Grace Abounding

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.

Our Opening Service

God granted Grace Church an incredible opening service this past Sunday, September 7, 2008! The LORD brought 14 local guests to worship with us from nearby communities including Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax. An overwhelming spirit of joy and praise to God pervaded the whole day.

“Rediscovering Jesus” Series

I preached on why and how we should treasure Jesus Christ. The text was Luke 8:36-50, the first sermon in our “Rediscovering Jesus” series. Listen to it here. We showed a presentation, “The Story and Vision of Grace Church of Alexandria” to share why we’re planting Grace Church.

Thanks To All

Thanks to the 16 young adults from our sending church who help us set up & tear down; to Eric & Cindy Sipe for making this day possible; and to dear friends and family from Virginia Beach, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey who joined us. All told, 56 attended our opening Sunday service.

Going to Fuddruckers

Afterward, over 40 in attendance went out to eat together at Fuddruckers burger joint. We sure packed into that restaurant! Ironically, we had a celebration lunch on the day the sermon title was: “Jesus Goes to a Dinner Party.”

How You Can Help

So many of you have asked how you can help our new local church! So in the next week, we’ll be releasing a wish list of equipment and supplies we could use. Pray that Grace Church will faithfully live out and preach the Gospel of our Lord. This is His church, and we pray that Christ will build his church for his renown (Matt. 16:18).

This Sunday we had many tears as our Leadership Team and I lay hands on one of our members, Josh Scheiderer, to consecrate him for a pastoral ministry. He and his family moved this weekend to Mentor, Ohio, so he may serve as senior pastor of Bible Community Church. Grace Church first met for Sunday worship in their home in the winter of 2007.

We are delighted that God has granted our small church family the privilege of sending out a family into another part of God’s vineyard. Josh, Christy, and their 3 children have taught us so much about loving each other and laughing a lot! We are confident that the Spirit is blessing Bible Community with their presence, and vis-a-vis.

I’m often asked why we named our church family Grace Church of Alexandria. We’re simply amazed at the extent of God’s favor, the mountain of gifts, he pours on those who follow Jesus Christ.

We’re acutely aware how desperately rebellious each of us is. Every Lord’s day our corporate worship rehearses that without God’s dramatic intervention, we’d be facing his disfavor, his holy and hot wrath.

But God took the initiative to add us to his family, we who formerly opposed God and tried to sit on the throne of our lives that he deserves. Then he treats us with all the love, favor, and delight that he bestows on his precious Son! His love is so vast that it takes the Spirit’s supernatural work to help us begin grasping the extent of his love (Ephesians 3:16-18).

God’s grace is immeasurable. Grace is God’s love to the unlovely, indeed, the unlovable. We’re called Grace Church to remind us our purpose when we wake up each morning – to praise his glorious grace (Ephesians 1:, 6, 12, 14).