Setting Our Sails, Discerning God’s Call

Last Saturday, our Elders and Trustees gathered to reflect on what we have been hearing throughout our listening sessions, congregational survey, and conversations over the past several months. Together, we prayed, listened, and discerned where God may be leading Grace Presbyterian Church in the years ahead.

I’ve shared the image of the church as a sailboat, raising its sails to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit. Our retreat was an opportunity to do just that.
As we reviewed the feedback from the congregation, several themes emerged with remarkable consistency. Members expressed a desire for vibrant worship, deeper faith formation, stronger fellowship, care for children and families, and meaningful opportunities to serve our neighbors. Again and again, people spoke about helping newcomers feel welcome, connecting people to one another, discovering and using spiritual gifts, and strengthening the ministries that already bring life to our congregation.

The retreat also surfaced several opportunities for future exploration. Among them were strengthening community partnerships, helping members identify and use their gifts, building deeper connections with Jacob’s Learning Ladder families, creating more opportunities for fellowship and belonging, developing ministries for older adults, supporting small groups, expanding arts-related programming, and making greater use of our facilities in service to the community. None of these are final plans, but they represent places where we sensed energy, passion, and possibility.

What encouraged me most was the spirit in the room. There was gratitude for what God is already doing through Grace, a willingness to wrestle honestly with challenges, and a shared hope for the future. I left the retreat convinced that God has already placed within this congregation the gifts, talents, and faith needed for the work ahead.

The work of discernment continues. Session, Trustees, staff, and ministry teams will continue to reflect on what we learned and consider faithful next steps. As we do, I invite you to keep praying for Grace Church, for wisdom, courage, and openness to the Spirit’s leading.

The good news is that we do not make this journey alone. The Spirit is still moving, still guiding, and still calling. Our task is to keep raising the sails and trusting where God leads.

See you in church!

Peace, Grace, and Love,
Pastor Kevin

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Raising the Sails

Over the past several weeks, our Elders and Trustees have begun reviewing the feedback you shared through our Listening Sessions and Congregational Survey. As we continue this process of discernment, I’ve been spending time with a book that has been shaping some of my thinking: *Sailboat Church: Helping Your Church Rethink Its Mission and Practice* by Joan Gray, a PC(USA) pastor and former Moderator of the General Assembly.

You may remember the book’s central metaphor from my Pentecost sermon. Gray suggests that many congregations operate like rowboats. They identify a destination, develop a plan, and work hard to row together toward their goals. There is much to admire in that kind of commitment and effort.

But Gray invites churches to imagine something different. A sailboat church raises its sails to catch the wind of the Spirit. Rather than relying primarily on human strength and planning, sailboat churches seek to be guided and empowered by God. They are rooted in prayer, shaped by Scripture, attentive to discernment, and willing to follow where God leads.

What I appreciate most about the book is that Gray moves beyond the metaphor. She encourages congregations to cultivate sailors through prayer, discernment, obedience, trust, and a willingness to surrender some of our need for control. One of my favorite ideas is what she calls *expectant gathering* — approaching worship, Bible study, mission projects, committee meetings, and even Session meetings with the expectation that God is present and active among us.

Imagine how that changes our perspective. Instead of simply gathering to complete a task or conduct business, we gather expecting to encounter God. We come ready to listen, ready to learn, and ready to be surprised by the Spirit’s leading.

Gray describes the church as “a divine, even supernatural, community gathered by God to do God’s work.” Its mission, she writes, is “to partner with the Holy Spirit in what God wants to do for the world.” What an amazing invitation. We are not merely maintaining an institution. We are participating in God’s ongoing work of healing, reconciliation, justice, compassion, and hope.

As I have reflected on your feedback, one observation from the book has particularly resonated with me. Gray notes that in many congregations, 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. In contrast, sailboat churches seek to involve all members in meaningful ministry that both nourishes and challenges them, allowing God’s mission to move forward and bringing glory to God.

As I read those words, I found myself thinking about Grace.

Again and again, in your survey responses and listening sessions, I heard stories of participation, generosity, and shared ownership of ministry. I see it in our worship leaders, teachers, musicians, mission partners, Elders, Deacons, Trustees, volunteers, and countless others who faithfully share their gifts. Grace is a congregation where people show up. You offer your time, talents, and resources in service to God and neighbor.

That spirit of participation is one of Grace’s greatest strengths and one of the reasons I am hopeful about our future.

As we continue discerning where God may be calling us in the years ahead, my prayer is that we will keep raising our sails together — listening for the Spirit’s direction, trusting God’s guidance, and gathering with the expectation that God is still at work among us.

See you in church!

Peace, Grace, and Love,
Pastor Kevin

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The Journey We Share

This week Rachel and I made the drive to Austin, Texas to visit our kids and bring our youngest, Kiran, home to Wichita for the summer.

Soon after arriving, we celebrated Kiran’s birthday at our favorite Asian diners. Gifts were exchanged: a Grateful Dead poster left behind by a friend, a pair of well-loved vegan Doc Martens, and a Wichita Pride flag. The gifts themselves were modest, but the laughter, stories, and time together were priceless.

On Tuesday evening, after grabbing what may be the best vegan bacon cheeseburger anywhere, Rowan took us to a DHC show (IYKYK). As the wind picked up from the east, dark clouds gathered overhead. By the time we finished the last of the tater tots and headed toward the venue, the rain was coming down in sheets.

The weather did not stop a few dozen people from gathering for a charity concert in a dark garage. Between sets, we stood beneath the shelter of a metal patio roof while rain drummed overhead. We talked. We listened. I watched young people who cared deeply about one another, their community, and the causes they support.

More than anything, it was a joy to see our children becoming who they are. Thoughtful. Compassionate. Creative. Full of ideas, passions, questions, and dreams.
We left before the final band took the stage, grateful for the adventure and thankful for the journey we share together.

Family is not always easy. There are family members we choose and family members we do not. Every family carries its own stories, challenges, disappointments, and joys. Yet one of God’s greatest gifts is the opportunity to belong to one another and to grow together over time.

As I reflected on the drive home, I found myself thinking about the many ways this is true of the church as well.

The church is a family, not because we all think alike or share the same experiences, but because God has brought us together. Over time we learn one another’s stories. We celebrate birthdays and graduations. We grieve losses. We support one another through challenges. We watch children grow into adults and adults discover new callings. We rejoice as people become more fully who God created them to be.

One of the greatest blessings of ministry is having a front-row seat to that transformation.

This summer we journey through scriptures from Genesis and Matthew in our worship series, On the Way, may we trust God in the midst of change, promise, uncertainty, and becoming. And May hear God calling us all into new life as individuals, and as a family of faith.

See you in church!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Kevin

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On the Way

As summer arrives, many of us begin thinking about journeys. Vacations. Road trips. Time away with family. There is something about this season that invites movement, adventure, and the possibility of discovering something new along the way.

Some of my fondest memories are of long family car trips across the country with my brother. Back in those days, before smartphones and GPS, preparing for a trip meant stopping by the AAA office to pick up a TripTik, those spiral-bound map booklets filled with highlighted routes, driving instructions, roadside attractions, restaurants, and places to stop and explore along the journey.

My mom would hand those maps to us in the back seat to help pass the time. Every hundred miles or so, she would mark the map with a number. Each number meant there was a small surprise waiting to be opened along the road. Maybe it was a puzzle book, a travel game, or some little activity to keep us occupied for the next stretch of highway. Looking back, I realize the gifts were not just about entertainment. They reminded us that the journey itself mattered. There was joy to discover along the way.
That memory has inspired our summer sermon series, “On the Way.”

Throughout the summer, we will journey through stories from Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew. Each Sunday will invite us to open another gift from scripture. Some passages will comfort us. Others may challenge us. Some stories may leave us wrestling with difficult questions. Yet through them all, we will be reminded that God continues to travel with us.

Faith is not simply a destination we arrive at someday. It is not a finish line or a static achievement. Faith is an ongoing journey of transformation, growth, change, and becoming as we continue learning what it means to live as the people God created us to be.
The good news is that we do not travel alone. God meets us on the road, accompanies us through every season of life, and continues to shape us along the way.

I look forward to taking this journey with you this summer.

See you in church!

Peace, Love, and Grace,
Pastor Kevin

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Happy Birthday Church!

As we head into Memorial Day weekend, Pentecost can easily get lost among graduations, family gatherings, backyard barbecues, and the unofficial beginning of summer. But in the time of the apostles, Pentecost was one of the great celebrations of the Jewish faith — an ancient harvest festival, a commemoration of God giving the Law to Moses, and a time when Jews from across the diaspora gathered together in Jerusalem.

And it is into that crowded and expectant city that the Spirit arrives.

Meanwhile, the disciples are gathered behind closed doors. I imagine they are still grieving and trying to make sense of all that had happened — still processing the loss of their teacher, their rabbi, their friend. And then suddenly, wind and flame fill the room. The Spirit literally blows them out of their seats and into the streets.

That is why Christians celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the church.

Henri Nouwen writes, “Without Pentecost the Christ-event — the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus — remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think about and reflect on. The Spirit of Jesus comes to dwell within us, so that we can become living Christs here and now.”

Pentecost is the celebration of Christ’s Spirit alive and active in the world through ordinary people. It is the moment fearful disciples become courageous witnesses. The moment grief gives way to purpose. The moment the church is born.

And that same Spirit is still at work among us.

This Sunday we will celebrate Pentecost together and give thanks for the gift of the Spirit that continues to guide the ministry and mission of the church. Whether you are reading this at home before worship or sitting in the sanctuary this Sunday morning, I hope you will join us in praying once again: Come, Holy Spirit.

See you in church!

Peace, love, and grace,

Pastor Kevin

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