Brazos Bookstore presents Anne Lamott, reading from her new book ALMOST EVERYTHING: NOTES ON HOPE. This event will take place on October 19 in the Sanctuary of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. Doors open at 6:30 pm. The event starts at 7 pm.

Tickets are $20 plus tax to admit one person. Each ticket comes with a hardcover copy of ALMOST EVERYTHING. Lamott will be signing books after the event.

In this profound and funny book, Lamott calls for each of us to rediscover the nuggets of hope and wisdom that are buried within us that can make life sweeter than we ever imagined. Divided into short chapters that explore life’s essential truths, ALMOST EVERYTHING pinpoints these moments of insight as it shines an encouraging light forward. 

Anne Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Hallelujah Anyway; Small Victories; Stitches; Help, Thanks, Wow; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; Bird by Bird; and Traveling Mercies, as well as several novels, including Imperfect Birds and Rosie. She is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame.

Lunch and children's programming will be provided. For more details or to RSVP, contact Rev. Karyn Richards-Kuan via krichards-kuan@stpaulshouston.org.

Rob Landes, always a popular performer and entertainer, will perform in concert at St. Paul's on Sunday, October 21, at 4 pm. This will be a benefit fundraiser for the Michael Dowd lectures in November.

A native Houstonian, Rob Landes’ playing has taken him from the United States and Canada, to Norway and many parts of Europe. Landes is widely known as a pianist, organist, harpist, arranger, conductor, and published composer. He has done musical arrangements for Liza Minnelli and Marilyn Maye, as well as conducted the Count Basie Orchestra and the Buddy Rich Band in concert.

Admission is free; donations are gladly accepted.

Parents Roundtable

Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict, Angela Koreth’s visit will be postponed. Instead, tonight will be a roundtable discussion about successes and failures in steering kids in the right direction while letting them find their own path. Parents of children and youth of all ages are invited. Fellers Room (S-312) at 5:30 pm.

Courtesy of Brazos Bookstore:
This event is free! Please join us in Fondren Hall at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church for a special off-site kids’ event.

In 1994, 25-year-old YUYI MORALES traveled from her home in Xalapa, Mexico, to the San Francisco Bay Area with her two-month-old son, Kelly, in order to secure permanent residency in this country. Her passage was not easy and she spoke no English whatsoever. But due in large measure to help and guidance provided by area children’s librarians, she learned English as her young son learned to read, through the picture books they shared together. In spare, lyrical verse and the vibrant images for which she has become legendary, Yuyi has created a lasting testament to the journeys, both physical and metaphorical, that she and Kelly have taken together in the intervening years. Beautiful and powerful at any time, but given particular urgency as the status of our own Dreamers becomes uncertain, this is a story that is both topical and timeless.

Born in Xalapa, Mexico, where she currently resides, YUYI MORALES lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she still maintains close relations with booksellers and librarians. Professional storyteller, dancer, choreographer, puppeteer, and artist, she has won the prestigious *Pura Belpré Award for Illustration five times, for Just a Minute (2003), Los Gatos Black on Halloween (2006), Just in Case (2008), Niño Wrestles the World (2013), and Viva Frida (2014), which also was a Caldecott Honor Book.

*The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996 in honor of the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.

Our popular Friday-night program for children 4 months to 5th grade includes a full schedule of games, crafts, play, snacks and supervised activities from 6 to 10:30 pm while parents enjoy an evening on their own. The cost is $25/child/night ($5/each additional sibling).  A light supper is served around 6:30. During December, this activity becomes Kids Day Out.

Kids Night/Day Out is available for families of St. Paul’s Church and School. Reservations, which are required due to limited space and staff, are accepted for each date up to two weeks in advance.

Please use this secure link to register and pay. For questions or special needs, please contact Ellen Edwards via eedwards@stpaulshouston.org.

St. Paul’s annual Fall Fiesta, a community festival for all ages, will be held on the Plaza and Playground. There will be dozens of great activities, including carnival games, moonwalks, pony rides, facepainting, pumpkin decorating, prizes, craft stations, food, and music. Activity and concessions tickets may be purchased at the door ($10 for 25 tickets, cash only).

Visit or decorate the beautiful altar set up by the Fe y Esperanza community to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. All ages are invited to wear costumes and join our Costume Parade!

The fall festival unites our community for fellowship and fun—all ages from St. Paul’s church, Fe y Esperanza, St. Paul’s School, the After-School Program, Fine Arts Academy, MacGregor Elementary, and the wider community. Invite your neighbors and friends! 

Questions? Email Ellen Edwards, Director of Children's Ministry, via eedwards@stpaulshouston.org.

How do we understand and experience God's grace? What are the two sacraments recognized by The United Methodist Church? How can we show up for the everyday "sacramental" (holy) moments? We will explore these questions and more in this 3-part series, taught by Rev. Paul Richards-Kuan.

Does your child have developmental, emotional, medical or learning differences? This parent group is designed to provide a time of connection and mutual support.  

First Sunday of every month 12:15-1:30 pm in J-204. Childcare is provided, and attendees are encouraged to bring a brown-bag lunch. You do not have to be a member of St. Paul’s to attend.

The group is led by co-facilitators Helen Spaw, who holds a Masters in Art Therapy and Creativity from New York's Pratt Institute, and Jennifer West, who is working on a graduate degree in counseling.

RSVP and questions to Helen Spaw at hspaw@stpaulshouston.org

In recognition of All Saints Sunday, this service remembers the faithful departed through beautiful music, scripture, and prayer. John Rutter’s transcendent Requiem will be sung by St. Paul’s Choir, directed by Christopher Betts, and accompanied by chamber orchestra and organ. Free and open to the public. 

The annual Willing Friends luncheon honors individuals who have included St. Paul’s Foundation or St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in their estate plans. 

This year’s luncheon in Fondren Hall at noon on Monday, November 5, will feature special guest, Christopher Betts, Director of Music at St. Paul’s. He will be introducing himself, talking about St. Paul’s music program, and sharing plans for the future.

Current Willing Friends and those interested in learning more about the Willing Friends Society are invited to attend this special event. RSVP to Elisabet Cruz by October 31 at ecruz@stpaulshouston.org or 713-528-0527.

From Catholic Missions to a Catalyst of the Pentecostal Movement: Four Key Moments in Houston-Galveston Christianity

Ted A. Campbell is a historian, an award-winning author, and an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. He has served as pastor of United Methodist congregations, and has taught at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Duke Divinity School, and Wesley Theological Seminary. He served as president of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary from 2001 through 2005, and now serves as Professor of Church History at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

His published works include John Wesley and Christian Antiquity (1991), The Religion of the Heart (1991), Christian Confessions (1996), Methodist Doctrine (Abingdon Press, 1999), Christian Mysteries (2005), Charles Wesley: Life, Literature and Legacy (2007) co-edited with Kenneth G. C. Newport, The Gospel in Christian Traditions (2009), and Wesleyan Beliefs: Formal and Popular Expressions of the Core Beliefs of Wesleyan Communities (2010). His edition of the letters of John Wesley between 1756 and 1765 was published in 2015 as was another work entitled The Sky Is Falling, The Church Is Dying, and Other False Alarms.

RSVP to Elisabet Cruz by November 2 via ecruz@stpaulshouston.org or 713-528-0527.

Join us at St. Paul’s in Fondren Hall for an event celebrating Wil Haygood’s new book, Tigerland. This event is free and open to the public.

Courtesy of Brazos Bookstore:
From the author of the best-selling The Butler—an emotional, inspiring story of two teams from a poor, black, segregated high school in Ohio, who, in the midst of the racial turbulence of 1968/1969, win the Ohio state baseball and basketball championships in the same year.

1968 and 1969: Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy are assassinated. Race relations are frayed like never before. Cities are aflame as demonstrations and riots proliferate. But in Columbus, Ohio, the Tigers of segregated East High School win the baseball and basketball championships, defeating bigger, richer, whiter teams across the state. Now, Wil Haygood gives us a spirited and stirring account of this improbable triumph and takes us deep into the personal lives of these local heroes: Robert Wright, power forward, whose father was a murderer; Kenny Mizelle, the Tigers’ second baseman, who grew up under the false impression that his father had died; Eddie “Rat” Ratleff, the star of both teams, who would play for the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team. We meet Jack Gibbs, the first black principal at East High; Bob Hart, the white basketball coach, determined to fight against the injustices he saw inflicting his team; the hometown fans who followed the Tigers to stadiums across the state. And, just as important, Haygood puts the Tigers’ story in the context of the racially charged late 1960s. The result is both an inspiring sports story and a singularly illuminating social history.

WIL HAYGOOD is currently a Visiting Distinguished Professor in the department of media, journalism, and film at Miami University, Ohio. For nearly three decades he was a journalist, serving as a national and foreign correspondent at The Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and then at The Washington Post. He is the author The Butler: A Witness to History; Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America; Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson; In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr; Two on the River; King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.; and The Haygoods of Columbus: A Family Memoir. The Butlerwas later adapted into the critically acclaimed film directed by Lee Daniels, starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. He has received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and the 2017 Patrick Henry Fellowship Literary Award for his research on Tigerland. He lives in Washington, D.C.

You are invited to "All for the Common Good" Churchwide Stewardship Luncheon on Sunday, November 11, at 12:15 pm in Fondren Hall. 

Rev. Tommy Williams, senior pastor, will share about the milestones accomplished through St. Paul’s this year and where we anticipate God leading us in 2019. All are welcome to attend this informative and inspirational presentation while we enjoy lunch together.

Catered by Jim Benton of Houston, the meal will be served family-style. Enjoy pot roast with rich brown gravy, carrots and potatoes seasoned with fresh herbs, green salad, rolls, and apple caramel bread pudding for dessert. A vegan/vegetarian option will be available. Tickets to the luncheon are $10/person. Make your reservation online (deadline: Sunday, Nov. 4). Alternatively, you can make a reservation by stopping by the Welcome Table near the entrance of the Jones Building on Sundays, Oct. 21, Oct. 28, and Nov. 4.

While adults attend the luncheon, children (ages 3-5th grade) can participate in an Advent Art Festival with a free lunch provided. Youth (6th-12th grade) have the option to attend the luncheon or assist the younger ones with their art projects. Nursery care will be available for babies and toddlers.