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?

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.

I am thankful for the women that bring their families to church every Sunday alone, because their husbands will not come.  I know that many of these women have one great prayer request; that their husband will become a believer and/or assume the role of spiritual leadership in the home.  Having walked through this with many families over the years, I would like to share some suggestions of things I have seen that work for wives in helping to win their husband to Christ.

Four ways to help win your husband to Christ:

Prayer – Ultimately, your husband needs the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, even more than your encouragement.  In the end, Christ will save him, not you.  He is personally accountable to God.  Bathe him in prayer daily, knowing that God loves him beyond what you can imagine.

Example – Model Christ’s love for him.  Let him see true Christianity first in you.  (1 Peter 3:1-2)

Gentle encouragement – Look for moments where he is open to talk about spiritual things, such as times of crisis, health situations, times when he needs or asks for prayer, etc.  At those moments when he is open, share truth with him in love as much as he is willing to receive, even invite him to church, but back off when he begins to resist again.

Respect – If he senses you do not, he will usually respond opposite of your desired result.

These are my best suggestions.  I have never seen begging, manipulation or even asking the pastor to “drop in on” the husband work effectively.  Certainly, God can and does use other people, situations and circumstances of life to draw a man to Him, but those are hardly ever forced happenings.  As for the wife’s specific role in this process, these four are where I have seen the most results.

Watching the desire of a wife and mother wrestle through this issue is one of the most difficult parts of ministry for me, but I am so encouraged to have seen hundreds of men others had given up on come to know Christ as a personal savior and many of those are now actively serving in our church.  I know it is totally possible and no man is without hope.

What am I missing here?  Are there any testimonies you would like to share?

I spent most of my career in the business world. I was always extremely active and in leadership roles in church and other civic activities, but I earned my living in a for-profit environment. During those years, as an outsider looking in, I believed non-profits had so much to learn from the world of business.

Having spent the last 7 years in full-time ministry, I realize my perception wasn’t completely accurate. I still agree most churches and other non-profits can learn business principles from the corporate world, but now I realize the for-profit world can equally learn from the world of non-profits.

From my experience in the two worlds, here are a few examples where we can learn from each other:

Non-profits can learn from for-profits:

• Business management
• Structure and systems
• Strategy
• Performance evaluation
• Marketing

When it comes to making a profit and producing results, the for-profit world has mastered the task…or at least attempts to do so. Survival and success in this world depends on balancing everything from cash flow to employee performance results in an effort to show a profit to the bottom line.

For-profits can learn from non-profits:

• Purpose
• Mission
• Values
• People-building
• Social responsibility

In the non-profit world, the emphasis is on achieving the purpose of the organization. The focus of attention is not necessarily (actually not usually) on business principles as much as human principles. Success is determined more in accomplishing a mission than on realizing a financial gain. Non-profits advance people over profit.

I see a win/win situation when these two worlds collide. For-profits can be even more profitable when they invest in people and work towards the vision, even sometimes at the expense of immediate profits. Non-profits can continue their mission more effectively when they practice healthy business principles.

My questions is: How do we get these two worlds together more?

Are you currently in the non-profit or the for-profit world? Have you experienced both? Do you see other ways we can learn from each other?

Operation Serve! What an experience! I am so thankful to be a part of Grace Community Church and for all that serve! Let’s not allow this to be a once a year experience. Find ways to continue to take Christ’s love to the streets of our community!

Enjoy this video from the 2009 Operation Serve.

I’m asking my readers to pray with Grace Community Church today.  We are attempting to do over 30 projects with over 1,300 people in an attempt to show our community the practical love of Jesus.  We call it Operation Serve.  Pray we have true servant’s hearts, that God receives glory, that our people our safe, and that weather allows us to work with limited interruption. We love our community!  I will share more later.

You can read what our local newspaper wrote about us HERE. (The only correction is that we are 4 years old, not 5 years old.)

As a church planter concerned about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but consistently meeting people who have no interest in what they believe Christianity to be, this appears to be an important movie. My friend Michael Hyatt was the first to recommend this movie, which would be enough to encourage me to watch it. After watching the trailer, there is no question I will put this movie on my “must see” list.

Have you seen this movie? What do you think after watching the trailer?

This Sunday, August 30^th, following both services at Grace Community Church, we are asking people to pick from dozens of projects that have direct impact on the community in which we live, which they will complete in one day on Saturday, September 26^th.

This will be our 4^th year to do Operation Serve for our community and this year we expect and need 1,300 people or more to volunteer.  It is a huge undertaking.  Planning is a year long process.  Dozens of people have been doing administrative and planning tasks long before we sign up for projects.  There are projects everyone can do and families are encouraged to volunteer together.

As we have the last several years, we partner with the city of Clarksville and with local non-profit organizations to find the greatest needs that we can address.  The largest project is the neighborhood project, where we concentrate on one neighborhood, in partnership with the city, to transform it in one day.  It will be amazing to watch as hundreds of volunteers in Operation Serve t-shirts flood the streets of North Clarksville this year.

You do not have to attend Grace Community Church to volunteer.  Volunteering is free.  This year we have asked the people who regularly attend Grace Community Church to help us fund this project before we do the work.  Our budget this year is $54,000.  I am so amazed at how much one group of people in a church less than 4 years old love their city and want to show the community the love of Jesus in practical ways.

Come join us. Sign ups are in the gym at Rossview High School after each of our 9 AM and 11 AM services this Sunday.  (We will feed people after the 11 AM service.)

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 NIV

It is hard being the nice guy all the time, is it not? I have heard people ask, “Why do I always have to be the one to give?” I’ve heard that question relating to marriages, to parenting, and among friends. Sometimes it just seems that we are the only ones doing good unto others. I know that is not true, but it does feel that way at times. We sometimes start to feel that we are being taken advantage of, do we not?

Paul knew that feeling. Think of the cold nights he spent praying over the church, knowing all the while that many of them would not suffer for him as he was for them. He knew the struggles of building the first church, trying to start from nothing, while many others enjoy the freedom of “Sunday’s off”. A large portion of Paul’s letters is devoted to encouraging the believer to keep going!

May I offer you the same encouragement? Don’t give up! Keep doing the good you know you ought to do. Go the second mile in your Christian walk.  Keep serving others, even when it hurts or you feel unappreciated.  Not because everyone else is doing it, but because of the love you have for your Heavenly Father. Do it because it is the right thing to do. Do it because in the end, you will be rewarded for your faithfulness.

Though it may seem you are being taken for granted, or that no one really cares, remember that Jesus is watching. He’s keeping track and He’s building your reward accordingly. Hang in there! It will be worth it in the end!

This is video two from our student ministry mission trip to New Orleans.  God is using them this week.  As you know, this is my personal blog, so aside from my role as a pastor at Grace Community Church I am also a dad. I am very proud of Nate Edmondson this week. You’ll see him in this video several times in the gray shirt teaching with his hands.  He loves teaching God’s Word.  I love him loving to teach God’s Word.  God has great things planned for him.  He leaves in a few weeks for a new adventure at Moody Bible College.  Prayers appreciated…