 The St. Sarkis Church of Dallas Fort Worth was delighted to host the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Director of the Zohrab Center at the Eastern Diocese during the weekend of November 18-19. 2017. On Saturday evening Fr. Findikyan delivered an enlightening presentation entitled: “The Holy Badarak: 8 Things No One Ever Told You.” The Kechejian Hall was full of parishioners who had come to listen to anything new about the Badarak (liturgy), and they were not disappointed.
On Sunday, the V. Rev. Fr. Findikyan was the guest celebrant and preacher, and encouraged us all to take the message of the Badarak and spread it amongst others. Deacon Michael Sabounjian, who had accompanied Fr. Findikyan from New York, gave the children’s sermon about gratitude and love for each other. Fr. Findikyan gave a brief recap of the evening’s lecture, emphasizing that the Badarak is like a love song that keeps getting stronger as it spreads. He repeated that the Badarak is for us to learn to help everyone see the light through Jesus Christ. The St. Sarkis community has a special bond with Fr. Findikyan not only for his incisive presentations, but also for the fact that he sponsored our Fr. Ghevond Ajamian, and let’s not forget, that he is a Texan from Fort Worth. We look forward to welcoming Fr. Findikyan and Deacon Sabounjian again in the future. To read a longer version, please click here.
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 By Mary Mukhtarian
The St. Sarkis Church in Dallas/Fort Worth hosted an inspirational presentation of the Teach for Armenia Fellowship Program on Sunday November 5th. Narek Ghazaryan, Director of Public Affairs, kicked off the presentation by explaining that Teach for Armenia Fellowship is a 2 year teaching program for the diaspora’s top talent to teach at educationally underserved parts of Armenia. These exceptional young men and women are then expected to help unlock the professional and leadership potential of students who have no current alternatives. By recruiting young teachers to inspire innovation, new teaching methods, and access to the latest educational resources, Teach for Armenia actively works towards stemming the brain drain of Armenian talent by creating opportunities for all, students and teachers alike, to improve their extraordinary leadership skills, and contribute to the continued development and modernization of the program. Teach For Armenia is currently serving 5700 students in 35 communities in 6 regions of Armenia, all served by 71 Fellows. Three of the teachers spoke of the challenge of teaching students who endure shelling, or struggle with learning the alphabet, or who have no expectation of a future. The rewards of these challenges were that the students learned to believe in themselves, and apply themselves to the task at hand in order to secure a future for them. The special connection of St. Sarkis to Teach for Armenia is the generosity and service of Sam and Sylva Simonian of Dallas, who founded the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies in Yerevan. TeachforArmenia.org is grateful for applicants and donations alike. To read a longer version, please click here. |
