The  Holy VVVrinity ˙ Herald                                               January/February 2008

                                                                             P.O. Box 81 * Bonham, TX 75418                                                                www.holytrinitybonham.org

 

The Vicar’s Voice:

When I was young, it seemed that time passed very slowly.  Now that I am a bit older, it seems to be rushing by. Does anyone else get that feeling? We just started Lent and already we need to plan for Easter.

                The Holy Eucharist will be celebrated Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week at 7:00pm.  Maundy Thursday Services will also begin at 7:00pm.  Good Friday “Mass of the Presanctified” will be celebrated at Noon.

                The Great Vigil of Easter service will begin at 8:00pm on Saturday March 22nd. This is one of the most beautiful ceremonies of the Church with the lighting of the Paschal Candle, the singing of the Exultit, blessing of the baptismal water (with Baptism this year), and the celebration of the First Eucharist of Easter. We will again be honored to have Deacon David Petrash join us.  If you have not attended the Great Vigil Service, you don’t know what you are missing.  I would encourage you to end your holy lent by attending both the Vigil and the Easter Sunday Eucharist. I will.

                Time does fly.  As some, or most of you, may know, I advised the Vestry some time ago that I plan to retire next September, which will be the fourth anniversary of my Ordination.  Last week I sent a letter to the Bishop advising of my intention. We will discuss this more fully at a later date.  Father Bill+

Vestry Report – Ron Wicks, Senior Warden

Since being appointed Senior Warden, we have had two Vestry meeting, January 27th and February 17th. Father Dalton appointed Louis Bickel to serve as Jr. Warden. Continuing members of the Vestry are Tom Long and Pam Walker. I also want to welcome our newly elected Vestry members Pat Ward and Sharon Kinkade, our new Vestry Clerk Linda Long and our new Treasurer Kim Wicks.  Carol Morris is our elected delegate to diocesan convention with Pat Ward as alternate delegate.

                One of our main goals again this year is growth of Holy Trinity through our outreach efforts. Here are few topics that were discussed: Sharon Kinkade will obtain information about the “adopt a highway program” for a portion of US 78 south of Bonham as a way to increase the visibility of Holy Trinity as a community service entity. The 2008 Budget is still a work in progress with all members of the Vestry evaluating the apportionment of available funds to operate Holy Trinity and carry out its mission. I also want to thank the auditing committee for their time and efforts on the 2007 audit.

 

Election of a Suffragan Bishop Diocese of Dallas: Father Dalton advised that he placed the name of Father Ray Jenison as a candidate for the election of a Suffragan Bishop at a special convention for that purpose that Bishop Stanton has called for Saturday, March 29 at the Cathedral Church of St. Matthew, Dallas. Our Vicar and Convention Delegate Carol Morris are eligible to vote in the election. Others may attend as observers. The Suffragan Bishop assists the Bishop with his Episcopal responsibilities such as visiting churches, confirmations and ordinations in addition to whatever other duties and authorities the Bishop assigns. While the Suffragan Bishop is an important part of the Bishop’s staff and may be someone who is eligible to the right to Apostolic Succession and election to Bishop, he or she is not assumed to succeed the Bishop upon his retirement. When Bishop Stanton announces his retirement, he will call for the election of a Bishop Coadjutor to serve along side him until his retirement. While we usually see Canon to the Ordinary Paul Lambert where we see Bishop Stanton, that position is that of chief pastoral assistant to the Bishop. The Canon to the Ordinary may be a lay person or an ordained clergy. He or she is directly under the supervision of the Bishop as a staff member.

 

Parish Profile:   Senior Warden Ron Wicks and Vestry Treasurer Kim Wicks

Ronnie & Kim Wicks moved to Lake Bonham Oct of 2002.  In 2006, Ronnie’s Mother moved in with us.  Kim’s parents, sister and niece had migrated up here before we moved here.  However, we moved up here for the lake.  It is a place for family to gather for fun and relaxation. We have 2 children, Patrick 29 and Amy 25.  Patrick has 2 children: Ethan 6 in April and Evelyn 1 in March and lives in Arlington.  Amy has 3 children.  Matthew 5 in June, Megan 3 in April and Andrew 2 in Oct and lives in Eastland.

     Ron’s journey of his love for cooking has taken him from the El Central College Culinary School to Alpine Haus German Restaurant to teaching cooking classes at the Kitchen Store in Arlington, to his last and he says his most rewarding adventure was being a chef in the Central Market Cooking School in Ft Worth. He misses the cooking and hopes to some day to hold cooking classes in Bonham. He loves to cook and did one of our pancake suppers at the church.

    Ron has worked at DFW Airport for almost 30 years. He works for the DFW Airport Board in charge of the Reverse Osmosis Facility that processes all the Deicing Fluid used on the aircraft. During his career with the Airport, he has been a Central Utilities Plant maintenance technician, Central Utilities Plant operator and for 14 years was the Central Utilities Plant Operation Supervisor.

      Ron, now the 2008 Senior Warden, was elected to the Vestry in 2006 and has served as Jr. Warden in 2006 and 2007. As Jr. Warden Ron was instrumental in getting the Parish House leveled and having the Church building washed and stained. 

      Kim was an assistant Troup leader for Girl Scouts for many, many years when Amy was in school. She enjoys making centerpieces, wreaths, homing coming mums and flower arrangements and for a short while sold them. Kim loves the outdoors and spent a lot of time on the lake when growing up, so it is only natural that she would enjoy living on the lake as an adult.  She has an associate degree from Tarrant County College and was very close to completing her Bachelors degree on line through SBU.  Kim has worked for GTE/Verizon (now Idearc Media) since 1998. 

     Kim served as vestry clerk from 2005 through 2007 and has been keeping track of pledges since 2006. In 2008, she has now begun the Treasurer position. Kim worked with Laura McLemore and Mike Curtis doing Altar flowers when we first joined Holy Trinity and now takes responsibility for seeing that there are Altar flowers, artfully arranged, for each service. 

                We enjoy fine wine, fine dining and traveling. We hope be able to stop commuting to DFW in 2010.

 

Bishop Stanton licensed new Lay Readers Kim Jenkins, Sharon Kinkade and Pat Ward in November at the request of our Vicar. A lay person is licensed by the Bishop to lead public worship under the direction of the priest in charge and must be a confirmed adult in good standing They may lead the Daily Offices, lead the liturgy for the Eucharist through the prayers of the people and the Lord’s Prayer. They may also lead the Burial Office, the Ash Wednesday liturgy, the Palm liturgy and the Good Friday liturgy, all with certain modifications. Joining the class on Nov 14th were Tom Long and Carol Morris whose 3-year licenses were renewed. Both are Lay Ministers who are licensed to serve the wine at the Eucharist.    

DAVID RAINBOLT, 78, beloved and faithful member of our church family passed away on December 27, 2008, from the complications of a rare and incurable brain disorder called Progressive Suprenuclear Palsy (PSP). A Requiem Mass held at Holy Trinity was followed by burial at Owens Cemetery. Members, family, friends and business associates met at the Rainbolts’ home following the burial in celebration of David’s life and in tribute to the dedication and devotion of his wife, Beverly, during his long illness.

Stewardship dinner at the Louis and Huetta Bickel’s beautiful country manor was held on Saturday, November 17th. Senior Warden Gary Vernon gave a “state of the church” report. Interested members presented several community outreach and service proposals. Those are:  initiation of a youth program (Sharon and Larry Kinkade); printing business size cards for members to give to friends, neighbors, co-workers and business association inviting them to attend services at our church (Kim Jenkins); and adoption of the local animal shelter as our community service project (Charlene Dalton, Pat Ward); increased support of the local food pantry (Fr. Dalton);  higher visibility in the community (all).  Some of those proposals are already in progress.

Bonham Animal Shelter – Community Service Project:  In early December, Charlene Dalton and Pat Ward assumed responsibility for the collection of dog and cat food, bedding, and newspaper for the cages at the shelter. A notice in the newspaper and emails to friends and associates announcing that products can be dropped off at Holy Trinity any Wednesday evening or Sunday morning has resulted in donations from other area churches as well as citizens. Several hundred pounds of bagged dry food and canned food have been taken to the shelter.

    The present so-called “shelter” is located at the end of the street that runs beside Braum’s, across the railroad tracks onto a dirt road. The building is an old concrete block building with no windows, a small old window air conditioner, a vintage gas heater and little else. There are 5 or 6 cages to house dogs and about 4 small cages to contain cats. The roof is leaky and there are cracks in the walls. There is no exercise yard. The animals are picked up by Officer Jimmie Gilbert or his assistant, Officer Metcalfe, and with some effort to locate their owners or have them adopted, they are euthanized if not claimed or rescued by Thursday of each week. The present animal shelter and the cruel disposition of innocent animals should be on the conscience of every citizen in Fannin County. Our goal is to see that that happens.

    We have learned that the City of Bonham applied for a $50,000 USDA Rural Development Grant toward the construction of a new animal shelter with construction blueprints for a first class facility. The tentative location of the shelter is on the property of the County Jail. Father Dalton, Charlene and Pat Ward had a conference with County Judge Butch Henderson with a proposal for the County to form a Commission to be responsible for the management of animal control and rescue for both the City and the County. Judge Henderson agreed to speak with the Bonham City Manager pursuant to putting the proposal on a County Commissioners Meeting Agenda in the near future. Judge Henderson feels that the funding of the USDA Grant should be forthcoming by October of this year. All of the townships in Fannin County have pledged significant financial support for the new shelter construction and operation.

 Holy Trinity Youth Program – Sharon and Larry Kinkade have met with some of the youth in our church family to learn what programs, projects and activities would most interest them. A proposal under consideration is the formation of a Youth Counsel or Youth Vestry to have its own meetings and a representative in attendance at the church Vestry meetings so that the young people can begin to learn about the administrative operation of our church. They are also interested in refurbishing the Sunday School Nursery room to better utilize the small space, provide furnishings for infants through pre-school age children, and to decorate the walls with Christian education materials. They welcome suggestions and contributions for this effort from the members.

Community Outreach – Kim Jenkins designed the attractive business cards which were printed and are available to members to give to people who we would like to encourage to come to Holy Trinity. As part of our marketing strategy, we will also be sending press releases to local print and online media about all activities and events at our church, no matter how small. Under consideration is the purchase of a small ad in the classified section of news media regarding our collection of animal food and supplies for the animal shelter and any other activity about which Pat Ward can make a news article to increase the visibility and exposure of Holy Trinity in the community. We are appreciative of the cooperation of the local media in this effort, especially Allen Rich of the North Texas E-News online, and Jessica Kirkpatrick of the Bonham Journal-Fannin County Special. The Vestry will also consider purchasing a membership in the Bonham Chamber of Commerce to take advantage of that agency’s promotional benefits.

Bible Study Group has been initiated by Barbara Ruffner and Kim Jenkins for an in depth study of biblical figures. The women’s Sunday School of First Methodist Church have been invited to join the study. They will meet on Tuesday evenings beginning April 1st at the Parish House at 7:00pm. Their first sessions will explore King David, known alternately as “A man after God’s own heart” and hailed by one biographer, Jonathan Kirsch, as “King David -- Underdog, Playboy, Despot, and Hero”.  Author of the Lord’s Prayer, said to have been slayer of the 10-foot tall Goliath of Gath as a boy with a single pebble flung from his sling-shot, David was a colorful, controversial major figure in Israeli history. The study is guided by the Beth Moore Living Life Ministries.

 

Rural Church Gathering in Sulphur Springs on February 9, 2008, was well attended by Holy Trinity members (Fr. and Charlene Dalton, Kim Jenkins, Sharon Kinkade, Gail Porter, Jim and Carol Morris, Tom and Linda Long, Pat Ward.  There were 90 members of rural churches in attendance, nearly twice the attendance of the first annual gathering in 2007. The topics addressed in presentations were The Titus Project, Creating an Identity in the Community (by Sean Jecko, a member of the Richardson Group, marketing advertisement  managers of several high profile national businesses such as Home Depot, Motel 6, Stainmaster and others), and “Kingdom Cooking” (by Rev. Terry Reisner) outlining the ingredients for effective youth ministry in small churches.

Vestry Orientation at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Dallas on February 23 was attended by new Vestry members Sharon Kinkade and Pat Ward. Several seminars were offered concurrently on Finance, Insurance and Retirement, and Vestry Operation, Structure and Responsibility. Sharon and Pat elected to both attend the Vestry Operation seminar presented by Canon Neal Michell. During an open session inviting questions and comments, many good points and ideas arose from that session. Father Dalton has been asked to invite Canon Michell to come to Bonham to participate in a retreat for our Vestry to cover the points made in his presentation.

Mayor Bill Goodson and wife/author Pastor Narda Goodson of Whitewright were special visitors at a Sunday mass in late January at the invitation of Pat Ward. Mayor Goodson is no stranger to our community as he has been the Mayor of Whitewright for 26 years. The Goodsons were married May 17, 2007. (Their wedding website is well worth your time to view it at http://pastornarda.org/ to read the poem that Narda wrote in tribute to the way they met and fell in love as well as photos of their wedding.) Narda, a motivational speaker and native of Puerto Rico, has just published her first book, Will the Real Me Please Stand Up. Holy Trinity proposes to hold a book signing and introduction of the couple to the Bonham community this spring. Women of Vision first featured her in Sherman in December under the direction of Frances Pelley. We hope that the Goodsons will be frequent  visitors.

Holy Trinity Purchases a Water Buffalo, a pair of goats, and a pig through Heifer Foundation. Father Dalton received notice that the animals have, indeed, been purchased and presented to an improverished hungry family in the Philippines. Our gift will give them a chance for a bright future filled with hope and free from hunger. In poor Filipino villages, water buffalo provide draft power for planting rice and potatoes, milk for protein and manure for fertilizer and fuel. A farmer can plant four times more rice with a buffalo than by hand. Water buffalo haul heavy loads to the market, where the sale of extra produce brings in vital income for clothing, medicine and school. By renting their buffalo to neighbors, families can earn money for home improvements. Water buffalo as well as goats are happy just to graze on coarse grasses and other plants not suitable for harvesting. Under the Heifer program, the recipient family is instructed on the care and feeding of the animals as well as farming techniques. They are carefully monitored insure that the animals are properly cared for and utilized. The recipient families are bound to pass along any offspring of the animal to another needy family in their area, thereby perpetuating the benefit of their gift on a long-term basis.

Challenge for Holy Trinity in 2008:  Father Dalton’s pending retirement as our Vicar in September of this year poses a challenge for the Vestry and communicants of Holy Trinity. We will all learn about the search process for a replacement Vicar in the coming weeks and months and urge all members to prayerfully consider the best course of action for our Mission and our Vision for our church. Before we arrive at that course of action, our vision for the present and the future of our church must be agreed upon in the heart and mind of each of us. as we search for a new Vicar who can share our Vision Statement in the coming weeks. A Vision statement, like a “motto”, embodies the spirit of our congregation in a few powerful words that strike such a chord within us that we can recite it without hesitation. One church’s Vision Statement is: “People who want more out of life, a fresh approach to church, and an opportunity to serve others.”

 

 

The  Holy VVVrinity  Herald                                                  P.O. Box  81                                                      Bonham, TX 75418

 

Holy Trinity Mission Statement

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Fannin County, following in the Apostolic Christian Tradition,  Comes together to Worship, to Learn, and to Share the Forgiveness, the Blessings, and the Sacraments of God through the real Presence of Christ.   By God's Grace and Love We will share our Life as a Family of Faith, Providing for the Spiritual Needs of our Congregation, our Community, and the World.     
September, 30, 1995

January/February 2008