Long time, no blog

Wow, things are heating up here at LINC North Texas! We are getting ready for the 2011-2012 school year by updating our Student Advancement and Leadership Initiative (SALI) curriculum and finalizing partnerships with the schools. It looks like we will be in 8 CFBISD schools, and there are openings in some Dallas ISD schools as well. It is an incredibly exciting and busy time! Due to our growth, we are looking for more SALI teachers. If you are interested, please send an e-mail with your resume to colleen@lincnt.org.

Beto is still meeting with his parent groups, and we are hoping to have a social event for them in September. This will be a fun time for us to hang out and get to know the families better. We expect the groups will grow as we move into the school year and vacations come to an end. Volunteers will be needed, so make sure to check back!

LINC North Texas World Premiere Gala

LINC North Texas held its inaugural fundraising gala on May 14, 2010. The World Premiere event was held at the Palace Arts Center in Grapevine, Texas. One hundred and forty-four attendees from all over the Metroplex and the state of Texas joined the LINC NT staff for an evening of good food and wine, fabulous entertainment, and a passionate presentation of LINC’s new vision for the future.

Amidst the rain, attendees representing seventeen area Lutheran churches came together to hear from Master of Ceremonies, Richard Ray, Fox-4 anchor/reporter, and a number of the LINC NT staff. The festivities kicked off with a musical presentation from the San Antonio based Drum Café, giving everyone the opportunity to join in the music and even allowed for a few helpers from the crowd. The crowd was electrified by the energy of the Drum Café.

LINC NT Church Planters, Francis Angwenyi and Ramiro Gutierrez, led the attendees in prayer. New Hope Director, Mark Couser, enlightened the room with the latest happenings in East Dallas. Allison Schlack introduced a new program, Student Advancement Leadership Initiative (SALI), which puts LINC staff into public middle schools to teach leadership skills and character development, in hopes to build relationships outside the classroom where the love of Christ can be shared. Executive Director, Rev. Oscar Benavides shared a heart-felt message about the SALI program and the impact it is already making in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. He focused on LINC NT’s new vision for the future that includes extending the SALI program to four new schools.

The message and vision of LINC NT’s future was wonderfully received. The commitment to prayer and financial support were a huge testament to the folks that believe in the ministry of LINC North Texas.

Over $19,000 was raised through ticket sales, table sponsorship and individual gifts the night of the gala. What a huge blessing to know and see the support from local churches and individuals! The funds raised will be used to launch new SALI programs in Ft. Worth ISD, Birdville ISD and Dallas ISD in the fall.

A Little Help After School

We have learned a lot about the kids in our neighborhood over the years. Many of them do well in school, but some need a little bit of extra help. It's amazing what some one-on-one time can do for a student's grades, reading skills and overall self-esteem. We've been blessed by a few women (and their kids) from Bethel Lutheran Church, who have volunteered their time to help with our tutoring program.

Students from the New Hope Neighborhood come by a few afternoons a week. They have quiet reading time, computer time, group reading, and workbook time, which is a specified program set up for each individual to help with the areas of school that they are struggling in. Every once in awhile, the students get to do a group science experiment or hone their money or time-telling skills.
Grades are already improving from the beginning of the semester and the kids were able to pass or improve on their TAKS scores from the previous year!

Family Night

Family Night kicked off on January 6th. In just two months we have connected with many new families and have seen God minister to each of them in a powerful way. Each Wednesday at Family Night we spend time in fellowship, worship, and prayer. The children and youth have their own special time of interactive learning with a relevant message just for them. It is amazing to see the excitement in them each week as they are eager to learn more about Jesus.

The adults who attend are experiencing real Christian community through worship, prayer, and genuine conversations about life. It is so apparent that God is moving and His hand is working mightily through this new ministry launch. One of the many new people that have joined us on Wednesday night is Irma. Irma came to our facility looking for English classes. In meeting with Pastor Ramiro, she also expressed an interest in wanting to learn more about the Bible. God has been faithful in revealing Himself to Irma. She had been struggling with severe back pain and shared this with the group her first night with us. We prayed for God to heal her back and she has expressed feeling less pain these last few weeks. God heard our prayers!

A Message from the Stable

From our LINC North Texas family to yours ~

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

New Hope Christmas Store

The Christmas Store at New Hope Church and Community Center this past winter brought 57 families through our doors. Due to gracious donations from Zion Lutheran Dallas, Crown of Life Colleyville, and various individual donors, we had a wide assortment of gifts for parents to choose from. Families from the local elementary school were invited to come to New Hope and buy new toys at reduced prices.

We believe by letting the parents purchase the gifts themselves, it dignifies them knowing they provided for their children and allows them to see the surprise and joy on their children’s faces as they open a gift bought specifically for them. The Christmas Store also allowed us to work side by side with parents from the neighborhood as well as new families we’ve invited to join us for Family Night. A couple of families, who are now regulars at Family Night, met us for the first time at the Christmas Store.

Community Garage Sale

Our Community Garage Sale and Carnival on Nov. 7th was a huge success. Here is the story:

We were blessed to have the community get involved and donate so many items.

• Bethel Lutheran Church - Dallas
• Buckner Terrace Homeowners Association
• Crown of Life Lutheran Church - Colleyville
• Ferguson Road Initiative
• Hillview Terrace Neighborhood Association
• Lamb of God Lutheran Church - Flower Mound
• Prince of Peace Lutheran Church - Carrollton
• S.S. Conner Elementary School
• St. Paul Lutheran Church - Plano
• Truett Crime Watch
• White Rock Hills Crime Watch
• White Rock Village Crime Watch
• Zion Lutheran Church - Dallas
• And many others...

Folks from these churches and organizations gave items and/or their time to help out. We couldn't have done it without them!

We literally had so many donations that we filled five classrooms of clothes, kitchen supplies, furniture, house decorations, and electronics. We spent most of the day Thursday and Friday organizing and pricing all the donations. It was so nice to get last minute help from the Truett Crime Watch group sorting Friday morning. We had a couple families from the neighborhood come and help quite a bit too!

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. We weren't too sure when we started at 5:30am in the cold and fog. It was great having people, not just from the fire, but also from the immediate neighborhood come by and get some really amazing deals.

We had clothes of all sizes, jackets, shoes, toys, tvs, beds, lamps, desks, plates and cups... you name it, we had it! We also had games for the kids to play and prizes to be won! Some youth from Prince of Peace came and spent their Saturday painting faces and jumping in the bounce house with our neighborhood kids. We sold hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and baked goods. We made quite a day of it.

Overall, it was an amazing day! We were able to make over $1800 for the families who lost their belongings in the Millennium Pointe Apartment fire. There will be a meeting soon to gather everyone to discuss the distribution of the collected funds. It has been such a testament of God's love to see neighbors and non-neighbors care for one another!