Koinonia 

Dallas Emmaus Community Newsletter
November 4, 2016
Contents
Chili Gathering
Upcoming Walks
I am counting on Christ!
Give Thanks
Henri Nouwen and Prayer
Chrysalis
T-shirts available
Sponsorship
4th Day Help Needed!
Kairos
 
 
 
 Upcoming Emmaus Events

 
Chili Supper
Saturday, November 5
 

Dallas Women's #266
02/23-26, 2017 
Sabine Creek Ranch  
 
Dallas Men's #267
04/20-23, 2017 
Sabine Creek Ranch  
 

 


   
 
The DEC 2017
and
Applications 

 are available! 


   


Kairos of Texas
    Outside Calendar     
 

   

  

If you know  any woman who  would benefit from 
Kairos Outside,
 please visit KONT  
and visit  the Guest tab for the reservation form.

Join Our Mailing List

 
 

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   Annual Emmaus Chili Gathering
& Candlelight 
   


Saturday, November 5
 
6:00pm to 7:30pm 

Before Candlelight for Dallas Women's Walk #265
at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Encampment Pavilion
For a site map and directions, visit the Dallas Emmaus website at www.dallasemmaus.org    
 
  
  
Bring your favorite chili and fixin's (Fritos, crackers, cheese, onions, etc.), a side dish, dessert and drinks to share.

Paper goods will be provided 
 
    
Come and enjoy the fellowship and the fun
then attend Candlelight for DEC Women's Walk 265.
Be a shining light!
candles    

UPCOMING WALKS

bible-candle.jpg
 
Dallas #266 Women
02/23-26, 2017
Sabine Creek Ranch

  
Dallas #267 Men   
04/20-23, 2017  
Mt. Lebanon


Pilgrims spots are available on both Walks - sign up today!

Applications can be downloaded by clicking here. 

 
 
Click here to view Walk Rosters

  
The Community is encouraged to attend the following events:

Send-off
which starts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Candlelight begins at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Closing will start around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Please be careful not to arrive earlier than 7:15 p.m. if just attending the Candlelight services on Saturday.
 
The online Prayer Vigil  supplements (but does not replace) the paper Prayer Vigil passed around at Candlelights and other DEC events for signature. Both Prayer Vigils are posted during Walks for Pilgrims to see who has been praying for them.    
  

The Prayer Vigils are now available online for the 2016 Walks. Please click go to the Walk Roster and click on the Prayer Vigil to add your name and pray for the Pilgrims!
    
Please prayerfully consider if you are being called to sponsor  
a friend or member of your congregation.

"The aim of sponsorship is to build up the body of Christ."
 from The Upper Room online 


From the Community Lay Director
. . . And I am counting on Christ! 
  
Remember receiving your lanyard on Sunday afternoon? It was placed around your neck by your Lay Director and he/she stated, "Christ is counting on you," and you responded, "And I am counting on Christ."  

Are you still counting on C hrist? Are you in the world or of the world? Busier than ever? Overworked? Are you voting for the lesser of two evils? Or not voting at all? Have you received your health insurance renewal? Arghhh! What is a Christian to do?

In a recent conversation with our Regional Director as she was attending an Upper Room meeting for Emmaus in Nashville, I was told that Emmaus is experiencing tremendous growth-outside America. Yes, you read that correctly. Internationally, Emmaus is experiencing tremendous growth. Americans are going abroad to teach, guide and lead Walks. Christians abroad are enthusiastic to discover the love of Christ.

Conversely, the opposite is true for Emmaus in the U.S. The movement is languishing. We are seeing fewer and fewer Walks with fewer and fewer Pilgrims. Our numbers are still growing, but we will reach a tipping point soon. What happens to the Church then?

Emmaus is about growing and training leaders for the Church. Emmaus is about the realization of Christ's Church in the world. If we aren't growing leader for the church where will we grow leaders for our communities, our state or our country? I know that God is bigger than anything any of us could imagine, but there is a reason He created us and a reason he sent his Son to die on the cross for us.

If Emmaus is to continue to thrive and to train new leaders, it is the responsibility of each of us to participate. I received an email recently suggesting that the Walk to Emmaus three-day event needs some "revamping & rebranding." I can't disagree. Yet, in our high-speed, social media, bigger, better, faster, new and improved world one thing remains true- it will take the entire community, working in unison.

We tell new Pilgrims that the first step to serving on an inside team is participation on a Fourth Day team. Community- you are still on your Fourth Day. Participation is mandatory. If we are to change our world we must serve. The world will not change for the better without us. Today, before you do anything else, go to www.dallasemmaus.org. Sign up for the prayer vigil for Walk 265. Then go to a future walk and send an email to a Fourth Day director or go to contacts and in the drop-down menu send an email to the board or to the metro committee offering to serve. You will be glad you did.

I look forward to seeing you at the Community Gathering and Chili Cookoff before Candlelight at Mt Lebanon on Saturday night.
Remember, Christ is counting on you. How will you respond?

De Colores

Keith E. Chapman    
Dallas Men's Walk 184, Table of James
Community Lay Director

A Message from the Board
Give Thanks
  


The following is an excerpt from ChristianAnswers.net:
 
For the Christian, every day should be Thanksgiving Day. We should even be thankful in the midst of problems. Problems will come your way. God will see to it personally that you grow as a Christian. He will allow the storms, to send your roots deep into the soil of His Word. We pray more in the midst of problems, but it's been well said that your will see more from your knees, than you will on your tip toes.
 
A man once watched a butterfly struggling to get out of its cocoon. In an effort to help it, he took a razor blade, and carefully slit the edge of the cocoon. The butterfly escaped from its problem ... and immediately died.
 
It is God's way to have the butterfly struggle. It is the struggle that causes its tiny heart to beat fast, and send the life's blood into its wings.
 
Trails have their purpose. They make us struggle - they bring us to our knees. They are the cocoon in which we often find ourselves. It is there that the life's blood of faith in God helps us spread our wings.
 
Faith and thanksgiving are close friends. If you have faith in God, you will be thankful because you know His loving hand is upon you, even though you are in a lion's den. That will give you a deep sense of joy, and joy is the barometer of the depth of faith you have in God.
 
We have so much to be thankful for. God has given us "exceeding great and precious promises" that are "more to be desired than gold." Do yourself a big favor - believe those promises, thank God continually for them, and "let your joy be full."
 
At times it is often too easy to praise GOD for my joys but to forget to praise HIM for holding me when I struggle with the obstacles in my life. This article reminds me how I need to thank GOD for being there for me throughout my joys and my sorrows. To keep the faith and "Praise the LORD. Give thanks to LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 106:1

De Colores,

 
Kathy Richmond  
Walk #137, Table of Sarah 
DEC Women's Team Selection 

A Message from the Community Spiritual Director
Henri Nouwen and Prayer
 
I have recently been re-reading the works of the late Henri Nouwen, a Roman Catholic priest who served as the pastor of a Church, had been a university professor, and finally the chaplain of a community for the "mentally challenged." During the many different phases of his ministry, with all the changes that time and pain can bring, one thing remained consistent: from the mid-1960s until his death, Nouwen was an author.
 
Over the years he shared with us his experiences, his thoughts, his hopes and dreams in word, poem, and song. His life and ministry was, in may ways, a model for my own: his faithfulness, insight, and willingness to be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit has inspired me to see that, even in the mundane and common things of this life, there is always the spark of the Spirit of the living God shining through into a world of darkness and despair. His insights have helped me through some of my own dark and lonely times, and his keen wisdom has always been the sharpest when it pointed me back to the power of God's grace in my life. This has been true in and through all of the means of grace, but most especially in the means of grace called "prayer." In his book Reaching Out Nouwen addresses prayer as a way not only for us to reach out to God, but for God to reach into our lives. So, taking a hint from his book, I want to ask you a very pointed question: Do you pray?
  
Prayer is critically important. All of the means of grace function through prayer. Our lives should be lit by, filled by, empowered by, and guided prayer hands by prayer. There isn't an element of our existence that should be left out our prayer relationship with God. Indeed, my experience has been that when I fail to take time to pray - when I fail to be intentional about, and protective of, my prayer time - not only do I miss it, but I inevitably run aground when the storm winds start blowing.
 
When I speak of prayer, I'm not talking about what most people do when they pray: namely, begging. Prayer is far more than just presenting your petitions before God, although prayer does, indeed, include that. Far too often, we fail - due to lack of time, or lack of will, or lack of knowing how - to allow God to speak to us. We say our little prayers, make our petitions, and then we move on to the next task in our life; it's almost as if God is left sitting there, alone, saying "uh . . . ." Prayer involves more than just our talking to God; more important than what we say in prayer is what God says to us. Prayer is supposed to be more than just our begging God for things. Our prayer time is supposed to be a time for conversation with God, and in a conversation both we and God talk.
 
How do you let God speak to you? Do you sit in silence and listen for the voice of God? Do you use any means, any tools, any instruments to help you hear the voice of God? Human beings are naturally disposed toward the use of instrumentality; we need tools to help us do so much, and this is true of prayer as well. One of my favorite tools for prayer is the scriptures, and particularly the Psalms. By praying with and through the Psalms, we remove ourselves from the driver's seat and allow God to move in and through our prayers, forming them and conforming them to the words of the Psalmist. In particular, I find helpful Psalm 23, Psalm 30:1-12, Psalm 42:1-5, Psalm 51:1-12, Psalm 63, Psalm 84:10-12, Psalm 86:1-7, Psalm 91, Psalm 121, Psalm 139, Psalm 145:1-16. There are many more excellent Psalms that can speak to us through our prayers, but these are among some of my favorites. They can also serve us well as models for prayer.
 
I offer this practice to you today. If you need help in praying, open your Bible to the Psalms and allow them to speak for you, and through you, to God. And, in them, listen for God's voice, speaking back to you in the midst of your darkest night.  
       
De Colores,

Rev. Greg Neal  
Walk 97,Table of Luke  
Community Spiritual Director 
Dallas Emmaus Community  


  
Butterfly1  
Check out what's going on with Chrysalis here

   

T-Shirts!
 
Available for sale at Dallas Emmaus Community Gatherings
and Candlelights 

       

 

OR

 



 
Successful Sponsorship

Are you interested in sponsoring a Pilgrim on an upcoming Walk? Be sure to check out the "Successful Sponsorship" video that was recently posted on YouTube. Whether you are a first-time sponsor or a seasoned veteran, you're sure to pick up some great tips to help your Pilgrims have the best sponsorship experience possible. To view the video, click here



4th Day Help Needed!   
Working on a Fourth Day Team is a rewarding way to participate in the Emmaus weekend as as the hands and feet of Christ, and the easiest way to stay connected with the Community.  To sign up, view the Walk Schedule to get in touch with the 4th Day Director for the walk you want to serve on.   

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DEC is on FB 

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Next time you are on Facebook, search the Dallas Emmaus Community, then select the "Like" button to be updated on the latest news and events including Candlelights, potlucks, prayer requests and more.  "Share" or "Suggest" the page to your friends so they can stay easily connected to the Dallas Emmaus Community too.  As of Dec. 2014 there are 588 likes!

   

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: You do not have to be on Facebook to see what's going on...  click here to see what's it is all about.  Email Melinda O'Brien with any questions. 
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You can easily donate money to the Dallas Emmaus Community at any time by clicking  here. PayPal is a secured donations system which directly deposits all funds into the Dallas Emmaus Community account.  This is a great way to make payment for a pilgrim you are sponsoring or to keep the cost affordable for others who may not otherwise have means to sponsor a friend or loved one. 




kairos
KAIROS of Texas


 

Looking for an opportunity to serve in a powerful ministry?  Visit Kairos of Texas online to find out about the units and areas of ministiries near you. 


 

Kairos is a prison ministry whose success is dependent on the community of faith support in providing agape such as prayer chain signatures, cookies, and financial donations.  If you are interested in knowing more about how you can participate, or to find out how to attend a Kairos closing, email the editors for information.


 

"... whatever you did for the least of my brothers, you did for me."
~ Matthew 24:40

Contact Information
 
Dallas Emmaus Community
www.DallasEmmaus.org
214-502-4072