A couple of weeks ago I, along with two members of the church, attended a men's conference in the beautiful Rocky

Mountains of Colorado. The conference was called Wild at Heart Boot Camp. Each session was very informative and enriching. Each session was extremely helpful. Since returning I've shared information from one of the sessions in several venues, and it seems to have connected well with listeners. I realize that any connection made has nothing to do with me, but with God's Spirit and the content of the message. Therefore, I want to share it again. The session had to do with discerning one's next step on the journey of life. The questions were these: From where I am today, what is my next mission? What is my next step? In order to discern the answers, we were give three words: Desire, Risk and Validation.

Desire
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." One translation says it like this, "Walk with God and follow your heart." We all have God-given desires; things that give us a life and joy. We have a tendency, however, to dismiss them. Often we dismiss them because we've heard so much about wickedness, corruption and deception of the human heart. And the bible does say that the unredeemed heart is wicked, deceptive and corrupt. However, the redeemed heart is good. In the Old Testament God says he will change our hearts (Ezekiel 36:25-29; Jeremiah 31:33). In the New Testament, we're told that God dwells in our hearts (Ephesians 3:14-19; 1 Corinthians 3:16). As well, we're told to love God with all our hearts (Luke 1:27). Can the heart deceive us? Yes. Can the heart lead us astray? Yes. However, if we are walking with God; if He lives in our hearts; if we're loving and worshiping God with our hearts, we should learn to listen with our hearts. The speaker put it like this, "Core desire is where the theme of our mission evolves." In other words, the desire of the heart helps us see the path God is calling us to walk.

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Inside of me is a passion to preach. But that's not the only desire God has given me. From early in my life God has placed within my heart a desire for rural life. Don't misunderstand. I love living in Oak Cliff and I hope to stay a long time. Yet early in my life God placed a desire in my heart for rural life, as well. Growing up I was always involved in rural activities: Raised animals, FFA, hauled hay, worked for farmers and was always fishing or hunting. I've never lost that desire. In fact, the desire continues to grow. You may have similar desires. Perhaps you're passionate about cooking, writing, painting, acting, woodwork, biology, mathematics or feeding the hungry. If God has placed such a desire inside you, don't ignore it.

Community Meal Gather for a light meal and fellowship in Yeats Hall from 6:006:30 pm. Then disperse to various activities for growth. Foundations of Apologetics Bible Study Pastor Ed Lantz leads this 12-week curriculum designed to equip believers to better articulate and defend our faith, 9/512/5. Fee: $10 (covers cost of study materials) Bible Study in Spanish Lay minister Roger Barrantes leads a verse by verse Bible study, currently on the Gospel of Luke. Wednesday Work Crew Garry Wolford leads others in light work to repair and maintain our facilities. Children Jamie Nelson leads a video study of major Bible characters using a DVD series from Nest Family Entertainment. Choir/Praise Band Rehearsal Keum Hwang invites all those who desire to praise God through music to gather, fellowship and sing! Mission Opportunities Ray Truesdell leads others in activities benefitting local and global missions. Pathway to Discipleship: New Believers Pastor Cheryl Jones leads a 7week class (9/5 - 10/17) for new believers, examining different biblical topics through key words, phrases and verses. Fee: $5 (covers cost of study materials) Refuge Youth Kyle Welsh leads our Junior and Senior High school students as they learn to better serve the living God through small groups, games, Bible studies, missions, service projects and worship. Womens Bible Study Well study Beth Moores Esther: Its Tough Being a Woman. In this book, Beth peels back the layers of history to show how very contemporary and applicable the Old Testament story of Esther is to a woman's life today. If you've ever felt inadequate, threatened, or pushed into situations that seemed overpowering, this is the Bible study for you. Contact Mary Gibbs or Lynn Chapman. Fee: $20 or less (covers cost of study materials).

Risk
God's call almost always has some kind of risk involved. Do you remember the parable of the talents from Matthew 25:14-30? On one level it speaks of using the talents/gifts God has given us. On another level it speaks of the willingness to risk. The conference speaker differentiated between "Risk For Risk's Sake" vs. "Risk For Purpose." The former is all about self-exaltation with no higher purpose. "Risk For Purpose" is different. It is more than self-exaltation. It's about risking for a greater purpose; risking for a worthy reason. The purpose could be for the church, or it could be for your family, friends, colleagues or strangers. The beautiful thing about "Risk For Purpose" is that even if it fails and doesn't go as you planned, it is still redemptive because your motive was good. Of course we should try to minimize risks as much as possible, and do our due diligence. In the end, however, there is always risk.

Validation
Validation is needed along the journey. God the Father validated Jesus in the hearts of the people. At Jesus' baptism, the Father spoke, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17) A similar validation happened at the Transfiguration, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matthew 17:5) We all need our Father's validation. It helps us know how much he loves us, and that we're doing the right thing. Our Father's validation lets us know we're on the right track. It is imperative, however, to get our validation from God. Only God can truly validate. Yet he validates in wonderful ways: Scripture; the "still small voice"; people; circumstances and desires, just to name a name a few. When thinking about your next step, how is God validating you? How is he revealing the path?

On life's journey, what's my next step? Desire. Risk. Validation. Thank you for the privilege of serving alongside of you at Tyler Street. I am grateful. Blessings, Ed

T h e P o w er of t he C o n n ect i o n
Have you ever set out to put together a puzzle and didn't have all of the pieces? How about trying to design that special dress or create that masterpiece cake and you didn't have all of the necessary pieces or ingredients? What this leaves you with is an incomplete product or at best something less than desired or imaged. Why is it that we attempt to do God's kingdom work by ourselves, our one ministry or our one church? Even worse, we decide altogether that it is not possible because of limited resources. If Jesus, who is God incarnate, put together a team of disciples to set out to do kingdom work, why should we be any different? I believe that Jesus was teaching us the value of coming together to accomplish God's work. United Methodists come in all sizes, shapes, colors, dispositions, outlooks and life stories, but share a unique history and faith perspective. Our members speak many languages and live in many countries. No matter how or where they serve Jesus Christ, United Methodists do God's work in a unique structure referred to as "the connection." This concept has been central to Methodism from its beginning. Connectionalism comes to life through our clergy appointment system, our mission and outreach, and through our collective giving. We live out our call to mission and ministry by engaging in ministry with the poor, combating diseases of poverty by improving health globally, creating new places for new people and renewing existing congregations, and developing principled Christian leaders. No one congregation can do all these ministries, but togetherthrough the power of our connectionwe can make a tremendous difference. (www.umc.org) I have been a personal witness to God's greatness through connecting and how the connectional system helps us to accomplish God's work. When the Tyler Street UMC Youth Ministry team, led by Kyle Welsh and Wendy Walker came together to provide ministry to Arcadia Park UMC and the Arcadia Park community in the West Dallas area, this was an awesome testament to the power of the connection. They came with joyful energy, creativity, patience, love and kindness. This was nothing but the spirit of God working through them. Their work of teaching, sharing and restoring this campus made a tremendous difference. A church that had not had VBS in almost 20 years now had upward to 40 children receiving Biblical teaching in a fun way. Some of these children do not have church homes and now they have one that they can claim or relate to. The church buildings and grounds had not received detailed attention in quite some time. The very senior members of the church had not been able to care for the church in a way that they desired. After the work of the youth's cleaning and restoration, APUMC is now a place that anyone would be curious to enter and proud to call their church home. The only way such transformation was going to happen was through the connection. The second witness of connectional power came through an individual member Mrs. Maxine Peterson who shared. Mrs. Peterson contributed items to the Firecracker Barrel for Legacy Cottage. She stated that she had also told her beautician about this collection drive. Less than two days later her beautician came by my office to obtain a flyer to post in her shop. About an hour after her visit, I received a call from Pablo Guardiola, Associate Pastor of Oak Cliff UMC (the home church for the beautician). That call resulted in my receiving a truck load (literally) of dried food items and personal care supplies. As we continue to collect items for the Firecracker Barrels we have already multiplied our last year's effort ten-fold. That's the power of the connection! Thirdly, the women's Bible study for this fall met with a challenge. In an effort to keep the cost down for this study ("Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman" by Beth Moore) we had charge for the cost of the books. The DVD's and leadership guide that accompanied it are a bit expensive. An email message and phone calls went out and thanks to the United Methodist connection and the connection of Christians (Wycliffe also supplied a copy) we now have the leaders' copies on loan. The desired study for women was made affordable and possible through the power of the connection! "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Blessings, Cheryl

Tyler Street featured in Old Oak Cliff Conservation League Home Tour
As part of our 2012 Centennial celebration, Tyler Street will be a featured stop on the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League Home Tour on October 13-14. We need volunteers to work three hour shifts at the church to welcome our guests. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet our neighbors and share the beauty and story of our historic church. Saturday's shifts will be 12-3 pm and 3-6 pm. Sunday's shifts will be 1-3:30 and 3:30-6 pm. Please contact Carla Boss or Vivian Skinner to help with this exciting event. Contact info: bosscruiser@sbcglobal.net and vivian.skinner@sbcglobal.net.

Firecracker Can Donation Program

SUPPORTING

Pointing Out the Obvious

One year ago the staff and I went on a tour of Arcadia Park UMC with Pastor Jones. It's a very old little church tucked away in a neighborhood right here in our very own city. We loved it! It was really great getting the opportunity to walk through and check out some of the history. Cheryl shared quite a few details with us about Arcadia Park. One of the things she mentioned was that the church had no children's program but was in a neighborhood that has three elementary schools. God did something in us all in that moment. He began to stir up in us a vision of newness and life on this campus. On that day God pointed out the obvious. He showed us that even in our own city, a city that we minister in every day, there was still an obvious need to spread the love of Christ. So the vision came alive on August 5, 2012 when Jamie & Jay Nelson, Pastor Cheryl, Wendy Walker, my wife April and I and several other volunteers helped bring to life an experience that changed the lives of students forever. We spent one week on campus, sleeping in the parsonage on air mattresses and sleeping bags, waking up early and going to bed late. Our morning consisted of working a VBS that Jamie and Jay worked so hard on. They made it all work with our students taking the lead in almost every aspect. I watched our students dance, sing, make crafts, and play games with kids that had probably never been to a VBS before. I saw walls that had been built up by the harshness of our society shatter to the ground with a single smile. These kids needed us to be there that week. And God used us. We started the week with nine children registered. By the end of day five, about 40 children had been in attendance at Arcadia Park UMC. Praise God!! After VBS in the morning we would take some time for the feeding of the teens (which is quite an undertaking) then send them off with Wendy and April to work on the campus organizing, cleaning, removing clutter, painting, and scrubbing the place from top to bottom. They did an awesome job serving and doing everything that was asked of them. In the evening after a hard day of work, we would meet in the fellowship hall for a meal together followed by a time to talk about the day and worship led by myself and some of our students. We have a great group of teens at Tyler Street! They love loving people and giving their gifts, talents and service for the glory of the kingdom. Missions have always been a great experience every summer for this group, and this week was no exception! Wendy Walker "Our youth experienced the love of Jesus through loving children and being loved in return. They displayed His love by their untiring service to a church that needed strong hands and willing hearts. Our church is blessed to have these students to love and nurture." God brought us to a place where the need was obvious. He knew exactly what He was doing, and He knew the outcome before we even started. We are so blessed to have been able to serve Arcadia Park UMC. Many thanks to Pastor Cheryl for being so available to help bring that week to life. Blessings, Kyle Welsh

LEGACY FOUNDERS COTTAGE

The Sanctuary Choir needs you!

Week after week the sanctuary choir takes time out from their busy schedule to rehearse for Sunday morning worship and special events as in Jesus In Sound and Light. Rehearsal is a wonderful time of praise, worship, prayer, community, fellowship and learning to sing better. Will you prayerfully consider joining the choir for the next season starting September 5th from 7:00-8:30 pm? It's not just about singing, it's a weekly ministry. Feel free to ask the people in the picture, "Why do you do it?" Contact: keumhwang@tsumc.org. Sanctuary Choir...taken after Jesus in Sound and Light concert/ worship Special thanks to those who couldn't be there but were there through the spirit of prayer.

Back to School Outreach

Thank you for helping make this past Saturday so special to so many children. Your prayers and generosity and volunteering made the Back to School Outreach day very successful and a blessing to so many. Approximately 300 school supply packets have been given with another 200 that will also be distributed. There was an inflatable obstacle course and an inflatable slide that the kids enjoyed immensely. Chilled watermelon was enjoyed. Trinity Rotary Club joined us in this outreach and provided generously in funds and volunteering in distributing the supplies for those in need. The Lord bless you for sharing with the children.

Church office closed for Labor Day Monday, Sept. 3 Handbell Concert Sunday, Oct. 7 5 pm Sanctuary

Charge Conference Sunday, Oct. 7 6:00 pm CrossWise Players presents..."Stained" Nov. 9-11 Sanctuary The global impact committee continues to recycle ink cartridges that are used to support Global missions. Drop your used ink cartridges in the labeled box and the committee takes it from there!

Makeover...Tyler Street Manor recreation room New Women's "Foodie Group" to start Saturday, September 1
This is for all ladies who would like to eat together once a month at different restaurants in the Dallas area.

And

Hymn Sing
Sunday, September 9 5 pm Anderson Hall Parlor Call out your favorite hymns! Bring your favorite homemade or store bought ice cream and toppings! Lots of fun and fellowship! Don't miss it!

On Saturday, September 1, we'll eat at Caf Maya Restaurant on 1001 W. Jefferson Blvd (corner of Jefferson and Polk St). If you can go, there is a sign up sheet in the hall of first floor sanctuary. Time: 12:30 pm at the restaurant Who: All LADIES who like to eat good food and hangout with other wonderful ladies!! For more info, contact Keum Hwang at 214.946.8106 or keumhwang@tsumc.org.

Last week several members of the church gave the Manor rec room a makeover. The walls have fresh new paint, the stage has been stained, we have new drapes, new art on the walls, it's like a new room. Residents of the Manor keep commenting on how much they like our new room. I would like to thank everyone who helped make this possible including Jamie, Jeromy, Jerry and Jack Nelson, Judy Huggins, Kay Talbert, Donna Reed, Keum Hwang, Ed Lantz, Edward Lara, Bob Noble, Patsy Summey, Stephanie Burton, Steve Tanos, Kate and Garry Wolford, and Kathy Bennett for all the love and hard work you put into this project. A special thanks goes out to Jamie none of this would have happened without you. Glenn Bowling, Tyler Street Manor

Heart to Heart Women's Group

will meet on Saturday, September 1, at 10 am at the home of Beverly Rogers. All ladies are invited!

Volunteers needed for Community Service Outreach

We need people to volunteer at our food and clothing bank one day a month (on a weekend) to help sort the donated clothing. If you can help, please contact Ray Truesdell at 214.946.8106 or raytruesdell@tsumc.org.
Parents' Night Out at Tyler Street happens every 3rd Friday of the month from 5-9 pm. It includes dinner and plenty of fun! For more info, email Jamie Nelson at jamienelson@tsumc.org. You may register online at www.tsumc.org.

Then and Now

ANNIVERSARY/WEDDING RING Class opened on Aug. 8 with singing, Open My Eyes. Estelle Holley led us in prayer. Dennis Jeters lesson on truth was inspiring. Milligan Sherard passed away this week. Please be in prayer for his family. On Aug. 19, we opened by singing, Nearer My God. Our prayer was by Evelyn Reese. Mary Anne Montgomery played an offering song. The Thompsons have a new great-granddaughter. Frank Fosdicks lesson was Jesus Wants Us to Live an Abundant Life. On August 26th, the class was opened with the singing of the hymn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." The opening prayer was given by Maxine Peterson. Our lesson was brought by Patsy

Thompson with a series of short stories from a book by Max Lucado. Thank you Patsy for a great lesson. We were pleased to have John Slay as a visitor today. TWO BY TWO On Aug. 19, Don Lindholm opened the class with singing of O Worship The King and Are Ye Able. Frank Avaritt gave the prayer. Don Lindholm gave a good lesson on God's Purpose. Good lesson Don. Aug. 26, Don Lindholm opened the class with singing of O Come Thou Almighty King and Alas and Did my Savior Bleed. Shirley Jackson gave the prayer. Don Lindholm gave a good lesson on Why am I Here, dealing with what is my purpose on Earth.

Congratulations to Brandon and Jillian Peyton on the birth of their son, Thomas Robert Peyton. Tommy was born August 21, 2012 at 11:20 pm, weighing 8 lbs 10.8 oz, and was 21 1/2 inches long. Proud grandparents are Jim and Linda Bayless.

Milligan. Join Tom Thumbs Good Neighbor program and earn money for Tyler Street while you shop. Go to www.tomthumb.com to learn how. Our Good Neighbor number is 1051.

Thank you for your investment in the minCongratulations to Ed and Lynn Cummings istries of Tyler Street. Financial update who have a new granddaughter, Charliegh Cumthrough August 31, 2012: mings, born August 14, 2012. Parents are Cale and Rachel Cummings. Jan-Aug Budgeted Receipts $527,333 Our love and sympathy...to Reggie and Amy Alburtis in the loss of Reggies father, R.K. Sonny Alburtis. To Marcelle Sherard in the loss of her husband, Jan-Aug Actual Receipts $503,580 or 96%

Jan-Aug receipts under budget $23,753 or 4%