Faith United Methodist Church

I hope you've heard by now that Faith will be experiencing its first pastoral transition this summer. This is a unique time in the history of our church and I'm determined that we get it right!

For the next four weeks, I'll offer a series of messages on "Saying Goodbye." Each message will be designed to help us understand how we can faithfully approach the end of the various life chapters that we all go through. I'll start this week with a message I'm calling, "How to Say a Good Goodbye."

I really hope you'll join me over the next few weeks as we talk about this important part of our journey. And I sincerely hope you will keep my family, the Whitfield family, and the Faith family in your prayers as we transition together. I also hope you will invite a friend to come with you. This is a great chance to show others the very best parts of Faith Church—our enduring belief that God is with us in every circumstance.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at 10:30 am as we celebrate God's love together.

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

Sunday will be an exciting day at Faith as we honor our mothers and celebrate the faith commitment of our confirmation students. It's always fun to see young adults claim their faith for themselves and vow to live a life that follows the example of Christ.

I will wrap up my series on "Making Sense of the Bible" with a message called, "Loving God, Loving God's Word." It's basically a message that helps us understand what it means to live under the authority of Scripture. I'll talk about how our relationship with the Bible can influence our relationship with God and with the people around us, as well as how it influences the way we live each day.

Please join us this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as we worship God together and invite a friend to come with you or meet you here. I look forward to seeing you then!

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

Have you ever wondered why the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) don't always line up perfectly in the way they tell the stories of Jesus? Have you ever wondered how the books of the New Testament came into being? Have you ever wondered what the purpose behind the New Testament was?

I hope you have wrestled with some of these questions. And I hope you'll plan to join us for worship this Sunday as we talk about "Making Sense of the New Testament." I'll talk about where the books of the New Testament came from, the order in which they were written, how they were put together, and what they are trying to say to us.

This will be a great week to invite a friend to come with you – especially friends who may not have grown up in a church or who seem to struggle to make sense of the Bible or their faith.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

Have you ever wondered – or had a conversation with someone – about why dinosaurs are never talked about in the Bible? Scientists can offer lots of evidence about when and how dinosaurs roamed the earth. But our Scriptures have nothing to say about them? Does this mean that dinosaurs did not exist? Can science and Scripture coexist?

I hope you will join me this Sunday as we worship together and continue our series on "Making Sense of the Bible." We'll take a closer look at science and Scripture and see how both can help us make better sense of our world.

I also hope that you will invite a friend to come with you or meet you here. I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

We stand together this week with broken hearts, saddened spirits, and confused minds as once again we grapple with the reality of violence, terrorism, evil, and hatred in our world. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones or limbs or even a little faith.

I don't claim to have all of the answers, but I do believe that God still speaks to us in the midst of our questions. That's why I've adjusted the order of messages in our "Making Sense of the Bible" series to deal with this directly. Join me this Sunday as we talk about "Making Sense of Violence in the Bible and in our World." You might have a friend or a neighbor who needs to hear this message as well- I hope you will invite them to meet you here.

As always, I appreciate the compassionate and caring ways that you help Faith UMC connect the love of Christ to our community. Together, we will help shine the light of Christ into the dark places of our world and bring hope to those who are hurting, helpless, or hopeless.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we celebrate the love of God together.

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

I hope you received the news earlier this week about the appointment of Rev. Rodney Whitfield to be Faith's new senior pastor starting on July 1. Rodney is a highly capable leader and someone who fill fit in well with the people of Faith. I appreciate how you will do everything in your power to help him and his family make a smooth transition into the Faith family.

In the meantime, we still have work to do! This Sunday, I'm starting a new five-week worship series called, "Making Sense of the Bible." We know that active engagement with the Bible is the most effective way to experience spiritual growth, but we also know that good Bible study tends to be one of the most confusing, difficult, and challenging aspects of our spiritual lives. This worship series is designed to help us get more comfortable with the Bible so that we have a meaningful experience with God's Word in our lives.

I hope you are planning to join me every week of this series for these important messages. We'll even have some folks from Mardel's here this Sunday and next to help assist anyone who wants or needs a new Bible. This is a great opportunity to invite a friend to come with you—many of our unchurched neighbors have indicated that one of the barriers they have to the Christian faith is confusion over the Bible. Can you think of a better way to help someone overcome this obstacle and get to know Christ for the first time than to help them get more comfortable with the Bible?

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday for this important and powerful time of worship.

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

First—thank you all for making last week's Holy Week and Easter celebration here such a fantastic experience. I appreciate all of your extra effort and we saw lots of great things happen as a result. It's a joy to share in these special ministry events with you.

Speaking of special ministry opportunities, you will not want to miss what's happening at Faith this Sunday, April 7. Our youth will be leading worship, including our newly formed youth band. They're awesome (especially the young lady who plays guitar!!) We'll also hear a message from Courtney Schultz, a young woman from Faith who has recently responded to a call to ministry. I am really looking forward to being here to support Courtney and our youth and I hope you will make a point to be present as well.

In addition, at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon, our leadership team will meet in an open session to talk about aspects of our church's pastoral transition. Jim Ozier (former from our parent church in Flower Mound and now Director of New Church Development for our conference) will be here to guide our discussion. This meeting is for anyone and everyone who wants to know more about what to expect as Faith experiences its first change in pastoral leadership.

Thanks again for all that you do to make Faith such a great place to be. I look forward to seeing you this Sunday and I hope you will invite a friend to experience our church with you.

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

In case you haven't heard, we are in the midst of Holy Week! This is the week that we remember the sacrifice of Christ and his victory over death!

On Thursday at 7pm, we'll celebrate the Last Supper together. On Friday at 7pm, we'll remember the crucifixion. Then on Sunday, we'll share in the joy of resurrection with a sunrise service led by Faith's students at 7am and Easter services at 9am and 10:30am. I highly encourage you to attend as many of these experiences as possible- they will have a profound impact on how you understand your faith in Christ.

Also, for our Easter Sunday services, it will be important to make as much room as possible for our worship community and guests. There is no Sunday School this week, so if you are usually in the building at 9am for Sunday School, please consider coming to the 9am worship this week. And if you can share a little time to help greet people at the door or serve in other ways, that would be great. In addition, please don't be late! The entire Easter experience is designed to flow from one element to the next- from the very start to the very end.

I'm looking forward to sharing this Holy Week experience with you and I'm especially looking forward to the joy of our Easter "Roll Away Your Stone" Celebration! I hope you are planning to join us and planning to invite a friend to come with you.

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

I hope you are planning to join me for a powerful start to Holy Week with our Palm Sunday celebration this Sunday, March 24, in worship. Palm Sunday is always such a special day as we remember the triumph of our Lord and prepare ourselves for the tragedy of his crucifixion. The children will participate by processing with palm leaves and our praise band and chorus will lead us with inspiring music. Also, please don't forget that we'll have an Easter egg "hunt" immediately following worship this week on the playground.

Invite a friend to come with you or meet you here and arrive ready to experience the hope and promise we have in Jesus Christ. I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.

With love, and joy, serving as your pastor-
JOHN

Rev. John McLarty, Senior Pastor

Greetings Friends!

Everyone is occasionally plagued by mental reruns of past sins, failures and poor decisions; even followers of Jesus! But the good news is that God never intended for us to re-live a painful past and all the guilt and shame that comes with it.

This Sunday, March 17, I look forward to sharing with you in worship what the Bible says about how we can Live in Victory When the Tapes Replay.

Grace, peace and love,

REV. DON KIRSCH