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A Message from the Pastor
For the next six Sundays, our Sunday worship themes will be the six "measures" that our congregation has put together as a part of our ongoing visioning process.
Here are the dates and their themes: January 10 - SERVING OTHERS January 17 - LIVING IN HUMILITY January 24 - STUDYING & SHARING SCRIPTURE January 31 - PRAYING CONTINUALLY February 7 - EXTENDING COMPASSION February 14 - OBEYING GOD
Lent will begin on Ash Wednesday, February 17, just three days after this worship series ends. Therefore, this series is bridging the weeks between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday.
Why do we use the term "measures"? In his book Church Unique,  author and church consultant Will Mancini describes measures as "missional life marks" or "a shared articulation" of the results that are being targeted. Measures answer the question, "What kind of Christian is our church designed to produce?" or the question, "What does our ministry look like when we are being faithful to our mission?" Just look at our measures. Do they describe who we are and how we are living out our mission? Our measures describe the results we are seeking here at RRCC, as we strive to embody and to share the love of Jesus Christ with our neighbors.
I am looking forward to the next six weeks!
Peace in Christ,
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Even though we are unable to meet in person,
RRCC has three ways you can still give your tithe:
- Go to the RRCC website rrdisciples.org and click on the "GIVE HERE" button at the top of the main page. Or use the link at the top of each newsletter. It will take you to the same place.
- Use your bank's electronic bill pay feature to have a check mailed directly from your bank to RRCC.
- Mail your check directly to RRCC.
Address your envelope to:
Financial Secretary
Round Rock Christian Church
22 Chalice Way
Round Rock, TX 78665
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COVID-19 Vaccine Availability
You may be wondering whether you are eligible now to receive your first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Many in our congregation are in fact eligible right now, based on age and/or chronic medical condition.
If you are a front-line healthcare worker or resident of a long-term care facility, you are eligible now to receive the vaccine, since December 14. This group is c onsidered Phase 1A.
If you are in Phase 1B, you are also eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine, depending on availability and the vaccine provider. Vaccine supply remains limited, but more vaccine will be delivered to providers each week. Phase 1B recipients include:
- People 65 years of age and older
- People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
- Solid organ transplantation
- Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
If you are in Phase 1A or 1B, please visit the Texas COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Locations map (link below) to see if and where you might be able to get a vaccine today. Remember, your ability to get a vaccine today or this week will depend on vaccine availability at your provider's office, clinic, or facility. Please call ahead to your provider.
Here are the links to the Texas Health and Human Services website and the map which helps you locate local providers. Remember, it is important to call your provider in advance to know whether they currently have any of the vaccine.
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 JANUARY DISCIPLES WOMEN'S MINISTRY MEETING
Your Invitation to Fellowship, Bible Study & Service
Ladies mark your calendar for Monday, January 11, at 9:30 AM, for the first DWM meeting of the year. We will come together via zoom (link below) for fellowship, Bible study and service plans for the New Year.
We begin a new Bible study this month titled, Hope, Healing, & Wholeness.
It comes from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Just Women Embracing Life series that examines biblical narratives, correlating them with 21st Century challenges.
The January study is recorded in the fourth and fifth chapters of the book of Judges and is about the servant of God, Deborah. It is a narrative of that period of Israelite history following their time of slavery and spending forty years in the wilderness.
The setting of this story is more than 3000 years ago when once again many Israelites had fallen away from God, worshipping idols, and living in fear of their oppressors. They cried out to God for deliverance. Enter the prophetess and judge, Deborah, sent by God to lead her people in a male dominated world. It is one of the most inspiring accounts of courage through faith in God found in the Old Testament.
The theme words....hope, healing, and wholeness have been chosen to help us examine our personal journey, and those with whom we come in contact as we seek to embrace our neighbors with Christ-like love.
The zoom link is
Plan to join your sisters-in-Christ.
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2021 Worship Leader Sign-Up
 Attention Worship Leaders! There are TWO vacancies in January.
Please fill them if you can serve. Thank you.
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The 2021 Worship Leader Sign-Up is available to view!
Click here to reserve your date to serve:
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Upcoming Events
There will be no events/meetings held in the RRCC facility until further notice.
Many RRCC activities and events have been cancelled until further notice. Some are continuing online.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
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7:00 p.m.
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- Shalom Congregation (via Zoom)
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Wednesday, January 6, 2021
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1:00 p.m.
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- Caring Hearts Prayer Group (via Zoom) Link HERE
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7:00 p.m.
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Thursday, January 7, 2021
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2 Corinthians 14:16-17
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Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
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Lamentations 3:22-24
| Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
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Saturday, January 9, 2021
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8:00 a.m.
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- Shalom Congregation (live stream)
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8:30 a.m.
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- Disciples Men's Breakfast (via Zoom) Link HERE
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9:30 a.m.
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9:45 a.m.
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- Explorers Sunday School (via Zoom) Link HERE | |
9:45 a.m.
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- Open Circle Sunday School (via Zoom) Link HERE | |
11:00 a.m.
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Evening
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- Manantial de Vida Congregation (off site)
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| Revelation 21:1-3 | Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2021
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7:00 p.m.
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- Shalom Congregation (off site)
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Open Circle New Study
NEW YEAR, NEW STUDY WITH OPEN CIRCLE CLASS
On Sunday, January 3, the Open Circle Adult Sunday School Class will begin a new study: Gospel Medicine.
In this new collection of sermons, Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor summons with piercing clarity and wit the Old and New Testament stories that have the power to "mend our spirits, strengthen our weaknesses, and restore us to wholeness".
All are welcome to drop in any Sunday for good study and good conversation!
The Zoom link is:
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Saturday Events
Disciple Mens Breakfast
Saturday, January 9, 2021
8:30 a.m. (via ZOOM)
Handcrafters
Saturday, January 9, 2021
9:30 a.m. (via ZOOM)
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RRCC Newsletter Deadlines
Please submit your
Tuesday Newsletter articles and pictures
before 10:00 a.m. on Mondays.
and your Friday Reminders articles and pictures
before 12:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
Thank you!
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CHANCEL CHOIR RESUMES THIS WEEK
Chancel Choir meets via ZOOM on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.:
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Did You Miss a Newsletter?
Past newsletters dating back to mid-March 2020 are currently archived under the "ABOUT US" tab on the RRCC Website.
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Upcoming Birthdays
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January 5
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- Jordan Grant
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January 5
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January 10
| - Venessa Harmel
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Prayer Needs
LEADERSHIP
1. Our Guiding Board, Ministries Council, Elders, Deacons, Ministries and Teams (leadership transitions as we begin 2021)
2. Our staff: Jimmy, Mitch, Katie, Randy, and Molly
3. Our music ministries and their leaders: Randy Preston, Rod Walker, and Jimmy Horowitz
4. Our tech team: Gary Collier, Tara Pollock, Katie Maybaum, Randy Preston, Rod Walker, and Dan Knight
5. Our "Reopening" Task Force--Perry Mouser (chair), Gary Tucker, Gary Collier, Mildred Adair, Amy Tucker, Pam Knight, Amy Osteen, Tricia Mouser, Pastor Maria Rosario of Manantial de Vida, Omar Roque, Juan Pena, and Carlos Cortez of Shalom, Pastor Mitch Maxted, and Linda Glover
6. Our Caring Hearts Prayer Group
7. Our Stephen Ministries (Care Receivers and Caregivers)
8. Our partnership with Shalom Seventh Day Adventist & Manantial de Vida congregations (and their pastors Edy Rosa Paez and Maria Rosario)
9. Reverends Christal Fisher (South Texas) and Andy Mangum (CCSW)
10. The current search for a Community Regional Minister for Reconciliation for the Christian Church in the Southwest
MEMBERS AND FRIENDS
1. Acree, Mary -- ongoing fall concerns, but feeling better
2. Davis, Marilyn
3. Glover, Linda -- pain management
4. Greene, Emmiline -- sister-in-law Matilda Dunn passed away 1/4/21 in Maryland
5. Guilbeau, Rick & Cynthia. Cynthia's father, Harold Hubbard, is receiving hospice care
6. Habtemariam, Solomon and Meaza
7. Heeney, Mary -- sick with COVID-19
8. Jenkins, Bob -- sister Kathy sick with COVID-19
9. Johnston, Janette -- mother Billie sick with COVID-19
10. Kessler, Jim and Susan -- daughter Erica's family and in-laws with COVID-19
11. Mouser, Tricia -- rheumatoid arthritis infusion treatments and side-effects
12. Plough, Paul
13. Pollock, Chris -- chest pains
14.Putnam, Susan and Jim -- Susan's cousin Connie in Missouri is sick with COVID-19
15. Salzwedel, Molly -- friend Jeff's mother sick with COVID-19
16. Scarborough, Rilda and Charles
17. Schuchardt, Myra -- moving to Magnolia, TX in the near future
18. Sherry, Bea
19. Shrader, James (husband of Patti) -- continued recovery from heart and leg surgeries; also Patti's sister Connie passed away last month in Missouri
20. Terry Tucker, brother of Gary Tucker -- upcoming surgery
21. Walker, Rod -- his mother Connie Walker is hospitalized with dehydration and possible suffered a mild heart attack
22. Whitley, Bea -- brother Darrel Hansen hospitalized with COVID-19
23. Wilson, Garvid -- chemo/immunotherapy second treatment is today January 5th; prayers for strength and manageable side effects
OTHER
1. Mahomet Christian Church in Bertram (burned on 12/9)
2. All who don't know Jesus
3. COVID-19 (the ill, their families, medical professionals, essential workers, treatment and vaccine researchers, the logistics of distributing and administering the vaccine safely and efficiently)
4. Those who have lost jobs during the pandemic; businesses that are struggling
5. A transition of power in Washington that is marked by good communication and good will
6. All people who are persecuted for their faith throughout the world 7. Our military personnel and families 8. International cooperation in responding to climate change challenges 9. Development of an immigration policy for the U.S. that is fair, just, and responsible 10. For all efforts toward affordable health care for all Americans; that pre-existing health conditions not be a barrier to securing health insurance coverage 11. U.S. lawmakers and community leaders to work together to solve the problem of frequent, deadly mass shootings 12. All teachers, administrators, students, and parents. Our neighborhood schools: Union Hill Elementary School and Hopewell Middle School.
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[There will be no Sunday School classes in the church building for the foreseeable future.
Some classes will be meeting via Zoom
during this time of social distancing.]
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Early Childhood Class (ages 4-7) -Taught by Lisa Walker
Intermediate Class (3rd - 5th grade) - Taught by Jennifer Kienzle
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Chi Rho Class - (6th - 8th grade) - (studying the book, "Middle School TalkSheets" for ages 11-14. "These TalkSheets present every aspect of Jesus' life in a way that young teens can connect with as they learn to apply the lessons to their own lives.")
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CYF Class (9th - 12th grade)
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Open Circle (primarily adult women) - 9 :45 a.m. Sunday mornings via ZOOM, Studying Gospel Medicine. ALL ARE WELCOME! Link HERE
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Explorers (mixed adults) - 10:00 a.m. Sunday mornings via ZOOM, Facilitator is Mildred Adair; studying the New Testament Book of Acts, using the resource by John MacArthur. Link HERE
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Follow us on Social Media!
We can be found on:
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Submitting a photo? Awesome!
We love pictures of congregational life!
Please remember to include
identification (who, what, when, where, why)
for each photograph submitted to the office.
Also, please indicate where you would like the photo to be used (RRCC website, social media, weekly newsletter, etc.)
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Mondays:
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9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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Tuesdays:
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2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
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Wednesdays:
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9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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Thursdays:
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9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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Fridays:
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9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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Elder's Prayer Corner/Closing Message
Let us consider and remember 2020. Oh, you'd rather not? I get it. It was a difficult year for pretty much everyone in so very many ways. But I'm not suggesting recalling the misery. There's always plenty of that.
Let's think of the ways God has been at work in Round Rock CC. We continue to be God's people and it shows. Worship services have continued amazingly well which means that so many have had to learn so much in order to participate. Even those who couldn't join in at the regular time could pick up a "rerun" on YouTube. There are so many to be thanked for that.
Most of the various ministries have also been able to continue, mostly via Zoom. Studies and lessons have been well-shared. As one who simply isn't "into" the tech stuff, I do truly appreciate having been able from time to time to visit with others even when we were separated by miles. When the facility is reopened, you can appreciate the tremendous amount of work that has happened there during the quiet time. Surely you will appreciate those who kept it all going.
We get to be grateful for all the good that has come from the quarantine. We'll be able to livestream services even after we return in person. Just think of how many more we may reach and serve that way. We appreciate one another perhaps more than before.
God has been and is at work in this, his community of Disciples. Let us praise and glorify him for what we recognize to have been and to be good.
Prayer: Most holy Lord, we are so glad to start what promises to be a happier NEW year. We know that your hand is always at work; sometimes we just don't recognize it. Let us give you all the glory for helping us through the pandemic. We know that there are ways in which you have strengthened our faith. Because of that we know that you will guide us into just how you want us to proceed in following your path living for you and spreading the gospel. In Christ's name, Amen.
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