by Steve Cabral
But, here’s the truly amazing thing–I do not, for a single instant feel ashamed. Convicted, yes, but not ashamed. Though I know I stand guilty, I can say with absolute sincerity that when I find myself kneeling before the cross of Christ, the throne he willingly chose for himself in lieu of his heavenly seat and all that I might be brought into the presence of his Father, there is truly nowhere else I’d rather be. I love Communion for this very reason. It’s why Good Friday is my single favorite day of the year. I want to be at that cross because that’s where he is, and I am reminded why I believe everything that I do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just an emotional thing. That’s not really my schtick. Communion is about just that–communing with God through the person of Jesus Christ, my King, and nowhere is this experience of being brought near to the Lord more real and visceral than at the foot of the cross.
by Jay Stearley, Grace Pastor
Growth over time equals change (G/T=∆). This concept was the theme of a recent conference I attended. And so true it is; be it the roots of the tree invading your sidewalk; my daughter’s ability to ride a big wheel (so fun!); your son or daughter’s graduation in several weeks. Such is the same with Christ’s church, including Grace Church.
Listening to and seeking God about such matters is one of the elders’ prime responsibilities – obeying the scriptures and following God’s lead. The “why” never changes; that is, living and teaching the great commandment and great commission (loving God, others, and making disciples). The “what” and “how” do change–with growth, over time.
As Pastor Dan shared in his blog May 9, three words coming to shape and define this ministry moving forward are exalt, move and pursue. The overriding changes taking place with these concepts in mind are:
Please join-in with a fixed eye on Christ, His Kingdom, prayer and participation.
Growth over time equals change. This change is not only good, but The Spirit’s moving, essential for Kingdom impact in this city and our own hearts.
by Dan Frank, Lead Pastor
One of the great joys of leading the church to serve the Kingdom well is finding out what the Spirit is doing and then making the necessary changes to line up under Him. That is what the leaders of Grace Church have been doing. We have been engaging with God and meeting with one another to discuss this very thing. Here is what we believe the Lord is saying to us—we are to have a three part strategy for this City. Three words describe this strategy: exalt, move, and pursue.
Exalt
When the church gathers together we believe we are to exalt His name. The dictionary defines exalt this way: “to raise in rank, power, and character.” This is what we want to do with the name God. We do this by bringing great weight to the Gospel of the Kingdom. We do this by drawing people into intentional worship of Him. We do this by allowing the Spirit of God to do His work of changing us into the image of Christ by His word. We do this by walking in unity with one another.
Move
By this we mean that God is calling us to personally move toward Jesus as disciples and then draw others to do the same. Our goal is to take people who are far from God and allow them to walk with us toward maturity in Christ. No one ever reaches perfection, but hopefully day by day we are inching closer to Him and His likeness. No one is exempt from this movement. We want to create an environment and culture that spurns people on to love and good works.
Pursue
We desire to pursue people in love the way that Jesus would have us pursue them. That means people who are both inside our church and outside. We want Reno/Sparks to know that we here for the good of our community. We want to have the mind of Jesus when He left the ninety-nine and went and found that sheep that had strayed. Just like sheep that stray, we all get off the path and we need to be brought back. Pursuit is done by being in intentional relationships and keeping our eyes wide open to those around us. When a sheep is missing, it is a big deal to God.
We are asking God for this to become part of our DNA. Let’s be found exalting, moving, and pursuing at the coming of Jesus our Lord.
by Rick Hallam, Pastor
I’m a control freak. You know the type. We are afraid to let go of anything in fear that others won’t do it as good as us or will do it WRONG. God has been teaching me a lot about this “issue” I have. I’m a couple of days away from going on sabbatical from Grace and an interesting thing happened that allowed God to finally wrestle this control thing from my sticky little hands.
Our very expensive sound console went down last week. Due to the sophisticated electronic nature of the console and the fact that it weighs 250 pounds, this is something that does not get repaired quickly. Thankfully, we had already purchased a mixing board for our new building. Simple solution,right? Install the new board. My first reaction to that suggestion (remember my control issue) was NO WAY! You see the new board is of the digital variety as opposed to our old one which was analog. It would be like only knowing how to use your home telephone and then someone taking that away and handing you an iPhone 5 for the very first time and telling you to use the DIRECTV app to record “Duck Dynasty”. The bigger issue of course was I will not be here to supervise the training on the new board and the sound system might blow up! Once I came to my senses and God reassured me that I have an incredible team of people who can handle this, I was able to do the right thing, get out of the way and say let’s do it!
As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be going on a sabbatical and I’m extremely grateful to Grace Church for allowing me this opportunity to spend the next three months recharging and allowing God to minister to me in ways I anticipate will be life changing. I plan on spending a lot more time with my disabled Dad who needs my attention in addition to helping my kids. (Two are graduating high school and one is getting married in August.) My wife Jennifer and I also plan to get away and I will be attending a Tech Conference in Florida that will help in my new role at Grace.
More than anything I’m sure God will keep reminding me that it really is ok to “let go” because He is the One in control.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
by Rachelle Suggs
Home has always been an interesting concept to me. For years I’ve lived away from the place where I spent my childhood, still security has remained constant. Since meeting and marrying my husband more than 2 years ago I knew that home would not be held in the places I found familiar, nor would it be for him.
As we grew in our relationship and our marriage we lived in my hometown, a semi truck traveling the country, and his hometown too. From city to city we kept thinking, “perhaps this could be home” yet nothing fit just right. We’ve known from experiences with God that in our lives a door opens, and we step through. Growing each day was a desire, nearly anxious at times, to find the place we were to call home.
A door opened, as God continued to work on our hearts, that seemed too good to be true, and so far-fetched that in human-only eyes it was unlikely to happen. But it did. That is the beauty of our God. He opened the door to an earthly home, and not only a place to stay with a roof over our heads, but a family away from “back home”.
Just as God asked Abram to move to a land he did not know, David and I moved too. Knowing only a few people in the state of Nevada we prayed for a church family with amazing outreach and community. Only 3 days after we got in town, we found Grace Church Reno. What at God-send! We instantly fell into step and knew we were home.
When you begin to step into the sometimes bigger-than-life God-dream, He cares for all the details in His timing. I have found that home is living in the center of God’s will, beginning with one step, wherever that may take you. Right now that has me here, loving others and sharing God’s light and truth alongside my new church family at Grace Church Reno.
I may not know much when it comes to life, but this I know: my God provides. I found my peace for home in Him before I moved, and I found home again here at Grace.
by Kim de Lancey
God gifted me as a taskmaster. I am really skilled at strategically getting from point A to point B. Give me an assignment, then stand back (far back or you may get hurt) and see how much can be accomplished by one focused individual. This always seemed like a good trait to me.
But God has been showing me something better. He has been teaching me that there is more to the journey than the destination. And not just in the obvious “Be Still and Know That I Am God” way.
More in the, “Hey, did you notice this person I put on your path (and you almost knocked over) while you were running from point A to point B?” way.
I was at a memorial service for an ex-boss about a year ago when I recognized what God had been patiently trying to get through to me for a while…no one he puts in my life is there by accident. I need to pay attention. I need to care enough to pay attention. No task is as important as any person.
I met Kendra at a Grace BBQ that I’m in charge of organizing. Normally, I would have been satisfied with running the event well. But, for months, God kept bringing her to mind and eventually I approached her about going through a book study with me. We’ve been meeting for some time now and I don’t even care that we haven’t gotten through a chapter every week. Sometimes we just talk about life instead and I have learned so much from her. Today I received a text message from Kendra that her husband is due to return after a year in Afghanistan and an invitation to meet at the airport when he and his unit show up. I feel so honored to be invited. I’ve never even met her husband.
Prior to Good Friday I was helping set up for Communion service and was in the full-on taskmaster mode. I met Rachelle who had come to help and we worked together for part of the day. She is new to Grace. She showed up to serve that day without really knowing anyone. God made sure I noticed her (in spite of myself) and I was able to connect her with a job that came up at my office, which was a direct answer to prayer for her.
I’m finally getting it I think. The thrill of completing a task is still there but I’m even more excited when I connect with someone along the way and get a glimpse at how intricately and purposefully God has placed us into each other’s lives.
Romans 12:10 – Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
John 15:12 – This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
I love music. I love singing loud to God in church. I believe it’s super important in the life of a Christ follower. Don’t get me wrong on that.
But “worship” is so much more than a set time on weekends when we sing together. It’s more than a sub genre on iTunes, more than that feeling you get when we sing a powerfully moving song. It’s more than music, entirely. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a response. It consumes all that we are.
Paul says in Romans 12 that we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship and that it’s holy and pleasing to God.
I love that.
At the same time, it wrecks me.
It means that God not only wants me to worship him with my voice through music, but also with my ENTIRE life.
How do I do that? What does that look like?
Colossians 3:17 says that whatever we do, in word or action, that we’re to do it in the name of Jesus, giving him thanks.
Living a lifestyle of worship means living a life in response to God’s grace. It means living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Every day. In everything we do.
Worship is more than music.
Let us worship Him.
With everything.
by Dan Frank, Lead Pastor
Recently 
I taught Matthew 5:33-37 which pertains to being a person who keeps his word no matter what the cost. I suggested that what is being taught in this passage is integrity. Why is integrity so important to God? The answer is that it reflects who God is. We who are related to the King are to rightly represent Him in all aspects of life.
Integrity is one of the most important assets that we posses. We can waste it, spend it, or invest it in the kingdom of God. When I set out to grow in integrity there are at least two things that will take place. First, I will grow leaps and bounds in my spiritual walk with God. This will result in bearing much fruit for the Kingdom. Second, I will begin to experience intimacy in community. The reason is simple community is based on trust, and trust is the Kingdom currency. Marriages that fail generally have a breakdown in integrity. Churches that divide have the same root.
So commit yourself to letting God break the pattern of lies that destroy integrity. I am telling you the truth; I wouldn’t lie!
by Santino Cantalupo, Grace Church Elder
Jesus often describes the Kingdom of God with parables, stories that pierce the heart and reveal the truth of God to those earnestly seeking Truth. Throughout the parables I am amazed at one simple fact; God desires that I enter the Kingdom and take a seat at the table.
Andrei Rublev’s Icon of the Holy Trinity at Mamre would serve us well in understanding the Kingdom of God and how it is realized in the community of faith today. This Icon shows us what Abraham learned when he was visited by the Lord in Genesis 18, that the Lord exists in perfect community and unity and most importantly that there is always a seat at the table. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are equally sitting at the table in Holy community facing you and I asking that we would join them in their communal feast! How the Church would be transformed if we understood that our ministry is to be a reflection of the Trinitarian fellowship and communion happening at this table! The very nature of this communion speaks to how we as servants of Christ should be engaging ministry and working in the Kingdom today.
First, we must understand that we are doing the Father’s work, not our own work. Our concentration should be on pleasing our Father and not ourselves. When we are committed to our Father’s work and calling in our live’s, we stop building our kingdom and we begin to build not with items of this world but of the kingdom which will never perish or fade. The Father’s work is not about self, it requires us to “seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
Second, the Kingdom is built upon the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. The ministry which God has placed in our care is focused on Christ and his sacrificial work upon the cross. This work is about self sacrifice, not self exaltation! This admittedly, may be the hardest component of the Kingdom, when we live life through the sacrifice of the cross we turn people away from ourselves and “direct them to the gospel of grace–to Jesus Christ, that they might look to him to lead them, open their hearts in faith and prayer, and draw them by the Spirit into his eternal life of communion with the Father.”
Third and finally, we reflect upon the truth of praying (and living) to God the Father by the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. By reflection of the Trinity we understand that God has created us to be transformed by community. The antithesis of building the kingdom of self is to focus on the community that is brought together by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Practically, this happens when we move away from thinking that “communion” is a once-a-month act and allow the Spirit to transform us into a community. Community means that we put the needs of others, before self and that we follow the model that our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted to us as we, together, take our seat at the table.
By Todd Hostetler, Family Pastor
Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Pretty cool, right? Everything and every one should praise the Lord. And that’s one reason why we think you and your kids should join us on February 1- so we can praise God because He has made us to worship Him!
So, in case you need a few more reasons, here’s a quick list of why you should show up with your family.
1) There’s something pretty cool about the fact that our kids and parents and other Grace folks can worship together! I mean, we just don’t have the space to do that on a normal weekend, so this is a great opportunity for kids to see their moms and dads and others…praying, singing, shouting, praising God, and showing the kids that worshiping God can be fun and meaningful at the same time.
2) Our kids can lead the way! We’re going to be singing songs that our kids have been learning in KidZone… as well as songs that you’ll be familiar with… that engage a kids’ heart, mind, and body. God has wired kids with a unique ability to express themselves in a variety of ways (i.e.- clapping, singing, jumping up and down, etc.) As adults, we need to be reminded that there is no one “right”
or “correct” way to worship. In fact, we need to remember that worship is a lot less about how we look doing it, or singing the right notes, or and how loud the music is and a lot more about our heart. (Jeremiah 24:7, Matthew 15:7-9)
3) When else can you say you had a family picnic in February inside the Worship Center? I mean, seriously, that’s just super awesome and you can’t deny it.
So…put it on your calendar: Friday, Feb 1 at 6:00. BYOP (bring your own picnic) and “rock out” with us as we praise God together!
