A Word From Our Interim Pastor: The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

OUR CHURCH NEEDS YOU!! YOU ARE LOVED!!
This coming Sunday is our next Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall Meeting. There will be one service, the Youth leading worship on the Mission Trip in the Great Room at 10:00 am, followed by a covered dish lunch, featuring entrees, salads, and desserts from Grace’s 100^th Anniversary Cookbook, A Cup of Grace and a Pinch of Time. Water, iced tea, and coffee are available.

The question for discussion is: What are Grace’s strengths and additional challenges, along with declining attendance, as we move forward in evaluating worship services, emerging ministry emphases, and staffing transitions?

Friends, nothing in your life is an accident. God has purpose for each of you. Read the benediction below (benediction, in Latin literally means, “good word”) written by the late Richard Halverson, Minister of Word and Sacrament (PCUSA), and Chaplain to the United States Senate (1981- 1994). You’ll be encouraged.

You go nowhere by accident.

Wherever you go, God is sending you.

He has a purpose in your being there.

Christ who indwells you has something he wants to do through you wherever you are.

Believe this.

And go in his grace and love and power.

Amen.

This coming Sunday is not an accident. It is purposed by God. I look forward to our time together in worship, the Town Hall Meeting, and the Luncheon in the Great Room starting at 10:00 am.

On the journey of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

Mission Sunday, Blessing of the Backpacks and Town Hall Meeting

There is one worship service this Sunday at 10:00 am in the Great Room. Our youth and guides from this year’s mission trip lead worship through prayer, scripture, music, and testimonies. We bless the backpacks, returning students, teachers, administrators, and staff as they start a new school year. Following the worship service is a covered dish lunch and Town Hall Meeting, Step 3.

JLL is Our August Yellow Bag Recipient

Our August Yellow Bag collection goes to another educational cause close to our congregation’s heart—Jacob’s Learning Ladder. Once again, you are encouraged to give a monetary gift through the Church to help JLL buy needed items. Please designate your gift as JLL on your check or, if by cash, with a note identifying your gift to JLL. You may also give online under the Yellow Bag designation.

JLL did submit a list of items they are looking to purchase for the beginning of the school year. Your gift goes to getting the following items:

2 White Boards to hang on the wall
Uno Cards
Memory Games for 3- to 5-year-olds
Playdough
New Play clothes – for 3- to 5-year-olds
Cardboard sound books for toddlers
Small Storage bins
Laminator
Plastic Organizer and Storage Bins for Refrigerator, Kitchen, Cabinet, or Pantry Organization

As you can tell, JLL requests are specific, and your financial contributions will allow the staff to get the items they need in the right sizes and amounts.

Thank you, Grace congregation, for your continued generosity and for helping the various causes of our Yellow Bag collections.

Thank You from IRC and Hundreds of Refugee Families

Thank you for your collective gift to help our July Yellow Bag collection for the IRC Refugee Backpack program. Our congregation helped fill backpacks for 565 children who participated in the backpack give-a-way day and many others who will receive a filled backpack of school supplies as new refugees come to live in our community. Grace members donated a total of $2,170.00 toward this project in our Yellow Bag collection. WAY TO GO Grace!

A Word From Our Interim Pastor – The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall Meetings have focused on adaptive change. I introduced the following principles at Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall Meeting, Step 2, on Sunday, May 5. Those principles are making observations, making interpretations, asking questions, and making measured interventions. This process of making observations, making interpretations, asking questions, and making measured interventions is an excellent discernment process as we listen to God and one another for the vision and future of Grace.

Moving from the “Old Mindset” of trying harder to the “New Mindset” of making observations, making interpretations, asking questions, and making measured interventions is challenging. And yes, the process of moving from certainty and comfort to humility and discomfort is difficult.

The next Our Interim Pastor Journey Town Hall Meeting, Step 3, is Sunday, August 11. We have one service, that includes Blessing of the Backpacks and the Youth leading worship on the Mission Trip in the Great Room at 10:00 am, followed by a covered dish lunch, featuring entrees, salads, and desserts from Grace’s 100^th Anniversary Cookbook, A Cup of Grace and a Pinch of Time. Water, iced tea, and coffee will be available.

I look forward to our time together in worship, the Town Hall Meeting, and Luncheon on Sunday, August 11, starting at 10:00am.