Chainsaw Saturday
Construction help needed. This Saturday we continue preparing our new church building! Workers of any skill level are welcome to help remove trees, tile, carpet, etc. Donuts and a tour of the building begin at 8:30 a.m. with work starting at 9:00 a.m. Other Saturday workdays will follow if you can't make this one. To join in, contact John Taylor at 972 668-3899 or jdtay77777@aol.com

PARENTING CONFERENCE 2006
Preston Trail Community Church is partnering with Watermark Community Church for an exciting Parenting Conference. Please join us for the Watermark Parenting Workshop, Saturday, April 1 from 9 am - 4 pm at the Watermark Building (7540 LBJ Frwy). The Workshop will help you develop a blueprint for raising your kids in a way that builds a strong identity and sets them up to be effective in the world. Childcare is available for a small free. Please register in the lobby or send an email to info@prestontrail.org. MORE

Men’s CLC Groups
If you want to be in a men’s CLC group, there are still a few openings. Currently, we have three CLC groups with 33 men involved. We would like to start three more groups of 10-12 men each. CLC stands for Christian Leadership Concepts and is designed to challenge men to be leaders at home, in the church, and in the community. Sign up at the Life Group Table.MORE

Discover Preston Trail Class
New to PTCC? Join Pastors Jim and Paul on Sundays at 11:00 AM as we take a look at our church and where it is going. This is an opportunity for all guests who are new to PTCC to learn more. Session will meet at the AMC Theatre. Please signup at the Life Group table. A 5 week Partnership Class will follow for all those interested in becoming a PTCC partner.MORE

JOB OPPORTUNITIES:
RESOURCE SERVING TEAM LEADER
Are you looking for a critical team to lead? We are seeking a leader for the resource team. This team records the weekly sermon, saves and copies it to CDs and provides them for sale in our lobby. The leader will oversee the sales team and work with our webmaster in getting the sermon on our site. Sign up on the offering card today or contact info@prestontrail.org for more information.

GUEST SERVICES DIRECTOR
Customer Service at its finest. We are looking for a customer driven, guest services leader to come on our staff at PTCC. This person will be responsible for overseeing the entire new guest process; from welcoming, registration, followup and more. Job is about 10 hours a week. We are seeking candidates who have former customer service experience. Please contact info@prestontrail.org for more information on the application process...and get that resume ready!

Calling All Men Softball Players!
Sign up in the lobby to join this year's team. Games are played Monday evenings starting 3/06 through 5/8. $30 registration fee. Contact Andy Tuggey for more details at jtuggey@comcast.net.

Life Groups
Now’s the time! In January, many of our Life Groups will be starting new studies. Stop by the Life Group table today and find a group that works for you.MORE

Chapter 2
Join us WEEKLY on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM, for a deeper service of biblical teaching, looking into the Life of Jesus. Led by our senior pastors, this will be a meaningful time of prayer, worship and teaching. 7:00 PM AMC Theatre.

“Parenting Isn’t for Cowards”

They are the two biggest tasks in life, and nobody prepares you for them. Not your parents, not your teachers, not your coaches. Nobody.

One is marriage; the other is parenting.

Of the two, parenting has always been harder for me. When I become a parent, I started with little knowledge and less experience. If there’s any area of my life where I have felt less prepared, I can’t think of it.

At first things seemed pretty easy for Denise and me when our firstborn entered the world: she was the most adorable baby ever born … she was so little that she fit in my arms perfectly … she was cute when she cooed, funny whey she burped, and serene when she slept. “This isn’t so bad,” I told myself. “I wonder why other parents complain so much about raising kids?”

Then one day she threw a fit in the grocery store check-out line when she was two. (Curse those candy displays!) And at 5 she got a splinter in her eye and I was afraid she was going to be blind. And at 10 she liked a boy in her fifth grade class … and he had the nerve to like her back! And at 12 she didn’t like the clothes we bought her. And at 13 she didn’t want me to talk when I drove the carpool to school – something about me embarrassing her in front of her friends. And at 15 she liked another boy and didn’t want to hang around our family much – but she sure didn’t mind hanging around his family. Then she went to college and began telling me the things she was learning at school – things that made me want her tuition refunded. Nobody prepared me for any of this.

Don’t get me wrong – Kari is simply the most wonderful daughter a father could have. No debate could convince me otherwise. But raising her from infancy to adulthood was not a piece of cake. (Actually it was kind of like a piece of cake, if you include the crumbled pieces!)

Early on Denise and I felt helpless as to how to raise a child – no one had ever told us what to do and when to do it. Sometimes we read books; sometimes we asked veteran parents (“veteran” implies surviving war!); often we just guessed. Along the way we ran across a book by James Dobson entitled Parenting Isn’t for Cowards. I never read the book, but the title impressed upon me a parenting principle that has guided me over the last two decades: parenting takes patience, wisdom, and above all courage. Raising kids is not for the fainthearted. Parenting isn’t for cowards.

That’s why PTCC is partnering with Watermark Community Church in presenting a Parenting Workshop on April 1. It’s a one-day conference that offers guidance and wisdom in the areas where we feel most inadequate as parents. Topics include:

If this workshop sounds right for you, sign up now for The Watermark Parenting Workshop. It will be from 9 AM to 4 PM on Saturday April 1 at The Watermark Building (7540 LBJ Freeway). PTCC attendees will meet for a special breakout lunch from 12noon to 2 PM in a reserved room at Watermark. The cost of the workshop and lunch is $35.00/parent. Onsite childcare is available for a small fee: $10 for one child, $15 for 2 children, $20 for three or more children.

You can register in the lobby after Sunday services; or you may send an email to info@prestontrail.org.  Be sure to complete a Conference Form, also available in the lobby, indicating which breakout sessions you would like to attend.

Learning to be the best parent you can be involves some intentional training along the way. We hope this workshop gives you just what you need.

Still learning,

Paul Basden, senior pastor

Read previous Trail Notes here

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