Grace Street Fellowship, a Mission Arlington^® congregation, has taken many shapes. It began in a house church and is now in its own large building at Pioneer and Fielder. Many of the early members have moved away and over the years, the staff has changed and grown.

But one member has always been there: Agatha.

Agatha moved from Oklahoma to Texas many years ago to help one of her daughters. Early on, Agatha visited Mission Arlington^® and met Tillie Burgin. Mission Arlington helped get Agatha’s daughter back on her feet. Agatha started volunteering and attended the church when it was in a house on Grace Street.

She was the only member of her family attending for years. Her husband, Leonard, eventually joined her and attended until his death. Agatha has ten children, many grandchildren and many great-grandchildren who have attended or visited the church over the years. Generations of families will know Christ because of Agatha’s faithfulness.

When Agatha moved into an apartment complex near the church, the ladies at Grace Street felt called to start a Bible Study in that complex. Agatha went to work, knocking on doors, inviting neighbors. Since then, she has moved away, but the Bible Study is still going strong because of her faithfulness to invite people.

Agatha currently lives about forty minutes away and depends on a friend to get her to church, but she’s often the first one there. She says the place is so friendly, she wouldn’t miss it. Grace Street, she says, “feels like being at home.”

About ten years ago, Alma and Raul’s older daughter, Giovanna, 5, became very ill. She could not walk without a cane and was constantly weak. Throughout the difficulty, Alma did her best to make sure she and their two children went to church each Sunday. One week, her husband, Raul, who did not normally go to church, agreed to go himself so he could carry Giovanna around the church building.

While they were there, they saw a miracle. The people in the church prayed for Giovanna, and she was suddenly healed. She walked back to the car without assistance and her weakness never returned. From that moment on, Raul decided he ought to attend church.

Since that time, Raul and Alma had a relationship with God, but felt like they still lacked something. They switched churches so they could attend somewhere with a friend, Maria, and landed at a Mission Arlington^® congregation, Heritage church.

Since joining Heritage, Raul and Alma have been faithful. Alma sings in the praise team; Raul gives rides to church, reads scripture, and contributes to his Sunday School class. They have three children now, all active and participating every time the church doors are open.

Their faith extends past the church doors as well. Last year, Alma was in a bad car accident. For days she worried about how to repair the car. She called her insurance company daily to see what they had decided, to no avail. Finally, Giovanna told her, “Mom, just put it in God’s hands.” Alma stopped calling and two days later, the insurance company called to assure her that they would pay for the damage to her car.

Last month, Raul had some pain that sent him to the clinic at Mission Arlington^®. The preliminary tests suggested some type of cancer, and the family was concerned while the doctors ran more tests. In the end, it was not cancer, but a non-life threatening issue that would resolve with medication. Through the weeks of uncertainty, Raul and his family relied on God.

Throughout the concerns of life, this family has stayed committed to God and put their trust in him. Their heart is that others see God’s goodness, also. Giovanna’s heart aches when she talks about her lost friends at school, and the rest of the family shares their faith with neighbors and co-workers. What a blessing to have this family as part of the Mission Arlington^® family.

Tamara – at Grace Street Fellowship – this past Sunday

Tamara had never been to a church before she met Linda. As an adult, living on South Collins, she was not doing right, but the neighborhood Bible Study leader, Linda, always responded to her kindly, delivering food each Monday, inviting her to Bible Study. Tamara felt confused, wondering how Linda could be so kind knowing how Tamara was living.

After some time of receiving food from the church, Linda asked Tamara something that still influences her to this day. Tamara remembers, Linda said lovingly, “Why do you always come with your hand out? Why don’t you come and serve? Service is such a blessing.” Tamara was still not 100% committed to God, but she knew Linda was right. The next week, Tamara started  helping at the food giveaway.

Linda continued to support Tamara. She helped her find a job at UPS and drove her to work each day until Tamara made a friend at work who could drive her. Linda talked about loving the Lord, and although Tamara says, “Those words fell on deaf ears with me,” she could see that Linda, and other Mission Arlington workers who delivered furniture and visited her, were loving and kind.

Later, when Tamara lost her apartment, a friend allowed her to stay with her for a few weeks, with the understanding that Tamara had to attend church and get a job as soon as possible. One morning, Tamara heard a voice tell her to get dressed and go to a specific office for a job. She did get dressed, went to two other places first, with no results. Finally, she went to the suggested office and was hired on the spot. That night she fell to her knees and said, “Now, I know there is a God.” That night, God changed Tamara’s life.

Remembering those words that Linda said, “Why don’t you come and serve?” Tamara lives a life of service. She knows she was saved because of loving people who gave and volunteered, and she wants others to have an opportunity to know Christ. She sings on the worship team, cleans the church after luncheons, and donates clothes. Another great blessing that she wants to share with others is free haircuts. When she was young, her family paid for her to go cosmetology school, so she “It’s my service back to God.” She keeps her bag of scissors and clippers with her at all times in case someone needs her.

Mostly, Tamara is deeply grateful, “I’m thankful for a loving church that Tillie has formed and brought together out of loving the Lord.”

In the early 90s, a man showed up at Mission Arlington^® to help out. He had been living on the streets, and had not been in contact with his family for some time. He kept coming to help and eventually, he was asked to stay. While Mission Arlington^® did not and does not have a “shelter,” when Jeff came all those years ago, there was a spare room available, and that became his new house. Mission Arlington^® became his new home.

Jeff has had a variety of jobs in the more than 20 years he has been part of Mission Arlington^®. He has driven trucks, picked up and delivered donations, locked up the property at night, cut the grass, and had countless other responsibilities.

Several years ago, someone donated a large rectangular container to Mission Arlington^®. It had an opened top and a cross on the side. No one was exactly sure what it was made for, but, at the time, there was quite a bit of paint that needed a home. So the container was used to store gallons of paint until a visitor noticed the box and pointed out that it was made to be a portable baptistry.

The staff moved the paint to a cabinet and put the baptistry on a trailer. Now whenever one of the apartment churches has a person to baptize, Jeff is the one who fills the baptistry and drives it to the church. Of all the jobs he’s had, Jeff says, “I like helping people be baptized for the Lord the best.”

In addition to finding a place to stay and a new family when Jeff came to Mission Arlington^®, he was also able to reconnect with the family that raised him. They attended the church across the street from the Mission office and were glad to find that Jeff was safe. Jeff was happy to find them again, too, but most of all, Jeff says, “I found God.”

The threat of rain couldn’t stop thousands of volunteers from waking up early on Thanksgiving day to deliver meals. For many, passing out turkeys at Mission Arlington^® is a tradition they refuse to miss.

Roy made delivering turkeys at Mission Arlington a tradition with his son 15 years ago. He always stays late to help with last-minute deliveries.

Keith from Compass Church in Colleyville invites his whole family to come volunteer before they head home to watch the Cowboy game and eat their half-time dinner. Any out-of-town family comes along with them, which means this year, people from as far away as California were serving families in Arlington. Keith’s family has been coming for four years, and Keith says they hope to come for 40 more. He says, “It’s good to do a little bit to help everyone else.”

Omar brought his group from Phi Beta Sigma just like he has every year for the past 5 years. He says even in a storm, they still would have come. “We’re committed. We are glad to help and give back to the community. We love to be a part.”

Rachel’s family from the Church on Rush Creek also came to help so their children could see how faith and service go hand-in-hand. She and her husband say, “We want our kids to experience being the hands and feet of Jesus.”

Thank you to all of you who were the hands and feet of Jesus this year. We praise God for bringing together the donations and volunteers to serve the people of the Metroplex.

“J” spent years moving across the country and lived several places within Arlington until God finally planted him firmly in the Mission Arlington^® family. With each move he seemed to end up in an apartment community that had a Mission Arlington^® Bible Study. He was a faithful attendee at each location and did his part to invite people to join the group.

Eventually, “J” moved to a location just a few blocks from Mission Arlington’s^® main office This allowed him to start visiting Mission Arlington^® each day. His previous jobs have been working in warehouses and trucks, so today, he works in the furniture warehouse. “J” coordinates the trucks of furniture that come and go and makes sure people get what they need.

“J” also now teaches in the area where he lives. He diligently studies the Bible each week to get new insights and teach the people what God wants them to know. “J” says throughout his spiritual journey, he has learned to be more patient.

We are grateful that God does change us and allows us to be part of his work. And we are grateful that God allowed “J” to be a part of the team at Mission Arlington^®.

If you would like to volunteer in anyway, please contact us at 817-277-6620. We would be happy to talk with you to find where your talents and the people’s needs intersect.

In 2005, after Roselia gave her life to the Lord, she began to pray that God would show her a church where she could learn and serve. Shortly after this, she moved into an apartment complex with a Mission Arlington^® Bible Study and began attending. She started to learn and grow. One day, someone had left a few bags of trash in the apartment where the church met. The leaders asked for volunteers to take the trash out. Roselia says her first thought was, “That is not my trash.” But she heard the Lord say, “If you want to serve me, get that trash and take it out.” She realized that day that serving the Lord and serving others go hand in hand.

Ten years later, Roselia is leading a church near Mission Arlington^®. The church is growing. They have about 100 members, but more importantly, Roselia says, the people are growing spiritually. They jump into the scriptures and invite others to the church. Many weeks, when Roselia is introducing visitors, she will see people that she’s never seen before, and another member will raise their hand and say, “We invited them. They are with us.”

Several church members have come to through Mission Arlington^®’s front room. One woman came to Mission Arlington for help in the middle of a crisis. Roselia visited with her and the woman accepted Christ, but she never came to church. Roselia invited her to church each time they saw each other with no results. One time, the woman came back to Mission Arlington^® for help, and it seemed like she was trying to avoid Roselia. Roselia sought her out too see what was wrong. After talking, the woman admitted that she wanted to come to church, but she felt awkward because she was raised in a different type of church. Roselia assured her that she was invited no matter what her background was. Now, the woman and her family have been attending the church for 4 years, her whole family has been baptized, and they are very active in the church community.

Roselia is learning to lean more on the Lord. He is the one who will bring the people, and not her. She doesn’t want to be the one who is leading the people. She wants the Holy Spirit to lead and be in charge of everything. She thinks this is one reason that people are enjoying church because the Holy Spirit is in charge.

She says she has learned, “We don’t have the ability or the power. Without the Lord, we are useless.”

Multiple booths filled with carnival games and prizes helped to make this an exciting and fun event for children and their families.

3,000 attend the Fall Festival, setting a new record

Our Fall Festival, this past Saturday – on Halloween – was a big success, because of the way that so many of you prayed, helped, and gave to make the day meaningful for about 3,000 children (including their parents).  This is a record attendance, made all the more remarkable, because no one was exactly sure, despite the best intentions and predictions of our local weather forecasters, if or when the rain would stop.  After a hard rain on Friday night and into Saturday morning, and mist for much of the morning on Saturday, no one was sure what kind of crowds would get out in the weather to attend the festival.  However, when the rain stopped right as the festival began, the crowds began to come, setting our record attendance.  It was an incredible day.

The day started early with Bible study leaders picking up vans and buses, headed out to knock on doors in multiple locations across the community. Many other drivers, volunteers from the community, also started early, helping to drive many of these vehicles, so that the Bible study leaders could focus on their children.

The children loaded up on these vans, and unloaded in central Arlington where another set of volunteers had been setting up all morning, waiting on the kids to come. In addition to these Mission Arlington^® children, this event was open to the public as well. Families from across the community made their way to the festival to enjoy the event.  Every part of it was free.

The old “bouncy house slide” was a huge hit at Mission Arlington’s Fall Festival.

You can see from the pictures included here how much fun the children and their families had.  Free food, giant obstacle courses, a hay ride, giant bouncy houses, a huge gym full of carnival games (with prizes), and a bag of candy on the way out – formed the fun for the day.  In and through all of it, children were provided with a safe place to have great fun, and families had a place where they could bless their children without any charge to them.Our heart and our hope in this was that our community would see the Lord through all the fun and the love that shaped the carnival into what it was.

We want you to know how grateful we are for your investment in us, and in our ministry. We know that we could not have had a successful festival like this without so many people praying for the event and for us.  So many people gave of their time – to drive busses, to manage the carnivals, serve the food, and to make a difference with the kids.  By coming together like this, we were able to make a difference in the life of children and their families.  As thankful as we are, we hope that each of you were truly blessed as you served.

We are grateful to God for the privilege we have of serving Him in this community each and every day.

To God be the glory!