Bill Urech, Author at Grace PC

Pastors: Building Church Community through Fantasy Football

Posted on Oct 11, 2024 by Bill Urech in Pastor | 21

Pastor Tracey was recently published in Presbyterian Outlook with an article about the fantasy football league at Grace. What follows is an excerpt from the article. You can find the full article at Building church community through Fantasy Football – The Presbyterian Outlook (pres-outlook.org)

Could fun be what we need to draw us closer to each other and the Lord? Tracey Davenport shares her church’s ministry of Fantasy Football.

I was raised on football. My father volunteered with some local high school teams and taught me, his oldest daughter, to run patterns and catch passes. He passionately rooted for Ole Miss, and, therefore, SEC football was our Saturday entertainment. Professional football was enjoyed as well — after church, of course! One of my most vivid childhood memories is watching Walter Payton break the single-game rushing record in 1977 against the Saints at Soldier Field. We cheered him on from our living room on the Naval base in Newport, Rhode Island. Football is in my blood.

Apart from a few sermon illustrations, my love of football had not crossed into the realm of my faith or ministry until last year. Our elder for member engagement (a.k.a. elder for fun) launched a church fantasy football league at Grace Presbyterian Church in Plano, Texas. I enrolled. Draft Day arrived and I noticed something wonderful at our tailgate lunch and draft event. The room was filled with people who were contemporary and traditional worshipers, evangelicals and progressives, Republicans and Democrats, men and women, gay and straight, members and non-members, ages 9-79, and held all levels of football acumen. Together, we ate and laughed; we schemed and strategized; we stressed over our time-based drafts and moaned when our favorite player was selected by someone else. I have rarely seen such a diverse gathering at our church…

Full Article

Jul '24

Mission: Special Offerings

Posted on Jul 19, 2024 by Bill Urech in Mission Blog | 19

Jul '24

In the Presbyterian Church USA there are 4 times a year we have special offerings. At Grace the administration of the offerings goes through the Mission Committee. In this blog I’ll talk about what these offerings are and how we have distributed the funds in the last year. In general, the total for each offering is between $1,000 and $2,000. For offerings that allow discretion in allocation, the committee decides the split.

The Christmas Joy Offering has been a cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s. The Offering distributes gifts equally to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions and to Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color. The Assistance Program provides critical financial support to church workers and their families. Presbyterian-related schools and colleges provide education and leadership development while nurturing racial and ethnic heritage. This has been a Presbyterian commitment for nearly 140 years.

Mission always sends the offering to PCUSA, marked as “Joy” offering

Typically received during the season of Lent, each gift to One Great Hour of Sharing supports efforts to relieve hunger through the Presbyterian Hunger Program, promote development through the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, and assist in areas of disaster through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

Mission sent this offering to the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

A gift to the Pentecost Offering helps the church encourage, develop, and support its young people, and also address the needs of at-risk children. 40% of the Pentecost offering can be retained by individual congregations wanting to make an impact in the lives of young people within their own community. The remaining 60% is used to support children-at-risk, youth, and young adults through ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

This year the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s 60% was split between the “Young Adult” and “Educate a Child” programs. The balance is being held by Grace, In 2023, Mission used the balance to help support efforts at Beaty Elementary.

Collected in the Fall, a gift to the Peace & Global Witness Offering enables the church to promote the Peace of Christ by addressing systems of conflict and injustice across the world. Individual congregations are encouraged to utilize up to 25% of this Offering to connect with the global witness of Christ’s peace. Mid councils retain an additional 25% for ministries of peace and reconciliation. The remaining 50% is used by the Presbyterian Mission Agency to advocate for peace and justice in cultures of violence, including our own, through collaborative projects of education and Christian witness.

In 2023 Mission sent 50% of the offering to the Presbyterian Mission Agency. 25% went to our synod’s Solar under the Sun program and the local 25% was used to support Grace’s refugee work.

If you wish to donate to these causes keep an ear out during the year for when they are announced, You can also designate them by emailing John Moody.

Jun '24

Mission: Welcome Grace

Posted on Jun 9, 2024 by Bill Urech in Mission Blog | 19

Jun '24

Welcome to the Grace PC mission blog. The long term goal of this blog is to talk about the different aspects of mission work at GPC. In this inaugural post I’m going to outline who is “mission” at Grace and how we decide what to pursue.

At Grace every member is a part of mission – or can be. Practically, and since we are Presbyterian, we have a Mission committee. The committee is currently composed of 8 members, one of whom is the Mission elder, plus an associate pastor and a member of the finance committee (Mission represents about 10% of the GPC budget). We meet the 2^nd Tuesday of every month and any are welcome to join the meetings.

The current committee:

Bill Urech – Elder/Moderator	Portia Stephens
Fred Alves	Bill Burnett
Helen Blacklock	Bryan Haworth
Diana Sparacin	Janice McQuary
Wilson Nicholson – Assoc Pastor	John Davis – Finance

Mission’s goal is to work towards all aspect of the GPC Vision 2030. Historically, we have worked within the guidelines of the 4 Hs (Homelessness, Hunger, Helping Hands and H2O). This is why we have Minnie’s workdays, host refugees, serve at Austin Street Center, install water systems in Guatemala. Vision 2030 will drive how we execute the 4Hs.

So, how do we decide what to do? At the monthly meeting we talk about what we’ve done recently, what is upcoming and what we could do that’s new. The criteria for new ideas are if it falls within our Vision and if it can give opportunity for Grace members to participate in some way. Also, Mission has a long history of taking walk-ins. Meaning, you can show up at a committee meeting with a mission idea and pitch it to us. If it’s a hit then several things can happen. Mission will help you publicize it and/or provide funding. We will ask you to lead it! Don’t be timid. In the past year this is how adoption of Beaty Elementary and funding for the Prison ministry started.

To keep up with what Mission is doing look to the “Mission Updates” section of the weekly newsletter, check your connection card or visit us on the second Tuesday of the month at 7pm in MB4.

Blessings to all,
Bill Urech (Mission Elder)