Celebrating Mardi and Her Ministry with Our Children
by Kristin White
Chair, Staff Parish Relations Committee
After thoughtful discernment, Mardi Bowen has shared with SPRC that she will be transitioning from her role as our Minister with Children and Families, with Easter Sunday serving as her final Sunday on staff, as she returns full-time to her work in real estate and embraces a season that allows for more weekend time with her family.
Mardi has served our congregation with deep care and creativity over many years – first from 2009-2015, and again from 2018 until now. Across those years of service, Mardi has helped plant seeds of faith that will continue to grow in the lives of children and families for generations to come. Through children’s worship, special events, curriculum leadership, and countless moments of presence and joy, she has helped shape a ministry where children are known, welcomed, and loved.
In recent years, Mardi has led our Children’s Ministry through a season of rebuilding and renewal, helping it grow in strength, participation, and joy. With that foundation firmly in place, she steps into this next chapter with confidence in the ministry she has helped reestablish and the leaders and families who will carry it forward.
Mardi’s gifts, energy, and heart for children have made a lasting impact on FUMC Plano, and we are deeply grateful for the ways she has served with love and dedication. While we will miss her presence on staff, we celebrate this transition with her and give thanks for all that has been entrusted to her care.
As we look ahead, we will be actively searching for our next Minister with Children. A full position description will soon be available. If you know someone who may be a great fit for this ministry, we invite you to share the opportunity with them when it becomes available.
In the coming weeks, we look forward to sharing opportunities to express our thanks and to celebrate Mardi’s ministry together. Please hold Mardi, her family, and our children’s ministry in prayer during this season of transition.
We give thanks for all that has been – and trust God’s faithfulness in what comes next.
Reaching Across Divides
Rev. Judith Reedy preached an outstanding sermon Sunday that spoke to the creative ways people like you and me reach across divides of income, race, education, and cultural stances for the sake of what is good, right, and biblically true. “Act justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” was the clarion reminder from pulpit and choir loft. Judith read a letter from our bishop, Ruben Saenz, Jr. to the Horizon Texas Conference who called us to this same mindset. He echoed the message of a letter that came out recently from the Council of Bishops, who shepherd all of the United Methodist churches around the world. We are sending both letters tomorrow in a dedicated email.
Like Judith’s message, our bishops are reminding us that as followers of Jesus, we must live out his message of unconditional love by reaching across all divides between people everywhere. There is no other option for those who claim the Christian faith. “Those who say, ‘I love God’ and hate their brothers or sisters are liars. After all, those who don’t love their brothers or sisters whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen!” (1 John 4:20). We have to be intentional to love those who are different from us. We have a good opportunity during Lent to practice that.
On Tuesday night, February 24, the Dialogue Institute of Dallas will host a Ramadan dinner for us. This wonderful group, of mostly Turkish Muslim background, will be our guests and our hosts! They come to prepare and serve us some favorite items for dinner as we join them in breaking their daily fast during their season of Ramadan, which overlaps with our season of Lent! Both of these seasons mark a time of prayer, reflection, and sharing … of reaching across divides to God and to each other. I hope you will register to join us for this very special evening.
We cannot fix all that divides and denigrates people in our world, but we can help create what Meg Wheatley calls an “island of sanity” (see her excellent book, Who Do We Choose to Be?). As Mark Miller says in his song, “God has work for us to do.” I can think of nothing else more important to do than reaching across divides, joining hands, and creating something better. I look forward to doing that with you this Sunday and every day.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
An Important Announcement from Rev. Matt Gaston
It is with much prayer and great thanksgiving for you, my church family, that I announce I have sent a letter to Bishop Ruben Saenz, Jr. requesting retirement status effective July 1, 2026.
It has been a true gift to serve as your pastor for the past 10 years. It is an honor to preach the Word, celebrate the sacraments, and be with you during those sacred moments of our lives. It has been a joy to live and laugh with you as we have grown in our discipleship to Christ and service to our mission field. My life is richer for loving faithfully with you.
Together, we have connected God and grace to ourselves and to the community. We have welcomed an increasing diversity of God’s children into our fellowship, right-sized our campus, created a new front door for a new chapter, become debt-free, and will soon have a $1M Permanent Endowment to help fund ministry going forward.
For me, 2026 marks 67 years of life, 40 years of ministry, 40 years of marriage, and 10 years at FUMC Plano. The time is right for a fresh voice with fresh ideas to have the privilege I was given in 2016 – to love and work alongside you for the sake of the next chapter of Christ’s mission in our region.
I will work diligently with our Staff Parish Relations Committee, our District Superintendent, Rev. Philip Rhodes, and our staff to pave the way for a smooth and successful transition for my successor, just as Jan Samuels and Rev. Ron Henderson did for me. I am thankful to God for this incredible church and people. You bless me daily, and I love you all.
Breathe peace,
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
A Needed Timeout?
Picking up from my Wednesday devotional, I am fascinated by the timing of our unexpected snow days. As I have talked to people about this unplanned, unstructured time, many have been cleaning out closets, baking, spending time on the phone with family and friends, and generally getting to things that would have been postponed had it not been for this timeout. For many, it has been a reset. Timeouts and resets have good biblical grounding.
God calls Abraham apart.
God gives Moses pause with a burning bush.
God calls Moses to a mountaintop—alone.
Jesus is driven into the wilderness.
Jesus calls his disciples to a quiet place.
Jesus goes to pray—alone.
Saul winds up in a home where he realizes his call as an apostle.
All of these were timeouts that resulted in course corrections or reinforcement. With the temperature of our culture running high right now, a collective timeout is in order – to pause, reflect, and reset. At its best, this is what planned worship does, even without snow days.
After last week’s snow day from in-person worship, we will again gather Sunday for a spiritual timeout:
Listening to instrumental music
Confessing our harried hurriedness
Listening for God’s word in the biblical text and sermon
Staying at the prayer rail as long as we need before receiving Holy Communion
Thanking God for the reset by the end of the service
Timeouts – both unintended and designed – can be wellsprings of new hope, strength, and peace. May it be so for you, our church, and our world.
Amen.
Connecting God and grace …
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
Out of an Abundance of Caution
Patti Pachula, Director of our Weekday Program, sat quietly at our staff meeting Tuesday and just smiled. I think I may have detected a suppressed giggle.
We were discussing options for Sunday worship. At that point, forecasters were predicting a wintry mix and snow totaling 6–12 inches by Sunday. So, we were strongly leaning toward moving all worship online (pre-recorded) and simply closing the building out of an abundance of caution for everyone’s warmth and safety. Patti’s smile and suppressed giggle? Patti is Canadian, and like most folks north of the Mason–Dixon line, she was amused by all the excitement a little “dusting” can create.
As it is, forecasters are now calling for 1–2 inches of mostly sleet (which is often easier to drive in though still potentially slick), plus a bit of snow Sunday morning. We will still record all the key portions of our worship, just in case the forecast worsens significantly, but at this time we are planning for:
One service on Sunday at 11:00 a.m., both in-person and live-streamed, with lots of congregational singing (no choir);
No Sunday School or child care;
Lots of coffee and hot water;
Shoveled and salted pathways to the the “New Front Doors” to the Gathering Area (1) and the Church Office entrance (2) – see graphic below;
Pats on the back and hugs for all who wish to come and be the body of Christ in person;
If weather conditions worsen, we will shift to a livestream-only service out of an abundance of caution. Please check back to our website, social media and Realm for any new developments. If you feel any hesitation about coming, please stay warm and safe out of an abundance of caution and join us online for worship. As the psalmist says in our text for Sunday:
I have asked one thing from the Lord—it’s all I seek:
to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life,
seeing the Lord’s beauty and constantly adoring his temple.
Psalm 27:4
It is both metaphorical and literal. We look forward to sharing that joy with you this Sunday.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
Please use the following entrances this Sunday: 1. “New Front Doors” to the Gathering Area, 2. Church Office entrance.
The Beloved Community
This was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s affectionate term for the larger church that he spent his life working to rally for the sake of so many suffering the injustices of prejudice, fear, and violence at the hands of their fellow citizens and their government. While King’s work across his abbreviated life was often seen as a “Black issue” by Americans, he rightly saw it as a Christian and human issue.
He worked across denominational lines, reminding pastors and congregations of Jesus’ call always to come alongside the poor, the oppressed, the immigrant, the stranger – even the enemy – and always with nonviolent love. This he learned from Jesus and Gandhi. Increasingly, King became disappointed that the larger, white churches remained largely on the sidelines as the struggle for equal rights marched forward. “In the end,” he said, “we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Will we as Christians be silent now?” King would ask us today.
Sunday afternoon at 4:00, I will be part of a panel discussion with three other faith leaders around Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and the impact of the church – the “beloved community.” It will be at the Robinson Fine Arts Center in Plano. All are invited to attend. I hope you’ll join us.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
When Love Looked New
On Christmas Eve, something quietly magical happened in our Sanctuary.
As the lights dimmed and candles were lifted high, many began to see the glow of candlelight in a new way. Thanks to a thoughtful gift from our Minister with Children and Families Mardi Bowen, each point of light became a heart. Through special “heart glasses,” candle flames shimmered and multiplied—filling the room with floating reminders that love had arrived.
It was a simple idea, and a profound one.
Love didn’t just arrive at Christmas; it changed how we saw something so familiar to us. For a few holy moments, the familiar ritual of candlelight was transformed. The faces around us softened. Children smiled in wonder. Adults lingered a little longer. Light became love, and love became visible.
That’s the promise of Christmas: when Christ arrives, the world doesn’t just look brighter, it looks different. It looks new!
And now, as we move beyond Christmas and into the season of Ordinary Time after Epiphany, we carry that vision with us. Epiphany proclaims that Christ’s light is not hidden or fleeting. Glory is revealed! The same love that arrived in Bethlehem continues to shine—calling us to look again, to see more clearly, and to recognize God’s presence in the familiar.
Those heart-shaped lights were a gift for one night, but the invitation remains:
What if we learned to see the world – our neighbors, our church, our calling – through the lens of Christ’s love?
As we begin our new worship series, Glory Revealed, we’ll explore how God’s light continues to break into our lives. We invite you to join us this Sunday as we begin the series with fresh eyes to the beauty, promise, and presence of God among us.
Love has arrived.
And now, God’s glory is being revealed … sometimes in extraordinary ways, and sometimes as simply as a candle, a heart, and a changed perspective.
By Nancy Bryan-Ellison
Photos by Brook Benavides
Thank You, Lord!
A dear friend of mine who is a Licensed Professional Counselor has shared how he often has clients write down a “gratitude list.” Psychologically, there is something powerful, therapeutic, and reinforcing when we physically write down the things and people for which we are grateful. I cannot think of a better way to begin 2026 than to list a few of mine for 2025:
The array of cards, gifts, baked goods, and well-wishes that you gave to our staff over the holidays. We felt hugged!
The moving and uplifting Christmas Pops Concert and Cantata.
Watching our staff act out The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Tears and smiles at the communion rail on Christmas Eve.
Celebrating 40 years of marriage with my girlfriend.
Burning a mortgage note.
Watching our golden retriever crawl and play ever so carefully with a two-year-old.
Marveling at still pulling cherry tomatoes off our vines … in mid-December.
Watching a small child come RUNNING down for a children’s sermon.
Consecrating a “new front door” and Bird Nest.
Being awed by God’s amazing heavenly colors before sunrise while walking our golden retriever.
A burger with my son — just two guys hanging out.
Baptizing a baby and all of us embracing that child with love and covenant.
Looking at Christmas lights, including those on our church!
Some amazing college football games this season.
The smiles of reunion every Sunday around worship, coffee, and donuts.
Thank you, Lord, for these, your many blessings in my life!
I invite you to write down your own “gratitude list” before you get too far into 2026. See how the writing makes you feel facing forward. The challenges will always be there, but God’s grace and sufficiency outdistance them all. Thank you, Lord!
P.S. The totals are still being tallied, but we did finish 2025 with a deficit. More information will come next week as we prepare annual giving statements to mail out. Your church’s leaders will be meeting to strategize on how to faithfully move ahead with ministry in 2026. Thank you to all who made generous gifts in December to reduce our deficit. That, too, is a source of gratitude for me. Blessings!
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
Look to Be Surprised
Our experience of life is largely shaped by our expectations of life.
If our expectation is for things to go poorly, to fall short, to disappoint us, then there is a good possibility that is what we will experience.
If our expectation is for things to go well, to excel, to be at least satisfactory, then there is a good possibility that is what we will experience.
Either way, our perspective tends to paint our reality in appropriate colors. I have been amazed in just this last week, driving around, that the prettiest Christmas lights I am seeing are fall’s very late colors in the middle of a sun-splashed day – bright reds, oranges, and yellows against a lot of still-green trees. I have been surprised.
There are a lot of reasons this year to bring an expectation of dour disappointment to the table. But that is not God’s expectation. The biblical story reminds us again that in the midst of poverty, powerlessness, governmental overreach (Caesar Augustus demands a census of the entire world), a young pregnant woman believes in something better, persists with something better, expects something better, and she is not disappointed. Angels appear to shepherds – the lowest on the food chain – and announce that the good news proclaimed is for THEM. Surprise is the order of the day – something that would come to be Mary’s expectation as she watched her son grow.
As we approach Christmas this year, in spite of the year, what is the expectation you are bringing to the manger? By God’s grace, through faith, as you look at the stars, look to be surprised.
See you in the surprising place this Sunday for our Cantata, Agnus Dei (the Lamb of God).
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor
A Triple-Header Weekend
The NBA touts annually its triple-header Christmas Day basketball games between great teams; the league wants to command your eyeballs all day and night long (as if you didn’t have something else to do that day). I am not sure we can compete with those offerings, but ours do come 10 days sooner. This weekend, December 13–14, our triple-header will have:
Our Gift Market both days, for that last-minute and one-of-a-kind shopping that graces those you love while helping sustain small microbusinesses in developing countries around the world.
Our famously wonderful (and funny) Christmas Pops Concert Sunday night, which has something for everyone of every age, including free giveaways.
Bishop Ruben Saenz, Jr. of our Horizon Texas Conference preaching at both services on Sunday and leading an infant baptism at the 9 a.m. service. It will be Bishop Saenz’s first worship experience at FUMC Plano, and we are honored to have him and his wife, Maye, as our special guests.
I saw on another United Methodist church’s sign: “Thinking about church again? Start here.” I can’t think of a better time and a better place to extend exactly that invitation to someone you know who would feel cared for by your thinking about them. You will be proud you did—especially if they come and find that what you said was indeed true. Love is arriving this weekend and this Christmas, and my experience says that a lot of people are ready for that good news.
Come on—you don’t even have to play basketball!
See you at the triple-header place,
Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor