 Save The Date: Night on the Town
The Most Important Youth Fundraiser
Saturday, February 9 at 6:30pm to 8:30pm
FLC Gym
Join us Saturday, February 9, 2019 at 6:30 pm for a Night on the Town an opportunity to wear your "Boots & Bling"! This dinner and auction is the only major fundraiser for the youth summer camp and mission trip. All the proceeds from the evening will go directly to help offset costs of summer trips.
The cost for the evening is $25/person or $40/couple. Reservations and payments will be taken this Sunday, January 27, and Sunday, February 3rd in the plaza outside the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall. You can also make reservations in the church office. Childcare for the evening will be by reservation only.
Call For Donations
The youth are asking for dessert donations for their silent auction at Night on the Town. Not a baker? Store bought desserts are just as yummy! Please let Jana Jones know if you plan to donate a dessert by Wednesday, February 6, 2019. Please drop off your desserts in the church office Friday, February 8 between 9 am and 1 pm.
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What Happened This Week
It's Not Too Late To Join!
Breaking Chains kicked off two weeks ago
and over 100 of our church and community members
are participating in Financial Peace University small groups or sermon series discussions during Sunday School hour and have started the journey toward that goal for every Bear Creek UMC family.
Over these last two weeks the Financial Peace classes have learned about the first two Baby Steps:
saving $1,000 for a starter emergency fund and paying off all debt except the house using the "Debt Snowball". Each class has action steps that help members on this financial journey. A zero-based budget prepared each month, on paper, before the month begins is the key to the entire program.
We also learned about the importance of having spouses work together on their financial journey.
Hopefully you and your spouse are already on the same page. But if you're not, sit down and talk about why you want to get out of debt or why you need solid financial goals. Dream together about what life will look like when you don't owe anything to anyone. Will you save for a new car? Go on a dream vacation to Italy? Help build a school in an impoverished community?
There's power in numbers (spouses for married couples and accountability partners for singles), which means you achieve more done if you work together-as a team. The Belgian draft horse, one of the largest, strongest horses in the world, can pull a hefty 8,000 pounds on its own. But when you pair it with another horse, they can pull upwards of 24,000 pounds-three times as much as one can pull on its own. Moral of the story? If you want to get further faster, work as a team. This is especially true if you're climbing out of debt with your spouse. Cheer each other on. Offer regular encouragement. You're in this together!
Let's continue the Breaking Chains journey together at Bear Creek UMC, helping each other along the way!
It is not too late to join a class!
Classes are available on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings. There are full 90-minute FPU classes, hour long "Flex" classes, discussion classes, classes for children, youth, and classes in Spanish.
There is a place for you!
Check out the church website for details or call the church office.
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 The Souper Bowl of Caring
Sunday, February 3rd
Sponsored by the United Methodist Women
The UMW will be collecting monetary donations before, between and after worship services on Sunday, February 3 for "Souper Bowl of Caring". If you would like to volunteer to help in collecting, please contact Virginia Fleming by calling the church office at 281-463-2330 or by email at bcumc@bearcreekumc.org . Monetary donations will be given to the MESA Outreach Food Pantry to help purchase food for those in need in our community. We hope to feed many families with the money that we collect. Please support our UMW and MESA Outreach Souper Bowl team! Tackle Hunger! Be a game changer!
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 BC Babies Playgroup
Wednesday, January 30 from 9:15am - 10:00am
Our next "Playgroup" (featuring The Children's Museum of Houston) is Wednesday, January 30, 2019 in the Fellowship Hall. This is a free event to help promote early literacy, geared towards all children ages 0-2 years old (siblings are always welcome), to help promote early literacy.
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 Fellowship Friday
Friday, February 8, 2019 from 10:00am - 1:30pm
Fellowship Hall
Fellowship
Friday, an Energizers' outreach ministry, provides a loving, welcoming and fun environment for family members with mild to moderate memory loss who do not require skilled care. This program, a partnership between Interfaith CarePartners and BCUMC, is designed to give caregivers some much needed time away.
This month's theme is "Valentines Day". Join us
Friday, February 8 from 10:00am - 1:30pm to hear our special entertainment, "Touch of Jazz"!
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 "The Way Forward" Report
General Conference Special Session: February 23-26, 2019
St. Louis, Missouri
The Council of Bishops has called a Special Session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church to be held February 23-26, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri. The purpose will be to receive and act on a report from the Commission on a Way Forward based on the recommendations of the Council of Bishops. The 32-member Commission was authorized by General Conference 2016 and appointed by the Council of Bishops to examine paragraphs in The Book of Discipline concerning human sexuality and exploring options to strengthen the unity of the church.
Bishop Jones' Analyses:
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 2019 Southwest District Leadership Development Event
Saturday, February 9, 2019 from 8:00am until 12:00pm
Christ United Methodist Church
For Church Leaders and Members
All Lay Leaders and congregation members are encouraged to attend the Southwest District Leadership Workshop, "Loving in Truth & Action" on Saturday, February 9, 2019. The event is from 8:00am (breakfast & check-in) until 12:00pm at Christ United Methodist Church in Sugarland. The schedule will include Worship, followed by Keynote speaker, Dr. Maria Dixon Hall with 2 workshops finishing the morning. Topics will include models for SPRC, Finance, and Trustee committees as well as insight into Children & Youth Ministries, opportunities for laity, and church governance.
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The four Vibrant Church Initiative (VCI) Teams are off to a fast start in 2019. In the month of January, the VCI Communication Prescription Team and the Hospitality and Assimilation Prescription Team participated in workshops focused on their respective Prescription objectives.
April Canik, VCI Communication consultant, led the Church Communications 101 workshop. We learned that the objective of church communication is to tell God's amazing story through BCUMC. Topics included taking advantage of social media, strengthening community relationships, and developing a long-range communication plan. You may have already noticed an increase in Bear Creek's social media presence lately - a direct result of the VCI Communications team's discussions during the workshop.
Jan Floro, Grow Church Now consultant, led the Hospitality and Assimilation workshop. We discussed the need to intentionally plan to host guests every Sunday. The Prescription team is looking at ways to provide visitors with specific, easy-to-find information on our website. Jan encouraged the team to view all aspects of our Sunday experience from a visitor's perspective. How "friendly" is our campus - from entering the parking lot, to navigating around the grounds, to receiving timely information about Bear Creek's activities during and after worship? We began the discussion of improvements during the workshop. Jan will lead several additional workshops in the future. If you serve as an usher or a greeter or as a friendly face on Sunday morning, I hope you will plan to attend a future workshop when invited.
Fees for our experts in Communication and in Hospitality and Assimilation are heavily subsidized as a part of the Texas Conference's support of VCI at Bear Creek UMC. You'll be hearing more about VCI 2.0 in the future.
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Still Recovering from Harvey?
Hope Disaster Recovery is a local non-profit organization under Cy-Hope that is devoted to helping our community recover from disasters. They work in partnership with the Red Cross.
Hope Disaster Recovery offers free help to find resources such as:
- Damage Assessments
- Rebuild Assessments
- Furniture and Appliances
- Relocation
If you need help, please email them at
cases@hdrtx.org or call them at 281-971-3330. Please include your name, daytime phone number, and address.
Volunteering Opportunity
This Sunday, January 27 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm Hope Disaster Recovery will go door-to-door in the Bear Creek neighborhood to give out flyers. The goal is to let residents know what Hope Disaster Recovery can offer. Volunteers will meet
at the FLC building gym door for a short distribution of materials and assigning of partners and coverage areas. If you can help, please contact Isabel by phone at 832-613-4424 or by emailing her
isabel.menieta@hopedrtx.org
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HeBrews Coffee Wednesdays
Every Wednesday from 9:15 to 10:15am
Bear Creek UMC's HeBrews Coffee House will be open every Wednesday from 9:15am to 10:15am for your sipping, relaxing, and chatting pleasure. You'll find Pastor Leo there with his morning brew!
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Online & Text Giving
Electronic giving. From your smartphone!
Online and text giving can be found on our website. Both options are facilitated through Shelby Systems, Inc., our church administration software, which is highly secure. You will find links and instructions on the
giving
page of our website.
Thank you
for your faithful contributions that allow us to continue the various ministries of Bear Creek United Methodist Church!
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