what it’s like to feel and filthier hearts, to homesick and lonely and out of place. live like a servant, to die He knows what it’s like to be hated. He in our place. Jesus is not a preacher who says, “Do as I say.” Jesus is knows what it’s like to be tempted. He a Savior who says, “Do as I do. Do what is knows what it’s like when a loved one dies.

He knows what it’s like when people laugh proper and right and righteous.” at you for what you believe. He knows what And because He is obedient and humble it’s like when it seems that God has hidden and good, the rest of the passage tells us, His face. He knows what it’s like when a “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up friend betrays you. He knows what it’s like out of the water. At that moment heaven to be hungry and thirsty. He knows what was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God it’s like to cry out for Daddy—to scream, descending like a dove and alighting on “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is Me?”—and yet hear only silence. But just as my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well important for us, He knows what it’s like pleased.’” Put another way, this is a moment to hear the “Well done!” that comes after when the Father, Spirit, and Son are mani- the silence—and to trust that the Father fest together and as one. will answer every prayer according to His perfect plan.

As we imitate the Son, as we learn from Him, as we become more like Him, as we is first words in Luke are from His accept Him, we can be confident that the youth: “Why were you searching Holy Spirit is living in us, too—and that the for Me? Didn’t you know I had to Father is proud of us. be in my Father’s house?” These are words

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PCPC WITNESS • MAY 2015

of assurance and steadiness. These are the words of the Great I Am. Indeed, we can even hear an echo of God’s questions to Job in these words.

These questions may be directed initially to Mary and Joseph, but they are timeless.

“Why are you searching for Me?” He asks the seeker. “Why have you come to this place, to this moment, to this crossroads, to this passage?”

And to the one who has drifted away, “Why did you stop visiting my Father’s house?

Why did you wander off into the far country? Didn’t you know I would always be here, waiting patiently for you to return?”

The Great I Am is not hard to find. The Great I Am is waiting. The Great I Am is here. The Great I Am is.

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nd finally, Jesus’ first words in John are, “What do you want?” He is talking to John’s disciples but, again, is addressing all of us with a timeless question. It beckons and invites the seeker: “What do you want from Me? What do you want Me to do for you? What do you want to be? What do you want to become? What do you want to change about your life? Do you really want Me to be in your life?”

And His question challenges the believer: “What do you want now, after all the trials and storms I have carried you through, all the blessings I have given you, all the burdens I have lifted—because I still want to bless you? Where are you going today—because I still want to walk with you and carry you? Are you still following me—because I still want to lead you?” His question reminds us that we have an open, standing invitation to ask the Lord of all creation for help and hope, for what we need, for answers, for peace when the answer is “No.” He wants us to ask, to seek, to knock—because He still wants fellowship with His children.

Reprinted from byfaithonline.com, April 15, 2015, the online magazine of the Presbyterian Church in Amerca.

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PCPC Women

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The Just Run just continues!

Vol. XXV, No. 2 • MAY 2015 Park Cities Presbyterian Church 4124 Oak Lawn Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75219 www . pcpc . org

hat a day for a run—or walk! On the evening of March 26, over 150 PCPC women, children, and friends gathered at Smith Park with the purpose of shedding light on the issue of human trafficking around the world and in our own backyard. Proceeds from the run went to a Dallas-based ministry, New Friends New Life (NFNL), as well as a ministry overseas, Daughters of Cambodia.

Women had the option of running or walking for two or three miles and along the way had great visits and good fellowship. As a bonus, our neighbors witnessed PCPC women shining the light of the Gospel on this dark topic as they participated in the run/walk.

The Just Run added a new component this year: a silent auction.

Donated to the auction were handmade items, paintings, artistic services, and jewelry. Seeing the display of creative talent was astounding.

Every item went home with a happy new owner and resulted in more money for our beneficiaries.

Before the run began, Irie Sessions, from NFNL, and Carrie Jussley, from Daughters of Cambodia, shed light on the plight trafficked women face but also shared the clear evidences of God’s rescuing grace at work.

We were honored to have several of the NFNL graduates, women with success stories, participate in the event. One graduate shared her story with a PCPC woman. As they walked, she poured out her heart. That took courage to share her story. The young PCPC mom took time to listen, asked good questions, and encouraged her to trust Christ more and more. Hearing stories of great evil forces us to let God’s light grow in our own hearts. There is no darkness, no evil, so great that Christ’s light and love cannot conquer every bit of it.

—Kari Stainback and Ann Carolyn Williams

Above left, Darian Reichert, Benetta Rusk Above right, Amy Burgher, Mary Beth Burgher, Rachel Cannon Right, Margo Rudd with her nieces and nephews

Periodical Postage Paid at Dallas, Texas