Mission Arlington | Mission Metroplex

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An Overflowing Cup!

Mission Arlington® on a rare quiet morning before the hustle and bustle of the day begin. We are so grateful for your constant, faithful, sacrificial support. Truly, our cup overflows.

Growth in Every Direction

Your DonationsIf you have been down or have come through the Mission in recent days, then you know that our downtown campus often feels like a small, bustling city. To the west of Oak street, cars line up to donate all kinds of furniture. Our furniture delivery ministry operates outside on a parking lot, and we are currently picking up and delivering furniture at a record pace. On the east side of Oak street, another row of cars is in line to donate household items, clothing, and food.

A crowd of volunteers on each side of the street busily unloads people’s donations, laughing, enjoying the moments to help and serve those in need. Our hope is that these lines move quickly enough, so that no one ever has to wait too long to donate, but through the month of June and now into July, the lines don’t seem to dissipate. We are so amazed by the generous kindness of the beautiful community which surrounds us. As quickly as you bring it in, we deliver your gifts to those waiting on it.

Gathered GuestsAt the north end of our campus, the front room is filled with guests who have found themselves experiencing a moment of need. More than 500 people a day continue to receive food, clothes, emergency financial assistance along with personal care and an offered prayer for God’s provision and blessing. Over time, we’ve noticed that the being attentive means almost as much as provisions. Many volunteers help us care for the people every day. We are so grateful.

Full Health Clinics: We have been so blessed every day by numerous volunteer dentists, physicians, and other health professionals who give their time and talents to help people struggling with their health. Each clinic stays full almost all the time with people struggling with various health needs. We are on a record pace to serve more in these clinics than ever before. In addition, a strong team of volunteer therapists, licensed counselors, and others provide sound counsel and support through our counseling center.

Into the Community: Church student groups from across the country land in Arlington every week. They worship with and receive training from us, then head out into multiple locations across our community to share God’s love through Rainbow Express®. Individuals, friends, families, civic and corporate teams are also landing with us each day to lift the load – sorting clothes, organizing school supplies, and moving food into the pantry for distribution.

Thirty+ summer missionaries from Texas, all across North America, and around the world are living and serving with us this summer. They assist our congregations, lead summer programs, and fill in wherever they are needed – often working 10 to 12 hours a day. June evenings were filled with Rainbow Express® and revival services. The month of July finds focus in 7 free camps for children and youth.

Growing Congregations: Volunteer teams continue to teach the Bible in 349 locations throughout our community. These congregations are growing numerically and spiritually as people learn God’s word and apply it to their circumstances. Each of these congregations are busy with Christ-centered activities, funerals, weddings, and all the things that churches do. These volunteers teach Sunday school, lead music, outreach, and a host of other activities.

Our Cup Overflows: The cup which King David references in the 23rd Psalm represents the provisions and blessings which are poured out by the Good Shepherd. and blessings. The cup is our normal portion in life that God gives each man and woman as He pleases. According to one writer, this psalm made sense to the Jews, because “when they received a guest, they would intentionally overfill the cup and allow it to run over and by doing this, the guest would know that they’re welcome to stay as long as they want.”

When we say that our cup runs over in these days, it is with a genuine sense of gratitude to God for the way he provides for His people. We watch you bring in so many gifts – whether it is clothes, or food, or fans for the heat, and the tears flow easily, because we see in you a kind of love which overflows in all directions to bless others. We are truly touched and grateful.

The Need Remains Strong: When we say that “our cup overflows,” we don’t in any way mean to communicate that you should stop giving or helping. The need is as great as ever for your investment here – whether it is to teach a Bible study to children who have never heard much about God’s love before, or to answer phones, to collect and/or to organize school supplies, and on and on. We continue to need your support in a growing number of ways and times so that God will be glorified in and through this ministry as the people receive the care they need and deserve.

We are truly grateful for you!

Date Published: July 6, 2017

Summer begins!

If you have been around Mission Arlington® for very long, then you already know that Rainbow Express® is our version of a backyard Bible club, or a Vacation Bible School.

Led by volunteer student groups from around the state and across the country, these 21/2 hour, four-day events gather children & youth for music, games, crafts, puppets, snacks, and Bible stories.

Summer Rainbow Express® began in the last week of May and will continue through the first weeks of summer. In the first days of the second week, nearly 700 children have attended already.Wow!

As these student groups fan out across our city, our ministry at the offices downtown stays strong. You are dropping by with food, clothing, and furniture from early to late. Volunteers are taking the furniture out to people who need it as soon as it arrives.

Hundreds of people are waiting in our front room for care every morning and throughout the day.  Twenty+ student missionaries are embedded across the community leading summer programs every day with children & youth, and revivals are being held several nights each week through June.

We are humbled and honored to serve the Lord alongside each of you. A growing number of people stop to pray for this ministry every day at 10:00.  Your prayers, your gifts, and your time are such an encouragement to us.  Thank you. You are making a difference in this city.

Date Published: June 6, 2017

Revival Services Begin

Nathanael shares God’s love with children through Rainbow Express during an outdoor revival service. The children had so much fun singing songs, playing games, making crafts, and listening to God’s Word.

Each summer, Mission Arlington® hosts revival services in several locations across our community. Our Bible studies and congregations join together for food, fellowship, worship, and community outreach, beginning in June, but continuing through the end of each summer.

Guest preachers and musicians will share with the people what the Lord has placed on their hearts, and every person will have an opportunity to begin or to renew their faith journey.

These two-to-three-day experiences typically begin with free food and fellowship around 6 p.m.  The revival services start at 7:00 p.m.  After a song or two, children 8 years of age and under get to enjoy Rainbow Express – with crafts, games, music, and Bible stories.

Revivals are great ways to experience God’s love, to worship the Lord freely, to enjoy the laughter and hugs from other believers, and to invite people interested in discovering a new faith journey to a safe place where they can learn more.  Plus, put plainly, these revival services are a lot of fun.

If you would like to know more about our revival services, and/or if you would like to attend, click this link for our 2017 calendar to find dates and times. Or, you can call us at 817-277-6620, and we’ll get you the information you need.

Please pray with us through the summer, so that these won’t merely be revival services, but also an opportunity for revival itself to spark – in such a way that it becomes a fire which spreads through the land.

We are grateful for you!

Date Published: May 23, 2017

Summer Missionaries Arrive

A few of the summer missionaries from 2016 gathered together on the front lawn of Mission Arlington.

We are excited to share that our first Summer Missionaries arrive here this Sunday evening.  “Summer Missionaries” are high school and college-aged young people who work at Mission Arlington® for part, or for all, of the summer. Instead of taking summer jobs to get ahead financially, these students serve with us as full-time volunteers. Just under thirty are scheduled to live and work here through the summer.

These talented and energetic students are committed to Christ above all else. For this reason, they leave the comforts of home to spend their summer here – working with the Mission family to serve the children and youth in our community.

While they are here, these students will listen to and pray with people in our front room, organize and distribute food from the pantry, knock on doors out in the community inviting people to various events, lead summer programs with children and youth, and serve on teams within the various Bible studies and congregations of Mission Arlington® – – and a lot more.

These missionaries come from within the Bible studies of Mission Arlington®, from many cities across Texas, and from multiple states across North America.  In addition, five of the students who serve here this summer call South Korea home.  In partnership with Go Now Missions, and Korean Baptist churches, these International students will serve here for the summer.

At the end of this season as these dedicated young people have come and gone, they leave behind a field of spiritual influence in the lives of our community’s children and youth.  Simply put, we are all better because they have come to give their lives here. The Mission Arlington®  family is better because they have come, and we pray for them as they go. Their lives will be different too. (Read the testimonies of a few here, here, and here!)

As the Lord prompts your own heart, would you join us in prayer as these students arrive? Pray for them, and for their influence in and through the months ahead.

Date Published: May 18, 2017

The Confluence of a Beautiful Community

Keller Williams and Nielsen family members work together moving school supplies in place. so our community’s children & youth will have what they need to start school this Fall.

In geography, confluence stands for the “meeting of two or more bodies of water.” In one sense, it means the point where a tributary joins a larger stream. In another sense it refers to the place where two or more streams come together to become the source of a new river altogether.  The Ohio river, for example is created out of three smaller rivers flowing into it.

Mother & Child work together to help others.

Mission Arlington® is one of many places across our city where the principles behind confluence seem so apparent. In a very real sense, we are the ones who stand in the middle. As we say so often, the strength of what the Lord is doing here represents the energy, care, and generosity of a beautiful community. You give through us to others. We receive your gifts, and then we give them away to people in need. We are truly “twice-blessed.” Add to this that our ministry runs primarily by volunteer support, and you realize that not only does our community give the gifts, but you also participate in the organizing and donations of those gifts to people in need.  To use a scriptural analogy from Ecclesiastes 4:12, “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Through the past few days, we have seen the confluence of so many different strands of our community intersect here – often on the same day – to make a difference in the lives of others.  This past week, on a single day, volunteers from Nielsen, Mutual Liberty, Keller Williams, and Alcon/Novartis joined hands – no longer from separate companies, and no longer “Mission Arlington” or “the community,” but all one, a mighty force for good in the center of our city.  It was extraordinary to watch, and a joy to be a part of.  Add to that a multitude of students from Arlington Collegiate High School on a single day, and hundreds from Ousley Junior High each day this week, and the picture comes together.

In just a few days, we will be joined by young people from across our country, and a few who are coming here from around the world – summer missionaries who will spend the summer here, investing their lives for a season. Beyond that, student groups from every corner of our country will arrive in our city, joining forces to share God’s love in every part of our own city.  An incredible stream of God’s love will flow through our city all summer long.

Day after day, we are honored to be here, to walk this journey with you, and to represent you as we love the people for whom you have sacrificed to receive help.  Even deeper still, we want faithfully to honor our Lord, whose love was proven on a cross so long ago. The drops of mercy which flowed from Calvary have formed a mighty river of unstoppable love for all who will receive it. All glory to God.

Date Published: May 15, 2017

Charity Navigator Awards Top Honor to Mission Arlington®

For the 11th year in a row, Charity Navigator – the “largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities” nationwide – awarded Mission Arlington /Mission Metroplex® it’s 11th annual 4-STAR award.

The 4-STAR designation is the highest honor the respected charity watchdog bestows, placing us in the top 1 percent of charities they rate nationwide.

We are humbled to receive this honor once again, and we appreciate so much the faithful, sacrificial support of this community. You can view their annual report about our work here.

In a May 1st letter, Michael Thatcher, the President and CEO of Charity Navigator, says that this honor indicates to the public that we adhere to “best practices,” and that we “execute our mission” in a “financially efficient way.”

According to Thatcher, Mission Arlington /Mission Metroplex® “exceed industry standards,” outperforming “most other charities in America.” We are humbled and honored by this designation.

We can be here, now in our 31st year, because of the way you constantly give your time, prayers, and financial support day after day.  When you give, we are able to give it away.

We believe that the honor we have received through this designation is a credit to the heart of a great community who cares about people in need.

We are grateful for the privilege we have of walking this journey with you.

Date Published: May 3, 2017

In Good Standing!

 Transparent  – Each year about this time we pass along to you the same report our Board of Directors receives from the auditors.  This local & respected team of men and women review the books here each spring, then submit their findings.  Today, we are passing along this news to you.

 In Good Standing  – We are pleased to let you know that we have been given a clean bill of health – in accounting terms “a clean opinion.”  We recognize the value of your trust, so we work hard to do things well and right. This has been our heart for over 30 years.

 Low Administrative Overhead  – We also know that your hard-earned dollars are given sacrificially for the purpose of providing help for people in need.  We never take your generosity for granted. We pray over our expenditures here, and under the leadership of our Director, Tillie Burgin, we continue to watch the pennies we spend.

Our administrative overhead for 2016 (the latest reporting period) was 2.79 percent.  This means that more than 97 cents out of every dollar goes directly in ministry to people in need.

 Accountability  – In addition, we are pleased to work with a number of charity watchdogs who evaluate our work. You can find the links to their reports at the bottom of each page of this website.

 Effective Ministry Results  – Finally, we provide a ministry report every year which details the results from each of our ministries over a specific year.  Usually, this report is published in January of each year. You can find the report for 2016 published here. You can find reports through the past 12 years or so listed here.

 Our Gratitude  – We are grateful for the way you give you time and resources here. Thank you.

Date Published: April 28, 2017

Special Days

These days have been special at Mission Arlington®.  We love so much the opportunities we have to serve this community alongside of you. We especially love the privilege we have of serving children, youth, and their families.  The Easter season here provides us ample opportunities to do just that.

Since you were the ones who gave the plastic eggs filled with candy, and since you were the ones who came here to put them together for the kids, and since so many of you who couldn’t give or come prayed with and for us all the way through, we wanted to provide this Easter report for you.

  1.  Easter Store – 1,012 people attended; 
  2.  Maundy Thursday Youth Service – 182 youth attended; 
  3.  Easter Egg Hunt – 4,702 people attended. 

In our Bible studies and congregations this past Sunday, thousands gathered to worship a risen Lord. Thank you so much for your faithful generosity. You are making a difference here.

Date Published: April 17, 2017

Easter draws near!

A Bible study family from central Arlington came to the Easter Egg Hunt together. In the background you can see a Dipert bus donated to help carry children to and from the Egg Hunt. We are grateful for so many who support this ministry with children.

For Christians, every Sunday is a reminder of Christ’s resurrection, but there is something very special – holy – about the annual celebration of Christ’s victory over death, and its implications for our faith (1 Corinthians 15:4). As Easter draws near, Christians around the world join hands to worship. The Mission Arlington® family looks toward Easter too with great anticipation and joy.

Because we have been loved so much, our hope and our heart is to share God’s love as far and wide as we possibly can.  Every day we are providing food and emergency financial assistance to families who find themselves in a moment of crisis. Every day we volunteer dentists and doctors are providing medical assistance to people struggling with their health.

Every week, we are assisting students with their homework, so that they can be successful with their education now and in life later on. Every week, we are loving young people through sports in multiple venues – including wrestling, baseball, basketball, and now volleyball. Every week we have the privilege of teaching God’s word in accessible Bible studies & congregations spread out in nearly 350 places across our community. We are so incredibly blessed by your support and for the privilege we have to serve our Lord in this community day by day.
As Easter draws near, we have many opportunities ahead of us to share God’s love in a few special ways:

  • Our Easter Store is designed to help families have a few of the extra things they may need at Easter. The store opens April 12th and 13th from 10 to 6 each day;
  • On Maundy Thursday, at 6:30 p.m., we host an annual service designed specifically for 7th – 12th graders who attend our Bible studies & congregations each week; 
  • Our giant Easter Egg Hunt, affectionately called the “world’s largest,” happens on Saturday, April 15th, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This event is open to the public. Easter eggs and candy are still needed for this event; 
  • On Easter Sunday morning, our congregations will gather all over the city to worship a risen Lord. Contact us if you have an interest in joining a Bible study near you.

Everything that happens in and through Mission Arlington® can happen because of your faithful and generous support of this ministry. We want you to know every day how grateful we are for you. May our Lord bless each of you in and through this Easter season.

Date Published: April 6, 2017

Spring Cleaning

Psalms 105: 3b “. . . .so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” Children serving at Mission Arlington

Spring Cleaning really is a “thing” in our community, but it isn’t only a local phenomenon.  Spring Cleaning occurs in many cultures around the world. It refers to a kind of “deep cleaning” people do each spring.  You may not know this, but advice about Spring cleaning is abundant – from tips, checklists, and guides to simple shortcuts.  You can find the information almost anywhere and everywhere. If you haven’t started your spring cleaning yet, you might be just a little behind.

At Mission Arlington®, we know that the cleaning season is underway in our community, and that it has been for some time.  As you clean out closets in your home, or your business, you have been donating items to people who could use something special for their home.  Around this time every year, our donation bins stay full, and the line of cars coming through never quite empties.  We love it, because generosity is in the air, and the way you give continues to bless us. When you come by to “drop off,” you are always such an encouragement to us. Thank you.

Spring Cleaning  can also refer to a person or organization who is “getting their affairs in order” before a big event or a new season in life. For Christians, Easter is a time that many revive or rededicate themselves to faith. 40 days before Easter, Lent begins. This is a time when many will set aside something of value to them to focus on Christ and his journey to the cross. Easter can truly be a way for some people to begin their journey of faith, and also for many to renew their commitment to Christ.

Easter is an important time for the Mission Arlington® family too. In this season, we host an Easter Store, designed to bless families with specific needs for this season. On Thursday of holy week, we gather youth from our Bible studies for a Maundy Thursday service, one designed specifically for them. On the Saturday before Easter, we host what we affectionately call the “World’s Largest” Easter egg hunt.  And on Easter Sunday morning, our congregations gather with faithful believers here at home and all across the world to commemorate and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.  This is a season, we pray, when many can come clean before the Lord and to have a fresh new start.

We are so grateful for each and everyone of you who give, volunteer, and pray for us – not just in this season, but all year long.

Date Published: March 31, 2017

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