Happy 101st Birthday to John Harrington, DiscipleChurch member and father of Rev. Brooks Harrington, founder and director of the Methodist Justice Ministries.
Save the date now for three Habitat for Humanity events coming up this spring: Cowtown Brush-up on April 25, our annual First Church Habitat Build on May 16, and a special Pastor’s Build on April 23. Watch your FUMCFW Weekly Enews for more information and the opportunity to sign up!
Shout out to groundskeeper Todd Hearne who alerted staff to the imminent digging in the East parking lot last week by the City of Fort Worth to repair a collapsed sewage line. This is the sewage line, you might note, that was among the less glamorous infrastructure needs to be addressed in Phase I of our Next90 Building Expansion Project. This discovery and timely alert by Todd, followed by the quick and thoughtful response of Director of Facilities and Construction Mark Sorley, answered a question that has had city officials and property owners scratching their heads and searching through archives for months trying to determine “Whose line is it, anyway — and more importantly, who has to pay to get it moved to make way for our Next90 construction? Be sure to congratulate Todd and Mark when you see them and know that when the City moves this line during the coming months it will be saving the church a considerable amount of money, thanks to Todd’s watchful eyes, Mark’s quick thinking, and the very timely collapse of this rogue 1935, previously unclaimed, sewage line!
Next90 commitments from 359 FUMCFW households have now pushed our total to $10.2 million, more than two-thirds the way to our goal. Stewardship 2020 results now include 488 FUMCFW households committing $2.65 million to our annual ministry and operating budget — and 96% of our goal.
Appalachian Trail Hiker and recently retired Business Administrator Larry Ammerman will be personally driving our historic Leonard Memorial Chapel lanterns to Lynchburg, Virginia in Early April for repair and retrofitting for LED lighting. Deeply impressed with this gesture, our vendor there has committed to having them ready for Larry to pick up on his way back home following his Appalachian adventure!
SPSD, the landscaping firm who manages many of the plantings and seasonal color you see throughout Downtown Fort Worth, has been selected to manage our new campus landscaping plan guided by Master Gardner and Trustee Barbara Duckworth, Director of Operations Sandy Williams, and Director of Facilities and Construction Mark Sorley. SPSD’s first seasonal color change will happen on or around June 1.
Our FUMCFW Trustees are now forming its 2020 Youth Scholarship subcommittee to determine the winners of four Youth Scholarships to be awarded at the annual Youth Banquet in May. Applications will be due April 9; decisions will be announced April 20.