Volume 1 Issue 5 by 1871

Note from the Editor Wow, y’all – issue five?! I can’t thank y’all enough for giving me the opportunity to

continue to do something I am so passionate about. If this is your first time reading 1871, welcome! This digital magazine is a culmination of so many beautiful

things: from the range of skills the WC Connect department has and continues to refine; to the faith-encouraging stories we get to share; and of course, to God’s continuous guidance and will in each piece we have the chance to produce.

We are so excited to share this issue with y’all as we cover topics like the upcoming conference, a highlight of our Arts Academy and the ways it has helped one star

fight the epidemic of bullying, and even a top 10 list curated from our co-pastors, Drs. John McKellar and Todd Renner. In addition to the stories, you’ll find a few

new features such as live audio recordings of a few of our interviews, our first ever personality quiz and as always, beautiful and innovative design!

As each issue comes and goes, I just love to reflect on the ways that our team

continues to seek out new ways to reach our congregation. The biggest adaptation we’ve made for that is our new audio files – we hope that if you just aren’t the biggest reader that you might consider listening to the conversations we enjoyed having with some special guests (featuring plenty of laughs).

Throughout these articles, I felt the theme of love, prayer and faithfulness. We

are continuing to pray that you and your loved ones would be the light of this world, and as you read these stories, that ultimately God would stir up His spirit in you like only He can.

As always, we hope you enjoy this fifth issue of 1871!

Emily Keller 1871 Editor

“Peace on earth will come to stay when we live Christmas every day.” Helen Steiner Rice

hristmas isn’t just a holiday at White’s Chapel. It is a time to focus on the birth of Christ and enjoy family-oriented events that bring us back to the important things in life. It’s a time to come together, as one faith-based community, and thank God for all that He has given us - especially the gift of His perfect son, Jesus. As we reflect on the many different heartfelt events of the past

Christmas season, we thank God for the love and joy we have here at White’s Chapel. We pray that this focus on God’s grace continues throughout 2019 and that families continue enjoying the love and peace He has to offer. His goodness is not just present on Christmas, but it is also present each and every day.

he church kicked off the advent season with one of the biggest events of the year, the WC Christmas Festival. Members of the community were able to enjoy a family-fun atmosphere on the church campus, Nov. 28, from 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8 p.m. Families were able to enjoy multiple different food trucks, inflatable bounce houses and obstacle courses, a climbing rock

wall, carnival-style games, trampolines, camel rides and many other familyfriendly activities. This year, kids and their families were able to take pictures in an all-new, life-size holiday snow globe. It was a big hit!

Younger kids enjoyed the petting zoo, face painting and train rides that led the way to our holiday inflatables. The older kids were able to enjoy the snow hill, a pirate ship ride, swings, camel rides and other activities as well. The live nativity scenes continued throughout the evening, each capturing the meaning and importance of the season. Families were able to enjoy all of this in person and online with Facebook live updates. At the end of the evening, an amazing display of fireworks set to Christmas music was enjoyed by all. Adults and kids stood alike in awe and wonder of the magical display. More than 4,500 were in attendance at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s festival.

his event is a family favorite! Even though this event has only been a WC tradition for two years, more than 350 people joined in song at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cozy, holiday event. Special

guests attended this year, making it a memorable caroling experience. Those in attendance sang well-known holiday classics. Families, children and community members were lining the aisles in Grace Chapel just to join in on the holiday fun! Wesley, along with children in attendance, even stayed for holiday treats and cookies after the event.

hristmas is such a remarkable time of celebration and remembrance. It is a time for people to reflect on the birth of

Jesus Christ and gather together in faith. This year, people from all over the community came together at White’s Chapel to honor this holy celebration at one of the church’s many Christmas services. Attendees were able to honor the Lord with candlelit worship and an inspiring message by Drs. John McKellar and Todd Renner. Both contemporary and traditional services were available throughout the nine services and candlelight communion was also available to those that attended. The light of the Christ candle illuminated the sanctuary as beautiful hymns were sung. Each service had unique musical experiences as well. There were about 16,724 attendees over the course of all Christmas Candlelight services. An additional 1,730 people watched the livestream on the website. What a wonderful way to celebrate the Lord’s birth!

Photo: Micah and Clint Blalock performing with the White’s Chapel Choir and Orchestra

he Christmas Experience, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” had thousands of

attendees and about 1,749views online over the course of the event. The musical event, Dec. 8 – 9, focused on celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, as well as the Christmas season. It highlighted the talents of our very own church choir, the children’s choir, orchestra and multiple gifted soloists. The music department, as well as additional volunteers, had rehearsed and planned the event since early August. More than 100 choir members, over 40 orchestra members and additional volunteers were involved in the process. Participants that were involved in the worship experience ranged from high school teens to adults. The light of Christ’s birth was the main focus of this year’s event.

he church also hosts many different events throughout the month to further celebrate the season with joy and thanksgiving. The season typically starts with the Hanging of the Greens in Founder’s Chapel to celebrate the beginning of Advent. This year, about 71 participated in the service. White’s Chapel Christmas festivities, such as the Sounds of the Season event, saw high attendance numbers as well. About 600 people enjoyed the musical event featuring Cantaré, the children’s choir, and the hand bells. About 56 WC Students attended the High School Ski Trip and continued developing their relationships with longtime and new friends, as well as with Christ. WC Kids focused on providing events for little ones and their families, such as Story Time With The Bears and The Polar Express Night. About 225 people attended Christmas concerts, held at the church by local schools such as Carroll High School, had great attendance numbers as well. The Fort Worth Ballet captured the classic feeling of Christmas in this year’s production of the Avant Nutcracker Ballet with almost 1,000 in attendance. The Christmas performance by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra had about 1,350 guests as well. In addition to the musical festivities held at the church, there were also solemn times to remember lost loved ones. The Service of Remembrance is held every year to honor those missed during the holiday season. This year, there were 475 people in attendance and about 70 people watched the stream online.

“B

ut now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:25-29 (ESV) Through baptism, we are cleansed of sin and initiated into the covenant with God. When one takes the obedient step of baptism, they are outwardly expressing their acceptance of God’s offer of salvation. There is beauty in the act of going into the water as a sin-filled human, but rising out of the water spiritually cleansed. Water is spoken about frequently throughout Scripture, often used in metaphors and symbols. In both Old and New Testaments, we see water offered hand-in-hand with salvation and eternal life. One of my favorite references to water is in John 4. Jesus is in a town of Samaria, called Sychar, visiting a well. A Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well and Jesus asks for her to give him a drink. “The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman from Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:9-10 ESV) The beauty of that living water in the Bible, and the beauty of baptism, is that it is freely offered to all through the gift of the Son. Even Jesus was baptized – not to wash away His sin – but to present that outward obedience and expression of faith for us all to follow. According to the United Methodist Church, “baptism is grounded in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the grace which baptism makes available is that of the

atonement of Christ which makes possible our reconciliation with God. Baptism involves dying to sin, newness of life, union with Christ, receiving the Holy Spirit, and incorporation into Christ’s church.” The experience of being baptized is often one that families and loved ones look back on and cherish as part of their faith walk. For many, baptism as a child is common – but what about that step as an adult? John Wesley taught that baptism of a child cleansed the guilt of original sin, brought them into covenant with God, and spiritually renewed them. But he continued to insist upon the need for adult baptism for those that had fallen from grace: “a person who matures into moral accountability must respond to God’s grace in repentance and faith.” In 2018, White’s Chapel performed 84 baptisms. One of the beautiful stories that blossomed out of this sacrament being offered was Jessica Marchetti and her husband. For Jessica Marchetti, who has attended White’s Chapel since 2012, the call to be baptized kept getting stronger and stronger. While both her children have been baptized as infants, just like she was as a child, she agrees that it is very different when making that conscious decision as an adult. “I had already accepted Christ as my savior, and was doing the walk with Christ, and it always was something in the back of my mind that I knew, that was another step to fully go all in.” “I just kept thinking to myself you know, ‘Why haven’t I gotten baptized?’” Over 2017, Marchetti had some family issues and challenging things happen in her and her family’s life and she admitted that through this period, this was the closest she had ever gotten to God. Her and her husband grew closer to God, and in turn,

each other. “The worse things got, the closer I drew to Him.” Over the last few years and the trials in her life, she recognized that her relationship with God just continued to strengthen. She prioritizes prayer so much more in her life – choosing to not even get out of bed in the morning or make a decision without consulting with God first. The more she kept thinking about getting baptized, the more the topic would come up. Just like God does, it would appear in Scripture she was reading, or her Bible study, or in other conversations. The call to get baptized was continuously confirmed! With this confirmation of Scripture and God continuing to nudge her to get baptized, she reached out to White’s Chapel. She remembers not really ever seeing anyone get baptized through immersion, but was passionate in finding a way to be fully immersed. “I need the full-blown washing my sins away,

I want the full immersion!” Through her determination and the hunger to be obedient to Christ’s call, she shared with her husband her desire and he completely agreed, wanting for them to be baptized together. He saw this as a beautiful opportunity to be an example to their children of how to follow the Lord. The biggest thing Jessica has learned through consistently attending church, stepping out in faith and being obedient is that it’s not about us. “I have always been very private about my relationship with God – I didn’t like to talk about it… But honestly, I felt it in my heart, I felt compelled – the closer I got to God, the more I was listening to Him and what He wanted and it’s not about you.” This step of baptism for Jessica was just the outward expression she wanted to make that simply said to Jesus, “I am laying it all at your

feet – you know, I’m a sinner, we’re all sinners. There’s no person on this earth that is not. But He died on that cross and took our sins and you just got to lay it out there and say, I’m giving it all to you – giving you my life. You are the one in control, I am not in control.” When she reminisces on that moment of coming out of the water, she explains with joy that she felt a weight lifted off her – through this surrendering. “It was the relinquishing of my understanding of who is really in control.” Jessica encouraged me with these words: “The more you lean into your struggles, and the more you rely on God instead of saying ‘woe is me,’ and focusing on ‘me, me, me…’ shifting your mind from that aspect to ‘okay, God, you’ve given me this hurdle, what are we going to do next? How are we going to tackle this?’” Through the redeeming and refreshing living water God offers us, we have the power to take on each day side-by-side with Him. Through the baptism of both spirit and water, we have the power of Christ within us. If you would like to be baptized, or would like to speak to someone about the beauty and power of baptism, please contact Linda Spence at lspence@whiteschapelumc.com. To read more of Jessica’s story from her perspective, you can read her blog at

recently read a thoughtful blog by John Pavlovitz, a writer, pastor and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. The father of two young children, Pavlovitz is 48 and uses his blog, Stuff that Needs to Be Said, to ‘call out hypocrisy in plain language.’ While many of his blogs are thought-provoking as well as controversial, I was particularly moved by a recent one entitled “Life is Short. People are Hurting. Don’t be a Jerk.” There were so many profound truths discussed in the writings that I am tempted to print them word for word and mark them simply as the most important philosophies to live by in 2019.

---- not being a jerk is about as elementary as it gets.

Instead, I will give you the basics and encourage you to read it in its entirety on your own.

I have to admit, sometimes I have a short fuse. The easiest thing I do is to take it out on others: Family, friends, people just trying to do their jobs, people trying to get through their day. I rarely stop to take into consideration that they may be coming from the doctor or the hospital, they may be hurting from a disappointment, a divorce or an estrangement, they may have lost a loved one, they may be questioning life

Here it is in a nutshell: Life is stunningly short and it is eggshell fragile. Most people are having a really tough time. They are almost always in more pain than you think they are.

Everyone is doing the very best they can to get through this day, and many are going through all manner of horrors in the process. No one is immune from the invasive collateral damage of living. And you don’t have to save these people or fix them or give them any special treatment. They are rarely asking for such things. The thing these wounded and weary human beings most need from you as you share this space with them—is for you not be a jerk.

How true is that?

choices. They might be simply having a bad day. Is it really necessary for us to know someone’s background or personal business to practice civility? For starters, the answer is simply: no. It really doesn’t matter if we know the struggles of another. One of the first things we are (hopefully) taught as a Christian concept is to, ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’ or quoted in a different way, ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’

There are those who may have gone to Pavlovitz’s website, seen that he is considered a progressive, and refused at that point to read further. But I don’t believe it was accidental that I read Pavlovitz’s words. It was a challenge. Don’t ruin someone else’s day with words or actions. Work at being positive. Listen. Being kind to someone isn’t expensive, difficult, or exhausting. It doesn’t require thought, energy or a commitment. It does require human decency, and consideration.

Simple. But is it reality? Today we are often separated into one of two groups. There are the haves and the have-nots. The wealthy and poor. Conservatives and liberals. Americans and foreigners. Educated and noneducated. Employed and unemployed. Our society has escalated in the last year to an environment where we not only identify with singular groups, but we tend to ostracize those with whom we do not identify. We have withdrawn to our comfortable circles and in doing so, have created dangerous, literally dangerous, environments. We close our eyes and ears to the pain and voices of others. I am guilty. As the year begins, I realize that each year traditionally brings with it the challenge to be better. We want to lose 20 pounds, get our financial house in order, exercise, get rid of clutter, take a class, learn a language, get organized. But my resolution this year is to first, do no harm.

Keep an eye out for our next issue! Coming May 24, 2019