Join us in the Town Square for our community meal on Sundays at 6 p.m. Meals are $3 per person or $10 (max) per family.

8/1 Pizza and Awesome Salad Bar

8/8 Chicken Fajitas Fiesta
8/15 All-American hamburgers and brauts
8/22 Grilled chicken and veggies
8/29 Baked potatoes and special fixings

If you’d like to serve on a Sunday night meal team, please call Pat O’Reilly at 214-289-6176 or e-mail Click to email.

Wednesday Midweek Meals

Each Wednesday night from 5 to 6:20 p.m., IBC prepares meals for those involved in Wednesday night activities here at IBC or anyone just wanting a good meal. In addition, PB&J sandwiches are available. Cost is $3 per meal or $10 maximum per family of four or more. Just come by The Commons and grab a plate*!

8/4 Lasagna, salad, bread sticks, dessert
8/11 Chicken breast sandwiches, baked beans, tater tots, dessert
8/18 Chopped BBQ beef sandwiches, pickle spears, coleslaw, chips, dessert
8/25 Baked potatoes with fixings, salad, dessert

*Changes to the menu may be made depending on food cost and availability.

If you’d like to serve on a Wednesday night meal team. Click to email for more information.

Who is it for?
Single parents and their kids

What is its purpose?
To provide healthy ways for parents and kids to heal from their emotional pain and to build stronger single parent families

What is it?
A practical, 10-week course that is curriculum based. Our goal is to help single parents and their kids deal with the confusion and grief caused by:

• the separation or divorce of the parents
• the death of a parent
• an absent parent

One Parent + Kids is a true sanctuary where single parent families can be genuinely real and honest with others, with themselves and with God on their journey to healing. Kids engage in fun, biblically-based, craft-oriented lessons and meet in small groups with caring adult mentors. Parents meet with experienced mentors who provide them with the skills necessary to move their families forward to stability and emotional health. Both parents and kids will find a new sense of God’s love, redemption, peace and healing as members of God’s family.

When is it?
Wednesday September 8th will launch the next semester of One Parent + Kids. Whether you are a single parent affected by the pain of divorce or an absent parent, or just looking to build healthy communication in your single parent family…we want you! This is open to new families, or families that have previously attended this program.

What does it cost?:
There is a minimal fee for this 10 week program that includes curriculum and dinner each week. Dinner is held in the Commons each week from 5-6:30pm, and the program is from 6:45-8:15pm. You can stop by the single parent kiosk in Town Square for more information, or register online at singleparents.irvingbible.org

Volunteers are also needed to help in many ways, for example: being a prayer angel, mentoring others, and hospitality. You do not need to be from a single parent family or have any experience. We just need people with a loving heart to minister to others. We will hold a training on Wednesday September 1st from 5-8:30pm.

Don’t handle being a single parent, separation, or divorce by yourself. Let others who have walked the same path help and encourage you.

For more information Click to email Marsha Tribbett or (972) 560-4633, ext. 586.

What is the Back to School event you may ask? It is a way to get kids from single parent families ready for a terrific school year, and a wonderful opportunity to give back to our community. We will host this special event on Saturday August 14th from 2-5pm in Town Square.

We anticipate about 1500 attendees this year, and our goal is to provide FREE backpacks, school supplies and shoe gift cards to about 500 children at this event. We will also provide medical and dental exams, haircuts, a gently worn clothing exchange, and ice cream sundaes for these special families.

This is a great opportunity to open the doors of IBC, and let the people of our neighborhood take a look at what we do around here. If you would like more information, you have clothing to donate, you would like to volunteer for this event, or to contribute financially…Click to email Marsha Tribbet or Click to email Jennifer Erlenbusch or stop by the Single Parent Ministry kiosk in Town Square on Sunday.

To volunteer to help, please register using the link below.

In 2009, one of the women within the Point started Point Men Mondays. Every Monday became, and still is, a time in which the Christian sisters in the Point slow down for a day to pray for our brothers within the Point, as well as our brothers within the entire body of Christ. We pray for their lives, character, trails, struggles, triumphs, success, and for how God is refining them.

This started because a need was seen to support the men. We recognize in this earthly world that it is not easy to be a guy, let alone a Christian guy. It is not easy to stand up to the world and say, “No” on so many subjects. Society now accepts and recognizes the path of the unrighteous as being the norm while dictating to the righteous that they are the ones who are deceived wrong.

Prayer is powerful and needed; however, the women of the Point were convicted to express our prayers in a tangible manner. So with lots of preparation and planning, we hosted what we hope to be the first of many Men’s Appreciation Dinners, held on the 27th of February. We want the men in our community to know that we see their characters and recognize that they are honorable, faithful Christian men. We also want to express gratitude for the fact that they guard and protect the women of the Point as sisters.

I discovered during a cursory online search that it is estimated that one out of every three women around the world will be assaulted, abused or raped in her lifetime. One in five American high school girls has reported being in an abusive romantic relationship. These are significant and heartbreaking numbers. Statistics may not mean anything to you, so let me bring things closer to home. It is estimated that over one million women in Texas were battered in 2008, and Texas generates the second highest call volume to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.  Single women at IBC are no exception to these numbers. We have witnessed, known of, or have been victims of rape, incest, and abuse. We are the faces, we are those numbers. We may not talk about it, but it has happened to us.

In light of these numbers, we decided that the dinner should not be the end of our acts of gratitude and praise. We want to continue this celebration of appreciation throughout the year, for it is not just once but repeatedly that we have been honored by the Point men. May will kick off “Love Thy Brother”. This ministry within the Point is one in which the women come together to make Agape (which involves making cookies, prayer cards, and notes of appreciation) for the men every other month.

It has been an such a pleasure to pour love on our single brothers and we encourage those reading this to seek out such pleasure within your own community. Express to others in your community how important they are. Write them notes, show them with a hug.

Kristina Hahn Co-Director of the Point

Accepting the Call to “More” is Joining the Insurrection of the Kingdom
(Sept. 17, 21)

Fear is the Natural Response to God’s Call
(Sept. 24, 28)

Fear Causes Me to Wonder and Wander
(Oct. 1, 4)

As an Alternative to Joining the Insurrection I Construct Idols I Can Control
(Oct. 8, 12)

Men Tend to Construct Idols Around Approval and Achievement
(Oct. 15, 19)

Naming and Destroying My Idols is Necessary to Join the Insurrection
(Oct. 22, 26)

I Need Courage to Shift My Allegiance and Join the Insurrection
(Oct. 29, Nov. 3)

Courage Comes From the Encouragement of My Brothers
(Nov. 5, 9)

I Am Committed to the Insurrection of the Kingdom
(Nov. 12, 16)

Click to email Kym Yeichner for more details.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
Night after night they display knowledge.

God’s creation is so remarkable that I think sometimes we forget that his ultimate creation was that of humankind. We alone are said to bear the image of God (Genesis 1:27). As I find myself looking outward and upward I often miss His masterpiece of humanity in plain view: my spouse, my children, my friends, etc. But there are others that bear God’s image that go completely unseen by us: the poor, the sexually exploited, the vulnerable.

As I have continued to learn about modern day slavery, I have discovered the tragic reality that many parents in impoverished parts of the world are faced with, questions and decisions that we find unimaginable: “My child is starving to death. Do I watch her die right before my eyes or do I give her away in hopes she might have a better life? I have seven starving children and someone has offered to buy one. Do I sell that child in order to feed my others?” These are questions we would never think possible for a good parent to ask. But because poverty has such a seemingly unbreakable grip on so many parts of the world, parents feel there is nothing else they can do. There is anguish and heartache tied to these questions and feelings of torment once their child has been handed over.

There is no coincidence that where you find poverty you find human trafficking (slavery). Slavery thrives off of poverty. In Benjamin Skinner’s book A Crime So Monstrous he interviews a “wholesaler” about human trafficking. This dealer of human beings boldly claims, “Poverty is good. That’s right. I said it. For guys like us, poverty is good because it keeps those women from getting arrogant, spoiled and demanding. Just think about all the countries that have a reputation for having the best women. What do they all have in common? That’s right, poverty.”

The following statistics contain information on a number of common “origin countries,” where many trafficking victims are acquired:

In Moldova one-third of all children live in poverty.
In Moldova, 68% of the unemployed people are women – Moldova Gender Profile: World Bank
In the last decade approximately 60% of the unemployed people in Romania were women; 68% in Russia – UNESCO
In Albania nearly 25% of the population lived below the poverty line – 2002  World Development Report
An estimated 42% of the population lives below the poverty line in Nepal. In 2001 alone, an estimated twelve thousand girls were trafficked from Nepal to brothels in India – Asian Development Bank
The United Nations has stated that in the Ukraine, poverty is THE cause of human trafficking.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2008 Global Hunger Index lists Cambodia as one of the 33 countries having an “alarming or extremely alarming” level of hunger.

My hope for you and for me is that we would recognize and respond to God’s ultimate creation: humanity. We have to be willing to see the reality of God’s suffering image bearers and to tell others what we have seen. Take time to learn someone’s story or remember these statistics. Begin to share them with those around you. Partnering with silence is not the desire of the God who created all things.

Use the following prayer this week as you consider this significance of poverty and humanity.

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and enslaved persons whom it would be easy for us to forget; the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen (adapted from The Book of Common Prayer).

But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. – Job 36:15

“You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child you receive me.” – Mother Teresa

-Kim Jones T

To read the whole article click HERE

Needy students!  Students who need support and encouragement!  Students who need a caring adult to show interest!  Students who are in need through no fault of their own!

Half Hour Heroes (part of our School Works ministry) is providing caring adults who will give a half hour a week to make a difference in the life of a needy child.  Each volunteer works with one student, encouraging, helping, cheering him/her on–and helping to break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

Would you like to join this “tribe” of people?  IBC partners with Townsell Elementary and Sam Houston Middle School in the Irving Independent School District.  Maybe we can’t change the whole district, but we can make a difference–one child at a time!

Click to email Jan to let her know of your interest.  Or go to www.schoolworksdfw.org to find out

Jan Fanning
School Partnership Catalyst

After mission trips to 3 different cities and a group joining us from Dallas, God met us in incredible ways.  Every student was in some way impacted by God, whether salvation, a deeper sense of mission or the freedom that comes from confession of sin.  Sure, camp is always a great experience, but after doing camps for 24 years I would say there was something a little unusual about our experience.  Thank you so much for praying.  The presence of God was evident.

We told the students and leaders these trips aren’t designed to be a destination but a doorway.  The real impact begins now that we are back in Northwest Dallas.

BTW, I’m so proud of our student ministry staff, from summer interns to full time staff, they worked so hard to pull off a great mission / camp experience with excellence and grace.  I’m blessed to serve with such a talented and passionate team.

Our 17 adult volunteers were key as well.  Sure, the worship sessions were great, but they are designed to set the table for our small group leaders to unpack truth with students.  Without them we have no student ministry.

AND last and certainly not least, team Gwartney led by Joel provided the best camp food I’ve EVER had.  The highlight of the weekend was Texas brisket served with green beans, mac and cheese and salad.  (I think Bob Downey had a big part in this).  One of our volunteers stepped in a helped as well.  I was blown away by the way they served us.

We’re excited to see what the rest of the summer holds for us.  Please continue to pray as students unpack what they learned and experienced.

David

To our Joy, all of the leaders showed up and every last one of them owned this event and made it their own.  Their youth were amazing!  They were fun and excited to serve.

We had lots of prizes to give away, WIB t-shirts, water bottles and these blankets that were designed by children from our church to send to Africa, well these blankets never made it to Africa but they were given to African children.  Which reminds me, you don’t have to go to Africa, to be in Africa; we were blessed by worship songs sung in Arabic and a great African meal on Friday night.

Attached are some of the pictures I took from my iphone

Dieula Previlon - International Initiatives Pastor