1

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH - - TYLER, TX WWW.FCCTYLER.ORG JANUARY 1, 2020 VOL. 63 NO. 1

JANUARY 2020 NEWSLETTER

FROM YOUR SENIOR MINISTER...

My dear friend and mentor, Rev. Dr. Sidney Spain, said to me on more than

one occasion, “I have never met a better churchman than Larry Gilliam!” …

and the church said, “AMEN!” For the past 4 years, Rev. Larry Gilliam has

served as a volunteer staff member—overseeing our ministry to Seniors…AND

leading Mission Trips…AND stirring up Outreach ministries all around us...AND

creating Security Team at FCC to keep our campus safe. Within the last year,

Larry finally had to hang up his high-tops (basketball shoes) as his doctor said

he would have to stop playing. Larry has been playing basketball on

Wednesday nights in our Christian Life Center since it opened in the early

80’s. Ask around town and every third guy will have a story about playing

basketball at FCC with Larry Gilliam. Then there were his days ...Continued on

page 5

A NEW YEAR

2020! A year of vision if there ever was one! Some of you will remember our

“2020 Vision Committee” we started about 10 years ago. The fruit of that

committee’s work is our beautifully renovated campus. In the years since, our

ministry has gone up and up. I have it on good authority that our church has

a great name in the community—I hear it all the time at our Guests and New-

comer’s Brunches. Through our Outreach Ministry, we are doing great work in

the community and beyond (Habitat for Humanity and Juliette Fowler Com-

munities to name a few).

This year, we will continue to strive in greater ways to do evangelism in this

21st century. We proclaim the same love of God and neighbor, the same

Lord Jesus Christ as the Church has through the millennia, but with newer ap-

proaches—like “Open Table Faith” that we believe will reach far into today’s

culture bringing a new relevance to Christianity that has been lost on many

people. We have nearly doubled the role of Travis Boles, our Media Specialist,

to continue to put our message before the masses of people through social

media and draw them in to our ministry (draw them closer to God and

Christ). We have 81 Fresh Faces for the year. 81 new people who are worship-

ing, caring, serving, and growing…and giving at FCC. In my 36 years of minis-

try, I have never had this kind of excitement for evangelism (and about our

potential to transform lives with the love of Christ). ...Continued on page 5

FCC FAST FACTS Last year we have an average

attendance of 261 in our Worship

services (up from 248 the year

before). 148 in Sunday School. We

also had 81 Fresh Faces in 2019.

JOYS & CONCERNS

Welcome Fresh Faces and/or

new member : Phil & Emily

Latham, Rae Carey, Christi Crane,

Dwayne & Lori Wilson, William &

Ada Moore, Norma Carlton, Shirin

Tavakol and her son Amir

In our prayers: Jim Crawford, Jen-

nifer Diotallevi, June Elliot, James

Hardage, Ombra Hughes, Bob

Hunt, Michael Lewis, Capie Long,

Mildred Mackey, Elizabeth Of-

ford, and Jean Worden

and our friends: David Bilbo

(Donna Lowry), Shawna Bishop

(Berndt), Don Bracchi (Pulliam),

Tony Brown (Swan), family of Lu-

men Holman (Bolton), Sandy

Hunter (Diane Martin), Dianne

Morris (Sartain), Dr. Sherry Munn

(Kyle Hill), family of Dorothy Jane

Osborn (Duff), Lindsey Puhalla

(Nancy Patterson), Neal James

Rush (Power), Angie McCardell

(Aaron), Cassandra Watkins

(Cynthia Watkins), Sue Wells

(Aaron)

2

TRADITIONAL WORSHIP ONLINE

We are experimenting with broadcasting

Traditional Worship service on YouTube.

Currently, we are not “live streaming” it

(viewing in real time), but we can view

the sermon later in the week. We aim to

“live stream” both our worship services in

2020. Doing so will enable you to hear

the anthem again, tune in from out of

town, or direct a friend to listen to the

message.

OPEN TABLE FAITH

TICKETS FOR SALE

Open Table Gathering

will be here before you

know it! Now time to begin ticket sales

for April’s big event.

If you already use Facebook, can you

please help us spread our reach around

town. You’ll soon see an Open Table

Gathering event, April 24-25, with tickets

at $59 each through January. (FYI: Schol-

arships are available.) Help us share this

event post!

NEW ADULT CLASS FORMING!

A new adult class designed to bring young couples together is cur-

rently in formation and due to meet for the first time Jan. 19.

A “steering team” of Nancy Patterson, Jeff Billings, Debbie Sword

and Ginger Brandt are working on a possible teaching rotation and

curriculum ideas, to give this new group its best plan forward.

If you are a couple with young children at home and no current

adult class for yourself, we have you in mind! We believe many of

you will enjoy one another’s company and find encouragement in

the common experience of parenting.

We expect the new group will use a video then discussion format,

with a facilitator or discussion leader instead of a permanently as-

signed “teacher.” The facilitators will rotate through the first year

and hopefully give way to the class’ own members stepping into

that role.

The new class doesn’t change or affect Café Class (current home to

the most parents of young families); it’s simply another offering to

meet needs and grow more fellowship among similar generations.

And it comes about because FCC is always open to new ideas!

(Take note, if you have a good idea for a class topic, for an adult

education resource, or for meeting a need currently unmet. Rev.

Ginger would love to talk!)

Check the Sunday bulletins in January for class location and a possi-

ble evening meal kick-off. We’re excited to do a new thing to-

gether, working collaboratively with other adult classes already in

progress, to build up the body of Christ at FCC Tyler.

A BIG THANK YOU!

We sure felt the love last month! Church

members delivered SO MANY home-

baked treats to the church office, your

ministers and staff felt well cared

for. (And a little heavy around the mid-

dle!) You stocked our workroom, sent

décor for our office, left treats on our

desks – and all around helped us have a

wonderful Advent.

Chris and Ginger, especially, want to say

a public thanks for the cards and good

wishes sent our way around Christmas. It

is SO meaningful to be appreciated in

words! And you came through for us,

church.

We are humbled and grateful to do min-

istry, together – and ready to do more of

it, with you, in 2020!

Gratefully,

--your Reverends

CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP NOTES

We’re not quite done with our Advent theme, from Dark to Light.

So, we’ll keep the décor up and the metaphor going the first week

in January…. And then begin a church countdown to Lent and

Easter.

One sermon series to look for at the end of January and in early

February is Decoding the Enneagram: How to See More of the Di-

vine in each other. The Sacred Enneagram is a personality indictor

unlike most “tests and types,” and it’s become very popular in Chris-

tian circles. We won’t go deep into it, but we will learn enough to

be useful in our everyday lives, I hope. Expect special music, pod-

cast snippets and even some video content to this series, all to

keep it appealing to lots of different kinds of thinkers. I believe we

can make a 3 or 4-week run of messages engaging and enjoyable

for the whole room.

As always, you’re invited in or over, for always or just a short season,

as Contemporary Worship offers content you want or need.

--Rev. Ginger

3

SUNDAY SCHEDULE:

Traditional Worship

9:30am, Sanctuary

Contemporary Worship

9:30am, Contemporary Worship Space

Christian Education

10:45am

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

1/3 Lori Chapman

Linda Weskamp

JoAnn Wilder

1/6 Libby Lowry

1/7 Mary Wood

1/9 Jodi Brock

Jet Emmons

Kyle Hill

1/10 Bill Roberts

1/12 Richard Smith

Mary Ann Wills

1/14 Alyce Byers

Kay Davis

Nikki Moore

1/15 Tim Boyd

Whena Bridges

Mike Flowers

Kathy Wall

1/16 Margaret Perryman

1/19 Nathan Hoffman

Rob Mason

Jennifer Vick

1/20 Jim Rollins

Janice Younger

1/21 Kay Barry

Doyle Dorsey

1/23 Ernestine Anderson

Chloe Hamlin

Price Simmons

Lorene Sparks

1/24 Al Matson

1/26 Woody Flowers

1/29 Ombra Hughes

Don Simmons

1/30 Sue Fitzgerald

David Lowry

1/31 Charlotte Orr

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

1/7 Jim & Faye

Crawford

1/13 Jesse & Rebecca

Grimaldo

1/14 Robert & Gayle

Cooper

1/29 Bill & Ombra

Hughes

1/31 Chris & Holly Burke

JANUARY 5

Traditional—Chris Pulliam

Contemporary—Ginger Brandt

JANUARY 12

Traditional—Chris Pulliam

Contemporary—Ginger Brandt

JANUARY 19

Traditional—Chris Pulliam

Contemporary—Ginger Brandt

JANUARY 26

Traditional - Ginger Brandt

Contemporary - Chris Pulliam

PREACHING CALENDAR

COMING UP

UN-DECK THE HALLS, JAN 5

Help us take down, organize, and put away our

Christmas decorations after Sunday School at

11:45am.

MOTHER’S DAY OUT, JAN 6

MDO reopens Monday - Friday, 8:30am-2:30pm.

DEBORAH CIRCLE MEETING, JAN 6

All Women are invited to join us at 10am in the Seek-

ers classroom. Lind Vass will present, “Thy Kingdom

Come.”

E-CIRCLE MEETING, JAN 9

E-Circle will meet 6:30-8pm in the Seekers classroom.

CARING CONNECTION, JAN 12

If you find yourself in a care-giving role and would like

to find a group for support, join us in the library at

3:30pm for our first gathering of the year.

ELDERS & DEACONS RETREAT, JAN 18

Please join us on this Saturday from 8:30am-12:30pm

in Contemporary Worship. Installation Sunday will be

Jan 19, in both services.

BLOOD DRIVE, JAN 20

On this day we have a Bloodmobile on campus

available for donating blood. If you’re able, please

stop by and save a life.

DWM LEADERS’ MEETING, JAN 21

DWM Leaders, please meet at 10am in the library.

SCOUT SUNDAY, FEB 2

We’re celebrating another year of Girl, Boy, and Cub

scouts at FCC. New this year, we are planning to

have the Taco Truck from across the street for lunch.

GUESTS & NEWCOMERS BRUNCH, FEB 9

This is a great Sunday to invite a friend to worship with

you. Bring them to the library area after services at

10:45am, for brunch with Dr. Pulliam.

4

CHILDREN’S MINISTRY UPDATE

It seems like every time I turn around, it’s time for another Children’s

Ministry newsletter update. Man! Did 2019 fly by, or what!?! It’s crazy to

believe it’s already January 2020, but it is, so here we go.

First of all, I would be remiss to not thank all of you for all of your sup-

port of the Christmas program. I just have to say that those kiddos far

surpassed my greatest expectations, and they looked absolutely fan-

tastic doing it! Thank you to all of you who helped make our produc-

tion of Chosen Too such a huge success.

Looking ahead to January, I’m ready for a bit of a breather. So, we’re

just going to take it easy, focusing on making our children’s Sunday

school classes and children’s worship as meaningful and impactful for

the kiddos as possible. With that said, if you are willing to teach classes

or Children’s church on a somewhat regular basis, I need to know. We

have a trusty rotation of WONDERFUL volunteers, but I’d like to give

them a little more of a break, and I’d like our kiddos to get to know

more adults in our congregation. Please, let me know if you are inter-

ested, even if its just to sub in from time to time, and I will make sure to

get you all the information you need. If you’d like to see what it’s

about before you make a commitment, you are more than welcome

to come check out a class, just be sure to let me know first so I can

give the teachers a heads-up.

Starting February 5, we are planning on having mid-week family fun

and service nights every other Wednesday through the end of April.

There will be a meal provided, and we will spend time together as

families doing activities related to what the kiddos are learning in Sun-

day school, as well as working together to serve others in our commu-

nities and throughout the world. So, mark your calendars, and stay

tuned for details. Looking forward to a new year of serving together.

Happy New Year!

~Miss Vicki

JANUARY DRIVE: BRING A BLANKET

VALENTINES DAY BANQUET

Last year’s inaugural Valentine Banquet

was said to be, “the most fun I have had

at the church in my life!” The food, the

décor, the message, the crowd, the sev-

ers, and the musicians were outstanding.

We are planning another amazing night

Thursday, Feb 13, in Disciples Hall at 6pm.

Tickets will be available soon. Proceeds

will benefit Silver Linings.

Special thanks to Kyle Hill, Robert Cooper,

and “team” for putting it together. This

year’s musicians will include Chris Pulliam,

Don Cooper, and friend of FCC Derrick

Ganaway!

Don’t miss it!

DWM REPORT

The DWM proceeds from the holiday

Equal Exchange coffee, tea and choco-

late sale are $838.50. The net proceeds

for the Coffee Bar for 2019 is $1,364.26.

All of these go into the DWM General

Budget which supports Disciples Mission

Fund, Disciples Women’s Ministries Interna-

tional, FCC Mother’s Day Out, Inman

Christian Center, Juliette Fowler Commu-

nity, and Tyler Council of Church Women.

If we go over and beyond our budget,

the DWM leaders will decide how to dis-

tribute the extra money at the end of our

fiscal year which is June 30, 2020.

Thank you to all who support our Disciple

Women’s Ministry.

5

A NEW YEAR… Continued from page 1

Second, we will be focusing on serving and growing in

our faith. Our 4 pillars are “worship, care, serve and

grow”—we do really well with the first two pillars…now

we are going to push the other two. We believe serving

and growing are connected, with one comes the other

and vice versa. We plan to offer a different emphasis

(way to serve) each month as our prayer would be that

through these serving opportunities we can become

more connected to one another and to our community

and world. We are convinced that our collective faith will

grow as we serve those around us.

Coming up in January, we will offer “SIGN UP TO SERVE.”

We will fill Disciples Hall (as well as Facebook and our

website) with information about our many ways to serve

at FCC. We will all have the opportunity to sign up to

serve in any number of ways…as a Sunday School

Teacher, cook, decorator, missionary, welcome team

participant, visitor to our homebound. You can sign up to

be part of the team that makes any of the following hap-

pen: Regional Assembly, Day of Caring, Valentine’s Ban-

quet, Open Table Faith, Back to School luncheon, Week

of Compassion…just to name a few!

Our Church is blessed to have so many faithful and ca-

pable people. We want everyone to share in the “hands

on” ministry of our church (plus in our serving, we will en-

joy the added benefit of getting to know others from our

church family), so “sign up to serve!”

Here’s to another great year…and to a faithful vision for

ministry in Tyler and beyond.

Chris Pulliam

FROM YOU SENIOR MINISTER…. Continued from page 1

working with Youth and serving at church camps.

His memories are on display in his backyard in a 5x8

foot air-conditioned treehouse (you wouldn’t be-

lieve it!) where he has pictures from every camp he

ever attended. The pictures inter-mix with his

“pencil museum” and coffee mug collection.

I do not want this to sound like a memorial because

Larry is far from being finished! He has lots of ministry

left in him that he plans to accomplish in the days

ahead…and that is why he is resigning his staff posi-

tion here at FCC. Will we miss having him in the

driver’s seat for so many of our ministries (did I men-

tion the kitchen!)? YES WE WILL! Will we be able to

keep all the ministries going that Larry spear-

headed? We plan to, but it will take an army to do

the work this one man did. In my conversations with

Larry this past month, he assures me he is not leav-

ing the church! He just has some things he wants to

do that do not fit in with all he is doing now.

So for now we offer the biggest of “THANK YOUs” to

the amazing Larry Gilliam and for his tireless ministry

at FCC over the years. He will still be among us, just

in a different role. Don’t worry, he said he would

continue to lead our annual Bazaar!

Please join me in saying, “Thank You” to Larry for

the gift of his life and ministry he has given us

through the years.“Press on, Larry!” We love you…

thanks for your significant part in making FCC great!

Your Friend and Pastor,

Chris Pulliam

SANCTUARY FLOWERS

Each floral arrangement in the sanctuary for the traditional worship service adds beauty and warmth to our

worship experience. Thank you to all who have contributed the $50 for the flowers in honor of or in memory of

someone you love.

There is a second blessing each week because the arrangements are delivered to a church member who is ill

or to someone who is home bound. Those who receive the arrangements express appreciation for being re-

membered in such a beautiful way.

Thank you to those who delivered the arrangements during the calendar year of 2019:

JOYCE GIBBS JACKIE & JIM ROLLINS

MABLE HILL CHARLOTTE & BOB ORR

ALYCE BYERS JILL & JIM SWAN

LIBBY & DAVID LOWRY JAN COPAS

TERESA & WAYNE AARON KAY BARRY DAVIS

ED BARRY KYLE HILL

Members have volunteered to deliver during the first four months of 2020. There is a need for others to volunteer

for the remaining months. If you are interested in participating in this service. Please contact Elizabeth Spain at

903-561-3296 or lizid25@gmail.com.

6

AT FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH…

We believe God wants to transform our lives individually

and collectively for His sake. In everything we do, we

speak and live for Christ.

How we do that is we take God’s love and our God

given gifts and talents out into the world to make a difference. On

Sunday we gather to worship and refuel. Want to be a part?

MISSION: To speak and live for Christ in our community and world.

VISION: To be a worshipping community in which all people are trans-

formed through the love of Jesus Christ.

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

PRINTING: JANUARY 29!

If you would like to include anything in

the FEBRUARY Newsletter, please send

info to april@fcctyler.org by JANUARY 17.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

LOOKING FOR A WAY TO SERVE?

We need helpers to prepare Com-

munion each week on Friday or Satur-

day. Preparation takes about 30-45

min. Interested? Contact Alyce Byers

903-520-2704.

FLORAL DEDICATIONS

Request to donate and dedicate Sun-

day flowers with April Stiles at

april@fcctyler.org or 903-561-8138.

Each arrangement costs $50. Reserve

now for your 2020 dates. Upcoming open dates include: Jan 5, 19, 26,

Feb 9, 16, 23.

HOLY LAND TRIP

Start making your plans to join your

church family for our next Holy Land

Trek set for Oct 2021.The cost will be

around $4,000 per person, so start sav-

ing today!

SERMONS IN PRINT

Have trouble hearing the message?

Did you know, our Traditional Worship

preachers make paper copies of their

sermons most Sundays? You may pick

one up in the Narthex. Also, you can

take copies for friends and/or home-

bound folks from our congregation.

Let the “Good News” go out! You may

also contact the church office to re-

ceive an electronic copy, or better

yet, check us out on YouTube (First

Christian Church Tyler, Texas)

EASTER (SAVE THE DATE)

For those of you who are planners,

mark your calendars for April 12. Plan

to be in attendance as we celebrate

the Risen Christ together!

BUILDING A HABITAT HOUSE

We have the opportunity to partner with Habitat for Humanity to build

a house right here in Tyler, at 2401 Tenneha. In December we got off to

a great start framing the house. A big thanks to all our volunteers!

Now we have a whole new set of tasks for January. The following dates

are some specific needs where we as a church can participate. The

start time is 7:30am each day.

Jan 4—Need 8 people to help with siding

Jan 11—Need 6 people to clean up and bolt hold downs

Jan 18—Need 10 people to paint trim

Jan 25—Need 10 people to paint trim

Contact Jesse Grimaldo 281-732-8420 for more information and to sign

up for a specific task or general helper.

Pictured from left to right: Robert Patterson, Dave Hill, and Richard Perryman