July 12, 2018
Dear Pastor/Friends,

It was wonderful to be with 45 of our pastors at PALCON (see picture above). Thank you very much for your participation.  We were all blessed by what was presented there. I am very grateful to SNU, USA/Canada Regional Office, and the steering committee who pulled PALCON together.  Special thanks to Allen Hughes who represented  WT on the steering committee!

I want to congratulate and commend Pastor Burnie Burnside and his
wife,  Peggy,  of Hope Community Church of the Nazarene in Denton for  34  years of faithful servi ce. Dr. Burnside announced to his congregatio n  recently that he will be retiring at the end o f this  month. The  Burnsides  will continue to live in Denton and will  always  be an  important part of the  West Texas  District family!  Burnie is a v alued friend and colleague!    Pastor Earl R o ber tson  will be serving  as interim pastor at Hope Community.

I am delighted to report that Vania Palacios-Alvarez has returned officially to th e office management p osition at the district office! Many of you will remember that Vania was our offi ce manager in 2011-12 before marrying and moving to serve as youth pastor in Mercedes, Texas. She is very  capable.  She is the daughter of a Nazarene pastor/superintendent and loves pastors and the Church of the Nazarene. Welcome back Vania! 

I had the privilege of conducting reviews for two of our Lubbock-area
pastors on Sunday June 24th. Congratulations to  Michael Page of
Lubb ock   First and Travis Zachary  of Lubbock Refuge  who both received outstanding ev aluations from their church boards. 
 
 Please join me in prayer for our African ministry coordinator, 
Michael Gatkek, who is  traveling in Ethiopia visiting  South Sudanese refugees. We love Michael, and we pray for his safety and for the efficacy of his ministry in Africa...and at home. 

Finally, I want to thank each of our pastors for taking very seriously my request that our church leaders and children's and teen's workers all take the Ministry Safe courses this summer. Please see the Ministry Safe announcement below for details. I do want to make one clarification in light of several questions we've received here at the district office. All pastors, SDMI leaders, youth and children's ministry leaders and teachers must take the Ministry Safe training. The cost is only $5.00 per person.  Pastors, full-time paid staff members, and anyone else in charge of staffing youth and children's ministry/teaching positions are respectfully asked to take the Skillful Screening Training, which costs $50 per person. Generally speaking, in the vast majority of our churches, the pastor alone will be required to complete this more expensive training since he or she has final responsibility for overseeing teachers and children and youth workers.

Again, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the information below. I am very grateful for your cooperation in this important matter.

For you and with you,

Pastor David Downs













Greetings District Leaders, Pastors and NMI leaders!
 
I hope this finds you all well and living a life of Mission! As most of you know I am a Haiti Missionary. There is an ongoing joke amongst those of us that have served and continue to serve in Haiti that we are a special breed of people. If you read or saw any of the news coming from Haiti last week you might think that too. I don't necessarily think we are special, I think we have just learned how to lean-in and see the good in the midst of heartache and desperation of people. We know there is always more to the story. So while the news showed pictures of violence, I heard stories from a team made up of Nazarene's from Southern California. Where they were serving was far from the craziness of Port Au Prince. They had medical clinic and VBS everyday. They gave of themselves and tended to the Spiritual and physical needs of beautiful people while chaos in the country raged.
 
One of our Nazarene Missionary's, Tonya Kucey, shared with me a story about two young men in their 20's that she knows who risked their lives to get water for children in an orphanage. The orphanage had run out of water so these young men fought their way through the rioting to get to a store that had water for the children. Then they fought their way back through while they carried the water. We know Jesus is the Hero of every story, but this day He let them be heroes with Him.
 
Lean in and look for the good. I promise it is there.
 
 
It is that time of year again!! The stores are filled with school supplies and the Cactus Backpack Giveaway is coming! Our Cactus Compassionate Ministry Center will be hosting a block party in Cactus on July 31st and August 1st. Their heart is to be able to give away 400 back packs this year to the kiddos they are investing in everyday. This is a great opportunity and tangible way to get your people involved with local mission (that really looks more Global if you have been to Cactus). You can collect school supplies and backpacks or you can give financially. Details are below.
 
If you are in the Panhandle area or close you can contact Kay Lynn Robenson at (806) 316-1117 for collection details.
 
If you are in the Metroplex area or close please contact me at (682) 404-7894 for collection details.
 
For ways to give financially go to: www.cactusministries.org/index.php/donate for details.
 
Cactus School Supply Collection List (per backpack):
Backpack
Crayons (2 boxes)
Washable Markers
Dry Erase Markers
Water Color Paint
Pencils (wooden yellow)
Pink Eraser
Elmer's liquid glue
Glue sticks (4)
Scissors (child size)
Pencil box
Spiral Notebook (single subject-70 count)
Composition Notebook
Folders (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green)
Paper- Wide-ruled
1" View Binder- Solid Color
 
 
Thank you all for all you do!! I am blessed and our District is blessed to have you. Please don't ever hesitate to email or call me if you ever have a question. My email is [email protected] and my phone number is (682) 404-7894.
 
We also have some great resources available at www.wtd-nmi.org. Check it out!
 
Love Well,
Amanda
 


 



WTX Kid Min Leaders!
  
 
Make sure you download the Camp Leader's Packet for all the info you need to help get your kids to camp!
 
VBS coming up?  Here's what we're doing for this year's Mission Offering.
 
Need more kid min info?  Check out the WTX district website on the children's ministry page! 
 
 
 










UPCOMING EVENTS:









7/1 Alan Wallace
7/1 Greg Key
7/1 Marvin Pepper
7/1 Moises Marquez
7/2 Dennis & Awilda Hayes
7/2 Gary Young
7/2 Mike Murphy
7/3 Cori Young
7/3 Katie Young 
7/3 Gary & Cori Young
7/4 Eric DeLuna
7/4 Lamar Davidge
7/4 Todd Forest
7/5 Mary Jo Hodges
7/5 Dough & Becky Yates
7/6 Luri Thang
7/6 Michael Gatkek
7/7 Melissa Cisneros
7/8 Jett Davis
7/8 Premal Awasarmal
7/8 Rafael Cordero
7/9 Yvette Alvarado
7/11 Micah Angel 
7/11 Jairo Maldonado
7/12 Calvary Callender
7/12 Joshua Mora 
7/12 Teresa DeLuna
7/13 Esther Jang 

   
7/13 Gaylord Hayes
7/15 John Lewis
7/15 Phil Patalano
7/16 Josh Cisneros
7/17 Bridget Benn
7/18 Greg & Debra Johnson
7/20 Ish Mora
7/21 Tom & Doris McNutt
7/22 Jim & Patsy Graham
7/22 Sara Maldonado 
7/23 Burnie Burnside
7/24 Mark Banda
7/25 Sophia Boice 
7/26 Al Mixon
7/26 Sabbatha Taylor 
7/27 Julian Corpus
7/27 Jennifer Sommers
7/27 Dwayne & Debra Edwards
7/28 Katrina Martin
7/30 Audrey Derbyshire 
7/30 Ted Taylor
7/31 Harvey & Kathy Basket
7/31 Tracy Ricenbaw




July 16 - 20 - ACTIVATE Kids Camp at Arrowhead Camp
July 26-28 - WOW Women's Conference
August 10-12 - Young Adult Retreat at Arrowhead Camp
September 7 - NazNite at Six Flags
October 12-13 - JOY Senior Adult Retreat, Lubbock first
October 17-20 - Awakening Prayer Conference 
October 26-27 - Discovery Weekend in Abilene
Dec. 27 - Jan. 2 - Commission Unto Mexico (Guadalajara)
January 8  -        Ministerial Credentials/Education Committee, Amarillo First
January 14-15 -   Ministerial Credentials/Education Boards, Fort Worth Northside
February    -     Alabaster Offering to Global Treasury Services
February 1-3  -  Shepherds' Sabbath Retreat, Abilene, TX