there is a ton going
on right now and I figured it would be important to let you know some of
the big deals right now.
Summer has been great — what a beautiful state we live in!! Lots of
opportunities to worship the Creator and thank Him for the beauty we get
to enjoy!! Lisa and the girls and I have enjoyed some time outside, we
visited the MN zoo on one of those free passes from the library! How
great is that!
And lots of other fun stuff — but you probably want to know about the
church goings on…. So here goes:
This Sunday we begin a great new series based on Romans 12 (I’d
encourage you to read that chapter a few times over these next few weeks
- lots of amazing words from Paul!!) The series is appropriately being
called “12″.
We’ll also touch on the 12 disciples as well. Anyway – the vision behind
the series is for us all to consider: “what if” we all decided to
participate in what God is doing – to actually become the church God had
in mind – not where 20% of the people are involved in God’s work, but
rather 100% of the believers are involved somewhere! What could that
look like? It’s mind-boggling to imagine – but I think it would be
amazing if we, as Grace Church broke through some of the national church
averages and actually became a full community of believers who are ALL
serving God and involved in His work! Imagine what God could do with
100% people committed to His purposes and being His hands and feet! Join
us Sunday for the beginning of this amazing vision.
In two weeks, on Sept 2nd. We are having a special thing I need to tell
you about…One of the initiatives we rolled out at our annual meeting
was to greatly increase our emphasis on prayer this year. Pastor Steve
is taking the lead on this and I am so excited. SOOOO… Since there are
NO ABF classes on Sunday Sept 2nd – we’ll all meet in one place for a
special concert of prayer during whatever hour you are not in the
worship service.
This is going to be great! All adults, college students, high school and
junior high – coming all together to pray – can you see it?! This is
especially important right now because the following weekend (Sept 8-9)
is our GraceFest weekend where we’re praying that God will rescue all
kinds of people from sin and death! We need to pray for all of our
friends we’re inviting and others are inviting and pray that God will
reach our world.
Plus we’ve got lots of stuff kicking off in Sept and God has really
blessed us, so we’ve got a ton to thank Him for too! DON’T MISS THIS
SPECIAL CONCERT OF PRAYER!! We’re hoping everyone can be there for one
of the two hours – it’s going to be great!
I’m working on a congregational letter to you in a few weeks where I’ll
cover this item in more detail…but quickly:
Sept. 8-9th begins a new series called: Don’t Go to Church. The series
is geared for us as the community of faith to discover that church isn’t
something we “go to” but something we’re a part of. But the series will
also be a great one to invite lots and lots of people who maybe have
either given up on church or have never been. We’re looking to dive into
the Bible and look at what God has to say about some of the most common
objections to church today, things like “it’s filled with hypocrites,”
or “all they want is your money” or “they are so judgmental.” Have you
ever heard people say things like that? Many of us have! Invite at least
4-5 people from your sphere of influence to this great 5-week series.
I’ve been studying for it and Jesus has some amazing words on these
topics in the Gospels – great stuff!!
Also, just to give you a little inside peek into our thinking (sorry
this email is getting so long by the way)…
There are two times every year that are most common for “new” people to
come to a church. In fact, most people when invited during these two
times to come to a church are usually more inclined to say “yes” than
any other time of the year (not sure why, but there you have it). Those
two times are September and the Easter season (the third time is
probably around Christmas).
But what we’ve decided to do is take those two times of the year and be
extra-sensitive to the possibility of guests among us and encourage all
of us to be active in inviting, especially during those times. The great
thing is, we can share our faith 365 days of the year on a personal
basis, and corporately as a church these are great times where we can
work together and partner in the cause of the Gospel. This summer we
focused on spiritual growth and discipleship as we dug deep into the
book of Exodus — the plan for October is a verse-by-verse study through
Philippians, because we feel that it is so important to ground us all
deeply in the Word of God! September will be a journey through a few
passages from the Gospels.
Ok, wow, I’m long-winded today! I am excited to be serving alongside of
you in the cause of Christ! You, by practically living out your faith
and loving those around you, are the best demonstration of the Gospel
(John 13:34-35).
God has given us amazing opportunities to represent Him and make sure He
is lifted up, and glorified – that the whole world will see Jesus and
give the glory to God alone! I am humbled He allows us to be a part of
it all!
