Thoughts From Chris

How often do we contemplate the eternal destiny of those who are in Christ and those who are not. 

My challenge to you is spend five minutes thinking about what living on the New Earth will be like completely free of sin and any of its consequences.

My second challenge is to spend another five mintues thinking about living away from God with the punishment and consequence of sin at all times – completely devoid of any grace. 

I think this is 10 minutes that could change our perspective and life the rest of our days here on earth. 

Try it.  Take 10 minutes.

Most people at Grace know by now that Sal Cavarretta has resigned his position as Pastor of Family Ministries.  This will be effective as of the end of this month.  He and Giovanna will continue volunteer ministry at Grace until God leads them to potentially a new position at a different church, but in the meantime please continue to pray for them as a family (and pray as they try to sell their house).   We love them very much and pray God continues to bless them.

Tim Smith has since hired Michelle Jordan part-time to help oversee children’s ministries and has hired Brian Smeltzer part-time to help oversee youth ministries.   

Brian has been full time for “Youth for Christ” for a number of years (and will continue with YFC) working southwest with middle school students (as well as some high school).  Brian has also been involved in helping coach some of our new high school youth churches that started at the beginning of this past summer.  Brian is the one who spoke briefly during our second Sunday morning service dedicated toward teens last month.  We are excited about the leadership he will give as we continue to develop youth house churches, and as these teens feel empowered to lead and live out the dynamics of authentic, church life. 

Michelle came to Christ through Grace Gathering about 12 years ago.  She and her husband, Bill, have grown tremendously in the church.  In fact, Bill has been an elder/overseer the last couple of years.  Michelle has worked within the children’s ministry a number of years and is very familiar with the direction and philosophy of ministry.  She is excited about the opportunities she will have to help give leadership.

We praise God for the way he raises up leaders in times of need.  We are very blessed.  As we stand together with the church all over the world, we are humbled that he would choose all of us to help spread his gospel and bring about his eternal plan.  All praise to his glory!

Somehow I injured my foot the other day.  Not sure how I did it.  No idea.  On Wednesday it hurt all day long.  On Thursday it got progressively worse – so much so that I broke down and made a doctor appointment for today (Friday).  I go to the doctor for something, probably less than once a year (in other words, rarely).

Over the last few months I have been training my kids in areas of being Spirit-led.  One of those areas has been in the power of prayer.  Last Saturday we went downtown again and hung out at the bus stop.  My eight, seven, and five year old laid hands on many people and prayed for them.  They prayed for people who need jobs, cars, physical healing, spiritual direction, housing, etc.   I love the exposure they (as well as I) are getting with people who have all kinds of needs. We are all learning tons.

Anyway, last night, God once again reminded me that I have not asked anyone to lay hands on me and pray for healing. I simply planned to seek a doctor (without seeking God first).  I then asked all three of my kids to lay hands on me and pray for healing.  They all did. 

I woke up this morning, planning to go to my appointment. God had other plans, however. My foot is significantly better, and I have no need to seek a doctor.  Would it be just as better today without that prayer last night?  Only God knows.  My conclusion is that God used the prayer of my kids to bring healing.

I think we have so much to learn about what God can do through faith, trust, and a life of truly seeking him.  God certainly doesn’t always heal, but how many times would he, if we seek him?

(Lastly, I am teaching a new welcome class this Sunday afternoon and next Sunday.  Anyone who wishes to sign up can do that by contacting Sue at sheckley@gracegathering.com.)

I write as someone who is humbly seeking the power of God – and who has a long way to go.

Here are a few informational/announcement items regarding Grace Gathering:

1)      Our service times change beginning this Sunday, Sept. 7.  They will be as follows:

9:00 The Blend

10:25 Kidstuf

11:15 The Edge

2)      Kidstuf resumes this Sunday.  This is a family service geared toward elementary children and their parents.  If you have elementary children, we hope you can come. 

3)      The third and most important announcement is written below from me on behalf of the elders.

The elders would like to make an announcement to the congregation that Sal Cavarretta has resigned his position of Family Ministries Pastor.  While this is not an easy decision for him and his family, it is a decision he and his wife have been praying about for about a year.  Sal’s vision and passion is to be an overseer/manager of a family ministry staff.  This was the vision he had when he came seven years ago.   

The direction at Grace, however, as it pertains to staff, has become more specialized.  Instead of creating a large department of family ministry with several staff members and a director who oversees that department, Grace’s vision is to have a few specialized people who focus exclusively on their area of ministry.  This would include primarily someone focused and gifted to work with children’s ministries and someone different who is gifted and passionate about working with teens.

Sal has been in dialogue with the elders and specifically Tim Smith (who oversees the staff) regarding these issues over the past year.  Sal has been a personal friend of mine since seminary, and I too have been in discussion with him.   Sal and the elders have strong relationships and are committed to this not changing regardless of employment.  Sal plans to look for another full-time ministry position.  In the meantime Sal may seek secular employment locally to give him more time as he begins the process of looking (sometimes finding the right ministry position takes a while). Please be in prayer as he and Giovana sense God’s leading in this regard.   However long God has them here in the area, they have communicated that they love Grace Gathering and are committed to this church while they are still here.  What a unique blessing for all of us.

Sal has offered to stay in his current role through September and transition his responsibilities during this time.  Ideally, Tim Smith will fulfill the two roles of children and teen (probably both at part-time) during this month so that Sal can work with both people.  Tim has started that process of filling these two roles, and we will communicate more on that later this month.  Pray for those decisions as well.

We all love the Cavarretta’s and have appreciated their dedication to Christ and to his church.  Many of us have been significantly impacted by them (I know I have).  If you have any questions feel free to contact Sal or Giovana themselves or feel free to contact the elders.   This is God’s church, and while we may not understand why everything happens the way it does, we have confidence that He is in charge and we can trust him.  May God direct all of us as we follow his will. 

I made a statement this past Sunday that living the Christian life is easy to understand but hard to do.  We made our way through I Corinthians, chapter 13 (the famous Love chapter).  It is a straightforward chapter describing the superiority and importance of love as we relate to God and one another.  True, authentic, biblical love is to be our motivation in life.  This isn’t hard to understand – just hard to live.

I think this idea rings true in many ways as we think about living for Christ in this life.  The biblical message of how we are to live for Christ is not difficult to comprehend.  It really is rather simple.  We are to put God first in our lives, love our enemies, feed the poor, share the gospel, be humble, give God the first part of our income, love our neighbor, submit to our authorities, be compassionate, serve others, not keep a record of wrongs, seek godly counsel, be devoted to prayer, be full of integrity, be sexually pure, bear others’ burdens – just to mention a few.

Any of these things hard to understand?  To me, it doesn’t seem that complicated – pretty straightforward.  The hard part is living it.