Thoughts for the Journey

NEW WEB SITE – GRACE CHURCH, ROSEVILLE, MN

gcrpastor — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:14:49 +0000

I am excited to report our new web site and blog will be up beginning January 11th.

check out: extendgrace.org

Grace Church Roseville, is a dynamic, multi-generational, simple, focused church on loving Jesus and loving people.

It’s our hope to partner together to continually take one step closer to loving Jesus and loving people.

Our music is awesome and ecclectic. With two “styles” of services: “Classic” which includes choir, orchestra, organ, piano and a mix of contemporary and traditional musical styles happens at 8:30am.

Our contemporary/ modern services happen at 9:45a and 11am and are more relaxed, media driven with blends of rock, acoustic and relevant styles.

Our preaching is fully Biblical with most of our series consisting of verse by verse studies through books of the Bible. We use humor, interaction and straight Bible teaching to communicate God’s Truth in creative, relevant and thoughtful ways. Our goal is transformation by God’s Spirit.

Visit us at Grace Church Roseville in Minnesota — a Twin Cities Church with a unique feel!!

Repost: Who I am and What Church I’m a part of.

gcrpastor — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:21:55 +0000

Well, I am experimenting with moving into a wordpress blog in addition to our regular mac blog over at extendgrace.org. So who is this, and what is this about? My name is Jason Stonehouse, and I am the lead pastor at Grace Church Roseville, an innovative, family-friendly, Bible-teaching church in Roseville, MN. I’ve been there for over a year now and it’s exciting to think about what’s to come for Grace. As a part of the Twin Cities here in Minnesota there is so much going on and so many people to meet and connect with.

We are a church that majors on the Bible – we believe that the Bible is God’s Word to us and that Jesus is the only one who can change a heart. The message of the Bible can not be compromised, watered-down to altered to fit our desires. The methods (things like music, order of things, design, etc) can all be changed and should be changed to adapt to the world and time we live in. We adapt, not to be cool, but to reach people. God’s Word is for all people and for people alive today. Our methods must match the powerful message they communicate and therefore must be relevant, creative and real life. But let’s be clear, people are changed by God’s Word used by His Spirit to work in hearts.

We’ve been growing as a church lately and have been experimenting with lots of things in our gatherings, including a variety of musical styles, humor, multi-media and participation. We’re looking forward to introducing espresso coffee to our Gathering Grounds coffee area this fall. There is even talk of serving Dunn Brothers Coffee! Very cool.

Check out more information about Grace at extendgrace.org or gracechurchroseville.org.

Inside the Life of a Pastor – Confidential, Honest Reflections

gcrpastor — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:18:29 +0000

Caution: The following is raw, and authentic- with no motive except to share a “slice of my life/role”.

There are many interesting things about being a pastor. And let me start by saying, I am humbled by my call into full time service. I am confident God has led, directed and shaped me for this time and this role, but I am no less dependent on Him, in fact I would say I have never been praying more and have never been crying out for God’s leading, directing, confidence and peace as much as I do regularly now. And with that as the backdrop, I offer my first installment of life as a pastor.

I think one of the most interesting things are the responses after church services. Since we believe that the whole service is the message (not just the sermon), people respond to different aspects of the “message”. Sometimes it’s the musical aspect of the message, sometimes it’s the video element, sometimes the preaching element and sometimes one of the many other forms of communication we use (room set up, readings, worship stations, faith stories, etc). One thing that is a regular occurrence is mixed reactions. I can have one person come up (or write me afterwards) explaining how that service radically changed their lives, gave them hope, inspired them, lead them to confession of sin, dependence on Jesus or helped them begin a relationship with Jesus etc. On the very same Sunday that that first person said those things, another person will communicate just as strong a negative response (to the same message and/or element). At first I didn’t know what to do with this. How could one person be so positive and have met Jesus in a very real and personal way and another person say that we were practically sinning and distracting true believers from true faith?

I still don’t know what to do with this except to be reminded that as much as I want so strongly to shepherd, love and lead people that what we do can’t be solely determined by people and their desires. I need to carefully evaluate all we do through the lens of Scripture and need to pray hard and seek God’s face for all that we do and rest confidently in His leading. I’ll be the first to say, I’ve misjudged things, underestimated some things, overestimated others and plainly made mistakes at times. I’ve continued to lean in to Jesus, to His grace and try hard to trust that He will accomplish His will and way even if I misjudge on a certain song or video clip. I’ve tried to not let the times we were “off” deter us from continuing to proclaiming His Word with as much creativity as He provides us to use.

The one thing that I guess I could say I struggle with in this process is people leaving or protesting by withholding their giving. I don’t know what to do with this. Again, as a pastor you try hard to keep a spiritual perspective on things. You try to remind yourself this is God’s church. But I’ll be honest, it’s tough. When you see the reality that pastors could lose jobs because the finances aren’t there or ministry efforts will be cancelled, or missionaries could lose support — this is the reality of the ministry life and it’s downright hard sometimes and breaks my heart. There is the temptation to just stop being creative, to stop trying to help people see and hear from Jesus. To just keep everyone happy, do what people say they want and not push anything. This however, can further complicate things because as I said earlier, what one person wants the other person doesn’t connect with…so who gets to choose? I’ve also found the same person saying two different (almost contradictory) things within a 2 month time span – so sometimes it’s not even two different people, but one person at two different time periods.

Well, I don’t think we’ll settle this in one blog entry. I’d be surprised if anyone is still reading at this point. Please know, I don’t share this to complain or condemn, but merely to give insight into the complexity of ministry life. At the end of the day though, I’ve settled within myself to be in the Word, to continue to pursue being a man of the Word and to be on my knees continually crying out for God to lead and for me to follow. I refuse to settle for going through motions or preaching what people want to hear. I’m called to lead and the best way to lead is to follow, not the whims of people, but the voice of the Great Shepherd, Jesus.

More “inside the life of a pastor” to come in future blogs (that is if it’s even beneficial to anyone?) I do think, however, it is good for me to share authentically and wrestle together. Our God is faithful and He will complete what He begins. To Jesus be the Glory, may He be exalted in it all.

Thoughts on Worship

gcrpastor — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:16:43 +0000

I have to say (originally) I was not very excited about this new sermon series called “Songs without Music”. Worship is something I enjoy but as I thought about a 4 week sermon series on it, I thought, what could I even say for 4 weeks?

Well now I’m saying, how do I cram everything into only 4 weeks… Needless to say, this series has taken a 180 for me. I am learning a ton about worship that I never saw before. Through study of the Old Testament and New Testament I sit here in awe of who God is and how worthy He is of all our worship. I also see clearly how all humanity worships – it simply comes down to our object of worship. I’m ashamed to report that even as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, that I’ve often worshipped something or someone other than God. I’ve come to church services more excited about the style of musical worship than the object of that worship. I’ve worshipped “me” more times than I’d like to admit in my commitment to being comfortable and getting my way. Sure, I didn’t necessarily realize it when I was doing it, but I see now as I look through the Biblical lens of worship.

I’ve also made worship more about what I wanted to give rather than what God wanted to receive. I was moved in my study and speaking as I used the illustration of buying a gift for someone. The illustration goes like this: as a husband, if I were going to go out and buy my wife a gift, instead of thinking of something I’d like to give (ie. A powertool, a gadget, a game) I should be thinking about what she would like to receive (ie. A day at a spa, a new outfit or a night out). How often do we all come to worship deciding what we would like to give to God and how we’d like to give it (musical style, content etc). instead of asking what would God most want from me?

As I began to walk down the road of asking that question: “what would God desire from me?” I saw a number of things that I rarely saw emphasized in my previous understanding of worship. First, God desires all of me. He longs for people who worship 7 days a week, who make Him the center of their lives, who allow His Word and His grace to affect the way we live our lives. Secondly, God desires someone who worships in The Spirit – a continuous connection and dependence on the Holy Spirit for connection with God. Thirdly, God desires that I worship Him in truth – proclaiming who He is, bringing all of who I am, authentically and responding to God’s initiation towards me. Fourthly, God desires I worship by contributing to the lives of others. He longs for me to focus on other believers and invest in their lives, encouraging and spurring them to love and good deeds. He longs for me to share the message of grace with my lost neighbors, to welcome in the stranger, to acknowledge and pay attention to the people around me both during the church services and in my everyday. These 4 areas speak nothing about musical style or method. And I have to wonder, if I spent my energies focusing on these 4 things in worship, if I spent my energies evaluating whether I was bringing these 4 areas to God… I wonder if it might just radically change how I approach the singing times of worship?

Every week

gcrpastor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:41:17 +0000

Well, I should be working on this week’s sermon right now – but I’m easily distracted right now, hence writing this blog. There is a relentless aspect of being a pastor, each week preparing a different message, wondering to yourself if anyone, I mean anyone actually did anything with last week’s! Ha – Then you add that to 52 weeks of those kinds of feelings and well, it sometimes feels a little overwhelming. I typically pour 20-30 hours a week into a sermon and I guess at times you wonder whether people do anything with it and if it was worth your time. But I guess if one person is impacted in some way, it was worth it. It just on days like this it can feel “relentless”.

Well, I better get back to it – just needed to share that.

I still wouldn’t trade my role here for anything – I love being a pastor, and yet I am still a human – I know, a shocker I’m sure.

Encouraging News from Willow Creek Community Church

gcrpastor — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:02:06 +0000

I typically don’t like to get involved in other church news, but I have received enough emails to merit a quick report and response. I just finished listening to a sermon from Pastor Bill Hybels, the pastor of a large church in Illinois that has been very effective at reaching people who don’t know Jesus. In fact they have helped thousands of churches better understand evangelism and connecting with people who don’t know Jesus. Bill Hybels and his team recently did a report/ survey/ evaluation of their ministry and discovered that they were weaker in the areas of spiritual growth and maturity, something I’ve also seen as an outside observer. Bill Hybels and his executive pastor Greg Hawkins recently publicly shared this news and their commitment/ focus on growing and strengthening in this area they are weak in. Why bother writing a blog about it? Well, the scuttlebutt has been that they “confessed” their seeker model has been wrong and some Christians I’ve heard almost “rejoicing” over this “confession”. This troubles me on a few levels. First of all as Christians we should applaud those who seek to grow, learn and be humble, not applaud a “downfall”. Secondly, as I listened to Pastor Hybels’ sermon I didn’t hear a “the whole seeker model has been wrong” but rather, “we realized we are missing a huge aspect of helping people grow and therefore need to adapt our model/ methods to do better.”

The point is God calls us together as believers to grow and learn from each other. We can learn a ton from how Hybels and others connect with and understand people far from God. We can also learn a ton from leaders who are willing to publicly and humbly admit they need to grow and improve – what a wonderful attitude we don’t hear enough from believers! We are people in process – let’s encourage those who “process”.

What does all this mean for Grace Church? I think it’s encouraging to hear one of the largest, most influential churches in America has weak spots and growth areas as we all do. It’s encouraging to hear we can learn, grow and process together. Sometimes I hear from people, “tell me where Grace church will be a year from now” which I love to respond by saying, “hopefully more like God intends church to be!” The reality is none of us have this perfect formula or sterile program to insert — it’s a process, we evaluate ministry continually through the lenses of God’s Word and our culture (similarly to a missionary in a foreign land) and make adjustments accordingly along the way. We can never go wrong if we remain committed to the Word of God and actually living it out. If, for example, we discover we’re not connecting as well with people far from God, we should learn from those who do a good job in connecting and of course hold the ideas up to the Word of God. If we discover we’re learning lots of information but not seeing lots of “transformation” we should learn from those who do this well etc etc. In closing, a few things I’ve shared since I arrived here: 1. We don’t change people, God does. 2. We should seek to help create the best environments for God to do His greatest work! 3. We’re not about just making “converts” but making disciples – otherwise, we’ll be a mile wide and an inch deep. 4. Disciples are people who love God and love people and do so consistently, progressively and actively.

I implore you not to jump on a troubling bandwagon I see on some Christian websites of rejoicing in other believers faults and judging the hearts of others. We are all in this together and there are far more people who don’t know Jesus than who do, here in America. We as the church nationwide, need to unite, and together seek to fulfill the mission of Jesus!

Gearing Up

gcrpastor — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:02:09 +0000

Welcome to the blog, especially those “new” readers. My name is Jason Stonehouse and I’m the lead pastor at Grace Church Roseville in Roseville, MN. We are currently really pumped (what an 80’s word!) about the fall season at Grace. We’re starting with the series: Don’t Go to Church which will paint a picture of the kind of church God had in mind when this whole thing began. We’ll disassemble some common misconceptions, and stereotypes like the church is boring, church is full of hypocrites, all they want is your money, christians are judgmental etc. Check out the skinny at extendgrace.org.

We are seeking to become a church that actually lives our faith, doesn’t just talk about it.

We’re also excited because the fall means the beginning of college for many students. Since our church is within 3 miles of like 5 colleges including Bethel University (St Paul, MN); Northwestern College; and Hamline University (the University of Minnesota is not far either!). Although the Twin Cities are full of great churches (like Eagle Brook Community Church and Woodland Hills and pastors like John Piper, Leith Anderson and Greg Boyd to mention a few — we, at Grace Church are seeking to live out our unique thumbprint for glorifying God and reaching people. (By the way it seems to be connecting, we’ve had over 430 people visit Grace in the last 5 months and over 100 stay around to be a regular part – now we’re averaging about a 100 people shy of 1000 – God is good!). The unique “thumbprint” is very much in the developmental stage right now but includes an authenticity, a come-as-you-are, no perfect people allowed type of approach. Each week, developed by a newly formed creative programming team, our gatherings are never the same. We utilize a variety of video/movie clips, musical styles, drama, communion, art, humor, interaction and images to convey the theme. We are a strong bible-teaching, God-focused church that believes that methods and creative elements don’t change anyone – it’s Jesus who changes hearts!

Our music is a blend between traditional, contemporary and beginning to explore modern worship music as well. Some weeks are more traditional, others more on the modern/ contemporary side. The choir, orchestra and band will all be a part of the kick off on Sept 8-9. As mentioned in our preaching, we seek to be honest, real, fun and personal. We are big on application and actually “living out” our faith.

New features this fall include an espresso machine brewing Dunn Brothers coffee and new video enhancements in the worship center. We are currently in a series called Twelve which is already moving tons of people from the sidelines to involvement in what God is doing. There is something in all of us that longs to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and Grace is moving in that direction. Ministries that are hopping are a great kids-friendly children’s ministry, adult classes, divorce recovery, and tons more.

Anyway – lots of exciting things are happening and we can’t wait to see what Grace will become in the days ahead!

Complaining about church

gcrpastor — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:01:55 +0000

One of the points that came out of the Bible research and message last Sunday was that “Complainers Miss Out”. To be clear, that point didn’t come out of a personal desire to talk about it but rather a refusal to “skip over” a part of Scripture just because it was uncomfortable to talk about. I personally am committed to proclaiming the “whole counsel” of God and therefore when going through a book of the Bible or character study, I will not neglect to speak on something that is there in God’s Word on His purpose just because it’s not popular to talk about. My heart Sunday with that particular point was one of compassion for those who do complain — as I look back on ministry, life and relationships, I’ve noticed that complainers seem to continually “miss out” which is always a bummer to me. I know when I’ve complained I lose joy in life and my perspective seems to go to what I don’t have or used to have instead of seeing what I do have and the ways God is moving. So my heart Sunday was to encourage those who may have that spirit to realize not that they are “bad” but that they could be “missing out” which is always a bummer. I think of how many days, weeks, months I’ve “wasted” complaining about where I wish I was or once was etc.

Now, I’m someone who hears comments from time to time, but I feel like it’s often not my place to judge whether or not that’s a complaint, because a complaint is more of a heart issue and only God can clearly see a heart – we can see the external and often times the “fruit” or the external can point us to what seems to be the heart, but we never know for sure. Add to this how Jeremiah says that our heart is deceitful above all things and you wonder, can I even know my own heart, whether it’s a heart of complaint or one of desiring God’s will and God’s best?

And even to look at the Moses/Aaron, Israelite stories — in some ways you could say, Moses Father-in-law, Jethro was complaining to Moses because Moses was working too hard and trying to do too many things that Moses was potentially hindering God’s mission’s effectiveness. But I see Jethro’s “complaints” or “comments” as actually helpful! That’s because Jethro’s focus was on God’s mission and helping Moses (God’s choice for leader) to fulfill what God called him to do. So for any of us to view a “comment” as complaint wouldn’t be the wisest since a person may actually be helping us better accomplish God’s mission and vision!

So I got to thinking about these Israelites and I wonder if some personal reflection questions may be helpful in all of our journeys to at least move us toward a better understanding of ourselves and God’s leading in our lives? Here’s some questions I would ask myself (in the context of prayer and reflection with God and His Word):

1. Is the “issue” I want to share or comment about based on something in me? A personal preference, method or idea I like? Or the issue based on God’s mission and seeing it move forward with the people who He’s called to fulfill His mission? (if it’s the first, it’s probably more of a complaint than helpful)

2. Is my issue because of something that is out of my “comfort zone” and is my comment meant to restore to me “comfort” or is it a desire to trust God in the uncomfortableness and follow Him? (The Israelites were uncomfortable with not knowing what was next or how they would be provided for and therefore they complained)

3. Is my issue really an issue of trust in the leadership God has called or with God Himself? Or is it trying to support what God is doing? (I’m amazed how many times this issue is what it boiled down to with me personally, I just didn’t want to trust and follow and therefore I “complained” about other things but the real issue was trust.)

4. Is my heart to see God’s mission/purpose move forward regardless of me personally and would me sharing this with others “build them up according to their needs” and God’s work in their lives?

Since this is a church blog — as I think about this issue applied to church life…I personally have not heard a ton of “comments” – I’ve had some questions or confusions which I’ve sought to clarify – I’ve had some people dislike and be upset about certain things but there hasn’t been lots of people who’ve come to me and even those who have, I can’t say they were “complaining” because I don’t know their heart — is it trusting? Following? Wishing God’s best? Or is it personal uncomfortableness? I don’t know that – so I’ve sought to just learn from everyone who’s shared with me – I pray about the comments I get and continue to seek God’s direction. I will say as a leader there is always a temptation to want to be “liked”, to want to “not upset” and at times that temptation can be really strong — and I won’t say there haven’t been times where I’ve chosen not to do something or to do something to avoid upsetting someone — but in my recent time with God in prayer, I’ve resolved in the best ways I can to remain utterly dependent on God, continually on my face in prayer, humble in leadership and regularly both publically and privately confessing our need to be “in Christ” and to lead out of that relationship. As a leader, I realize I don’t feel at all “worthy” of being followed, but if God places a leader then the people He leads are actually following (or not following) God, not that person. In some ways I wish God would accomplish His plan through His angels instead of using fallible, inadequate, ordinary human beings — but He’s God, and He set it up this way and so I will seek to follow Him and confidently, boldly boast in my weakness and lead in His strength.

Complaining, I’m realizing, is a heart issue, and one we all need to continually reflect on and surrender to God in — but I do know this — God has an amazing adventure of faith in store for those who are willing to follow Him even though, like the Israelites, they are unsure, uncomfortable and moving into an area of “unknown”.

God Bless you on your journey with God and your heart reflection before Him….I pray He is ultimately glorified in how we surrender and how we live our day to day. To God belongs the glory!

Congregational Email

gcrpastor — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:47:10 +0000

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!

Grace Church Roseville Information – Minnesota Church (Twin Cities)

gcrpastor — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:45:06 +0000

Well, I am experimenting with moving into a wordpress blog in addition to our regular mac blog over at extendgrace.org. So who is this, and what is this about? My name is Jason Stonehouse, and I am the lead pastor at Grace Church Roseville, an innovative, family-friendly, Bible-teaching church in Roseville, MN. I’ve been there for 7 months now and it’s exciting to think about what’s to come for Grace. As a part of the Twin Cities here in Minnesota there is so much going on and so many people to meet and connect with.

Check out more information about Grace at extendgrace.org or gracechurchroseville.org.

Thanks for reading this, we’ll see what’s to come of this blog.