It is such a simple concept – going where people are. That’s what Mission Arlington^® does. Early on, the call was clear: “If people aren’t going to come to the traditional church, for whatever reason, we were to take the church to them.”  Nearly thirty (30) years ago now,  led by Tillie, and a core of volunteers,  the Mission began teaching God’s word each Sunday in apartment clubhouses across town. Today, we are doing that in 349 locations.

Along the way, Rainbow Express^® became one way that we could minister to the children in the apartments. Youth groups from across the country picked up the pace, and they began to lead these four-day events throughout the community. Rainbow Express^® is our version of a “back-yard Bible club, involving songs, crafts, games, and the teaching of God’s Word. Over time this part of our work, prompted and led by the Lord, has grown to be a huge part of what we do every Spring and Fall.

Spring Break constitutes the “first wave” of Rainbow Express^® each year. Student groups from across Texas and around the country arrive in our city concurrently with the Spring Breaks of the local colleges and independent school districts.  During this week, student groups lead Rainbow Express^® in the morning and in the afternoon.  Around the country, Spring Break weeks don’t always coincide with local schedules, so for several weeks in the Spring, student groups come to lead Rainbow Express^® even when our own schools are in session. For those weeks, the groups help Mission Arlington^® in the mornings, but lead these fun Bible clubs in the afternoons when school is out.  Lots of hugs, smiles, and love for children make up the “every day” of each experience.  Many young people learn more about Christ, or meet him for the first time.

We are pleased to report that – for this Spring, nearly 10,000 (9,869) children attended Rainbow Express, and 287 people accepted Christ. Nearly 1,400 (1,381) students from 55 youth groups came to town from nine (9) states and twenty-one Texas cities. Students came from as far away as Michigan, and Midland.  Many of these young people grew in their understanding of Missions and went home with increased commitment to reach their own cities for Christ.

We are grateful to God for the way He has put all of this together.  It is important to us to keep all that we do submitted to Him.   Through faithful reporting we want to keep you in touch with what happens here, so that you can pray in informed ways, and so that you will know how much we desire to be accountable and transparent to all who pray, give, and help here on a monthly basis.

Rainbow Express is about to start again.  Yesterday, we published our May-June Curriculum here.  Please keep us in your prayers as round two begins.  May the Lord use us to communicate his great love  in practical ways, and may many more come to know him personally.

Thank you so much for all your support.

Students from Bailey Junior High’s Avid program, here this past week, helping us unpack, move, and store plastic Easter eggs. A huge group of these students came to help us get the work done.

Volunteers make a huge difference.

Volunteers are an important part of Mission Arlington^®‘s work here every day. No matter the age or background, and no matter how much time a person has to give, whether a little or a lot, we value the partnerships with people. Without their help, our ministry wouldn’t get done.

Volunteers come as individuals and in groups, and they come from all walks of life, such as corporate families, civic groups, church teams, students from every age group, and so many more. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

A student from UTA rakes leaves to help clean up a yard for Mission Arlington in conjunction with “The Big Event” this past Saturday.

A flexible and fun family

When volunteers come through this place, they are already eager to serve, and ready to make a difference in someone’s life.  Sometime the tasks are simple, but not necessarily fun – say taking donated clothes, putting them on hangars and getting them ready to give away. Sometime the tasks are more difficult, like loading couches into trucks for delivery to a home. Sometimes the need demands means that jobs start and stop and start again in a new direction.

Our observation over time is that people volunteering here 1) flex at a moment’s notice; 2)  work hard at every task; 3) and appear to enjoy their assignments. Right around 2,500 volunteers serve here each week, and it is so much fun. In fact, working together often feels like family.

Surrounded by your Support

There probably isn’t much way that volunteers would know how often their service here is a direct answer to our prayers.  Last week, when we needed to get quite a bit of work done – work that would have taken us a long time to accomplish – a group of 147 people showed up at our door.  We knew in those moments that they had been sent by the Lord to help – in answer to our prayers.

This past week, we had a big group of students here from Bailey Jr. High, and a big group from the University of Texas at Arlington in conjunction with their “The Big Event” – and that’s just to name a few.

All of this is to say “thank you” for the way you give your time to serve here.  We are open from 7 to 7 Monday through Saturday. You don’t need an appointment. Just drop in, and we’ll get you going.  You’ll be glad you did, and so will we.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.

How it Began

The Allan Saxe Dental Clinic began with a question: “What are you doing to help people with their dental needs?” The question was asked over 22 years ago by a kindergarten teacher who moonlighted in dental offices at night. The question was asked by Jean Cagle. The person she asked was Tillie Burgin.  Tillie’s response?  “Whatever you want to do.”

That conversation led to the start of Mission Arlington’s dental clinic. Jean Saxe became the dental clinic’s first and only director. Dr. Allan Saxe learned of the need and contributed the seed money to facilitate the start, and the Dr. Alan Saxe Dental Clinic was born.  The start was humble enough – with one room and one chair, and few volunteers.

More than two decades later the dental clinic has 50+ dentists who contribute, along with a host of other medical assistants and volunteers who routinely contribute their time, skills, and care.  Through the first two months of this year, the clinic has already treated 1,382 patients, worth about $193 thousand dollars of free care.  To repeat, patients are treated at the Saxe clinic free of charge.

How the process works

When the dental clinic opened, the Mission Arlington^® team was able to treat people on a “first come/first serve” basis. As the number of people needing help grew, this process became untenable.  People were waiting all day for help, but weren’t able to get into the clinic. Frustration and disappointment were the inevitable result.

In an attempt to improve the process, we decided to make appointments for anyone who needed to see a dentist. People would make an appointment with us on any day that we were open to help people – meaning every day except Sunday.  Before long the waiting lists were 18 months to 2 years out, clearly an inadequate solution.  For people in pain, even a week can be a long wait.

Once more we shifted our process. Now, on the first Monday of every month, we open a voicemail box here at the mission. People can access that voicemail beginning at 8:30 a.m. We make as many appointments as we possibly can based upon the number of dentists available to volunteer that month, but the volume of calls exceeds by ten times or more the number of spots available.  We do not like this system, but we simply don’t know how else to do it.

A Two-Tiered Approach

Once people make it through the process described above, then they become members of the Saxe Dental Clinic. The second time they need to see a dentist, they make an appointment with our dental office like any of us would do with our own dentists. In other words, this difficult process – often compared to “pulling teeth,” only happens once. After that, people can make appointments with a simple phone call.

The Need is Great

The mornings of our “First Mondays” are often difficult mornings at the mission.  Because of the heavy volume, people get frustrated. When people get frustrated, and understandably so, they contact us to express that frustration. They, or someone they care about, such as a spouse or a child are often in physical pain, and our greatest desire is for each one to get the help that they need.

As you pray with us on the first Monday of every month, please pray for the people, and ask the Lord, if you would, to keep adding medical professionals to our mix. If one dentist gives a week’s worth of time, we can knock the equivalent of 3 months off people’s wait time.

We are Thankful for you!

We can be in this community day after day, because of our heavenly Father’s great love.  We can also be here to care for the people because of the way this community continues to contribute financially, with their time, and with their prayers.  We are so grateful for the privilege we have of walking together with you day after day. Please come see us when you can, and to God be the glory!

4,600 children (with families) enjoyed our free Easter egg hunt.

Thank you for your faithful, generous support! Easter Week is special by itself of course, all over the world.  At Mission Arlington^®, it is a focused time to share God’s love in so many ways – whether at an Easter Store, a youth-focused worship service, or an Easter egg hunt.

Here are some of the results from the events of last week:

• The Easter Store happened on the Tuesday and Thursday of Easter Week. 1,057 people heard the Easter story, then took advantage of this free bundle of Easter supplies for their family. Forty different people made spiritual decisions.
• On Maundy Thursday, 218 youth from Mission Arlington^® Bible studies gathered to worship, to administer and take the Lord’s supper, and to hear a message of challenge from the scriptures; After the service, they split back into their groups, ate pizza, and talked over/ prayed about what they had heard.
• On Good Friday several Mission Arlington congregations held worship services focused on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  Strong groups of people attended each of these Friday evening services.
• The “World’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt” happened on Saturday. 4,600 children (with families) enjoyed the fun.  Wonderful volunteers were everywhere, and every person who attended the egg hunt was able to hear a presentation about the Good News of Easter.
• On Easter Sunday morning, volunteers spread out across our community to lead Bible studies in 349 different locations.  People crowded into apartment club houses, mobile home parks, neighborhood homes to worship a risen savior. It was a beautiful and extraordinary day.

Communication with You
It is important to us that we provide a steady stream of communication about what happens in and through this ministry.  We want God to get all the glory, and we want you to know the many ways your gifts of love and time make a difference here.

You can follow our work on Facebook, through newsletters, or through daily updates provided on this website. Or, you can join us here in any number of ways.

We are grateful for your constant support.

An Easter egg field filled with beautifully colored, candy-filled eggs ready for the children.

Rainbow Express

Student groups from Arkansas have been here all week, helping us fill Easter eggs with candy, along with various other work projects, but also leading Rainbow Express^®  each afternoon and evening. Through Rainbow Express this past week, forty different people accepted Christ.

The Easter Store

The Easter Store was especially fun and meaningful this year.  Because you give, we are able to provide Easter baskets and Spring items each of the two days that this free store was open. Families came together to hear the message of Easter, beautifully shared, then they filled their bags with all of the Spring goodies inside. Altogether, 1,057 people were helped through our “Easter Store” over the two-day period.

Maundy Thursday Service

Maundy comes from a Latin word which means mandated, and it grows out of Jesus’ command on the Thursday evening of Holy week. Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples – his Last Supper. In their conversation, Jesus mandated a new command for the disciples to “love one another.” Mission Arlington gathered youth leaders last night, as they do every Maundy Thursday. They came with their Bible study leaders from all over our community to worship the Lord, to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, and to spend time discussing in small groups what the evening had meant to them. 218 youth attended the service.

Good Friday Services

Tonight, in several locations, different Bible study groups will gather to worship the Lord on Good Friday, a somber day of remembrance of what Christ did for each of us on the cross.

“World’s Largest” Easter Egg Hunt

Tomorrow, if history holds true, about 5,000 children (with parents) will gather for our giant Easter Egg Hunt in the center of town. The Egg hunt is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1514 Cherry Dr., behind the Grace Street Fellowship congregation of Mission Arlington^®.  One hundred ten thousand eggs are stuffed, taped, and ready to go.  We are so eager to see all of the kids coming our way.

Easter Sunday Morning

Easter Sunday morning, Mission Arlington’s congregations will gather in 349 locations, led by lay people, blue-jeans and banjos, worshipping a risen Lord. It is going to be a great day!

Thank you for your prayers and support for our work here. Praise His Name!

Volunteers stop the work every morning at 10, circling to pray for the mission. You can discover ways to pray through the daily note published online every morning from Monday through Friday.

We want you to be connected and stay informed about what is happening here at Mission Arlington^® on a regular basis. One good way to do that is through our daily updates, provided Monday through Friday each week.

Would you like to know how many children attended Rainbow Express yesterday, or how many children accepted Christ this week?  Would you like to know which events are coming next?  Or, perhaps, you are looking for the most updated information, so that you will know how best to pray with and for us?

The “daily update” section of our website is just the place for you. Updated most mornings before 9:00 a.m., this page communicates the hand-written note from our director, Tillie Burgin, which she writes on a “white board” in the common area of our offices downtown.  We transcribe these notes and publish them for your viewing online.

While Tillie’s note was originally created primarily for those who work here and the volunteers who lead and serve in various parts of the ministry, we’ve noticed that the readership is much wider. We’ve discovered that people all over the world join with us each day by reading the daily notes from Tillie.  In case you hadn’t discovered this section of our website, we wanted you to know about it too. We hope and pray that this “daily note” is informative, and gives you a boost for your day too.

We are so grateful for the constant, faithful prayer support of this incredible community. Like these in the picture above who have circled to pray for us at 10:00 one Saturday morning, your gifts make such a difference here.

In case you don’t know, or haven’t heard, Rainbow Express^® is Mission Arlington’s version of a back-yard Bible club.  Crafts, snacks, games, music, and Bible stories form the foundation of this work with children and youth.

Around the country, Spring break happens at different times. Student groups, on their Spring Break Mission trips, arrive in Arlington from March 1st through mid-April.  The second week of March was the kickoff of our Rainbow Express^® season, and we are so excited.

Eleven (11) church youth groups are here this week, working in the rain, with such great spirits.  These teams have come from cities across Texas, East and West, and from two different states. One group, a Bible college,  came all the way from Michigan. Students are growing closer to the Lord through their service, and they are growing closer to each other as they serve.

These student groups, consisting of over 200 people, work here around the Mission every morning through mid-afternoon. When the final bell rings for school in the afternoon, these groups are waiting in seventeen (17) locations around town to lead Rainbow Express. Through the first three days of this week, and average of 359 children and youth have attended each day, about 21 at each site. Twenty-seven (27) have accepted Christ so far.

If you know us well, then you know that we don’t do any marketing. We don’t send out flyers asking these groups to come. We trust the Lord’s prompting of individual hearts, and He sends them our way. When the groups come, most stay in our facilities, or in the facilities of churches across town – churches who partner with us, so that more people in our city can be reached.

We appreciate so much your prayers and your financial support of our work, and we are so grateful for the way you volunteer, giving your time to make a difference here.

Please keep praying as we go through these Spring Break weeks.  Next week, teams from multiple states across the country and cities throughout Texas will be here, leading Rainbow Express in 74 different locations.  Then, we move into the Easter season after that.

We are truly grateful for you and for your support.

Children’s Basketball Leagues Conclude – Youth basketball is next!

For four weeks through the month of February each year – every Saturday morning – Mission Arlington^®‘s buses would roll throughout the neighborhoods picking up excited kids – for a morning of basketball.

It was one way that Bible study leaders in our apartment congregations across the community could spend more time with each child. Building these relationships are so important. It was also a way that these children – about 70 first through sixth graders each week – could get good exercise, and to learn a little more about the game of basketball.

Teamwork was an important part of the coaching process, led by all volunteer teams. These young students were given the opportunity to dribble and pass the basketball around at the same time they were taking the ball to the hoop. Coaches made sure that the experience was fun for everyone.

These leagues were also designed to encourage competition without being competitive.  The children worked hard to win their individual games, but by the end of each Saturday morning, all of them were winners. As the children left for home each Saturday, it wasn’t evident to observers who the winners were, but it was obvious that no one was a loser.

As you can see from the pictures, every child received a free t-shirt.  These leagues were provided to the community by Mission Arlington^®, staffed by volunteers, and free-of-charge for every child.  The mantra of our day is that “nothing’s free,” but that simply isn’t true here.  Every service we offer is always free.  We can do this, because of your faithful support here.

Perhaps the best part of each Saturday morning has been the devotionals, straight from Scripture.  Every Saturday morning, the children heard God’s Word, a devotional thought, a moment of interaction, and then a prayer to start the day.

These Saturday morning basketball leagues have simply been extraordinary.  What a blessing it is to love and serve the children of our community, and to work alongside each of you who pray, volunteer, and provide financial support for our work.

Our youth basketball leagues begin this coming Saturday.

Conversations about privacy are an important part of the national conversation in our day. Identify theft, and  the consideration of ways to protect your privacy are facts of our every day lives.  Whether it is a concern about search engines, social media, or a newly released platform, protecting private information couldn’t be more important or relevant.

Mission Arlington Offices

Your privacy is important to us at Mission Arlington^® as well. We’ve published our privacy policy directly accessible on every page of our website for you to review.  We understand that it takes more effort than it’s worth sometimes to review documents like this, so we thought we would point out a few features about your privacy and our ministry:

1. You do not have to register, nor provide personally identifiable information to access any part of our website,
2. The only information we collect is what you voluntarily provide for use in “thank you letters,” to send receipts, and/or newsletters.
3. We do not share, nor do we sell any information with any person, organization, or other entitites;
4. Our website does not make use of Cookies.

The good news about working with non-profits is that if they partner with watchdog organizations like Charity Navigator, as we do, you can discover if their “Donor Privacy Policy” meets the high standards required to protect people’s privacy.  You can see Charity Navigator’s affirmation of our privacy policy here.

We work hard to be an organization you can trust in everything we do.  We are coming up on our 30th birthday this summer. We are grateful for the privilege we have of serving alongside this wonderful community each and every day.

Thank you for the way you give your time, your prayers, and your financial support in this place.

Mission Arlington offices one beautiful day in 2015

Each year, Mission Arlington publishes our ministry results. Our desire is to be transparent and accountable to you.

You can view, therefore, in one location the various ministry results from year-to-year.  For example, here are our ministry results from 2015. Yet, those results, while they represent numbers of people, essentially are still a list of numbers.

So, in addition to the one-sheet ministry results, we also publish each year a photo album of pictures which represent ministry from the previous year.  It’s a little more than 10 pages long, and it is organized from year-end, back through the first of the previous year.

We hope that you enjoy the pictures and the people which represented the Lord’s work here in 2015.  Click the link below to access the album.

2015 Annual Report and Photo Album