Thursday, March 31, 2011

Dress a Girl from Around the World


On Saturday, March 26th dozens of girls and women gathered to Dress a Girl from Around the World. This project is lead by Chapelwood member Nicole Wright, featured in the video. Over 50 dresses and 100 prayer dolls were made on this day and will be shared with girls in Uganda. Imagine the smiles on the faces of these girls as they receive a beautiful hand-sewn dress from girls right here in Houston! Truly grace will be shared and received.

Monday, March 28, 2011

We Need You!!!


Calling all Chapelwood members, WE NEED YOU!!!  Be sure to upload your submissions to be posted on the Embody Grace blog!  Tell you friends and family too!  Remember this is not just a Chapelwood blog, but a blog for anyone and everyone who serves.  Get out those cameras and smart phones and upload some pictures or video of your serving story!  If you are unsure how to upload a video, check out the clip below.


Thursday, March 17, 2011

Drum Roll Please...



Well hello world! I would like to welcome you to the new Embody Grace serving blog by Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. Our goal with this blog is to spotlight all of the serving opportunities and the people that make them successful. Over the next few weeks we will be showing people from our congregation and all over the world how they can upload and populate our blog. Thats right! We are not limited to Chapelwood, or even just Houston. We want to hear from anyone and everyone who makes serving a part of their world. There will be more videos, pictures, and posts to come soon!

PS: Check us out on twitter (@embodygrace) and at our youtube channel (embodygrace)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Spotlight: Prayer Shawl Ministry



The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets 4 times a month to pray, share, knit or crochet and bless shawls, patches, scarves and hats that have been completed. 

Over 900 prayer shawls have been given away by this ministry since its inception in March 2007.  Additionally, we have distributed countless hand-knit scarves, hats and prayer patches to those less fortunate who live on the streets of downtown Houston. Several shawls were recently taken to IndiaNepal and Myanmar on a mission trip.  Our own Global Missions ministry teams have taken shawls to CambodiaEstonia, and TapachulaMexico.

A number of other Prayer Shawl groups have been started with the help of Chapelwood, including a group at St. Stephen’s UMC. This group recently began knitting neck warmers to be mailed overseas to soldiers serving in the Middle East.  St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Corpus Christi recently began a group under the direction of a member's aunt. She had received a shawl from Chapelwood and it meant so much to her that she wanted to become a part of that experience and share it with others.


Our Faith in Action project last year was to knit 120 prayer patches that were sent to a member's nephew. He and his company are currently serving in Afghanistan. This year we will knit prayer patches again. They will be sent to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonia for distribution to soldiers and their families.

Two years ago we hosted a day retreat at Chapelwood which was led by the founders of the Prayer Shawl Ministry, Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo from Connecticut. Seventy women from around the country attended. This past weekend, our ministry team held a weekend retreat in Round Top, Texas.  Forty women from Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Pearland, and Fort Worth attended, representing Methodists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians – a very ecumenical group! We are considering making this an annual event.

Monday, March 14, 2011

What Does Embody Grace Mean?



The Rev. Bob Johnson, aka BOJO, has taken out some time in his day to explain what it means to embody grace (Hey! Thats the name of the blog!). Bob is the executive pastor at Chapelwood and wise beyond his years. Also, check out Bob's embody grace blog HERE.