Last Tuesday morning, our church staff went out to Shady Maple for a celebration breakfast as a team to enjoy together reveling in how God used our ministry to touch thousands of lives over the past two weeks of Easter ministry. After taking the time to completely fill up on some great food, we took the time to each share some of the highlights from our recent ministry endeavors. What a special time it was.
As we wrapped things up I shared one of the highlights for me. It took place at about 2am Saturday morning once the 'At The Hop’ women’s event was completely cleaned up and the coming morning’s Egg Hunt was just about ready. I was walking through the auditorium which had just gone through a major transformation from a 50’s diner to a children’s carnival. I ran into our Director of Student Ministries, Doug Kegarise (pictured), who looked at me and with a huge smile on his face simply said, “I love this place!”
Those words have stuck with me ever since. In fact, as I shared this story with our staff, my emotions got the best of me (I hate it when that happens!). Doug is exactly right. I could not have said it any better myself…“I love this place!” What an amazing church Grace is. I reminded our staff of what they all already knew, that we are so privileged to be able to serve day in and day out here at Grace Church. I know I’m biased but I have a hard time even imagining that there might be a church more wonderful than Grace.
So what makes Grace such an incredible place? I could list a million answers to that one question but here are just a few things:
1. The staff! A leader is only as strong as the team that he leads. Folks, listen, we have one incredible team. For me, the best part of the many events of the last two weeks was being able to set the vision back in January and then sit back and watch the staff take the vision and run with it with such excellence.
2. The volunteers! As we shared around the table at Shady Maple, most every person’s comments found its way back to the hundreds and hundreds of people within our church who volunteered so much time and energy without which none of our ministries would have taken place. Our volunteers are the backbone of our ministry.
3. The elders! The lay leaders of our church are some of the godliest men I know. I am amazed at the unity and courage that these men demonstrate.
4. The vision! Many churches talk about being concerned about lost people but Grace Church does one better…they act on that concern. Evangelism must be the engine that drives the church and Grace Church is functioning on all cylinders when it comes to meeting people where they are and moving them to where God wants them to be.
I LOVE THIS PLACE!
As we wrapped things up I shared one of the highlights for me. It took place at about 2am Saturday morning once the 'At The Hop’ women’s event was completely cleaned up and the coming morning’s Egg Hunt was just about ready. I was walking through the auditorium which had just gone through a major transformation from a 50’s diner to a children’s carnival. I ran into our Director of Student Ministries, Doug Kegarise (pictured), who looked at me and with a huge smile on his face simply said, “I love this place!”
Those words have stuck with me ever since. In fact, as I shared this story with our staff, my emotions got the best of me (I hate it when that happens!). Doug is exactly right. I could not have said it any better myself…“I love this place!” What an amazing church Grace is. I reminded our staff of what they all already knew, that we are so privileged to be able to serve day in and day out here at Grace Church. I know I’m biased but I have a hard time even imagining that there might be a church more wonderful than Grace.
So what makes Grace such an incredible place? I could list a million answers to that one question but here are just a few things:
1. The staff! A leader is only as strong as the team that he leads. Folks, listen, we have one incredible team. For me, the best part of the many events of the last two weeks was being able to set the vision back in January and then sit back and watch the staff take the vision and run with it with such excellence.
2. The volunteers! As we shared around the table at Shady Maple, most every person’s comments found its way back to the hundreds and hundreds of people within our church who volunteered so much time and energy without which none of our ministries would have taken place. Our volunteers are the backbone of our ministry.
3. The elders! The lay leaders of our church are some of the godliest men I know. I am amazed at the unity and courage that these men demonstrate.
4. The vision! Many churches talk about being concerned about lost people but Grace Church does one better…they act on that concern. Evangelism must be the engine that drives the church and Grace Church is functioning on all cylinders when it comes to meeting people where they are and moving them to where God wants them to be.
I LOVE THIS PLACE!
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