Ron Edmondson » Grace Community Church

Everybody…Everywhere…this Sunday at Gcomchurch

Ron Edmondson — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:04:24 +0000

We continue our series on Everybody…Everywhere this Sunday at Grace Community Church, this week focusing on local missions. Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time. You do not want to miss this series. I’ll be looking at a familiar story to challenge us to think. We will also have some community ministry opportunities represented. The music lineup is incredible. Join us at 8:30, 10:00 or 11:30. We love visitors!

Hope to see you in the morning.

Who could you call tonight and ask them to join you?

Grace Community Church and Cross Point Church

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:56:37 +0000

Thanks to Cross Point Church for allowing our team at Grace Community Church to learn from them. Pete Wilson and Jenni Catron have assembled a superstar group of people that love Jesus and truly desire to reach their city for Christ. Today we brought our staffs together for a joint staff retreat.

Over the last few years, our two churches have formed a special relationship. Cross Point is twice the age of Grace, so there is much we can learn from them. Today it was confirmed that we share similar visions, challenges, and opportunities. We began with prayer, had some learning opportunities, broke bread together, let the big boys and girls beat us in a game of Cornhole, and ended with a time of worship and communion. It was an encouragement to our team.

There is something special about sharing life with others. It keeps an organization fresh, energized and challenged.

Would it benefit your team to spend some time with another team? Who is challenging you to stay the course and improve or simply offering you encouragement?

What Is Worship?

Ron Edmondson — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:30:30 +0000

Last Sunday at Grace Community Church, I spoke about the real meaning of worship. Here’s the message in case you’ve missed it.

Saturday Dream Stretch: Local Church Vision

Ron Edmondson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:40:34 +0000

I have enjoyed the dream series the past few Saturdays. Thank you to all those that have participated in these posts.

Today I have a fun dream stretch. I am curious what some of these dreams will be. At my church, Grace Community Church, we are seeing God do amazing things. This post was inspired a result of that activity of God. Somehow, I believe we have only scratched the surface of all God dreams for us to do. (I’d love our people to participate in this dream stretch, as well as other churches.) This dream is more specific than last week’s world problem dream stretch. I want to hear your dream for the local church.

Here is today’s Saturday Dream Stretch:

If money, time, or volunteers were no limitation, what would you have your church be able to do? What dream do you have for your local church?

Go ahead….DREAM BIG! I don’t believe for a second you can out dream God. As with previous dream stretches, please comment here on the blog, rather than to me through Facebook or Twitter, so everyone can read your response.

Are there any other dreams you’d like me to consider for a Saturday post?

You can still participate in past posts with the related posts links below this one.

10 Characteristics of a Healthy Organization or Team

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:15:12 +0000

I love organizational leadership as a subject and I am happy to serve on a healthy team. It’s amazing how many church leaders I know that say their team is not healthy. Recently I started wondering why it is that I claim our team is healthy and it led me to this post. Here, in my opinion, are 10 elements of a healthy organization/team:

A shared vision is held by all team members.
Team members and their individual ideas are equally valued.
Leadership development is a part of the strategy.
The organization readily embraces change and risk taking is encouraged.
Team members are continually energized and encouragement flows freely.
It’s a fun place to hang out…people enjoy their work and relationships are deeper than just the professional environment.
Mistakes are considered part of the learning process.
The structure doesn’t limit growth, but provides healthy boundaries.
There is a freedom to offer constructive criticism, even of top leadership, without fear of retribution.
Conflict is not discouraged, but used to make the team better.

What would you add to the list?

Do you serve on a healthy team?

An Interview With Jason Roy, Building 429 & Grace Community Church

Ron Edmondson — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:36:53 +0000

Jason Roy is the lead singer/founder of the well known, Dove Award winning Christian band Building 429. Recently Jason has a new title in addition to the lead singer role. Jason has joined us at Grace Community Church as our worship pastor. The plan is to do both. We are excited about the prospect, but this obviously raises questions in some people’s minds as to how the two will work together. Jason agreed recently to sit down and talk about his new role with me. Here is that interview:

What does “Building 429” mean?

It’s based on Ephesians 429, which says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

We wanted to take the word building from a noun to a verb and make it a challenge for the way we live our life so that any person that hears our music or buys our products becomes more Christ-like in everything they do and say.

Talk for a minute about your heart for Grace. What attracts you to this particular church?

Since day one, my wife and I were looking for a church where we could be a part of and raise our family when we are home. We were wanting pastors that both challenge the people, but live transparent lives in front of their people was important to us. We wanted a church that would be the hands and feet of Jesus, which we found through Operation Serve and other ministries of Grace. (Cortni, Jason’s wife was a huge part of bringing Operation Serve to the church.)

How will this relationship work? Will Building 429 continue?

Building 429 will continue. We are blessed to be in a position where we can slow down some and choose the dates we put on our calendar. I have felt strongly that from a ministry perspective there was a piece of my heart that was not fully developed on the road. That missing piece is the ability to connect and develop long-term and lasting relationships. I desire to invest in other worshipping musicians and allow to invest in me. In this type of situation, it appears that both sides of my life will compliment and help strengthen each other. I’m a worshipper at heart, but will be able to continue to write songs and lead a band when not at Grace. It’s a great partnership.

I would want people to understand that both of these are still exciting opportunities for me. I believe Building 429 still has incredible opportunities to minister to people. I know God continues to challenge me to write new songs of worship. Without a doubt God is using Grace Community Church in this community and region. I’m excited to see how God has me in the middle of such incredible work in each of these areas.

What will your role be at Grace?

I am the worship pastor, leading, guiding and directing the worship aspect of the church. I will be responsible for developing new leaders in the ministry within the church body. I will also be a team member with the rest of the amazing Grace staff.

How did this change come about in your life?

I have spent the last 2 to 3 years wondering if God was calling me to a position at the local church level, always saying internally that Grace was the perfect scenario for a home for me, never knowing if it would even work. God has opened a huge door of opportunity for me that creates opportunities for Building 429, Grace Community Church and me. I’m humbled once again at God’s plan, which are always bigger and better than I could have scripted.

Why do this now?

Another point in this whole process is that not only is my heart’s desire being fulfilled, by my family has the opportunity to be home more and stop always living on a tour bus. We finally feel that we are home…my family needed that.

What does worship mean to you?

I’m sure there is a better definition of this, but for me worship happens when you forget about yourself and recognize more about God in that moment. You can put that in the context of a worship service, where a person recognizes that I don’t care about myself or my struggles; I just care about God, or you can put that in terms of a work situation, where a person says, “None of this matters except for me bringing glory to God.” When self disappears and the image of oneself disappears and God’s purpose, design and plan becomes the most important thing, that’s worship.

When I walk onto a stage to lead in worship, it’s the one time in my life where I truly give up all my personal desires and simply desire to help people and me encounter the living God. That’s a pretty awesome opportunity.

We are excited to have Jason more often at Grace Community Church. Welcome to the team!

4 Principles of Authentic Worship

Ron Edmondson — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:28:33 +0000

We are in a series called Fanatic at Grace Community Church, looking at the how, why, and what of worship. This past Sunday I looked at the story of Paul and Silas worshipping in prison from Acts 16:25-34. Here are four principles I shared about authentic worship:

Authentic worship happens in good and bad times of life…in any setting…
Authentic worship builds community-It is contagious…
Authentic worship capture’s God’s attention…
Authentic worship leads others to Christ…

You can watch the message here.

5 Ways I Attempt to Avoid the Leadership Vacuum

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:15:00 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about the leadership vacuum many leaders find themselves inside. (You can read that post HERE) I explained that this is not an absence of leaders, although that is a problem also in most organizations, but it’s a failure on behalf of existing leaders to know the true health of their organization and personal leadership.

I realize that I am not immune from this vacuum. In fact, with one of my StrengthsFinders being Command, I’m possibly more susceptible than most leaders. It is something I am conscious of, however, and so I have tried to create a system that opens my leadership to enough feedback to ward against the leadership vacuum. Here’s the steps I take:

Solicit feedback –

I ask tons of questions. I wrote a post about that HERE.
I seek periodic wisdom through emails and in person with leaders from different ministries within the church.
This year I started having additional bi-monthly follow up meetings with staff that report directly to me.
Annually I allow the staff to evaluate me. You can read last year’s post about that process HERE and HERE.

Accept other’s input – I believe it’s important for leaders to give up their right to control the outcome, so once I delegate I try to release control and get out of the way. You can read a post about that HERE. I also believe in building a relationship beyond work with our team. When people know more of me personally they are more likely to share their true heart. (That’s a challenge for an Introvert, BTW.)

Evaluate myself – I am consistently reviewing my own plans. I try to ask myself hard questions.

Allow accountability – I try to allow people in my life that feel the freedom to challenge me. Some of those are on my staff, some are friends, and some are in my immediate family. Also, I think it is important that I be one of the team, not only the leader of a team. At any given time I may need to submit to the leadership of someone that may actually report to me, but has more experience in an area than I have.

Be open to and accept change – I know that if I am rigid on having things my way that eventually I will stall the process of growth that God is doing through other people. I wrote a post about that concept HERE.

Please understand, I am not perfect here and our staff would completely agree with that statement, but I am aware of the need to intentionally avoid the leadership vacuum. Your situation will be different from mine, so you will need to create your own system, but the point is you need a system. Don’t fall into the trap of the leadership vacuum.

I would love your feedback to this post by answering these questions as they apply:

Leaders, how do you make sure you know the real pulse of your organization?

Have you ever had a leader that was clueless about what was really happening in the organization?

Have you had a leader that was skilled at avoiding the leadership vacuum? What did they do to welcome adequate feedback?

What else should I be doing to avoid the leadership vacuum?

The Lantern Ministry – Military Ministry

Ron Edmondson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:15:40 +0000

One thing we have done well at Grace Community Church, if I may be so bold, is to see new ministries start and other ministries grow and prosper from among our people. We have duplicated our efforts to make growing followers of Jesus Christ through the efforts of others in our church.

Basically that has happened in a four step process:

1. Energize and connect to people – We realize we first must build a relationship with people that attend our church.
2. Discover their passions – We are always open to hearing the ministry interests of others.
3. Provide Resources – If people will supply their passion, knowledge and labor, and the ministry extends our vision as a church, we are happy to invest resources and publicity into their vision.
4. Get out of the way – We know that our efforts are far more effective when they are duplicated by the efforts of others.

A perfect example of that is the launch of The Lantern Ministry, a new community-wide support and outreach ministry for military spouses. Find more information HERE and join them for an informational meeting February 18, 2010 at St Bethlehem Christian Church (where we have youth services) from 7 to 8:30 PM.

I’m personally excited about this ministry, having dealt with military family for years and having so many friends affected by deployments. Some families are facing their fourth and fifth deployments with the upcoming one. They are tired, frustrated, and stretched, while remaining amazingly faithful to their mission to keep us safe. God bless our soldiers and their families. I’m praying The Lantern Ministry offers some help.

Have you noticed the stress on our military? Will you join me in praying for them and this ministry?

Shoes Piling Up For Soles4Souls

Ron Edmondson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:19:14 +0000

The shoes are starting to pile up for Soles4Souls. Grace Community Church is excited to partner with such an impacting ministry. For more information about this project, click HERE.

Thanks to our local paper, The Leaf Chronicle, for giving us publicity for this project. You can read that article HERE.

If you want to drop off some shoes, see us at 1716 Memorial Drive. Map it HERE.