Volunteer Opportunities for 2023!
Sign up now to help McCurdy in 2023!
VIM Teams
Volunteer in Mission (VIM) Teams can sign up to serve from mid-February until mid-November. Currently, we have 16 teams signed up for 2023. However, we only have one team signed up for March, one for April, and one in late May. There are still many weeks available to help this spring in getting our campus ready for the summer months and help get ready for Camp Stars. Please consider coming to help with a wide variety of tasks – painting, mowing, office work, maintenance, dry walling, building fences, yard work, cleaning, assisting in the afterschool program with crafts, and helping with our six-week Camp Stars program.
Individuals or Teams for De-Construction/Demolition
Individuals or crews with specific skills are needed to help begin the process of demolishing larger buildings and to take down several smaller buildings that are no longer needed and are without EPA issues. If you have any of the needed skills and are willing to volunteer, please let Sarah Allen know your skillset and availability as soon as possible and so she can assemble the teams. Email or call Sarah Allen at 928-691-6471 or sallen@mccurdy.org.
For More Information
For more information about volunteering at McCurdy, go to our website at www.mccurdy.org and click on the Volunteer tab at the top of the page to locate the VIM Team Leader Handbook, VIM Team Member Handbook, the Long-Term Individual Volunteer, or the Local Volunteer Handbook.
To schedule a VIM team for a week in 2023, contact our Volunteer Registrar Eufemia Romero by phone at 505-753-7221, ext. 210 or by email at eromero@mccurdy.org.
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A "Monumental" Service Opportunity for Camp Stars!
Plans are being made to involve church groups from across the country in helping to prepare for this year’s Camp Stars program. Camp Stars, which was created to combat the summer slump, is a six-week (35 hours per week) summer educational enrichment camp for K-6 students that includes STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning as well as faith sharing through VBS fun and service. This year we will be using the Monumental VBS curriculum.
Watch for a special edition newsletter coming soon with details on how your church can help McCurdy prepare make-and-take crafts, select relevant children’s books to donate, design bulletin board materials, etc. for this year’s summer program. It will be a great way for those who can’t travel to McCurdy to help this important summer program “from away”!
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Amazon Wish List
One easy way to help McCurdy Ministries is to simply select an item or two each month to purchase from our Amazon Wish List. (It operates like a wedding registry site.) From basic school supplies to cleaning products and snacks, there is a wide variety of items needed. Simply click on the link below and help McCurdy help the children and families in the Española Valley.
Just remember to select McCurdy Ministries Community Center on the address list at checkout so your items will ship directly to Española.
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Looking for an easy dessert for your family after all the holiday baking, then check out this recipe for an easy peanut butter pie. This recipe is from McCurdy’s very own collection, Recipes of a Century Past, published in 2012 to celebrate the ministry’s 100th anniversary. The recipe was shared by Bernice Aranda Thackery. Enjoy!
Easy Peanut Butter Pie
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 (3.4-ouce) box instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 (8-ounce) container Cool Whip, thawed
- 1 baked pie crust
Mix together peanut butter and sugar until crumbly. Put part of the mixture in the baked pie shell. Reserve enough crumbs to sprinkle on top. Prepare pudding as directed on package. Beat one minute. Pour pudding into pie shell on top of peanut mixture. Spread thawed Cool Whip topping over the top and sprinkle with reserved crumbs. This pie can be made the night before serving and refrigerated.
Note: This recipe could easily be made gluten-free by utilizing a gluten-free pie crust.
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Devotional
Going Through the Motions
By Anitha Abraham
"…Being a leader can become more about finishing the task than serving the people. What I once embraced as a God-given assignment began to feel like a burden. I found myself operating in my own strength instead of His.
If it's my 10th time or my 100th, in every part of my life, I want to do the right ‘what’ with the right ‘why.’ If you can relate to my struggle, you may be wondering, as I was ... How can we do more than just go through the motions?
Jesus, as always, has the answer: Abide.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:9-11)
What does it mean to ‘abide’ in God? According to the original language of the New Testament, it simply means to remain, stay or wait. In a world that is constantly running on the wheel of busyness, this is challenging but worth it!
When Jesus talks about keeping the commandments, He invites us to do it from a place of love, not legalism. When we obey, the end result is joy! This isn't just a fleeting happiness that comes and goes based on our emotions at the moment. It isn't a joy based on doing all the right things or performing all the right actions. When our hearts are actively abiding, God gives us a fullness of joy that is eternal and complete.
The more we remain with Jesus, the more we become like Him. Our actions overflow from what God is doing in our hearts.
Less going through the motions. More love, more joy.
Less of me, more of Him.
Dear Father, please forgive me for all of the times I've done the right thing with the wrong attitude. Help me to abide in You so I can live my life in Your love and joy. May everything I think, say and do be pleasing in Your sight. And may it all give You glory! In Jesus' Name, Amen."
To read the full devotional: LINK
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Hymn: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
by: Josh Longanecker
…”Many of the carols we sing have a rich theological tradition, and ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!’ is no exception. It was written by Charles Wesley, who was an English Methodist leader and hymn writer. Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns, more than any other male writer (Fanny Crosby wrote 8,000).
His goal in writing hymns was to teach the poor and illiterate sound doctrine. His brother, John Wesley, a famous theologian and founder of Methodism, said that Charles’ hymnal was the best theological book in existence. Some have noted that Methodism was born in song and Charles was the chief songwriter.
Wesley, inspired by the sounds of London church bells while walking to church on Christmas Day, wrote the ‘Hark’ poem about a year after his conversion to be read on Christmas Day. The poem first appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1739 with the opening line of ‘Hark, how the welkin (heaven) rings.’
In 1753, George Whitefield, a student and eventual colleague of Wesley’s, adapted the poem into the song we now know today. It was Whitefield who penned the phrase ‘newborn King.’
…The first stanza describes the good news of the savior’s birth. God has sent the One who will reconcile the sinner back to Himself. Therefore, all the nations should rise and sing and proclaim the good news, which is Christ the King! The next stanza speaks to the mysticism of Christ’s coming and the good news in it. The final stanza tells of the accomplishment of Christ and the power that it brings.
For well over two hundred years, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ has been a Gospel-saturated anthem pointing people to the Savior. This famed carol is loaded with rich theology.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled:
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem:
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb!
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel:
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings;
Mild, he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth:
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.”
To read the entire article, go to: LINK
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8 New Year’s Resolutions for Christians
By Megan Bailey
“New Year's resolutions can seem, overall, pretty silly. No one ever sticks to them, no matter what plan or goal they set for themselves. …
The New Year, though, really is about new beginnings. It can be a great opportunity for us to sit down and reflect on everything we have learned in the last year…
Instead of creating a New Year’s resolution you know won't make a real difference, try one of these Christian ideas instead. Those that commit will come out next December in a more intimate relationship with the Lord.
Read the Bible.
...When you make reading the Bible a priority in your life, you become a stronger, happier Christian. You open yourself up to the amazing promises the Bible has to offer you. We gain deeper understandings of the stories we learned as children, and in turn become stronger in our beliefs…
Volunteer in the community.
…God blessed us with gifts and talents to benefit others. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, As each has received a gift, use it to serve another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace The world has needs that you can help solve…
Better mental or physical health.
When we think of honoring God, we typically only focus on our spiritual health. God, though, wants us to be better in all aspects of our life, including our mental and physical health…1 Corinthians 6:19-20 states: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
When we don't take care of our health, we are not able to service God fully...
Share your testimony.
…Like Jesus Christ, we should be sharing the Word with everyone we encounter. You probably have a few non-Christian friends, family members or co-workers. This year could be the year you choose to tell them why you fell in love with Jesus Christ, and ask them to attend church with you. Even if they say no, it puts a little spark in their head that gets them thinking about spirituality...
Create a tithing plan.
The scriptures are clear — Christians are called to be generous. That means using some of your financial income to honor God at your local church…
Even if you can’t give a lot, start with something…Look at what you can do, and then work your way up as your faith grows and your resolution blossoms…
Lean on God for support.
…one incredibly important New Year's resolution all Christians should make is to lean on God and trust in Him more. Philippians 4:13 tells us, I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. We can become better versions of ourselves to glorify God when we ask for His help and guidance to do so…
Complete random acts of kindness.
…Set a goal to do a random act of kindness one a week for the entire year. That will mean you will change, at minimum, the days of 52 people. You might make a stranger smile by paying for their coffee in line, or leave your grandmother feeling young again because you took her out dancing just for fun. Whatever you do, do it because of Jesus Christ.
Get more active in your church.
…When you want to create a deeper relationship with Christ, one of the simplest ways to do so it by becoming more active in His house of worship.
...Look at your spiritual gifts and personal skill set and try to apply that to your churches' needs...Talk with your church about what roles need to be filled.
…This year take what you’ve learned and build on it to become the best version of yourself. Make your resolution as a Christian to always honor God."
To read the full article: LINK
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McCurdy Ministries Community Center creates hope and empowers the lives of children, youth, adults and families through education, life skills, and faith-based programs in Española, New Mexico.
On behalf of the McCurdy Ministries Community Center Board and staff as well as the children, youth, adults, and families MMCC serves in the Española Valley, we wish you and your family a blessed 2023.
Feliz año nuevo,
McCurdy Board and Staff
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Through our Volunteer Newsletter, we are providing the latest information about volunteer opportunities at McCurdy Ministries Community Center and sharing helpful tips about planning a mission trip to Española. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions about articles or resources. Send your suggestions or questions to Linda Polson at lpolson1966@gmail.com. Linda is an MMCC Board Member and experienced VIM Team Leader.
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McCurdy Ministries Community Center creates hope and empowers the lives of children, youth, adults and families through education, life skills and faith-based programs
in Española, NM.
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