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Growing Deep Roots to Share God's Love
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In this edition, you won't want to miss these stories:
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It's been said, "All who wander are not lost." Perhaps the words of Jesus this week will resonate with those wanderers in life, as He shares three stories of lost things. Come this Sunday to wander together through the focus of Jesus, and experience together the peace of "being found."
We invite you to review the following scripture verse ahead of time:
Luke 10:25-54; Luke 14:1-24; Luke 15:1-32.
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Feedback on the sermon series? What new information have you learned? We'd love to hear from you.
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August 7
Chapter 30: "
The Stories of the Lost"
August 14
Chapter 31: "
A Tale of Two Silos
"
August 21
Back to School Sunday
Chapter 32: "Jesus Vs. Jerry Jones"
August 28
Chapter 33: "That Time Jesus Offended Everyone"
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UPCOMING EVENTS
August 7
August 14
Back to School Prayer Walk 3:00 p.m., Prayer Service 4:00 p.m., Ice Cream Social 4:30 p.m.
August 18
Pledge Capital Campaign Charge Conference, 6:30 p.m., Worship Center
August 21
Blessing of the Teachers and Backpacks, All Services
Habitat for Humanity First Time Volunteers Training, 11:30 a.m., Worship Center
Lunch With the Pastors For New Attendees Wishing to Join Our Church, 12:30 p.m., Worship Center
Sunday School and Small Group Sign Ups; Most Classes Will Start Mid-September
August 24
Family Promise First Time Volunteer Training, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., Worship Center
August 28
Official launch of Creekwood Special Needs Ministry
August 29 - September 4
Family Promise Hosting at Student Center
September 5
Labor Day, Church Office Closed
September 11 & September 18
Harper's Helpers Training for First Time Volunteers, 11:30 a.m., Worship Center
September 17
Creekwood Habitat for Humanity Build
October 15
Creekwood Habitat for Humanity Build
Note: Church office will be closed on Fridays during summer months starting June 24 through July 29.
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 Volunteer Highlight
There are many, many volunteers working behind the scenes at Creekwood, and we love to share stories of how people are giving so
graciously of their time and talent. Over the summer as you see our volunteers in action, please share what you're seeing and who you think needs to be our next highlight. Click here to share. We start back our highlights in September.
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 Middle Missionaries
Did you notice all the bags and cots in the Gathering Area this past Sunday? Did you wonder what was going on? (Or, maybe not if you have have kiddos at home and finding things dropped right in the doorway is your normal...<sigh> we understand.) Well, actually, that was a product of our middle school missionaries returning from Gainesville, TX. The crew of 19 students
and our three fabulous, generous, brave adult volunteers--Erica Dorlon, Ryan
Kehr, and John Sipes--along with some of our staff, only arrived home Sunday morning, this after spending three working days assisting others in need. They unloaded their gear and joined their families for worship.
While in Gainesville, their projects included painting two homes, painting a handicap accessible ramp, replacing a ceiling, mowing overgrown fields and installing a handicap-accessible shower. And you thought your honey-do list was long.....
Middle School Director Donna Bartholomew overheard adult volunteer John Sipes
say, "I
f I could afford it, I would quit my job and go on mission trips like this full time."
We invite you
to join us in thanking the participating young men and women, and the gracious
volunteers, who made this trip possible. We're blessed to have young hearts so on fire for serving others.
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Communion Offering
In an effort to support our community in the recent tragedy resulting in the death of five Dallas Police officers, our communion offering this Sunday will benefit the "Carry the Load" organization. This organization was founded to restore the meaning of Memorial Day and honor the service men and women who have served our country in various capacities. Carry the Load supports several smaller organizations, one of them being the Assist the Officer Foundation directly serving the Dallas Police Department officers and their families.
Click here for more information about Carry the Load.
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2016-2017 Gridiron Kickoff This Sunday
We invite you to join us at 6:00 p.m. this Sunday,
August 7, for the 2016-2017 Gridiron Kickoff, a
Creekwood tradition you won't want to miss. Let's talk football!
Come hear from our new high school head coaches - Allen's Terry Gambill and Lovejoy's Todd
Ford.
Dinner will be provided. Pastor David will be facilitating a Q & A. (Submit your possible questions
here
.) There will also be a fun, interactive game sure to get us all football ready! Plan to attend and bring a friend!
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Prayer Walk for Schools
We hope you'll plan to join us next Sunday, August 14, for our second annual Back to School Prayer Walk. If you were with us this time last year, you may remember we were just wrapping up a deep discussion on the power of prayer and we organized prayer events to pray for blessings and safety for the schools in our community. So many participated in this important program last year and we're excited to have Lay Leadership taking lead of the event this year.
We believe there is power in prayer in a purposeful group setting.
We're focusing on the East Allen and Lovejoy schools, as well as Harper Elementary.
 Groups will physically walk the school grounds and pray for blessings for the upcoming school year. Want to be a part of it? You'll find large chalkboards up in the Gathering Area listing the schools. Sign your name under your chosen school, or simply show up at your school at 3 p.m. on Sunday August 14. We'll send out the prayer guide next week.
Following the prayer walks, we
'll regroup at the Worship Center at 4 p.m. for a combined prayer service and will then have an ice cream social at 4:30 p.m.--an ice cream social complete with..... a gutter. You gotta come to see it.
We're encouraging everyone to participate in this special event as we prepare for the 2016/2017 school year and ask for God's blessing.
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Getting Launch Ready
As you've probably heard by now, the Creekwood Special Needs Ministry will officially launch August 28, and we are crazy excited about this new endeavor. The objective of this new ministry is to help special needs children and their families celebrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a nurturing and safe atmosphere which values integration and removes barriers to church attendance.
A key component of this ministry is the Buddy Program, which serves to help every child feel included and nurtured spiritually, emotionally, and physically while their families join us for worship. Pairing each special needs child with a buddy volunteer will help them participate, to the fullest extent, in our Sunday morning children and youth programs. We're currently developing our team of buddies. To date, we have seven buddies committed to this important role and ten others have expressed an interest. Do you feel called to serve in this ministry? Here is a little more about the buddy role.
BUDDY FAQs:
Who can be a buddy?
Any person at least 18 years of age who has attended Creekwood UMC for at least 6 months. Ministry Safe training and a one-hour in-service training will be required.
What are the buddy responsibilities?
Buddy volunteers will serve to provide additional help to children who need extra support to manage toys, crafts, etc. and to help guide children to stay in the appropriate play areas with our group.
How much time is required to be a buddy?
Buddy volunteers can commit to 1 or 2 hours per Sunday for any number of weeks in the month.
How do buddies get paired with special needs children?
We will work to match children with the most appropriate buddy volunteer, according to the needs and personalities of the children and the buddies.
We have discussed bringing in some of our teens to serve as peer play partners. Participating teens will undergo the same one-time training and background check as our adults. If you have a teen interested in serving as a buddy, contact Wendy McLean.
For more information on our Special Needs program, please contact Wendy McLean.
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Charge Conference
Don't forget, we'll be holding a Charge Conference to facilitate a vote on the commencement of a pledge capital campaign. D
ictated by the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, members of our church must come together to vote on the commencement of any pledge capital campaign. In our case, this is a proposed campaign to raise funds for a
new Children's & Adult Ministries building and for the renovation of the existing Children's Center to support our Youth Ministry.
The Charge Conference will be held Thursday, August 18, at 6:30 p.m. Members and non-members are welcome to attend; but, per the Book of Discipline, only members can vote. We are required to have at least 50% of those in attendance at the Charge Conference to vote in favor of the commencement of the campaign in order to proceed. Your vote matters. Plan to join us on August 18. Childcare will be available for those seven and under in the Worship Center beginning at 6:15 p.m.
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Join Our Team
Looking for a fun way to get some exercise and
an opportunity for fellowship? We're forming a Creekwood coed soccer team and both a men's and a
coed softball team. The leagues will start the end of August. Watch for sign ups to begin shortly. Contact Pastor David with any questions. Come play with us!
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Upcoming Hosting
August 29 through September 4 we'll once again be hosting Family Promise in the Student Center in conjunction with our partner, Grace Church. In addition to the facility, Creekwood will be providing meals, dinner hosts and overnight hosts. Additionally, we'll be responsible for set up on August 28 and tear down on September 4.
Currently we anticipate three families coming to stay, for a total of ten guests, including six children. You can help us provide comfortable, hospitable shelter for these families by volunteering to set up beds, buy groceries, share a meal with the families, provide a dinner, stay overnight or even by doing laundry when our guests leave. Our biggest need always is serving as an overnight host. Many who have filled this important role report it is the easiest of tasks, but we find it is often the most difficult for us to fill. Volunteers interacting with guests need to complete Family Promise training ahead of time. For further information regarding the training, contact Sarah Brown.
We invite you to join us in this much-needed, and personally rewarding ministry. Click here for a full list of volunteer opportunities. Don't forget, this can be a fun family event. Kids and teens do a great job of interacting with our guests by playing pool, board or other games, or just by simply talking.
Please
sign up
for a slot at your earliest convenience so that we are ready to serve these families and share a huge Creekwood welcome. For further information, contact
Sarah Brown
.
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Next Habitat Build 9/17 and 10/15
Creekwood's next Habitat for Humanity build will be in Princeton to
coincide with
the work we are doing at Harper Elementary and in the surrounding community. In fact, we're building this next home adjacent to a home we worked on in 2015 for the Arps family.
We'll be working on a home for Sandy Escamilla and her three beautiful children.
A native of McKinney, Sandy is thrilled to become a Habitat homeowner. She was born and raised right here in North Collin County, and graduated  from McKinney High School in 2001.
For the past four years, Sandy has been working at Mediquip in McKinney where she assists with inventory intake, shipping, and processing. She
started the Habitat process when a former co-worker told her about the program. For her, getting to move into a home of her own will be an incredible blessing after many long years of struggle which began in high school. During that time, Sandy's parents divorced and her mother was left to care for five children on her own. Being the second oldest, Sandy worked two jobs before and after school in order to help her mother pay the bills. Since that time, Sandy feels like she has been on a long journey. She is so thankful for this opportunity, and feels like moving into her Habitat home will be a huge step in the right direction. We're blessed to have the opportunity to help her make this huge step.
Build days are
Saturday, September 17 and Saturday, October 15 from approximately 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. We need 20-25 builders each day, and we need volunteers to provide lunch and water. Please
email Lyndsey Lessner or c
all/text 404-797-5072 to sign up. We'll hold a training for all first time Habitat volunteers on Sunday, August 21, at 11:30 a.m. in the Worship Center. We invite you to join us in helping make a home for Sandy and her children.
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Back to School Blessings
Sunday, August 21 is Back to School Sunday at Creekwood. At all three services, we will be praying over and asking for blessings upon our children and teachers. We'll have our annual tradition of the Blessing of the Backpacks so be sure to have your child bring their backpack that Sunday. We'll remind you again :).
This Sunday, your child can pick up an invitation in the Gathering Area to give their teacher, inviting them to be a part of our blessing.
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Building Faith
Brick by Brick
We're continuing with the "Building Faith Brick By Brick" curriculum through August. The Explorers have been enjoying interactive lessons that help kids experience the wonder and adventure of the Bible via Legos! Have your kiddos join us at the 9:00 or 10:15 worship hours for some educational, inspiration Lego building! The program is designed for Kindergarten through 4th graders. See you Sunday!
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Happy Summer Break!
The Children's Choir is dismissed for the summer. We'll see you back in September.
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Have an infant through 4th grader and not currently receiving our weekly Children's Ministries' newsletter, Explorers' Times? Please
email us to be added to our distribution list.
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If your youth isn't already plugged into a weekly small group (7th - 10th graders) or life group (11th/12th graders), please contact Donna Bartholomew to learn more about these life-changing groups.
LiGht (Living in God's House Together)
Sunday school is held each Sunday from 10:15 - 11:15 a.m. in the Lovejoy Gym. All 5th - 12th graders are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
Join us for
T
he Rise
Sunday evenings from 5 - 7 p.m. in the Worship Center. We'll have dinner ($5), worship, hear inspirational messages and have small group breakouts. This Sunday The Rise will be participating in the Gridiron Kickoff.
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BASIC Middle School Summer Bible Study
Our summer middle school Bible study is now meeting! You can find us in the
Worship Center at 6:30 on Tuesdays. All middle schoolers are welcome to join us for study and fellowship. We are studying the Gospel of John. It is not too late to attend.
Remaining Summer Bible Study Tuesdays:
August 9 & 16
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Have a 7th - 12th grader and not currently receiving our weekly Youth Ministries' newsletter? Please
email us to be added to our distribution list.
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See what is happening on our Creekwood social sites.
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