The purpose of the Ministry Journal is to share stories of God's good work among us and to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ in order to cultivate unity of mind and heart in mission and purpose and to remind one another of our true belonging to the family of God.
It is even stranger I think, that the Creator of the universe commands a relationship of friendship with his sinful, fallen creatures who would be utterly lost but for his own death and resurrection. The friendship spoken of by Jesus will drive us to our knees and raise up our heads at the same time…
Read MoreWhen I was growing up, the main line of the Pontiac Car Commercial went something like this… “We Build Excitement! . . . I feel the same way about Vacation Bible School this year… “We’re Building Excitement!”
Read MoreThis league has truly been a blessing to me, and God has encouraged me to know it's blessed many involved as well. So, as exciting as Tuesday & Thursday's games will be/should be, come take advantage of the opportunity we have as a body to love on our community! They are coming into our building! Let the warmth and welcome and light feel strange, yet captivating! Let your little light shine ("fan into flame" some may say...), and pray that God would continue to do His good work right here in our midst.
Read MoreThis devotional was given at a Women of Grace Baby Shower on March 6th, 2017.
Read MoreThe Conference opened on Monday, 30 January, with four consecutive break-out sessions. I attended a workshop with Tony Merida, founding Pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC, titled, The Foundation of Preaching. It was a helpful reflection and reminder of why it is important to preach the Word of God, and nothing else. This doesn’t eliminate creativity but, as Tony put it (quoting Bart Ehrman of all people!), “If you believe God wrote a book, wouldn’t you want to read it?” And as preachers, knowing that God has written a book, surely we would want to preach it!
Read MoreThe Christian life is marked by a life of discipleship, both in being a disciple of Jesus and in discipling others. On this retreat weekend with special guest Ryan Griffith, we looked at what exactly discipleship means, the cost and joy of our own discipleship and discipling others, the practical example that Paul gives us to follow, and the power we have in Jesus' name to disciple.
Read MoreWorshiping the Lord in truth and love captures the essence of the Christian life as efficiently as any expression could.
Read MoreThis letter to our Grace Church (GCD) Body will do double-duty: it is my contribution to our January Graceful Living and also our 2017 Annual Report. In Graceful Living it will introduce a new format you’ll see in our printed Annual Report, and in that document it will introduce similar letters from other ministry leaders that give praise to God for all He accomplished here in 2016.
Read MoreThe response was a less than enthusiastic, slightly annoyed, “Nick who?” I foresaw that this response would lead to an awkward situation once my identity became known, so I attempted to head off the awkwardness by jumping around the corner, pointing to my face, and saying “It’s this Nick!”
Read MoreRenovation of the Heart, applications from Galatians 5:19 – 23 as studied by the Renew Youth Ministry. This is our Christmas Break homework!
Read MoreIf you want to experience the power of God at work in you, and watch the power of God move through you, and witness the power of God rescuing dead and dying people because of you, boldly tell the world that Jesus is your Lord, Savior, and greatest Treasure. Bear the name of Christ in what you do and what you say. There is nothing the Holy Spirit is happier to do through you than to make much of Jesus.
Read MoreYour experience may have been different, but my impressions of The Passion of the Christ when it first came out was that it was nearly a mandate for Christians to see. The argument went something like this: In our sanitized western minds, we have no idea what a crucifixion is like. It is easy, then, to gloss over the events of Christ’s passion and to miss the magnitude of what He did for us. Seeing this movie will help us overcome that.
Read More“We’ve been asked not to sing the word alleluia tonight,” she explained. In this church’s observance of Lent, they didn’t say alleluia until Easter morning. That evening, our music proclaimed the truth of the gospel without the alleluias and resurrection songs, in a way uniquely fitted to the season.
Read MoreSeasons of joy are wonderful times. They are pictures of the great celebration when all longings will be satisfied in the Lord's presence forever. But our seasons in the wilderness evoke this longing through a different means. In the desert, distractions are stripped away by our realization that they can't provide for our need. We can know that "man doesn't live on bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), but our faith in that truth is tested when there is no food.
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