First Church Plano’s Missions Committee is committed to God’s community!

Additional Missions Opportunities                                 Special Missions Offering

Your 2008 First United Methodist Church Plano Missions Committee is on fire! Not only are we spreading God’s love through our mission work, as detailed below, but we are also working closely with the Communication Ministry, to standardize the communication model to more effectively communicate with each other and our community. Our goal for this model is to provide a timely, consistent process for all mission work that will keep everyone abreast of church activities and the interests of First Church members – all in His name!

Through service to those in need both inside and outside our congregation, we put into practice our Lord's words: "I assure you, whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me."

New Projects for 2008 

Listed below are few new projects for this year are:

Love from Above. Adopted as a church wide Lenten mission project, this began as an extension of a Youth Bible Study class led by Anna England exploring missions and their purpose. The original group consisted of three junior high and two senior high students. Currently they have packed 1,200 bags with coloring supplies and are gathering stuffed animals to finish. They will deliver the bags to Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in the coming weeks. So many people in the church have helped them reach their goal and they are thrilled with the results. Once the bags are delivered this mission will be complete!

Kitchen Delights - Dinners for Eight Cookbook. Headed by Katy Donaldson, Lori Lauter, Ann Pellegrino, and Lesley (Alison) Roberts, this project began while exchanging recipes in their Dinners for Eight groups. Alison suggested sharing recipes through a church wide cookbook and Glenn Lauter added to the idea by suggesting that the cookbook be used to raise money to feed the hungry in East Plano. Alice Coder, Sharyn Larson and the Missions Committee immediately supported the project and it has grown into a church wide fundraiser to feed the hungry.

The group has pre-sold 204 cookbooks with over 350 recipes received from First Church families and friends. 11 advertisements have been sold to maximize profits and more are needed!  Editing and book formatting are being finalized and the completed cookbooks are expected to be delivered and sold in late August or early September 2008. The profits will be given to a local need such as Meals on Wheels, the Samaritan Inn in McKinney or a local food pantry.

Shoe Bank. Brought to us by Bill Marquard through founder, Michael Barringer. This is not to be confused with, nor will it compete with, the highly successful “School Shoe Ministry”. This program was begun in 1989 to simply put shoes on a few hundred homeless men living in downtown Dallas. Today the program provides shoes for over twenty thousand people both here and abroad! We have a drop box in the Spring Creek entrance near the Sanctuary and The Shoe Bank will accept both new and gently-used shoes for children, women and men. Visit www.shoebank.org for additional details.

NOMADS. NOMADS are typically retired people with RV’s that sign up for 2-3 week projects and as a group travel to areas in need providing physical and emotional rebuilding while sharing God’s love. Our own Bob and Virginia Bontz are enthusiastic participants of this ongoing mission. We may soon have a NOMAD project nearby and plan to host the group with an evening of fellowship and yummy Methodist cooking! Visit www.nomadsumc.org for additional details.

We Care. Being nurtured by Dennis Page and the 11th Hour Sunday School Class, this new mission, developed to show our military personnel who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan how much we care, will provide needed items to the soldiers. Purchased items will be boxed up and mailed to individual soldiers. $10.00 donations are requested to pay for the postage. Some items needed are: travel-sized shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, sunscreen, toothpaste, toothbrushes, disposable razors, Chapstick® (this brand only- it does not melt), baby powder, foot powder, contact lens cleaner, clear nail polish, aloe vera gel, Neosporin cream, aspirin, Bandaids®, Rolaids®, shave gel (no aerosol cans), soap. There are also requests for food and other items. Please see the We Care Missions page for the complete list. Contact Dennis or call him at 214.601.0652 for additional details.

Family Promise. Founded in 1988, this mission provides hands-on outreach within a church facility. This mission, led by Craig Jacobs, is being considered at First Church Plano. If approved, the mission provides space for up to 5 homeless families (all pre-screened for safety) that will stay in our church for a week at a time every 3 months. There are many details to consider (insurance, space, transportation, meals, etc.) but this option allows families to stay together under a church roof (home in the inn) while our members could provide direct assistance to these people in need. Visit http://www.familypromise.org/for additional details.

ESL Classes. Through Associate Pastor of Hispanic Ministry, David Gonzalez, who has grown our Hispanic ministry from 4 to over 60 people, our first round of US citizenship classes culminated with everyone passing the US Citizenship test and becoming US citizens in April.

Ongoing Mission Projects 

There are many other new and exciting missions on the horizon. And of course, we continue to work on our ongoing mission programs throughout the year. Some of our ongoing projects -   

Amigos Days.  A project of the United Methodist North Texas Conference. This mission enhances the relationship between suburban churches and the inner city churches. Each year we repair a church facility or a home near the church where the owner is incapacitated or unable to pay for the repairs. This year we set a new standard by helping with 3 houses in the Jubilee Park neighborhood near Fair Park by fully replacing and painting the front porch on a home on Gurley street, performing extensive siding, painting, gutter, handrail, landscape, and sidewalk repair to a home on Phillip street, and assisted at another house with Munger Place UMC to build new supports for the roof overhangs and along with FUMC Allen we helped their small crew get their painting done. Approximately 35 different volunteers provided nearly 80 volunteer-days of effort over the two weekends.

In addition to the same sense of repair accomplishment as in years past, our team also had a chance to bond with other participating churches as well as make what will hopefully be a more sustained connection to an area of Dallas less fortunate than ours that is working hard to improve itself. For more information contact Rick Billings.  

Missions Box. Our church collects both canned and dried food each week in the Missions Box located on the south entrance. We then deliver these donated items to both God's Food Pantry and the Plano Food Pantry. January through April you, donated several thousand pounds of food! With the slowing economy it is more important than ever to help provide nutritious food to these families, especially peanut butter and canned meals like stew. We also happily accept shoes, clothes and monetary donations for these pantries as well. Please make checks out to First Church and note that it is specifically for Food Pantries and drop in the offering plate or office. For more information contact Bill Marquard. 

SAVES Honduras Mission Trip and Send Hope: Please visit the church website for information on the most recent trip by First Church members. Working with Send Hope of Allen Texas we make an annual trip to La Moskitia coast of Honduras. We support the dental and medical work of Send Hope while also doing construction and working with the women and children. For an update on ths year's trip visit Honduras Mission Trip 2008. For more information contact David Gonzalez.

Plain-O Helpers. Supported by senior volunteers to help seniors and others in need within the community with minor home maintenance and repairs. Bill Downs is the First Plano representative and welcomes any and all volunteers for these projects. In 2007 Plain-O Helpers served 400 clients, completed 820 projects and spent 1,720 volunteer hours! Plain-O helpers is currently looking for more workers to help with these projects that help people within our community. If interested please contact Bill Downs.

Craft Fair. The planning stages for the 2008 First United Methodist Church Plano Craft Fair have begun! The new maps are drawn and letters have gone out to previous vendors. Vendor applications are now being accepted. We are hopeful that we will fill in every space to guarantee success in fundraising for the SAVES program. We may even have a car show on the same day! For more information contact Larry Naeyaert.

Please visit the Missions page for a complete listing to get involved with and for updated mission status as it is released.

Get YOUR FIre Started!

Please pray for all the missions and the people guiding them. To volunteer or to start up your own mission, contact Ed Brown at elbrown2@verizon.net, Chair of the Missions Committee, and get your fire started! 

Special Missions Offering

To support these and other missions, a special offering will be taken on Sunday, July 29. Your over and above gift will go toward those in need in our community and around the world.