grace•ology

The Bridge Series Pre-Service Playlist

(guest blog by Hilary Wyatt)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Time Goes By - Air Traffic
O, Little Town of Bethlehem - Jars of Clay
The Reeling - Passion Pit
Your Love is a Song - Switchfoot
Deliver Me (Antidromic Mix) - David Crowder Band
Silent Night - Seabird (This band just released a new album called "Rocks Into Rivers".  Give it a listen!)
Sixes and Sevens - As Tall As Lions
Cobra Con - Derek Webb
All that I Am - Parachute
O Holy Night - Weezer
Passenger - One Republic

GraceSTUDENTS update!

We have recently put our student website into cyberspace and want you to check it out. We want everyone at Grace to take a look at www.gogracestudents.com whether you have students in the ministry or not. This website gives you a little inside information on what we are about and what we value most as GraceSTUDENTS!

We have had a great semester impacting lives in GraceSTUDENTS. Each week there have been new opportunities to help students take their next step toward Christ. Each weekend is a fun mix of activities and real-life teaching from the word of God. This semester we now average around 40-50 students a weekend and look forward to reaching more for Christ in the years to come!

We also have launched several middle school small groups that meet in various locations during the week. We have also gained great leaders in our department who have been investing in GraceSTUDENTS on a regular basis. Please continue to pray for the student ministry as we strive to honor God and pave the way for students who are far from God to come close. 

Back In Black Playlist

(Guest Blog by Hilary Wyatt)

The four weeks of the “Making Love Last” series flew by!  Mike taught some great messages on love and marriage.  And now, as we head into the “Back in Black” financial series, it’s already time for a brand new pre-service playlist.  I am really enjoying this series’ playlist.  It includes music from a Canadian based band (Lights), Owl City, a one-member band that is running his way up the charts and one of my all-time favorite artists, Mute Math. 

The Dead Weather – 3 Birds
Caitlin Crosby – Today
Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky
Lights – Drive My Soul
Mute Math – Armistice
Brandon Heath – Give Me Your Eyes
Explosions in the Sky – Catastrophe and the Cure
Deas Vail – Last Place
Owl City – Meteor Shower
Evoka – Regret
Anya Marina – Vertigo

Baptism and Picnic this Sunday!

We hope you're all looking forward to this Sunday's baptism at Dinky Dock Park on Lake Virginia!  It's going to be great--the weather is going to turn cooler, we're grilling out, and dozens of people will be once and for all publicly declaring that they belong to Jesus!  It's an exciting and important time in the lives of these people, plus it's lots of fun.  Bring the picnic blankets and chairs, and remember to park legally.  :-)  see you at 1pm!  Maps will be available at the church that morning. 

AC/DC in church?

Our Back in Black series starts this Sunday, a scriptural look at God's thoughts about money. It couldn't be more timely, as the economy, unemployment, and real estate markets have caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people in Central Florida over the past year. I can't wait to share what God is placing on my heart about this topic for those who are struggling.

We used the intro to the old AC/DC song as the title of the series — a play on the words "black" and "red" as they pertain to your finances. Here's a look at the series trailer we showed in our announcements this weekend:

I got an email this morning asking why we'd use a song from AC/DC in our services at all. We're trying to give God glory, and they're obviously not a Christian band — in fact, most people would see them as a very anti-Christian band. It's a great question that you might have sometime, too, whether about this or about another element in a service at Grace, so I thought I'd post my response to them here on the blog for everyone to think about. 

About the AC/DC song, I can totally see where you are coming from. They certainly are not a band that honors God with their music. 

The number one reason we used the song was just the play on words about getting your finances in the black. But there is always more:  Jesus' entire ministry was taking bad things and people and redeeming them for His glory. He used blindness, lameness, dirt, waste, tax collectors, prostitutes. We want to continue His work here on earth.

This is nothing new in the church — Paul drew attention to an idol to teach people about Jesus. John Wesley took off-color songs that people sang in bars and re-wrote them with God-honoring lyrics so that people would know how to sing them loud in church. We become all things to all men so that we might save some (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). We try be a part of God taking what someone meant for evil and using it for good (Genesis 50:20). We want to take what culture meant for bad and use it to point people to God's way. 

As I know you know, we see the church not as our safe haven from the world, but as a place to help people understand and interpret the world and follow God in it. I haven't had any other emails (good or bad) about the AC/DC song, but I have had other emails in the past thanking us for using secular music when they brought a friend who was far from God. It made a bridge for them, and if anything helps those friends find Him, it brings Him glory the most.

We have had about 40 men, women, students and children make decisions for Christ in the last few weeks at Grace. His Spirit is moving. Pray that God uses this series on a huge need in lives right now — money — to draw people closer to Him.  If you know someone who is struggling with finances but has never wanted to come to church with you before — now is the perfect time to invite them. 

See you on Sunday! 

If you gave Your Heart to Jesus on Sunday...

Perhaps you're reading this, and you're someone who recently made a decision to follow Jesus, to give him your old heart in exchange for a new one. Maybe you've been walking away from him for a while and decided to shift back and return to Him. If so, you're wondering what to do this first. How do I go about living my week differently? Here are some first steps you can take:

1. Get a Bible. If you do not have a personal Bible to call your own, Grace would like to give you a Bible. You can pick it up at the information cafe this Sunday, just tell them you were one of the people who made a decision to follow Jesus recently and you need a Bible. 

 

2. Start reading it, and make it a daily habit. The Bible is God's primary way of communicating with us, it is there that we learn about him, and begin to understand how to go about living life in relationship with Him. The first book you should read is the gospel of Mark, the second book of the New Testament. It is the story of the life and work of Jesus, and is simple and straightforward to read. As you read, have a notebook and jot down questions you have, and thoughts that impact you. Remember to write chapter and verse (for example, Mark 6:5) so you can refer back.

3. Tell someone in your life about the decision you have made. If you have another person who you know is a Christian, tell them you made a decision to give your life to Jesus.

4. Invite a friend to church. If you enjoyed your experience at Grace, and it had a serious impact on your life, then pay it forward by inviting one or more of your friends so that they too can have the opportunity to hear the message you heard that made such an impact on your life. 

 5. Sign up for one of the small groups starting in less than a week. This will be a great way for you to meet a bunch of people from the church, and begin some new relationships, because you'll need to have some good people around you to support you as you strive to take steps toward Jesus.

 6. Commit to attending Grace every week for the next few weeks, so that you can continue to hear more from God's Word, respond to him in worship, and meet more people at Grace who have experienced the same life change that you are experiencing.

Playlists for One Life & Making Love Last

(Guest blog from Hilary Wyatt)

One Life Pre-Service Playlist
MuteMath - The Nerve
Jimmy Needham - Come Around
Owl City - Fireflies
Starfield - The Loveliest Sound
Homer Hiccolm & The Rocketboys - Do I Wake or Sleep?
Leeland - Carry Me On Your Back
Paper Route - Wish
Fellowship Church - Send Love
The Charlatans - Missing Beats (Of A Generation)
Deas Vail - White Lights

Making Love Last Pre-Service Playlist
Parachute Band - Come to the River
MuteMath - Odds
La Roux - Bulletproof
The Early Hours - Come Take My Hand
Jason Mraz feat. Colbie Caillat - Lucky
Shane & Shane - Beg
Florence + The Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
Snow Patrol - Hands Open
Eisley - Taking Control
Delirious - Love Will Find a Way
Leigh Nash - More of It

The Closing of the Destiny Foundation

By now, I'm sure that many of you have heard about the sudden closing of the Destiny Foundation. As Grace has partnered with the Foundation in extensive ways (including making them the recipients of 25% of our Generous Life building campaign receipts), I wanted to post a letter that Mike emailed to our Generous Life donors on Wednesday, the day the closing was announced. It will let everyone know where we are in relation to this sad news, and hopefully it will encourage you to pray. God and Grace are not done serving the poor in Central Florida — be certain of that!

A year ago this November, you made a decision in faith to support the Generous Life project at Grace. We can’t thank you enough for that sacrifice, and we are closer than we’ve ever been to moving forward on a facility for Grace. Please continue to give toward your pledge, and to pray that we will be where He wants us. He is at work!

 

Since you are a member of that group of givers, I wanted to update you first before telling the entire church about a circumstance that’s impacted the project. As you know, The Destiny Foundation has been a recipient of 25 percent of all the donations we’ve brought in so far for Generous Life. But today, the decision was made to close the doors of the Destiny Foundation effective immediately.

This difficult decision is a result of a growing financial crisis that has snowballed in the last month. The Board of Directors, which I have been a part of for a few months, made the decision to close the doors and to begin to develop a more sustainable model to try to open again in the future. 

The bottom line?  The economic crisis has led Destiny to the place where it is simply out of money. The primary reasons for this are that

• In its current structure, the Destiny Foundation depended on the sale of donated food — even at the greatly reduced prices it offered — for most of its revenue, and

• The recession has made donated food increasingly impossible to get.

There has been less free food to sell and therefore no revenue to support the ministry, even after severe payroll and ministry cuts. Add to that a greatly increased clientele coming to the ministry because of the downturn, and it was a two-sided crisis — more demand and less supply.

There are some things I want you to know in this transition and its impact on Grace:

1) All the money we have given so far to Destiny has already gone to help the working poor. It has been spent to serve many people. The economy has simply impacted the Destiny Foundation so much that there are simply no funds left to continue assisting the community at this time.

2) Destiny is currently re-organizing and developing a sustainable model to open again in the future. I am praying about what role God would have me take in that, if any.

3) The elders and staff at Grace are going to be praying and evaluating whether we will continue to support Destiny in its new form, or whether we will pursue another local poverty project. 

4) In the meantime, every cent that you have given and will give for the local poor in the Generous Life campaign will be set aside until we make that decision. The 25 percent of the money you've pledged to Generous Life for the local poor will be used for that purpose only — and for nothing else.

Please be in prayer for Scott George and the team at Destiny, including our own Grace attenders who work and volunteer there. They are experiencing great loss over a vision unfulfilled. Pray for those who have sought out help from the Destiny Foundation as well, that they will find other places of help and rest. And pray for Grace as we move forward to give and to serve in the way God has called us. 

We won’t stop.

 

In His grace,

Pastor Mike

New Chek-IN procedure for students!!!

If you are a teenager or a parent of a teenager, you need to read this. We are going to a new checkin system starting this Sunday (Sept 13)! We need ALL students to checkin at the Kiosk that will be located on the 1st floor. 

Students who checkin will be given a wristband that will get them into the room upstairs. No wristband. No entrance! Make sure you get there a little early so we can assist you with the new process. Just so you remember, Middle School meets @ 10:30 and Highschool meets @ 11:45! Thanks!

Fall Check-IN from Norman Tumlinson on Vimeo.

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

That's the motto of Land of 1000 Hills Coffee, which we partake of by the gallon every Sunday.  It's all part of our Generous Life campaign.  Check out the video to see what something as simple as buying Rwandan coffee is doing!