Ryan Wilkerson departs for a summer in Iowa

Ryan Wilkerson has accepted a position in Iowa this summer, where he will be serving as the Interim Camp Minister and Manager of the Christian Conference Center, the church camp serving Disciples in the Upper Midwest Region. Ryan and Mollie plan to keep their house here in Fort Worth while they summer in Newton, Iowa, departing around May 15 (and moving Mollie's studio in the process so she can continue to prepare for General Assembly).

Ryan has done an outstanding job as our Interim Associate Minister over the last 9 months, so be sure to wish him and Mollie well during a light popcorn-and-punch reception after worship this Sunday!
 

Help provide lunch at INA this Monday

Our community partner International Newcomer Academy reached out to ask if our church could provide lunch in appreciation of their teachers and staff this Monday, May 15. INA plays an important role in Fort Worth ISD, providing a school designed especially for refugees and recent immigrants to help them adjust to life in a new place while learning English. There are two ways that you can help:

1. Donate money to help purchase lunch for all the school staff. We will be providing 60 box lunches and drinks that cost $10 each. Use the link below to give online, and select "International Newcomer Academy" from the Fund drop-down menu:
https://shelbygiving.com/ridglea

2. Share your time and energy by picking up and delivering the drinks and lunches, or come to the school to help hand them out as staff stop by to pick them up. Drinks will be in coolers at the church and lunches will be at Jersey Mike's on Camp Bowie, and both need to be delivered to INA by 10:30 am. We will also need volunteers to hang out in the school library to hand out the lunches and thank their staff until about 12:30 pm. If you would like to help with lunch pickup/delivery or can volunteer to spend an hour at the school handing out the lunches, email Russ at russ@ridgleachristian.org.

Thank you for helping us continue our support of the community at International Newcomer Academy!
 

Join us in the Jubilee Garden in front of the church immediately following worship on Sunday, May 28.  Our gardeners will be there to give you a tour, answer questions, show how you can help us compost, and share their love for gardening in this beautiful space. Enjoy some refreshments as you bask in God’s glorious creation!
 

Anna Jacobson, who has served as our Worship Media Coordinator since the spring of 2021, will also take on the role of Office Administrator for the summer! Anna is a native of the Houston area where she grew up at Cypress Creek Christian Church, and she is currently wrapping up her junior year at TCU where she is majoring in Computer Science. She had already made plans to spend the summer in Fort Worth and was looking for additional part time work, so our Office Administrator opening works perfectly for her.

Anna will be in the church office Tuesday-Friday afternoons beginning next week, and you can reach her at office@ridgleachristian.org. Be sure to congratulate her this Sunday as she expands her portfolio here at Ridglea!
 

We are excited to welcome Carissa Robinson, who will begin serving as our Summer Ministry Intern on May 23! Carissa is currently finishing her third semester as a Master of Divinity student at Brite Divinity School. She grew up as a missionary kid in Venezuela and has also spent time working in Bolivia and teaching elementary school here in the United States. Carissa is married with three kids, lives in Crowley, and found her way to Disciples through Galileo Church. She is already coordinating with Ryan Wilkerson to ensure a smooth handoff as she joins our staff and assists with worship, youth/children's programs, outreach partnerships, and more. We look forward to welcoming Carissa to our congregation soon!
 

ICYMI: Open & Affirming Recognition

Great news, church! On Tuesday, May 2 we received official designation as an Open & Affirming (O&A) congregation from the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance. This recognition is the result of 3+ years of churchwide conversations, education, and self-assessment led by our board-appointed O&A Taskforce, culminating in a congregational vote on November 6. Although the O&A process primarily focused on LGBTQ+ inclusion, we also sought ways to be more inclusive of people with differing abilities, vision/hearing impairment, food allergies, neurodivergence, and other differences that often lead to feelings of exclusion in church.

As disciples, we are called to find ways to continually expand our welcome so that the diverse people of God may be fully included in the life of the church. We hope you will help share the life-changing (and often life-saving) message of God's extravagant love!

Mark your calendars: This summer our church will have a Vacation Bible School program for kids July 16-19! VBS will kick off with waterslides and a cookout dinner on the evening of Sunday, July 16 followed by morning programming Monday through Wednesday from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. This year's theme is "Re:New" and will focus on the Parable of the Sower while incorporating lots of green and garden-related activities. Whether you're a kid participant or a youth/adult volunteer we hope to see you there!

 

On April 23, the Pastor's Book Club kicked off an 8-week study of Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Russ leads the group each Sunday from 4:15-5:15 pm, and you're welcome to participate in-person in the church library, virtually on Zoom, or watch a recording of the session afterward. (Click here for the video of the first meeting.)

In her bestselling book, Du Mez (Professor of History at Calvin University) provides an insightful overview of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how many American evangelical leaders have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism. The book helps make sense of many of the controversies, political alliances, and cultural faultlines that are shaping the world around us today.

To join the study, email Russ at russ@ridgleachristian.org. You can order copy of the book through the church for $10, purchase your own (physical or E-book), or borrow a library copy.