St. Daviid's Star Oct 2011

October 2011

The Rev. Lisa Mason

Interim Rector

[email protected]

Ashley Miles, Head of

School

[email protected]

Robert Brewer

Director of Music

[email protected]

Sarah Kates

Director of Children and

Youth Ministries

[email protected]

Beth Crowley

Administrative Officer

[email protected]

Jerry Kirkpatrick

Parish Administrator

jerry-kirkpatrick@

sbcglobal.net

Will Kirkpatrick Enews Editor & IT

Consultant

[email protected]

Suzan Reagor

Director of Exceptional

Adults Ministry

[email protected]

Donna Shreve

Financial Officer

The Rev. Lisa Mason

[email protected]

“The Daily Gift of Giving Back to God” Anonymous, fromThe Living

Church

“Giving is living.“ the angel said,

“Go feed the hungry, sweet charity's bread.”

“Must I keep giving and

giving again?” my selfish, quarrelsome

answer came.

"No,” said the angel, her eye pierced me

through,

"Just give till the Lord stops giving to

you."

Be a Blessing

Fall brings with it the natural time in the life of the

church to talk about pledging to the mission and minis-

try of St David’s; one of the most popular and antici-

pated experiences in the life of St David’s. I say that

partly in jest because I know that few look forward to

talking about money. But I also describe it as a time of

anticipation because it is the opportunity we have as

members of the Body of Christ that is St David's to sup-

port and affirm our belief in giving to the mission and

ministry of God through St David’s. If we believe that

everything we are and everything we have is a gift from

God then this time of pledging should be seen as another

opportunity to say thank you with the money that we

have been blessed with regardless of the sum of that

money.

God gives generously in all ways at all times, and the

annual pledge campaign is one of the ways we learn

about giving away generously and joyously what has

been given to us. At the time of the offering in our lit-

urgy we say, “All things come of thee, O Lord. And of

Thine own have we given thee.” God gives to us so that

we may give to others.

Throughout the month of September and the early part

of October, you will all be

invited to gather in homes of

St David’s parishioners. The

primary reason to gather is

for fellowship. You will also

Bill

Hoffman

Bill Hoffman shared this poem

with us at the Fall Parish

Meeting.

Star Guild Members faithfully send The Star to

friends and family: Dorothy Brown, Peggy Henry, Willie

Lawley, Amory Oliver, Betty & Ray Foster, and Jean

Bevans. Thanks own special mail carrier, Victor Mux.

Thank you for your faithful ministry.

Look at the Star on our website:

www.saintdavids.net. The new digital format looks

just like a magazine, and you digitally turn the

pages. It is really cool!

ST. DAVID’S VESTRY is our elected governing board of

lay people who, along with our Interim Rector, The Rev.

Lisa Mason, promote the spiritual welfare of church mem-

bers.

Officers:

Senior Warden Mikel Brightman

Junior Warden Victor Mux

Co-Treasurers Bill Hoffman & Frank Schweers

Clerk Carol Hester

Members: Frank Davis, Rena DuBose, Jill Fitch, Steven

Mitchell, Robert Moseley, Scott Nelson, Pat Patterson, Bill

Sommers, Melissa Watkins, Susan Willcox, Tim Woodall

and Thad Ziegler

The Fall Gathering

for Women -

October 14-26

“…and also some women…” –

New Testament Encounters with Jesus

From the beginning of Jesus’ life, throughout his minis-

try, at his Crucifixion and Resurrection, women were

not just present but central: swift in response, steadfast

in support, courageous in witness—“first at the Cradle

and the last at the Cross” (as Dorothy Sayers put it).

The Scriptural witness to these—often nameless—

women is a rich resource for our study and reflection.

These women whom Jesus touched and called and sent

can be powerful companions to our own journeys—as

Jesus ever more deeply heals and calls and sends us too.

Join the women of the diocese for this weekend as we

explore these women’s stories and listen for the ways

God is calling us.

Limited scholarships available; contact

[email protected]

have the time to talk about

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what brought you to St David’s and why you support

the mission and ministry of your faith community.

Please respond “yes” to these gatherings. Nothing is

expected or asked of you except your presence. Our

mission and

ministry depend

on you: your

time, the sharing

of your gifts,

and the giving

of your re-

sources!

As a celebration

of the annual

pledge cam-

paign, we will have a picnic on November 6th after the

10:30 a.m. service. There will be lunch, activities for

children and youth, and fellowship for all!

Please come be a part of celebrating who we are and

whose we are as the Body of Christ. And come to say

“thank you” for all that God has given you and contin-

ues to give…..we are blessed and we are called to be a

blessing!

Presenter: Deborah Smith Douglas

Chaplain – The Rev. Mary Earle

Registration $125.00--available online at dwtx.org;

deadline October 1, 2011

Venture Crew Starting at

St. David’s

Venturing is a program through Boy

Scouts of American that is open to boys

and girls 13 1/2 (finished 8th grade)-20 years old.

It builds leadership skills as well as provides the opportu-

nity to go adventuring. Typical Venture activities include

scuba diving, cycling, rappelling, and COPE courses.

Adults who are interested in taking an advisory role and

youth who are interested in taking a leadership role can

contact Howard Hubbard, Toni Myler or Jay Buzzini.

We need your help to chart the course for this organiza-

tion.

Ashley Miles [email protected]

New Adventures

New Opportunities

Smiling faces, sweet giggles, prayer hands, and happy

noises- these are just a few of the sights and sounds of

St. David’s Episcopal School during the fall

months. We’ve settled into the new school year and

found our groove. St. David’s School staff and students

are enjoying the large space of McAllister hall as they

learn in their music, motor movement, and dance

classes. Each day in pre-school is a new adventure full

of opportunity.

As you know, St. David’s Episcopal School holds mul-

tiple fundraisers throughout the year. It may at times

feel like the school is asking for your financial support

constantly. Please understand that we do this because

the funds from tuition alone do not cover the cost of

educating our students. We must succeed in our fund-

raising efforts yearly in order to keep the quality of edu-

cation at the level our community expects.

One fundraiser that raises a good amount for the school

is our annual Innisbrook Sales, formerly Sally Fos-

ter. You can purchase wrapping paper, small gifts,

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column.)

gourmet candies, and more

through Innisbrook. Packets

can be picked up in both the

church and school offices and a

display of items is set up in the

school’s main hall. The school

will receive 45% of proceeds

from Innisbrook sales plus you

can get some

of your holi-

day shopping done early!

‘An Evening Under the Stars with Fire-

flies and Mason Jars’ This year’s Fall

Fling will be an event to remem-

ber! Please join St. David’s Episcopal

Church and School October 28th from

5:30-7:30pm as we celebrate fall with

our annual community carnival. Fall

Fling

2011 is a community event- please in-

vite all your friends and neighbors. Everyone will enjoy

food, games, entertainment and more! I hope to see you

there!

Robert Moseley, Daniela Serna, Laura Shaver,

Rhonda Needham and Ryan Anderson repre-

sent St. David’s School Board at Episcopal

School Sunday.

Sarah Kates

Director of Children & Youth Ministries [email protected]

Abundant Giving

Abundant Life

We are so blessed to have this St. David’s family! I can-

not thank God enough for all my many blessings. There

are many people who do not have a family of faith to fall

back on for love, support, prayers, and hugs. God calls

us to give to those who have less than we do. God calls

us to give abundantly, and we will receive hundred fold

in return. God calls us to give even when we think we

have nothing to give. I know it sounds crazy and radi-

cal, but so does faith. Belief in something you cannot

see; many think that is crazy. Give your life away, deny

yourself, love your enemies; all these things sound ri-

diculous but are necessary to truly inherit the kingdom

of heaven. They are necessary to taste the kingdom here

on earth. The church is the example to the world. So,

let St. David’s be the example in generosity and giving

more than we are comfortable giving.

There are many opportunities to give this fall.

• The St. David’s Youth Group is selling greenery and poinset-tias until Oct 24th. Find a youth

group member and buy some from

them.

• Also, our pet blessing is on October

2nd and you can bring an offering of a bag of dog food or cat food to donate to SNIPSA

when you come to have

your pet blessed.

• We are also gathering canned goods and non-

perishable items for our annual Halloween giving to

Agape Ministries in the month of October.

You can bring your items

to the office or place them

in the food basket in the

narthex. Christmas time is

a great time to give.


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• We will be gathering toys and books for the Terrell Hills fire and police department to donate to needy families in the month of November and December. St.

David’s will serve as the pick-up site on December

21st for all the families who will be receiving these

gifts for Christmas.

• As always we are a major

donor of the Christmas bags for the Good Sa-maritan Center.

Be looking for these lists to

come out early December.

My hope is that this year will be an even bigger year of

giving. Despite our country’s economy, the church will

continue to blossom, and people will continue to be

blessed. Neither drought nor storm nor devil nor eco-

nomic distress will stop this community from giving.

Children and Youth! Join me and Enedina Vasquez for

Wednesday nights in October. We will be exploring

the Lord’s Prayer. Why did Jesus give us that prayer to

pray? What does it mean? Enedina will lead us in a

four week art project.

St. David’s Youth at

Amazing Jump

John Brooke

Member of Stewardship Committee

Stewardship – More or Less

We are all familiar with the parable of the man who was

going on a journey and entrusted his servants (stewards)

with varying sums of money. On his return, he called in

his servants for an accounting, increasing the amount en-

trusted to the servant who had done the most with what

he was given and gave nothing to the servant who had

done nothing with the sum entrusted to him.

The parable seems to me to have great relevance to St.

David’s today. After several very good years, our won-

derful church has gone through a trying period. Our cur-

rent vestry started the year with a big mess-rector gone, a

new interim rector, new senior warden, and a negative

overhang financially. In addition, if “business continued

as usual” with an unrealistic expectation of receipts to

cover large projected expenses, St. David’s was headed

toward a train wreck. Instead, our current interim rector

and the vestry had the courage to look realistically at in-

come and expense and come up with a budget that was

out of balance only by roughly the one-time expense as-

sociated with the package required to be paid to our pre-

vious rector. But for the exercise of painful fiscal re-

straint by our vestry evidenced by the budget, the gap

could have been much larger. They deserve a lot of

credit and our admiration.

However, adjusting a budget is one thing. Having the

strength of mind to stick with it is even harder. By and

large, the vestry has held the line. If they continue to the

end of the year as they started, then they will have acted

like the good servant (steward) in the parable and will be

deserving of the same praise from us as was bestowed in

the parable:

“Well done, good and faithful servant;

you have been faithful over a little. I will

set you over much; enter into the joy of

your master.”

In addition, by demonstrating their good stewardship,

they place us in the position of the man in the parable

who entrusted more to his good servant. This fall, when

pledge time rolls around, I am going to have a very

strong call to increase my giving to God through St.

David’s in support of our interim rector and vestry to “set


Invitation to those interested in learning

more about

The Order of The Daughters of The King:

Prayer, Service and Evangelism Study

Facilitated by Lisa Mason and Catherine Lillibridge

And hosted by

The St. David's Order of the Daughters of The King

Sundays 4:00 - 6:00 pm

St. David's McAllister Hospitality Hall B

October 9 and 16, 2011

RSVP to Catherine Lillibridge,

[email protected] or 210-363-6458

(Continued from previous column.)

them over much” as a grateful parishioner who wants

them to” enter into my joy.” There is something engag-

ing about good stewardship. Good stewardship causes

others to be better stewards. Please reflect on the par-

able (Matthew 25:14-30) and see if it speaks to you.

St. Daviid's Star Oct 2011

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