Notes of Appreciation
Last month we shared the news that both Patsy Alvarado, McCurdy’s Executive Director, and Sarah Allen, McCurdy’s Director of Development/Church Relations, are both retiring from their positions this month. We are so thankful for these two amazing sisters in Christ who shared their wisdom and guidance for the programs and services of McCurdy Ministries.
We invite you to send a note of appreciation and congratulations to both Patsy and Sarah. Mail cards to:
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Ms. Patricia Alvarado
Executive Director
McCurdy Ministries Community Center
362A S. McCurdy Road
Española, NM 87532
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Pastor Sarah Allen
5981 N. Jornada
Las Cruces, NM 88012
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Application Deadline is July 17
We have some good candidates who have expressed interest in the two key positions that need to be filled – McCurdy’s Executive Director and the Director of Development/Church Relations. You can assist the Executive Committee during this leadership transition by sharing the news and referring candidates to fill either of these key staff positions. We are hoping to find some great leaders to guide McCurdy Ministries into the future.
If you know someone who would be interested in applying for either position, please have them go to our website to download an application or use this LINK.
We also invite you to join us in praying daily as the Executive Committee works to find the right people to fill these leadership positions.
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“Musical” Help Needed
We need some volunteers to help prepare items stored in McCurdy’s Music Building for sale or donation. There is a large variety of musical items, including a baby grand piano, band instruments, and other band equipment plus lots of sheet music. There are some brand-new Bibles and textbooks plus an assortment of trophies as well.
We want people with musical expertise to help find homes for these items so they can either be sold online, through a big public sale, or privately to a music store. This project could be completed by a musical group/choir, a VIM (Volunteer in Mission) team, Long-Term Volunteers, or Local Volunteers. The bottom line is we need some people with musical expertise to help with this project!
To register to help with this special project, please contact our Volunteer Registrar, Eufemia Romero. Contact Eufemia by phone at 505-753-7221, ext. 210 or by email at eromero@mccurdy.org.
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BAUMC Completes Four-Year Plan!
A VIM (Volunteers in Mission) Team from Boston Avenue United Methodist Church (BAUMC) in Tulsa, Oklahoma served McCurdy Ministries the week of June 19-23. This team completed their church’s commitment to provide improvements to the campus that would benefit McCurdy’s Project Cariño program.
In 2019, The BAUMC Work Area on Mission voted to make McCurdy Ministries the church’s National Mission Partner. A team of four Boston Avenue members went to McCurdy that fall and in conjunction with Executive Director Patricia Alvarado and Project Cariño Director Amanda Trujillo Gonzales, a plan was established for making improvements on the campus, especially the areas where McCurdy Ministries offers free mental health counseling services to youth and their families.
Since the partnership’s inception, Boston Avenue has sent five teams with a total of 40 team members to McCurdy and has invested over $100,000 in resources, mostly on the Project Cariño’s portion of campus. Most recently, an eight-person BAUMC team completed the final projects on their original plan as well as repairing the fence and painting Project Cariño stairs and ramps.
Following is a list of the projects that Boston Avenue has either funded or the BAUMC teams have completed:
- Expanded the concrete recreational space in hopes of eliminating burrs.
- Paid for the demolition and reconstruction of a Utility Enclosure.
- Purchased materials and paid for construction of a privacy fence on McCurdy Drive and surrounding the two Project Cariño offices. The fence was later stained by other VIM teams and this year the Boston Avenue Team replaced and stained broken and warped boards and installed a new latch on one of the gates.
- Purchased a new HVAC system for each Project Cariño building.
- Purchased a variety of board games, books, backpacks, and recreational equipment for Project Cariño
- Purchased and had installed a covered outdoor counseling area with electricity.
- Purchased and installed four benches and a ceiling fan in the outdoor counseling area.
- Purchased and installed a revamped basketball backboard and net.
- Paid for and constructed a landscaped area in front of the two campus buildings with landscape fabric and 11 tons of Santa Fe rock.
- Purchased and built a permanent Fire Pit for grief counseling and recreation with two permanent benches.
- Purchased and installed a dry riverbed with a small bridge.
- Reconstructed eight raised beds with more durable materials, enhanced the soil, planted perennial plants and flowers, and installed a drip irrigation system.
- Painted the stairs and ramps to the Project Cariño buildings.
- Completed other landscaping work in front of McCracken Gym and Cole.
Each year Boston Avenue has provided additional funding for other work on the McCurdy Campus totaling over $35,000. Now after four years, all projects originally envisioned in 2019 have been completed along with several more. It has been a partnership with many blessings to both McCurdy and Boston Avenue UMC that has helped to create hope and empower lives in Española, New Mexico.
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The top photo shows the Project Carino grounds before BAUMC teams provided numerous enhancements projects. The bottom photo shows the finished product. What an amazing difference! |
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Reflections of a Dorm Host
McCurdy is set in a beautiful valley. It was a pleasure to wake up every morning while serving and see the surrounding mountains. Many days I would go for walks on campus and experience God's beauty. While at McCurdy, I entered data into the database several times. I also did some yard work and visited the After School program. I spent some time preparing the dorm for a group that was coming the week after I left. On weekends, I was able to go see some of the sites in the area.
Cristina Lang
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Amazon Wish List
One simple way to support McCurdy Ministries is to select an item or two each month to purchase from our Amazon Wish List. The Wish List operates like a wedding registry site and has new items added each month. You can select from a wide variety of items (i.e., basic school supplies, office supplies, cleaning products, disposable masks, bedding, towels, snacks, etc.).
Please consider using the following link to log onto the Amazon website and select something needed. Just be sure to select McCurdy Ministries Community Center on the address list at checkout so your items ship directly to Española.
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Enchiladas
Here’s another yummy recipe to try from McCurdy’s very own collection, Recipes of a Century Past, published in 2012. We invite you to make it for your family to try this month. The recipe was shared by Clay Denny, Class of 1961. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups dry pinto beans, picked and cleaned thoroughly, soaked overnight
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound ground round, cooked, well drained, reserve 2-3 tablespoons grease
- 2 heaping tablespoons flour
- 2 heaping tablespoons New Mexico Chili Powder (pure, without additives) 1 heaping teaspoon garlic powder 1 heaping teaspoon salt
- Water
- 5 corn tortillas, fried in hot oil, drained, kept warm
- 1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 head lettuce, finely chopped
- 1 tomato diced, optional 2-3 cups grated medium cheddar cheese
- Eggs
In a medium pan add beans and cover with water. Cook until tender. In a frying pan combine cooked meat, reserved grease, flour, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt and lightly scorch. Do not burn. Add water to desired thickness. Place tortillas flat on a plate. Add approximately 1/2 cup of chili meat sauce and 1 cup pinto beans. Top with cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato if desired. Enchiladas may be topped with a fried egg just before serving.
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Cultivating a Heart That Says Yes to God
By Lysa Terkeurst
"It all started the day God told me to give away my Bible.
I was exhausted from traveling and speaking at an event. All I wanted was to get to my assigned seat on the plane and settle in for a nap. I was just about to close my eyes when two last-minute passengers made their way to my row and took their seats.
Reluctantly deciding to forgo my nap, I opted instead to pull a manuscript out of my bag and read. I didn't want to chance the embarrassment of falling asleep on anyone's shoulder.
When the guy sitting beside me asked what I was working on, I told him I was a writer and was working on a book about leading women to the heart of God. He smiled and said he thought God was a very interesting topic. I agreed and asked him a few questions about his beliefs.
Before long, I found myself reaching into my bag and pulling out my Bible, walking him through some key verses that dealt with the issues he was facing. He kept asking questions, and I kept praying God would give me answers.
All of a sudden, I felt God tugging at my heart to give this man my Bible. Now, this was not just any Bible. This was my everyday, highlighted, underlined, written-in, tear-stained Bible. I started to argue with God in my head, but His message was clear: I was to give away my Bible.
I took a deep breath and placed the precious book in the man's hands. ‘I'd like for you to have my Bible,’ I said.
Astonished, he started to hand it back to me, saying he couldn't possibly accept such a gift.
‘God told me to give it to you,’ I insisted. ‘Sometimes, the God of the universe pauses in the midst of all His creation to touch the heart of one person. Today, He paused for you.’
The man took my Bible and made two promises. First, he said he would read it, and second, he said someday he would pass it on, doing for someone else what I'd done for him.
As I got off the plane that day after saying ‘yes’ to God, my heart felt conflicting emotions. While on one hand, I was overjoyed at what God had done, on the other hand, I was also brokenhearted because of the flood of thoughts that came to mind recounting times I'd told God ‘no.’
I just kept wondering, How many times have I told You ‘no,’ God? How many times - because I was too tired, too insecure, too uncertain, too busy or too selfish - have I walked right past Your divine appointment for me and missed experiencing You?
About a month later, the man I had given my Bible to called. We had exchanged business cards, and he wanted to tell me how his life had totally changed. He had taken a week off from work to read the Bible, and he'd already shared his testimony with numerous people. He also told me that after reading the Scriptures, he knew he needed to get involved in a church. God was definitely pursuing him in a serious way. And I was blessed and amazed by the way this man was responding.
When I asked him what his favorite verse was, he said it was Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV).
What a perfect verse to represent what God had asked of me.
When God impressed on my heart to give this man my Bible, I didn't know what would happen. He could have thrown my Bible into the nearest airport trash can, for all I knew. Normally, I would have come up with a hundred reasons not to give my Bible away, but that day something changed in me. We just never know what could be on the other side of our ‘yes’ to God. After this experience, I resolved I’d always try to be a woman who'd do whatever the Lord asked of me. A woman who'd want to continue seeing God work miracles through small acts of obedience. When we do this, I believe we can walk more in step with Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Lord, please forgive me for all of the times I have told You ‘no’. Right now, I say ‘yes,’ Lord. Even before I know what You might ask me to do. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
To read this devotional online, use this LINK
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HYMN: Great Is Thy Faithfulness
By C. Michael Hawn
“Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided;
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
A native of the small Kentucky town of Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the Franklin Advocate, at age twenty-one.
In 1893 Chisholm became a Christian through the ministry of Henry Clay Morrison, the founder of Asbury College and Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Morrison persuaded Chisholm to move to Louisville where he became editor of the Pentecostal Herald. Though he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville, Kentucky, due to ill health. Chisholm relocated his family to Winona Lake, Indiana, to recover, and then to Vineland, New Jersey, in 1916 where he sold insurance. He retired in 1953 and spent his remaining years in a Methodist retirement community in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
By the time of his retirement, he had written more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in religious periodicals such as the Sunday School Times, Moody Monthly, and Alliance Weekly. Many of these were set to music.
Hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck provides the background for Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Chisholm had sent a number of his poems to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago. Runyan wrote of the hymn: ‘This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answered prayer. It was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets.’
George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954. It immediately became a favorite.
A phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ Stanza one emphasizes God’s unchanging nature: …there is no shadow of turning with thee;/thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not. Perhaps James 1:17 provides the scriptural basis for this concept: 'Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.'
In stanza two, the natural created order, including the cycle of the seasons, bears witness to the faithfulness of God. The final stanza brings the eternal, unchanging God into contact with humanity. We receive from the presence of God Pardon for sin and a peace that endures. Indeed, William Runyan’s tune was the ideal musical complement to the warmth of the text. The subtle changes in harmony and the solemnity of the melody amplify the text, bringing the climax on the word 'faithfulness' perfectly at the end of the refrain.
This hymn appeared in many evangelical hymnals and song collections, but was not chosen for an official Methodist hymnal until the current United Methodist Hymnal (1989), even though the author was a Methodist. It was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and had been included in their hymnals.
According to Carlton Young, ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ was second only to 'In the garden' as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, Discipleship Ministries, revealed that ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists….
Dr. Hawn is distinguished professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology. He is also director of the seminary's sacred music program.”
To read the full article, use this 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.
We hope you are enjoying some leisure time this summer. May we all rest in the knowledge that God is in control of all things and will guide us as we walk daily with Him. May we pause each day to truly experience His grace and peace as we trust Him to lead us into the future.
On behalf of the McCurdy Ministries Community Center Board and staff as well as the children, youth, adults, and families MMCC serves, we pray you experience God’s love, mercy, grace, and peace in your walk with the Lord!
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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