Grace Abounding

This spring I had the privilege of participating in the 2010 Alexandria Citizen’s Academy. In it, civic leaders give twenty residents a behind-the-scenes look for eight weeks at city trends (economic, social, political), let them interact with city council and city government officials, and inform them of volunteer needs in Alexandria. The Citizens Academy gave Grace Church of Alexandria a clearer picture of how we can act on our heart to promote the good of our community.

The Famous & Infamous History of Alexandria
In the next few blog posts, I’ll share slices of what I learned, starting with Alexandria’s famous and infamous history, then a look at city services, and finally how Alexandrians can help fellow Alexandrians.

City hall, Alexandria, Virginia

George Washington’s Hometown
George Washington was a trustee of our city, which was founded 27 years before the United States. He went to church in town, and the stunning grounds of his Mount Vernon home are located nearby. Though many think Alexandria gained its named from the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt, it is probabl that it was named for the Alexander family which helped found our city.

Inspiration For the U.S. Constitution
The Constitutional Convention that framed the U.S. Constitution had its origins in Alexandria. In 1785, Virginia & Maryland sent delegates to our city to resolve differences between the states. The success of this mission led to a meeting in Annapolis of additional states to increase cooperation among the states. This led, in turn to the calling of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 which gave us the U.S. Constitution.

Injustice & Oppression
On a darker note, the most successful slave trading business in America, Franklin & Armfield, operated from 1828 to 1836 on Duke Street in Alexandria, the same street on which I live. Over 1,000 slaves a year were bought, held in slave pens here, then sold. This site of untold horrors has been turned into a free museum (pictured below) exposing the horrors of slavery, Freedom House Museum, so we never forget.

Franklin & Armfield, slave traders

The First Casualties of the Civil War
The first two deaths of the Civil War occured at the Marshall House, on the corner of King and South Pitt Streets (now the location of Hotel Monaco). The day after Virginia seceded from the Union, Federal troops poured into the city. A hotel owner, James Jackson, incensed that Colonel Elmer Ellsworth had taken down his Confederate flag, shot and killed the Union officer and was bayoneted by a solider for his deed.

Alexandria, the site of the first two Civil War deaths

The Inspiration For Our Church’s Meeting Place
Our church meets on Sunday for worship at the Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School in Alexandria’s Cameron Station. Samuel Tucker was a 26-year-old lawyer grieved that African-Americans were prohibited from using public facilities, including the city library. He organized several African-Americans to conduct one of the country’s first sit-ins to attack this unjust barrier, then successfully defended them in court, the beginning of the end of segregation in the city. We’re proud to meet in the elementary school that bears the name of this true-to-life servant of the oppressed.

Grace Church of Alexandria’s Meeting Place

Stay tuned for further glimpses of our city’s story. You can subscribe to our blog via the RSS feed.

Want to keep apprised on news and issues concerning the City of Alexandria? Here are two free resources that you can get sent to your email inbox:

FYI Alexandria for Alexandria City Residents

FYI Alexandria is the city’s e-newsletter, and I highly encourage you to check it out. You can sign up for it here.

The Compass For West End Residents

If you live in West End Alexandria and especially in Cameron Station (the planned community where our church meets), you’ll find The Compass, Cameron Station’s e-newsletter, invaluable for learning about community news, trends, and events. Below, I’ve included the ad you’ll find about Grace Church of Alexandria in the May/June ‘10 issue of The Compass.

Let us know of other helpful newsletters and sources of information for enjoying and getting involved in the community, and we’ll share about them on our blog.

Are you new to the Washington D.C. Metro region? I’d like to share some helpful tools with you that have aided our church members in getting jobs, finding housing, and thriving in the area. In particular, I’m blogging this for several individuals and families who are prayerfully planning to relocate to Alexandria in order to help out our church plant.

Find Housing

• Roommate Connection – the best place to find a Christian housemate in the D.C. area, a forum run by McLean Bible Church.

Coffee Shops

• Indie Coffee Houses – Northern Virginia Magazine’s guide to coffee shops. An indispensable tool for a church planting team member.
• Starbucks – For you Starbucks lovers out there, I’ve got good news! There are more Starbucks cafes per capital in the Washington D.C. Metro region than anywhere else in the country. 1.81 Starbucks for every 10,000 people. Here’s where to find them.

Traffic & Travel

• Trafficland.com – View real time traffic cameras before you hit the road for work or play.
• Google Maps – Click on “Traffic” to see the color coded status of the roads you want to travel on. Or search for bus, or bicycle-friendly, or walkable routes.
• Get There Blog – The Washington Post’s Dr. Gridlock & their Transportation Team help you plan on how to get around with so many special events, construction, and traffic incidents in the area.

Cost of Living

• CNN Calculator – Calculate how much utilities, housing, food, childcare, and other expenses cost compared to where you are moving from. An important tool to consult as you prepare to move here.

D.C. Metro Area Alerts & News

• Alexandria City e-News – Alexandria city emails me updates regarding life in the city and how it may affect my day. I highly recommend this e-newsletter.
• Capital Alerts – Want to hear about travel disruptions, weather alerts, and school closings? This email list is the place for D.C. Metro wide announcements.
• Capital Weather Gang – Keep apprised of how weather will affect your commute or recreation travel plans. I follow this blog via twitter as well at @capitalweather

Jobs, Home, & Items To Purchase

• Craig’s List – My wife Christy found both jobs she held in the D.C. area on Craig’s List. In addition, our church families buy all sorts of used items, especially furniture, via this site.
• Google Real Estate Map – See homes for sale where you want to move.

Virginia License, Registration, Voting

• VA DMV – This is an indispensable site for you if you’re relocating to Northern Virginia. You’ll find DMV locations, forms, and explanations for transferring your driver’s license, car registration, and even voting in Virginia.

Grace Church’s Community

• CameronStationBlog.com – This blog shares about community events and news for Cameron Station, the planned community in which Grace Church of Alexandria meets for worship at the local public school.

If you’d like to share a resource that I haven’t mentioned here, please add your ideas via the comments section at the bottom.

Enjoy these glimpses of our church family taken during the historic snowfall that Alexandria experienced in January and February 2010.

One of the kids from GCA playing in the snow.

The entrance to Cameron Station, the community where our church meets in West End Alexandria.

Windshield wipers peeking out of the snow.

Several members met to build a snowman at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School where our church meets on Sundays for worship and fellowship.

A veritable mountain of snow, an unusual sight in Alexandria

p.s. Thanks to Amanda Lee, Peter Beninate, and Christy Matías for the photos.

This Labor Day weekend, we’re going to be giving back to our community once again. We’re grateful for the reception Alexandria has given us as a new church in the community, and we want to say thank you!

• Free cold bottled water: In Cameron Station at Ben Brenman Park & Alexander Boothe Parks this Sunday from 12-3 pm.
• Free organic dog treats: If you’re at the dog parks at Ben Brenman Park & Cameron Station, we’re giving away free organic dog treats for your pets too! They’re all-natural organic treats baked by Buzz Bakery, an Alexandria favorite.

Look for us this Sunday from 12-3 pm in these West End Alexandria parks.

During the last week of July our church focused seven days on “Giving Back To Our Community.” We got our hands dirty by doing grounds keeping at Ben Brenman Park. Several teams weeded around trees & sidewalks while others picked up trash. Other volunteers roamed the park, giving out 300 free chilled water bottles to residents who were there. If you received a free water bottle, we warmly invite you to visit Grace Church of Alexandria. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am, just a few blocks away from the park, at the Samuel Tucker Elementary School in Cameron Station.

A hearty thank you goes to the 16 young adults from Heritage Bible Church in South Carolina who spent an entire week serving our church and helping us give back to Alexandria. They went from home to home of our members, doing yard work, delivering groceries, and babysitting to give parents’ a night out. They were a visible demonstration to us of the kind of self-giving love that God gives to us generously through Christ. They also put up over 300 posters inviting city residents to come worship with us at Grace Church of Alexandria. You can now spot our posters in Old Town Alexandria, Kingstowne, Springfield, Crystal City, and Pentagon City. Thank you, friends, for contributing to our church family and to our community!

Our church family recently had a fun night out in Del Ray, a peaceful main street community in Alexandria. We attended a special event at The Dairy Godmother, a delicious custard creamery. In honor of the Dairy Godmother’s German Wisconsin heritage, March 15th was “Brat Night” (that is, bratwurst, not as in “you little brat!”). They offer sauerkraut, bratwurst, and frozen custard to the community along with live accordion music.

The place was packed with hundreds of people inside the tiny shop and filling up the sidewalk outside. There’s nothing else quite so good as cherry cobbler with vanilla frozen custard from this wonderful Alexandria creamery. It provided our church family a fun night out of fellowship together in our community.

Open for Brat Night!

The accordion players really got into it.

Aah, what a great dinner, topped off with frozen custard. Thanks to The Dairy Godmother for providing our church a relaxing time where we could laugh and share life together.

Last Sunday, God granted our church a rich time of fellowship & unity with Engleside Baptist Church, another local church in Alexandria. We celebrated a joint baptism & worship service where two from our congregation and four from theirs were baptized, picturing the power of the Gospel! Garrett shared our church plant’s story. Garrett, Shayne, and I fielded questions about church planting. I then spoke from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 on Treasuring the Gospel. This was the closing service of their missions conference, and we were honored to celebrate our first baptisms and our first joint worship service with another church. We can’t wait to worship jointly with them again!

As the Spirit forged genuine love and joy between our congregations, we experienced firsthand the truth of Psalm 133:1  – “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” Thank you, Engleside Baptist, for your love for God and for the greater body of Christ!

Incidentally, a serious electrical fire broke out on Monday, the next day, in Engleside’s church & school building. Everyone was evacuated safely. We’re praying the building will be cleaned of chemical and smoke damage for them to worship there this Sunday. Please lift up the brothers & sisters of Engleside Baptist in your prayers.

Storytelling, Face Paint, and Balloon Art
Our church family and teens from Truth Baptist Church in East Hartford, CT, told stories in Alexandria parks and coffee shops on August 31, 2008. The teens made balloon art, painted faces, told interactive stories with props and costumes, and handed out popsicles. We had a great reception from kids and parents in Del Ray, Cameron Station, and Cameron Perks. Several families asked about our church and how they can visit.

Expecting The Unexpected
The teens from Connecticut intended to arrive Friday night at 9:30 pm. But their van broke down on the NJ Turnpike. Pastor Matt Harper went to the Philadelphia airport and picked up another rental van…after 1 AM! They arrived after 4 AM, quite exhausted. Jane Coates, Christy Matias, and my brother Nathan Matias all pitched in and led the first storytelling session the next morning while the teens caught some sleep.

Back On Track
By lunchtime the teens had taken over and kept many kids and parents captivated through their stories and activities! Thank you, brothers and sisters from Truth Baptist Church! You encouraged our congregation and served our community well.

Join us this Saturday, August 30st, 2008, for interactive storytelling, balloon art, and a surprise at local Alexandria parks and a coffee house! Kids ten and under are invited.

11 AM, Alexander Boothe Park – by Samuel Tucker Elementary School in Cameron Station

2 PM, Mt. Vernon Community School’s Playground – in Del Ray

4 PM, Cameron Perks Coffee House – in Cameron Station

Kids will hear and help tell classic children’s stories like “Casey at Bat” and “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”

I'm Part of a Bigger Story