Hi Parkway People!

Summer and the heat are here! (If you want to know what it will feel like on Halloween, just go outside!) And I'm not above being the first to complain about it. 

The end of the school year is upon us, which means life finds a way to somehow move a little bit faster.

Around Parkway, we aren't far from the final sprint to VBS, UM Army, Kid's Adventure (KA), and all that summer holds in store, acronymned or otherwise.

And yet, Sundays lately have been about slowness and identity. Slowness as identity. Realizing that our culture and our technology, and the pressure to live as the best version of ourselves can fuse our identity with our speed.

As you make your way through these days, make time and make space to move a little slower. To be a little more mindful and aware of what you're feeling and what's going on around you. Realize that your identity is not in how fast you can move or how much you can get done, but in the ways you are loved by the God we know in Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we'll continue on in our Real, Fast sermon series by digging into the ways both our identities and our speed of life are shaped by our wants, desires, and loves. I'll preach from Matthew 6.25-34. 

Take a look below at some of the ways you can care, connect, grow, and support Parkway’s Children and Student Ministries.

Caring at Parkway

Craft Meal Train

Chelsi and Kelley Craft welcomed their second son this past weekend! Chelsi, Kelley, and son Kelley Jr. are recent regulars at the 9am service, and we've set up a meal train to bring them food while they settle into and adjust to life with two kids. If you can bring the Crafts a meal sometime in the next week or two, click this link to sign up: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/qgoeel

Connecting at Parkway

Table Talk

This Sunday is our monthly Table Talk lunch following the 10.30am service. We will be meeting at Talyard (1033 Imperial Blvd., Sugar Land). Table Talk is lunch after church — a great, laid-back way to get to know each other better. No sign ups, just a show up and eat lunch sort of thing.

New Grow Groups Meet on May 25th

On Sunday, May 25th, both of Parkway's newest Grow Groups will gather for their monthly after-church meeting. Both of these groups are young family groups - one with kids roughly 0 - 8ish, the other with kids 8ish - 14ish. Both groups meet once a month after the 10.30am service to check in about life and discuss that day's sermon. Food and childcare will be provided for both groups.

If you are interested in jumping in and connecting with a smaller group of people on May 25th, reply to this email and let me know. I'd love to get you connected to one of these new groups.

Want to explore starting a new Grow Group? Reply to this email and let me know — I would love to work with you on starting a new group that fits your interests or season of life. It's easier than you think!

Growing at Parkway

Bible Study: Jesus & Women

 There are two Wednesdays left in the current study called Jesus & Women — digging into different stories from the Gospels about Jesus's interactions with women often have deeper meaning than we might realize. This study meets in Rm. 126/128 on the first floor of the Ministry Center from 6 - 7.30pm. Childcare is provided.

One last note on this Bible Study — we have started offering Zoom as a way for people to participate in this study. If you would like to Zoom into this Bible Study, please reply to this email and let me know.

Upcoming Women's Mini Retreat

Parkway Women's Ministry will host a mini retreat on Saturday, June 7th from 9am - Noon in the Student Worship area (Second Floor, Ministry Center Building). Rev. Maggie Wood, lead Pastor of Mercy Street, will lead this retreat focusing on love, prayer, and writings in the Book of Ephesians. You can sign up for the mini retreat by clicking HERE.

Summer Book Club - Inspired by Rachel Held Evans

Last summer I hosted the first Parkway Summer Book Club and this summer we are back for round two! This year we will read Inspired by Rachel Held Evans. 

This is a great, readable book for anyone whose relationship with the Bible can go from clear, powerful, and inspirational to confusing, complicated, or even painful. Each week in this book, we'll look at a type of story often found throughout Scripture to better understand what we're reading, the history behind it, and how we can recognize God in the pages of Scripture that is often not as clear as we would like it to be. 

Our Summer Book Club will (tentatively) kick-off the evening of Wednesday, June 4th. Click on the following link to let us know you will be attending and if you would like Parkway to order a copy of the book for you:

https://www.fellowshiponegiving.com/App/Form/015b413e-6278-4774-880c-741653361212



Sermons from a Hat

If you were here Sunday, you heard me announce something new: Sermons from a Hat. Throughout the summer, I have a handful of Sundays that fall between events or sermon series. On these in-between Sundays, I want to preach on some topics that you are interested in hearing about. Available on the Welcome Desk in the Worship Center, there are strips of paper that have one fill-in-the-blank sentence: I would like to hear a sermon about ______________.

Over the next few weeks, anyone, and everyone, can leave their ideas (you can do more than one!). As we approach these Sundays, I will draw suggestions out of a hat, and that will be the sermon for this week. Be thinking about what you are going to put into the hat! (And if you don't care about having your name attached to it, you can send me your suggestions or ideas by replying to this email. If you want to be anonymous, grab a piece of paper on Sunday.)

Children and Students at Parkway

VBS Snacks

VBS season is snack season! Part of our God-given call and mission at VBS is to feed kids their weight in goldfish and animal crackers. Last year Becky created a 'snack tree' where people could take a needed snack off the tree and drop off those snacks before VBS kicked off. The snack tree will be back up starting this Sunday -- make sure to grab something off the tree so we can have enough snacks for everyone!

Register for Lakeview by May 22nd

Parkway is trying something new this year and sending kids and students to Lakeview Camp the week of June 23rd – 27th. This is a traditional sleep-away church camp in the Piney Woods of East Texas, owned and operated by the Texas Annual Conference of the UMC. 

Registration has been extended until June 1st — so if you are considering sending your kid or student to camp, there is still time! 

You can find more information or register here. If you register, you 'll be asked what district you are registering from — Parkway is in the Southwest District. 

We are required to send one adult per five campers registered. If you are an adult (21+) willing to go to camp as a chaperone, please let me know by replying to this email. Parkway will pay your way to go to camp, to do the required background checks, etc.

There are plenty of funds available to help with the $395 price tag for the week. You can apply for funds directly from the Conference as a part of registration. Parkway also has funds to help with the cost, just reply to this email and let me know if we can help get your kid/student to Lakeview this summer.

4-5-6 and Promotion Sunday

June 1st is promotion Sunday — the day where all our kids and students are bumped up to the grade level they will enter at the start of the next school year. As a part of this, Parkway will debut a new ministry called 4-5-6 — a ministry focused on preteens entering the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. 

Becky and Josiah have worked together to build out this new ministry that sees our preteens as a distinct age group with different social and faith needs. 4-5-6 will be a bridging program — aimed at helping children make a smooth transition to Student Ministries. 

It's exciting that we have seen such growth in this age group — but we need your help in getting this new ministry off the ground and helping this age group grow. If you want to see this ministry succeed, consider being an adult volunteer with Children’s Ministry, 4-5-6, or Student Ministries once every 6 weeks. For more information, contact Becky (rbetz@parkwayumc.org) or Josiah (jcanto@parkwayumc.org).

Asking for Volunteer Pools/Hosts

Finally — Josiah has been hard at work putting together new student Grow Groups and Pool Days for the summer. If you have a pool and would be willing to host a Student Grow Group or a Student Pool Day, reach out to Josiah (jcanto@parkwayumc.org) and let him know!

Hope to you Sunday,

Justin