Grace Abounding

Our Leadership Team is excited to be attending and speaking at the Church Planting Conference at Heritage Bible Church on February 21-24, 2010, in Greer, SC. You’re especially invited to a panel discussion about church planting with our elders & deacons and their families on Sunday night at 7 pm. Throughout the week we’ll be reporting back to our supporting church the work God is doing in changing us and planting a church in the Washington D.C. Metro region. Interested in learning more about church planting? Considering joining a church plant? Want to hear how you can pray for our Gospel ministry? Join us at the conference!

In addition to hearing from other churches planted by Heritage, Grace Church of Alexandria’s team will be participating in the following events:

• Visual Presentation on Church Planting in Alexandria, Virginia. A keynote slide presentation during evening worship. Sunday, 5:30 pm.
• Ministry Prospects Fellowship. GCA Leadership Team panel discussion on our experience joining and serving in a church plant. Sunday, 7 pm.
• Technology & the Gospel. A roundtable discussion on using technology for ministry. Monday, 1 pm.
• Making Disciples: The Marvel of Church Planting. A talk on the essentials of church planting. The idea? Gospel + Relationships = Growth. Monday, 7 pm.
• A Slice of Life. Christy Matías shares on church planting from a woman’s perspective. Tues, 10 am.
• Christ Our King in Church Planting. A devotional on Gospel ministry. Wed, Feb 24, 10 am.

Click here to see a .pdf with the full schedule of events.

Join us as we meet together to share ideas, pray together, and hear how God is displaying his glory by starting churches that live out the Gospel. Have questions about the conference? Contact us here. The conference is free; lunches & dinner are provided at Heritage for just $3.00. We’re delighted that our friend and pastor in Alexandria, Brad Lapiska, will be preaching at Grace Church of Alexandria while we’re away.

My brother Nathan Matías wrote a helpful review of the book What Is A Healthy Church Member? and sent it to students at Cambridge University (UK) from where he graduated. The author of the book, Thabiti Anyabwile, used to be an elder at the church, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, that let our church plant meet there for free our first 5 months. I include this book review by him for your benefit.

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Greetings from Cambridge UK! One of my roles is to serve students in their Christian lives. With each new group of students, I am privileged to see wonderful developments in each studentʼs thinking, personality and character. I sometimes get to walk with them through the classic choices about career and relationships, and I also follow some of their first steps after school.

Pressure to make choices about career and lifestyle builds up with each day closer to graduation. Even though most UK graduatesʼ first job is only a stopgap, choices about where and what and whom can loom ominously, convincing us that they are the biggest, most important decisions we face.

These questions do not disappear after school. The teachings of Jesus and the apostles make it clear that “Iʼll make sure I find a good church wherever I go” fails to respond fully to the remarkable work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives. But what should the church-related part of a Christianʼs lifestyle actually look like? Is there some “career path” equivalent or “lifelong learning” programme for the aims we can have in our Christian life?

The growing Christian lifestyle in community is the core topic of What is a Healthy Church Member, by Thabiti Anyabwile, former assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington DC, now a pastor in the Grand Cayman Islands. It is also a book given me by my brother Jonathan. Ten years ago, he urged me, “Nathan, you are Christʼs, and should above all aspire and train to serve Him in community through His church.” Of the books he has given me toward that purpose, this is the most practical and comprehensive. At 120 pages, it is also probably the shortest.

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Sermon Title: Fighting Fire With Fire
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 11
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

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Sermon Title: Taking Off the Gloves
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 10
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

Taking Off the Gloves

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The earthquake that shattered the quiet afternoon yesterday in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, has brought with it death and destruction. As people who have received God’s generous mercy, let us extend Jesus’ love to the needy in Haiti. Here are three ways to pray and give:

Give To Compassion International’s Haiti Disaster Relief

You can give now to Compassion International to provide emergency food and water to families and children affected by the earthquake. Simply text “disaster” to 90999 to give $10 to Compassion or give online here.

Give to Mission For Haiti

Friends from our sponsoring church lead Mission to Haiti, a Gospel ministry in Haiti. Pray that God will keep his people in Haiti safe and that the Spirit will minister Christ’s mercy through the believers of Mission To Haiti. Give now to support their effort.

Pray For the Fairfax Urban Search & Rescue Team

Seventy-two rescue personnel from Northern Virginia and 6 rescue canines are en route to Haiti. Keep in prayer the efforts of the Fairfax Urban Search & Rescue Team, one of the first U.S. teams on the ground after the earthquake. More from their web site here. Pray that God will grant them effectiveness and strength as they rescue people from the rubble.

UPDATE – 1.14.10 – Sarah Bennett, who helps run Mission For Haiti, was in the city of Jacmel, Haiti, and has not been heard from since the earthquake. She is a faithful sister in Christ from Heritage Bible Church that sponsors our church plant. We are continuing to pray for her safety and ministry to earthquake victims.

UPDATE – 1.14.10 – We’ve heard that Sarah Bennett is alive and well. Praise the Lord!

Sermon Title: He Has Not Forgotten. He Is Not Silent.
Sermon Text: Luke 1:67-80
Speaker: Garrett Lee

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Sermon Title: God’s Extravagant Generosity, Part 3
Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

Click on an option below to download or listen to this sermon now. This sermon is a summary of the Bible’s teaching on giving & generosity.

You can also watch the Keynote presentation here as you listen to the sermon.
God’s Extravagant Generosity, Part 3

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Why I Picked Up This Book

Lately God has led me through a lot of change and into increasing responsibility as a husband, discipler, and urban church planter. I’ve been asking myself, “How can I grow in maturity and wise living so I can honor God and influence others to Christ?”

Tim Challies’ book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment has led me to the answer. Challies has lit a fire in my heart to pour over Holy Scripture more, dependently seek God’s face in prayer, and think carefully about how to lead my family and our church. In his book, I’ve found an easy-to-understand guide to discerning what is best and what is unwise. This is a great read for every teen, college student, parent, and believer who feels pressure to make life-altering decisions and who wants to know how to live wisely in our sin-cursed and increasingly complex world.

What’s Inside?

Tim Challies methodically talks his readers through the need for discernment, its source, and the process of becoming a discerning believer. Chapters 1 and 2 issue a call for every believer to ground themselves deeper in God’s truth so we can navigate the times we are in. Challies alerts us that our culture, the Adversary, and even our own hearts are subtly working to push us off-track from honoring God. I was gripped by realizing how my desire to be right or viewed as competent has been an obstacle to receiving wise input in my life.

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On December 6, 2009, the congregation voted to affirm Garrett Lee as our church’s second elder, and Shayne McAllister and Peter Beninate as our first deacons. These three men have served on our Leadership Team since our church was founded two years ago and have demonstrated themselves to be compassionate, Spirit-led, and Word-centered men.

So during Sunday morning worship on December 13, 2009, Pastor Jonathan Matías laid hands on them and prayed over them, recognizing the Spirit’s calling of them to be officers of our church (Acts 6:6 and 1 Timothy 4:14).

Peter Beninate, deacon; Garrett Lee, elder; Jonathan Matías, elder; Shayne McAllister, deacon

Garrett Lee recognized as Grace Church’s second elder.

In accord with the Bible church form of church government, the elders of Grace Church are ministers of the Gospel charged with shepherding the flock, preaching and teaching the Word, praying for the body, and overseeing the ministry of the church (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:11-16). Our deacons are servants who tend to the physical and benevolent needs of the congregation, and doing so free the elders to focus on their ministry of the Word and prayer (Acts 6:1-6). We praise God that Christ has given Garrett, Shayne, and Peter as gifts to His church (Ephesians 4:7, 11)!

Thanks to a member of our church, Michael Collins, for the pictures.

Sermon Title: Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
Sermon Text: Luke 1:46-56
Speaker: Jonathan Matías

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