Why I Am PUMPED About Grace Church - Part 1

It was four years ago that Laura and I, along with our kids, moved to Lititz, PA in Lancaster County to be just the second Senior Pastor in the history of Grace Church. What a great four years it has been. I am so blown away at what God has been doing through our ministry. I am more excited about Grace Church than I was four years ago when I left a successful ministry in Indiana and a wonderful church full of people who loved and accepted me in order to launch a new chapter in my ministry here in Lititz. In short, I am absolutely pumped! So today and tomorrow I want to give you several reasons why I could not be more thrilled about the next three months of ministry here at Grace.

Auditorium Renovations – This week will complete the new floor being installed in our
multi-purpose building that is used as our auditorium and gymnasium. In the early weeks of August the new retractable basketball standards and brand new scoreboard will be put up on the walls and retractable bleachers will also be installed. Specially designed multi-media curtains will then be installed that will cover the basketball standards, bleachers and scoreboard in order for our worship and other special events to take place in a building that does not look like a gymnasium while allowing us to have an extremely professional and effective gym for sporting and other recreational events.

Just Say No – Over the five Sundays in August we will be studying a new series that we care calling, “Just Say No” in which each week we will see one individual from Scripture who personally faced temptation. We will see three examples who succeeded at resisting their temptation (Christ, Joseph, and Daniel) and two examples who failed (Eve and David). From these 5 example we will learn everything we can about how to resist the personal temptations that we face as followers of Christ every single day!

Pastor of Connections Visit – August 1-6 will see Steve Burghart and his family coming to Lititz to visit Grace Church as our potential candidate for our Pastor of Connections position. Steve is from Southern California where he is on staff at Saddleback Community Church which is pastored by Rick Warren, author of the best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life. Next week I will give you all of the details for this visit but for now be sure to mark 3:00-5:30 down on your calendar for Sunday, August 3, for a special “meet and greet” time in the church fellowship hall with refreshments and an informal time for you to meet Steve and his family and to ask him anything you would like to know of him.

Outdoor Youth-Led Communion – Sunday evening, August 3, at 6pm following the meet and greet time with our potential Pastor of Connection Candidate, our youth will lead us in what I believe is the greatest communion of the year as we all meet outside.

Core Class Sunday – Our next Core Class Sunday will be the afternoon of August 10 as we offer Class 101 which is an introduction to Grace Church taught by me for those who are new or somewhat new to Grace Church and Class 201 which deals with developing spiritual disciplines and is taught by Pastor Tim. Free lunch and childcare is provided.

A Pearl of a Funeral

Remember our series last March on heaven (The WOW Factor…World of Wonder)? On the Sunday of that series that we talked about the 12 gates around the wall of the New Jerusalem each being each made of one gigantic pearl, we gave out a white bead to everyone in attendance that resembled a pearl. We asked them that week to carry the bead in their pocket wherever they went as a reminder that the best is yet to come.

The wife of one of the newer young couples that attends our church works at a retirement village. She came to know one of the residents there who was failing in health. His name was Barry Shuler. He had trusted Christ but was really struggling with being scared to die. She took him into her office and had him watch all 3 messages of the WOW series online. God greatly used these messages in his life to give him peace and help prepare him for eternity. In fact, Barry shared with her that he was disappointed that he did not get one of those pearls we handed out in church that morning.

Barry wanted to come to our church so every Sunday since then this young woman and her husband would drive a good distance out of their way to pick him up for church. He loved attending Grace. During the week he would get on the computer in this woman’s office and listen to all the archived sermons on our website.

A few weeks back Barry took a turn for the worst and I was called. When I arrived at the nursing home I was able to meet most all of his family for the first time that were around his bed. I chatted with them for a few minutes about how Barry started coming to our church and how he could not get enough of the messages. I then bent down and read parts of John 14 and Revelation 21 to Barry as he clutched my hand.

After I prayed for Barry, I began to talk with his family about the WOW series. I was reminded that Barry was always disappointed that he never received one of those pearls that we gave out. I then shared with the family what the Bible taught about the pearly gates of heaven and why we gave out the beads. As I talked about those pearls, Barry sat straight up in bed with a huge smile on his face. His family was astounded. Barry had shown little responsiveness all day. But when we talked about those pearly gates – he got excited! I returned the next day for a second visit and brought Barry one of those fake pearls. His family made a little pouch for it and pinned it to his robe. Before I left, I said good-bye to Barry and told him that the next time I saw him it would be at those pearly gates! He smiled.

Last Saturday morning I had the privilege of preaching Barry’s funeral and I spoke about haven and the pearly gates. The pouch with the pearl in it was inside Barry’s pocket in the casket. After I told the story of the pearl, I gave everyone who was in attendance one of those fake pearls to take with them. Handing out beads representing pearls that Sunday morning back in March may have seemed like just a man-made gimmick to some, but to Barry it was a teaching tool that God used to help calm his fear of death and to make him look forward to heaven. It also became a bridge of ministry for me to his family.

A Special Donor

Rick Bernhardt, Senior Administrator of Morningstar Daycare and Lititz Christian School which are both ministries of Grace Church, sent the following letter to all school and daycare families regarding our auditorium renovations.

Grace Church and its educational ministries have been blessed with 96,000 square feet of building space, where they meet people where they are and move them to where God wants them to be. Without question, one room that most ministries depend on greatly is the multipurpose room, which is often referred to as the auditorium or gymnasium. It is evident that seventeen years of athletic events, vacation Bible schools, worship services, youth activities, etc. have contributed to the need for room renovations, as well as upgrades. I am thrilled to announce that renovations of the auditorium/gymnasium have begun. Detailed research, professional advisement, and one generous donor are making this long-time dream a reality. Renovations include a new floor, retractable basketball goals mounted on the side walls, retractable bleachers, center volleyball court, safety mats, a new scoreboard, and fresh paint. Large multimedia screens will serve as curtains to mask the athletic accessories while enhancing the room’s sound and aesthetics when the room is used for auditorium events (worship services, graduation, chapel, etc.)

I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to introduce you to the donor of this incredible project, Mr. Henry Weber. He and his lovely wife, Frances, have had a passion for Christian education for several decades. His ongoing, generous gifts to the school and the church have been greatly appreciated. When Mr. Weber agreed to fund the project I made it clear that I wanted him to be a part of the planning, as his years of experience, attention to detail, and ability to dream would be great assets to the project.

Henry Weber has been an elder at Grace Church for 8 years, having attended the church for 18 years. Mr. Weber received Christ as his Savior in 1931 at the Lititz Mennonite Church. He attended Webster School, a one-room country school, and graduated from Eastern Mennonite High School. He is married to Frances and they are parents of Sylvia, Joseph, Christopher, Anita and Eileen. They have 7 grandchildren, two of which are alumni of Lititz Christian School and one who is currently a Junior and who also attended MorningStar. A favorite Bible verse of Mr. Weber’s is Isaiah 40:31, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” At the age of 87, he has logged over 32,000 hours flying time. Mrs. Weber is the epitome of the expression, “Behind every successful man there stands a successful woman.” Just stop Mr. Weber sometime and ask him to whom he owes his success. Without a doubt, he will give honor to the Lord first and then quickly tell you about his bride, Frances. This special woman began touching people’s lives at the young age of 16 when she became a vocal soloist, sharing her beautiful voice with anyone fortunate enough to hear her sing. Her gentle spirit and godly nature have been a blessing not only to Mr. Weber but to all who know her.

While gymnasium equipment will be installed in August, the projected completion date for the floor is July 24. If all goes well, volleyball players will have the privilege of initiating the floor during their volleyball camp the later part of August. Praise be to God for the great things He is doing at Grace Church.

Columbine Memorial

On vacation earlier this month our family flew the red eye direct from Philadelphia to Denver and then back. It is a little over a two hour drive from my in-laws home in Pueblo to the Denver Airport. Since our flight back home was not leaving until 12:30am, we had time to kill so we spent a few hours at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and then headed further north to meet some of Laura’s extended family in Littleton, Colorado. We arrived a bit early so we got directions to a high school that every adult in America is familiar with…Columbine High School.

Back in 1999, two troubled students took assault weapons into the school and open fired resulting in the death of 12 High School students and 1 teacher. If you are like me, you will always remember the news footage of that day. As we stood outside the school, we were looking right at the spot where law enforcement officials evacuated students from the school with their hands above their heads. As we walked around the school we could see through the windows into the library where so many of the deaths occurred. We then looked into the cafeteria where I could vividly remember the security film released by the school that showed the pandemonium that occurred in the lunchroom on that day.

We then walked over to the nearby park where the Columbine Memorial rests. This memorial is very well done with an inner circle with 13 slabs of concrete, each one of them representing one of the 13 individuals who were killed on that fatal day. Each slab has the person’s name and a paragraph about them that was written by their families. Around the wall surrounding this inner circle were quotes from students, faculty, parents, and even former President Bill Clinton regarding the events of that day.

As a parent of two teenagers and as a pastor who oversees a ministry that has well over 500 children, teenagers and adults in our building most every day through the ministries of Morningstar Daycare and Lititz Christian School, walking around Columbinbe High School and standing by this memorial captivated me. But the thing that most moved me was watching my two kids. Jonathan (age 16) was only 7 years old when the shootings took place and had very little knowledge of the events. As we walked around the school, looking into the library and cafeteria windows, I explained to him the timeline of that day as best as I remembered it.

But watching both he and Joy (age 18) as they slowly walked around the memorial reading every word that was etched in the stones was almost emotional for me. You could see them trying to take in the tragic events that this memorial was created because of and trying to identify with the victims who were the same ages then as my children are today. Joy could not get her mind away from the one quote on the wall that basically said that what happened at Columbine could happen anywhere. What a reminder to me as the leader of our ministry of my need to pray more fervently and more often for the safety of our students and our employees and for the effectiveness of our ministry day in and day out. I think Jonathan said it best as he and I walked back to the car when he said, “Dad, I’m going to be thinking about this for the rest of the day.” I know I did. In fact, I still am!

What's That Smell?

Two words…liquid manure. Before I moved to Lancaster County I didn’t even know it existed. Shortly after moving to Lititz, the fields by the church got their fall spraying of this liquid gold. You don’t realize how close I came to packing my bags and heading back to Indiana. To me (and most normal people) these smells are horrible. But talk to a farmer and you’ll hear a totally different story. To them it is the smell of life! One smell…two reactions. The same is true with being a follower of Jesus Christ as we learn in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17. Paul states three facts about we who are followers of Jesus.

First, we are in a processional fanfare (2:14a). Paul states, “But thanks be to God who always leads us to triumph in Christ.” Historically, Paul had in mind a Roman Triumph which was a march of victory that honored the conquering general through the streets of Rome up to the capitol. Sometimes this parade would go long into the night.

Theologically, we are to give thanks to God that Christ is our conquering leader. We are His army who experiences the triumph of His victory over sin, death and hell. This is a victory we experience “always,” regardless of when problems arise and in “every place,” regardless of where problems arise. We are part of a processional fanfare!

Second, followers of Jesus are a penetrating fragrance (2:14b-16). Let’s go back to the Roman Triumph I described earlier. Historically, the priests in the parade waved censors filled with incense that gave off a very strong and sweet aroma. This aroma was in honor of their gods who they believed had given them victory. The thickness of this incense often obscured people’s vision. To those who were the victors, this was a delightful aroma of life. To those who had been taken captive, this same exact smell was the smell of death as most faced imminent execution.

Theologically, Paul says that we as Christians are that sweet smelling aroma of the knowledge of God to those around us. To those who will receive Christ, we are the aroma of life. To those who will reject Christ we are the aroma of death. Author and speaker, Charles Swindol, said it this way, “Christ has an unmistakable fragrance, and you can smell it on someone who is genuinely Christlike.”

Finally, we are also privileged Followers (2:16b-17). Paul asks, “Who is adequate for these things?” The answer is simple…no one is. As a result, we do not peddle the Word of God. The word “peddle” described a street salesman desiring only to make a sale (like a wine merchant who often sold watered down wine because their only goal was their own profit and not the benefit of their customer). Instead, we represent God out of “sincerity’ which is a compound word made up of the words “sunlight” and “to judge.” It is the idea of someone holding something up to the sunlight for careful inspection. Because he was part of a processional fanfare…because he was a penetrating fragrance of both life and death…because he was a privileged follower of Jesus Christ, Paul made sure that his life and his message stood up to the closest of scrutiny. So should we!

Tent Worship

Decades ago, many mighty works of God were done in outdoor services under a big tent. Those tent meeting revivals have their place in church history. Today, our worship most always takes place inside where the comforts can be more controlled and where weather makes little to no difference. But this Sunday here at Grace Church we will get a small taste of the past as we move both of our morning worship services (9:00 and 10:45) outside on our soccer filed under a big tent. Our nursery, children’s program, youth group and Adult Bible Fellowship classes will meet inside as usual.

Why the “blast from the past?” The answer really has nothing to do with the tent meeting revival days of years gone by. The answer is because our present auditorium is getting a much needed face-lift. Last week the 17 year old carpet was removed and the walls were repainted. My how this was needed. That carpet served us well but it was a real distinct eyesore in recent years. It is covered with every stain imaginable including but not limited to blood from athletes diving for basketballs and volleyballs as well as the stain that remains from the day a few years ago that we brought a horse into the auditorium as an object lesson when we were preaching through the book of James on Sunday mornings. We put all kinds of plastic down “just in case.” Well, “just in case” actually happened and we found out that this specific horse was not “paper trained.” I’ll never forget watching the front two rows of the auditorium clear out as that horse turned its large rear end toward the crowd and lifted its tail. Man, I still laugh until I cry when I remember that morning.

This past week work began to install a new floor. This floor will be far more multi-functional than the athletic carpet was. Because there will be no carpet, this will be an ideal floor for all of the athletic events that take place in our gym/auditorium for Lititz Christian School. At the same time, we can still do everything else we normally do in that room as an auditorium and have it look even better than ever. We don’t even need to cover the floor. We can set tables, chairs and other items right on it. The dimples that this causes in the floor will raise back to a perfect surface within minutes of these items being taken down. This is going to be one nice floor. But as a result of installing the new floor, we must be out of the auditorium for one Sunday which is this Sunday. Thus, the reason for the worshipping under the big top July 20!

The month of August will bring the final touches to the gym/auditorium remodeling project. Retractable basketball standards and bleachers will be installed along with a new scoreboard. There will also be large multi-media curtains installed that will cover all of this on Sunday mornings so that it doesn’t look like we are meeting in a gymnasium. Lititz Christian School has worked hard on coming up with these plans so that our entire ministry is benefited. And we are very thankful that Rick Bernhardt, our Senior Administrator of Lititz Christian School and Morningstar Daycare was also able to find a donor who is passionate about all of our ministries here at Grace Church and who is underwriting the entire project. We’ll be back in the auditorium on July 27, but for this coming Sunday, July 20, I’ll see you under the big top as we worship outside under the tent!

The Best Day of the Week

I think that most who attend Grace Church would agree that the best day of the week without any question is Sunday! This is such a great place to worship the Lord together. Below is what you can expect over the Sundays coming up here at Grace:

July 20 – Both of our Sunday worship services will be held outside under a big tent as I preach from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 on the topic, “What’s That Smell?” This Sunday will also include a special Missions Digging Deeper Elective during both the 9:00 and 10:45 services in the Fellowship Hall on the topic, “God Loves the Nations.”

July 27 – We will be back inside as Lisa McCoy presents a mini-concert and Mike Lutz will be sharing about Small Group Ministry. We will also have special guests from Africa this Sunday sharing at 9:00 and 10:45 in the Fellowship Hall an exciting update regarding our Hand in Hand partnership helping orphans in the Central African Republic

August 3 – We will start our “Just Say NO” series on temptation as I preach on the temptation of Eve from Genesis 3. This Sunday will also be part one of a two part Digging Deeper elective at 9am in the Fellowship Hall on Coping with Change. Participants will be taught a practical model which they can use to think about and cope with change so as to increase the likelihood of having the life experiences they desire. This Sunday evening at 6pm will also be our outdoor, youth-led communion.

August 10 – We will continue our “Just Say NO” series on temptation as I preach on the temptation of Christ from Matthew 4 and Luke 4. This Sunday will also be the end of the two-part Digging Deeper elective on Coping with Change at 9am in the Fellowship Hall. This Sunday afternoon is also our next Core Class Sunday offering Classes 101 and 301.

August 17 – We will continue our “Just Say NO” series on temptation as I preach on the temptation of Joseph from Genesis 39. On this Sunday there will also be a special Digging Deeper Elective at 9am and then repeated at 10:45 in the Church Fellowship Hall on Dealing With Addictions.

August 24 – We will continue our “Just Say NO” series on temptation as I preach on the temptation of King David in 2 Samuel 11.

August 31 – Pastor Tim will wrap up our “Just Say NO” series on temptation as he preaches on the temptation of Daniel from Daniel 1.

September will be a special prophecy month here at Grace Church as I preach a series all month long on what the Bible teaches about the coming one-world ruler that is commonly called The Anti-Christ. During this month, all of our Adult Bible Fellowship classes will take a month off and in their place there will be special Digging Deeper electives being held each week on pertinent topics concerning Biblical Prophecy.

The Book I Almost Wrote

One of my dreams has always been to write a book and have it published. For the life of me I can’t figure out how guys in ministry find the time to do that! Actually, I did write a book one time. I spent years on it. I was going to call it “The Purposeful Driven Life.” One day I was in an airport and took my just completed manuscript with me into a stall in the men’s restroom to do some final proof-reading before sending it off to the publisher. I accidentally left it in the restroom. When I realized it was done and I went back to get it, the manuscript was gone. The only thing I can think of is that it was picked up by a slightly overweight man with a goatee who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and laughing at himself who happened to be going into the restroom just as I was leaving. I wonder what ever happened to that manuscript?

I was even going to use it to launch a line of Christian underwear…Purpose Driven Underwear. It, along with my book, would have been the first item we sold when we opened our own bookstore here at Grace Church. Since deja vue tends to follow me, it actually happened to me a second time years ago with a manuscript I was nearing completion on which I was calling “The Intercession of Jabez.” I’m not sure what ever happened with that lost manuscript either.

So what books have I read lately? As I blogged about earlier, I have read Macel Falwell’s book on the life and legacy of her late husband, Dr Jerry Falwell. I also read Tim Stevens book, “Pop Goes The Church.” Tim is on staff at Granger Community Church which was voted the most innovative church in American in 2007 and the second most innovative church in America in 2008. This is a church near where I use to pastor before coming to Lititz and they are doing a terrific job at what the church is supposed to do...reaching people for Christ. This book is a look at how the church can and should leverage culture to reach people for Jesus. Our Worship Arts Director here at Grace, Matt McElravy, gave everyone on our Worship Design team a copy of it. This is the team that plans our Sunday worship services here at Grace.

Currently I am reading a book by A.J. Jacobs entitled, “The Year of Living Biblically.” This is a very intriguing book . Jacobs is an agnostic who decided that for one year he would live out every command found within Scripture literally. This is a highly funny and entertaining book. The Bible can be confusing enough to me and I have years of theological training and Biblical experience. To read this Jewish agnostic’s take on the Biblical commands and stories and following his attempt at living it out literally is amazing. It has helped me to catch a glimpse of how unbelievers would view the Bible if they just took the time to read it.

I’m not sure if I will ever accomplish my dream of writing a book and having it published or not. Maybe some day I’ll have one of our office ladies take some of my sermon series and type them into transcripts. Maybe some day I will take a month long hiatus and spend that entire 30 days on my laptop. And maybe I will just sit down and write my own personal memoirs…a tell all book about my life as a pastor. I just hope I don’t leave anymore manuscripts sitting around in any public restrooms.

From our WALL to our HEART

Nearly a year ago we concluded our series through the book of Jonah by writing on the wall of our auditorium. Remember? In the last chapter of this book we saw that this prodigal prophet was more concerned about a plant than he was the souls of the thousands of people that lived in the city of Nineveh. That is so like the church today. We are more concerned about our church traditions than we are lost people. We are more concerned about our bylaws and credentials than we are lost people. And in many cases, we are more concerned about our church buildings than we are lost people.

In order to try to “cement” home the fact that lost people must be more important to us than our “sacred cows,” on that morning we actually took time to use permanent black markers and write on the wall of our auditorium the names of lost people that we need to pray for and build bridges to for Christ. Over 3,000 names were written on the wall. Many pastors who have heard of what we did have contacted me saying, “Whew, I would have gotten fired if I would have suggested we write on the walls of our auditorium.” Yet, for Grace Church, this wall became a special part of who we are. We have seen people saved and baptized whose names were written on that wall. I never tired of seeing our people walk over to that wall and put their hand on the name of a friend or loved one and pray for their salvation. We even have had people bring their own marker to church with them to add to the wall another name of a lost person.

But now, the wall has been repainted as our auditorium gets a much needed “facelift” and the names are gone. It is really kind of cool that we didn’t have anyone get upset when we first wrote the names on the wall but since repainting over these names there have been many who have expressed sadness. It is so exciting to be part of our church that is seriously concerned about lost people. Keep a few things in mind:

1. The wall of names was meant to be temporary until the auditorium got remodeled. We are excited about the remodeling that is taking place as it is going to enhance every aspect of our overall ministry here at Grace Church.

2. It is more important that these names get impressed on our hearts rather than just put on a wall. When the names of these lost people are in our hearts we will pray for them daily, build bridges to them regularly and partner with the ministry of Grace Church to get them under the sound of the Gospel.

3. We will now be able to find a fresh way to keep these names in front of us as a church. As a Worship Design Team we will be praying about and looking for ways to keep lost people as an important focus of our ministry here at Grace. The bottom line is simple…God cares about lost people…We should too! The names may not be on the wall anymore but they are still in the mind and heart of God. Let’s be sure that we keep them in our hearts and minds as well. May God continue to use us to meet people where they are and help move them to where He wants them to be!

My Life: The Early Adult Years - Pic #5

Here I am holidng little Joy Laura on the day I that became a daddy...February 3, 1990!

My Life: The Early Adult Years - Pic #4

Here I am as a Youth Pastor...I wonder if I was counseling or scolding this young gal!

My Life: The Early Adult Years - Pic #3

This is me on our honeymoon! Yes, we really camped on our honeymoon! We were dirt poor and unfortunately, the tent leaked!

My Life: The Early Adult Years - Pic #2

Here is Laura and me on our wedding day, May 23,1987! We got married at Temple Baptist Church in Pueblo, Colorado!

My Life: The Early Adult Years - Pic #1

Here is Laura and me at our College graduation from Liberty University in 1987!

My Life: The Teen Years - Pic #3

High School graduation! I graduated from Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in 1983.

My Life: The Teen Years - Pic #2

Hey...Junior High for me was the disco era!

My Life: The Teen Years - Pic #1

This is me in Junior High School!

My Life: The Elementary Years - Pic #4

This is one of those many painful Elementary School pictures that all kids are forced to endure!

My Life: The Elementary Years - Pic #3

This was my last season playing little league baseball! I think my career batting average was .018!

My Life: The Elementary Years - Pic #2

This my first season playing little league baseball!

My Life: The Elementary Years - Pic #1

This is me on my 8th Birthday...February 24, 1973

My Life: The Toddler Years - Pic #2

This is 1967!

My Life: The Toddler Years - Pic #1

Here I am as a toddler!

My Life: The Baby Years - Pic #3

Me at 3 months old...Obviously I was spiritual back then too!

My Life: The Baby Years - Pic #2

This is my first birthday!

My Life: The Baby Years - Pic #1

Me as a newborn!

A Tale of Two WWII Vets

This Sunday will be our very special Patriotic Celebration here at Grace Church. This is a Sunday in which we will be honoring America and recognizing the many heroes among us. This will include anyone who is a veteran or active member of any of our Armed Forces as well as families of any American Service man or woman who is currently serving overseas. We will also recognize past and present members of our local police, fire and emergency medical personnel.

A special tribute will be given to all WWII Vets. Do you realize that 16 million Americans answered the call to arms in WWII? Of these, 400,000 made the ultimate sacrifice. There are only approximately 3 million remaining alive today and WWII Veterans are dying at a rate of 1,200 to 1,500 daily. The minimum age of a WWII Veteran is now 79. On this Sunday we desire to give special recognition to any WWII Veterans in attendance. If you are a WWII vet or know of a WWII vet who will be in attendance, please be sure to contact the church office (626-2155) and let us know in advance.

I will be sharing the stories of two WWII Veterans that morning as I use the Bible that my Grandpa Distler had with him on the USS Greely at the time of the announcement of the Allied victory. The attached picture is of my Grandpa, Grandma and my dad back in 1945, It was taken in New York City after my Grandpa returned from the war. That is his writing on the picture as he labels my Grandma as "my love" and my dad as "my boy." Please remember that on this Sunday only, July 6, we will change our service times. We will have two identical celebrations, each lasting one hour in length. The first will be from 9:30-10:30 and the second from 11:00-Noon. Following each service the celebration will move outside for a free lunch with an army camp set up including mess tent and military vehicles. There will also be games for all ages including dunk tanks and bouncies. Everything is free and will happen rain or shine here at Grace Church, 501 W Lincoln Ave in Lititz. For more information, visit our website at http://www.lgbc.org/.

A World War II Vet Remembers

Mr. John H. Light is originally from the Pennsylvania Dutch farming community of Annville, PA. His daughter attends our church here at Grace. Mr. Light served during WWII as an infantryman in the 104 Army Division. He fought in the campaigns of Belgium, Holland and Germany, where he was wounded shortly before the war’s end. He also received the Silver Star Medal.

He wrote a book entitled, “An Infantryman Remembers World War II,” to share his experiences. I read his book and thoroughly enjoyed every chapter. Two of the most interesting facts from this book are in his experiences following being wounded while receiving treatment at Walter Reed Hospital. One experience centered around a visitor when his therapist asked if the patients would like a visit from her father who recently returned home from the European Theater of Operations. Here is what he wrote:

“’Who is your father?’ we asked. She said that her dad was General Patton and that she thought that he would be glad to visit their ward. The next day the general appeared in our ward and began to go down my side of the ward shaking hands with each patient and exchanging greetings. I have no idea what I said as I shook the hand of this famous general. You will have to accept my word that no other general in World War II had the military bearing and the imposing figure of General Patton.”

Imagine being able to meet General George Patton (pictured)! But Mr. Light’s experiences while at Walter Reed also included being able to touch something famous as well. In his wonderful book, he describes a very wealthy Washingtonian women named Mrs Evelyn Walsh McClean who would throw special parties for the patients. One day she came by while he was receiving a back rub from an aid who was admiring Mrs. McClean’s jewelry, especially the large blue pendent. Mrs McClean asked if the aid would like to wear it. She took it off and handed it to Mr. Light to pass to the aid. Mr. Light writes:

“It was a lovely huge blue stone surrounded by diamonds…Mrs McClean told her to wear it for a while…sometime later the party had ended and the ward was being prepared for lights out when the aid realized she was still wearing the necklace. The staff was discussing what action to take when several security people and several representatives of the insurance company descended on our ward to apprehend the person who had stolen the ‘Hope Diamond.’ Our ward was a scene of excitement until the precious stone was returned to its owner. You can see this stone now in the Smithsonian Institute under the most stringent conditions of security. And just think that I held it in my hands.”

Those are some incredible experiences. Meeting General Patton and touching the Hope Diamond. That’s pretty amazing, wouldn’t you say? But then again, one day I will get to meet Jesus face to face and touch eternal life in heaven. Now that’s even more amazing, wouldn’t you say?

Grace Church Dating Service

Since our purpose as a church revolves around the phrases “meeting people” and “moving people” it also seems to me that these would be very appropriate phrases to use in launching a Grace Church dating service. You have heard of E-harmony…maybe we could call this G-harmony. The only catch is that this service has only one relationship in mind. We want to find the right girl for our Worship Arts Director here at Grace Church, Matt McElravy (pictured here as a child). As a first step I have put together an application. Any single girl who is at least age 18 or older (hey, we want to keep all of our options open) and who loves Jesus (after all, we have to have a starting point) who would like to be considered for this honor may feel free to apply. Simply answer the questions below. Since we are not asking for a picture of each applicant and physical appearance is not being consdiered (sorry, Matt, those are the rules), it is crucial that each answer be made with absolute honesty!

G-Dating Application for Matt McElravy:

1. Do you, have you, or would you ever consider wearing black fingernail polish?

2. Do you play the guitar? If so, what kind of guitar(s) do you own? Depending on that answer, do you believe in sharing?

3. Can you hum the entire theme song to the television show, “The Simpson’s”? Did you find yourself in mourning when Homer Simpson’s mother died on the cartoon show?

4. How many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy have you ever missed?

5. How would you handle the fragile emotions of the sensitive, creative personality type?

6. Do you prefer tea or coffee? Sweet N Low, Sugar or Plain?

7. Can you name the current starting pitching rotation of the Philadelphia Phillies?

8. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest) how much do you like country music? Rock and Roll? Jazz? Blue Grass? Polka?

9. Do you use a Mac for a personal laptop? Why or why not?

10. Do you prefer choosing where to go when eating out or letting the person(s) with you make that decision?

Please submit your answers via e-mail to me at skdistler@lgbc.org. Pastor Tim Auld and I will serve as judges by carefully reviewing all applicants, weeding out those who would not be right for Matt, and then passing on the “possibilities” to our dear friend and colleague.

My Apostle Paul

It seems that every preacher can look back to a time early in their ministry when God brought them a mentor to teach them, guide them and protect them. For example, in Scripture the young pastor named Timothy had the Apostle Paul as his mentor. The same is true for me. Early in my beginning years of my ministry God graciously hooked me up with a mentor by the name of Pastor Steve Peters (sorry, this is the only picture of Steve I could find on-line) Pastor Steve was to me what the great Apostle Paul was to Timothy…a teacher, a guide and a protector.

I first met Steve after my freshman year of college. While I was away at Liberty, my parents moved from the only home I knew in Akron, Ohio to Hagerstown, MD were they begin their ministry as house parents at a boy’s home. They started attending Maranatha Brethren Church which was part of the Grace Brethren Fellowship. I had never heard of Grace Brethren before and associated any church with the word “Brethren” in it as being liberal. As a result, I refused to go to church with my parents and instead went to the little Baptist church down the street. At that time, Pastor Steve was the Youth Pastor at Maranatha and had himself graduated from Liberty (in fact he got saved while a student at Liberty). Steve came to visit me and told me that he was taking his teens on a ministry trip and could use another preacher. I wasn’t turning down opportunities to preach, so I went. In the end I grew to greatly love and admire Pastor Steve.

During my sophomore year in college Steve moved and became the Sr Pastor at the Community Grace Brethren Church in West Milton, OH. The church was without a youth pastor at the time so Steve asked me to spend the summer after my sophomore year of college as his summer intern youth pastor. I did the same thing after my junior year as well. In all honesty, I think Steve held the full-time position open for me until I had graduated. After graduating and getting married (Steve also came to my wedding all the way out in Colorado) I moved to West Milton and became Steve’s Youth Pastor for 6 years. Following that I spent 2 years as Steve’s Assistant Pastor in adult ministry.

Those were wonderful and formative years for me. Most everything I learned about pastoring and local church ministry I learned by watching Pastor Steve. The best parts of those 8 years at the West Milton church were the countless hours that I spent sitting in Steve’s office picking his brain about life and ministry or just chewing the fat. Man, I loved those times. I could write a book about all that I learned from my mentor but the two things that have stuck with me the most over the years are these two phrases:

“If you’re going to err, err on the side of grace!”

“We are free to do anything but sin in order to see people come to know Jesus!”

I’m not sure if I will ever have the chance again to sit in Pastor Steve’s office and just chew the fat, but I will always be thankful for the time that he invested in teaching me and protecting me. After all, every young pastor needs an Apostle Paul. I sure did!