Steps of Faith

‘What step of faith is Jesus asking me to take this week? More like what in my life doesn’t feel like a step of faith right now?’

That was my initial reaction at the end of Pastor Jack’s sermon on Sunday morning.

According to his sovereignty and in his good timing, God is calling my family to move to Hillsboro where we will join the family at Grace Community Fellowship and I will serve as associate pastor.

New church family, new community, new job, new home… that’s a lot of steps of faith for someone who really doesn’t deal with change all that well!

And yet, through the whole process that led up to making the decision to follow this call, Addie and I were met with a surprising amount of confidence and peace.

When, in Luke 5:4, Jesus told Peter to “put out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch,” I can’t imagine his initial feeling was one of confidence and peace. And yet, once Peter and the others saw the impossible catch Jesus provided, “they left everything and followed him,” (v 11).

What moved Peter from confusion—”Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!”—to action—”But at your word I will let down the nets”—to giving it all for him?

It was trust in Jesus—the one they had just seen provide in amazing ways.

It was the same thing that gave my Addie and me confidence to take this step of faith: we have already seen God provide in amazing ways.

In fact, we were in a similar situation not that long ago: taking a new job and moving to a new home in a new community and joining a new church family. And now, less than six years later, everything that was once new and scary is what we love and makes leaving so difficult.

God has proven himself faithful time and time again, and that gives us confident hope that he will provide again and again in the future. We don’t have all the answers and we know it won’t be easy, but knowing we are seeking to walk in obedience gives us the hope to take this next step of faith.

So now, I want to join Pastor Jack in asking you: what step of faith is Jesus asking you to take this week?

Once you have identified an action step and you are inevitably stopped in your tracks by fear and doubt, think back on how you have seen God move in your life. What impossible catch have you witnessed? How did he provide unexpectedly for an incredible need? How did he call you out of darkness and into his marvelous light?

Let those truths fill you with trust in our God whose steadfast love endures forever, and let that trust move you to action.

You are the church. Now go be the church.

I love you, Grace!
Nathan Ehresman

Spiritual Hearing Aids

“99% of babies who fail the first test go on to pass on the second one.”

That’s what a well-intentioned nurse told us after our baby Claire failed her newborn hearing screening. And we took it to heart and didn’t worry… until she failed the second test too.

How much can she hear? Can she hear at all? Will she ever hear?

Those were our initial worries, and we have been on quite the journey over the past nine months to get answers to those questions.

Ultimately, we found that she can hear some, but there are significant gaps in her hearing. And the answer to fill in those gaps was one I had no idea was even a possibility for a baby: hearing aids.

So yesterday—after nine months of wondering how much of our voices was getting through to Claire and praying fervently for God to make a way for her to hear—we went to get her hearing aids!

Our hearts burst with joy (and my eyes burst with tears) as we saw her respond with a smile to our voices. She was so alert and interested in taking in her surroundings, and she seemed so happy—happy to finally fill in the gap in her experience of the world.

Sometimes, it can feel like there is a gap in our experience when we read the Bible.

I know this is God’s Word, but how can he be speaking for me through this collection of anthologies and poems and stories and letters written to people who lived thousands of years ago in an entirely different culture in a different part of the world?

Just like I am incredibly thankful for Claire’s hearing aids that fill in the gaps in her hearing, I am thankful for our spiritual hearing aid—God’s Holy Spirit—who opens our eyes and ears and allows us to truly hear what God is saying through His Word.

God’s Word is living and active (Heb 4:12), because the same Spirit who inspired the writers of the words back then is illuminating them—bringing them to life—for their readers today.

The hearing aids help Claire hear, but they don’t work unless we put them in her ears. The Holy Spirit does the work of speaking to us through the Bible, but we have to put ourselves in a place to hear from him by reading the Bible.

Are you putting in your spiritual hearing aids? Are you taking up the challenge to create a pattern of consistently connecting with God through His word so that you can hear the Spirit speak directly from God’s heart to yours through the words of the Bible?

I have been thankful for our Habits of Grace series, which has outlined the reasons why we listen to God’s Word and given us tools and patterns to do so well. And I’m excited for this Sunday, when we will wrap up the series with a look at passing on God’s Word.

I love you, Grace!

-Nathan Ehresman

Renewed Wonder

Strings of colorful lights. Little green Christmas tree cookies. A Christmas movie marathon with my cousins. Monkey bread for breakfast. Being so excited about opening presents that I can’t sleep.

These are some of the traditions that made Christmas a magical time for me as a kid.

Coordinating family schedules. Coming up with enough gift ideas to satisfy grandmothers. The perceived pressure to reciprocate a gift, even though gift-giving is not my love language.

And these are some of the traditions that have taken the magic out of Christmas for me as an adult.

But this year feels different. This year, some of the magic is coming back.

At times, this year has seemed like Narnia under the reign of the White Witch: always winter, but never Christmas.

So why this year to rediscover a sense of wonder about Christmas?

(And, before you ask—no, it’s not because we have been watching extra magical bad cheesy Christmas movies this year… even though we have.)

Really, I think the answer lies in the same reality that prompts the question: God has used the challenging circumstances of this year to open my eyes to the depths of meaning in the Advent season.

The weeks of Advent are an annual time of expectation, of waiting in anticipation. But it is not the same anticipation that kept me up late on Christmas Eve…

Advent is a time to remember the brokenness in our lives and the world around us; we wait expectantly during Advent because we are reminded of our dire need for a savior.

But we take heart because that savior has come: Jesus, the eternal second person of the Trinity, took on flesh and was born of a virgin. Being fully God, there was no sin dwelling in him; he was not condemned from birth the way every other human being since Adam and Eve has been. And yet, being fully human, Jesus—the second Adam—was qualified to die an atoning death as a representative for all of sinful humanity.

Because of his victorious resurrection and triumphant ascension, we trust his promise to come again and redeem all things. And that is why we wait with hope, why we wait with expectation, for that glorious day.

In The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, there is excitement when the ice begins to break because it means Aslan is on the move—the Savior is coming.

We may not have reasonable hope or expectation that the brokenness of this world will improve, but we do have hope that it will not endure forever.

Advent is meaningful because it is not forever; Advent is meaningful because it is followed by Christmas. The struggles of this year may will last beyond 11:59pm on December 31, but they won’t last forever. The struggles of this year are meaningful because they are not forever. The ice will break and a new Christmas—the second advent of our Savior—will come.

When I look at it that way, it’s no wonder that this was the year when God renewed my sense of wonder!

More than before, I identify with the spirit of yearning that characterizes Advent. And more than before, I am so grateful for Christmas, for Jesus’ first coming, and the hope it gives me for his second coming.

And that’s why I have a sense of wonder about Christmas again this year.

This new outlook on Advent has breathed new life into many Christmas hymns and vaulted them to the top of my favorite songs list:

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
–O Come O Come Emmanuel

Come, thou long expected Jesus
Born to set thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in thee
–Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
–O Holy Night

I mean… come on!

As we are just a week away from Christmas, I pray that God uses these final days of expectant waiting to renew your wonder at the fact that our Savior humbled himself in order to save you from the sin within you and around you.

I love you, Church!

Merry Christmas,
Nathan Ehresman

Let's Be Real

My junior year of college was off to a great start. I had a schedule of classes I was excited about with professors I really enjoyed. I had the opportunity to serve the guys in my dorm as a member of the student life team alongside a group of friends who were quickly becoming “my people.”

Then, one day my dad called and said, “The books you ordered for class were shipped here to the house instead of to campus.” Whoops. “I’ll drive up this evening and bring them to you.” Oh wow! I wasn’t expecting that.

But then when my dad got to my dorm, I realized bringing the books wasn’t the only reason he came. That evening, sitting next to me on the bed in my dorm room, my dad told me that my granddad (my mom’s dad) had died earlier that day.

My heart dropped and a wave of memories filled my thoughts as I quietly mourned the loss of my beloved Granddad.

All of a sudden, I wasn’t worried about the books or how I was going to get my assignments done. Instead, I started writing an email to my professors and packing a bag. Only telling my professors and my boss, I quietly slipped off campus and spent a couple days with family.

Upon returning to campus I was confronted by one of my teammates (who, to this day, I consider to be like a brother):

“Don’t you ever do that again. We are a team. We love you. But how are we supposed to support you if we don’t know what’s going on in your life?”

Whoa.

It was difficult for me to talk about the pain of the loss, so it felt easier to keep it to myself. But Sened helped me see that I was robbing my friends of the opportunity to help me bear that burden.

I can pinpoint that moment as a turning point in my life, when I began to understand the value of pursuing authentic community.

Fast forward to this past Sunday when I, along with many of you, listened to Pastor Kyle teach on this very value in our church.

Pursuing authentic community is telling the people around you when you are going through something hard so they can sit with you in the pain and pray for you.

Pursuing authentic community is being real and open when someone asks, “How are you doing?”

Pursuing authentic community is celebrating the ways God is blessing those around you.

Pursuing authentic community is sacrificing and giving of your own home/time/money/stuff to make sure people know they are important to you.

Pursuing authentic community is embracing humility and asking for help.

Pursuing authentic community is (kindly and gently-yet-firmly) not taking ‘no’ for an answer when you offer to help someone in need.

Pursuing authentic community is eating and laughing together.

Pursuing authentic community takes as many forms as life does, because that’s what pursuing authentic community is all about: gladly sharing your life with others, no matter what life looks like.

Thanks to my gracious-yet-stern friend, I learned the benefit that comes from being real with the people around you. By opening up my life to others, I found a band of brothers with whom to walk through life’s highs and lows.

And now, thanks to my my-life-is-an-open-book wife, I am growing in my desire and ability to be open and real with others. And we are so thankful for the way God has blessed us with authentic community here at Grace.

We have had friends cry with us through the pain of a miscarriage and celebrate with us the birth of two healthy babies. And, in God’s wisdom and by his grace, we have been able to be on the other side—being the shoulders to cry on and the ones to bring ice cream to celebrate.

I’m not saying I have done it all right, or even that I’m good at being real with people. But, what I hope you hear me saying is that I have seen firsthand the blessing that comes from pursuing authentic community. And that is why I believe it is such an important value for our church.

So, Grace, let’s be real with one another. Share your life with others, even when it’s hard. And let’s watch God work as he builds belonging within our church family.

I love you, Grace!

Nathan Ehresman

Rock Climbing and John the Baptizer

Have you ever found yourself in a situation that made you wonder, ‘What crazy sequence of events got me here?’

That was me this last Saturday afternoon, 30 feet off the ground on an indoor rock climbing wall.

For this risk-averse, heights-fearing, not-particularly-adventurous ground-dweller, being that high in the air is not a… comfortable place to find myself.

At the bottom of the wall, as I was clipping my harness into the belay system, there was enough excitement and adrenaline to overcome the fear and propel me 30 feet up the wall. But, at that point, the adrenaline ran out and I started to question the decisions that led me here.

Once I thought about it, the answer was easy, though: I was doing it for my brother.

I have the joy and honor of being the best man in my brother’s wedding, now just over three weeks away. Fulfilling one piece of my best man duties, I planned a day of Brent-themed fun for last Saturday.

Had it been my day, we probably would have done something much closer to the ground. But my brother is adventurous and competitive, so he had an absolute blast climbing around that gym for four hours. And, because it was our day to celebrate him, it was my joy to watch him have fun. (I have to admit, I had a blast too after I got used to the feeling of the harness and rope catching me.)

Thoroughly exhausted, we left the climbing place, cleaned up, fired up the grill, and enjoyed conversation over some rather large steaks. The groomsmen went around the table sharing first impressions of Brent and stories of how he has encouraged and helped us—and even helped lead one of us to faith in Jesus!

As the stories kept rolling, I think I was beaming with a bigger smile even than my brother was.

Why?

Because it was so encouraging for me to hear the many ways that God has used my brother to edify the people around him.

Fast-forward to the next morning, Pastor Jack is preaching through John 3:22–36 and he lands on verse 29:

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

I thought, ‘That’s it! That’s what I was feeling last night.’

In this story, some of John the baptizer’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Hey, John! Remember that Jesus guy you baptized? Some of your disciples are leaving to follow him!’

John could have been upset that his followers were leaving. He could have gone to fight for his disciples to stay with him. But, instead, John knew what was going on: he knew that Jesus was the true bridegroom and, thus, the people—the bride—rightfully belonged to him. And, because John had that proper understanding of his role, it was his joy to see people following Jesus.

I could have sat there and listened to those stories about my brother and thought, ‘man, I wish I had that kind of impact on people!’ Or ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah… another story about how great Brent is.’ But that’s not my place. He is the groom. I am that friend of the bridegroom, rejoicing at his voice.

Now, I can take that attitude and apply it to joining Jesus’ mission.

When I see people coming to saving faith in Jesus, what will my response be?

Will I grumble and be upset because I wasn’t the one who helped them get there? Or, like John, will I have a joyful perspective and rejoice that, no matter how they got there, the lost are being found in Christ?

No matter what shape my ministry takes, no matter what role I play in Jesus’ mission, it is not me who deserves the glory. Jesus is the true bridegroom, and the bride—his people, the Church—belong to him. And it’s that perspective that will allow me to sit back and smile.

I love you, Church!
-Nathan Ehresman

Sundays Are My Favorite Days

Sundays are my favorite days.

The joy of gathering together as a church family to be motivated, united, encouraged, and equipped is enough to seriously energize this introvert.

But you know what is even better than a Sunday?

Baptism Sunday.

That is because anytime one person gets baptized there is a party in the Throne Room, celebrating the public proclamation of a life transformed by Jesus. And that's why we throw a party here on earth when a member of our family chooses to be baptized.

This past Sunday we celebrated five such transformed lives—five members of our church family who publicly identified with the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

It was a glorious day, and I wanted to share some highlights with you.

Watch this video, and rejoice with me!

I love you, church!

-Nathan Ehresman

Truth On Our Lips and In Our Hearts

Our very curious and energetic 2-year-old categorizes songs by why who he hears sing it most often and then, when he hears a song he recognizes, he calls it out: 

“Dada song!”

“Mama song!”

“Kyle song!” (During our stay-at-home time, Pastor Kyle became a bit of a celebrity at our house because of how much Caleb enjoyed watch the worship through song portion of our services.)

I’m often impressed by how fast—sometimes before the singing even starts—he recognizes a song. And then that realization drives home the power of music to stick in our hearts and minds.

Here at Grace, a driving principle of our worship ministry is to get truth onto our lips and into our hearts. And, as I have seen in my own home, this can start with the littlest members of our church family… even when they are barely conscious. 

You see, the four songs that Caleb most often calls “Dada songs” are the four songs that I routinely use to sing my kids to sleep:

• How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

• Before the Throne of God Above

• Build Your Kingdom Here

• All Glory Be to Christ

Initially, this was my four-song rotation because they happened to be the four songs I had memorized. But, as I sang them over and over (and over and over and over), I came to recognize that they do a good job of summarizing the truth that I want my kids to store up in their hearts.

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That he should give his only son
To make a wretch his treasure

Out of the abundance of his love for us—for me, for you—God gave Jesus in order to redeem and reconcile us back to himself.

Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great high priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me

But it wasn’t just a one-time thing in the past; the glorified, risen Jesus is consistently pleading my case before the Father. 

Build Your Kingdom Here

To see the captive hearts released
The hurt, the sick, the poor at peace
We lay down our lives for heaven’s cause
We are Your church
We pray revive this earth

Because God, in his love, has redeemed and is reconciling us, we—the church—now have a mission: to take the hope of God’s loving kingdom to the broken world around us. 

All Glory Be To Christ

All glory be to Christ our king
All glory be to Christ
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing
All glory be to Christ

In it all—redemption, reconciliation, kingdom growth—nothing is by my power and I am not worthy of any glory; all the glory belongs to Christ.

If, by singing those four songs, that fourfold truth takes deep root in my kids’ hearts… praise God! Even if the words “how deep the Father’s love for us” instantly make them drowsy and “all glory be to Christ” opens the door to dreamland, the roots are taking hold. And that is why we sing truth at our church and in our home.

What songs are on repeat in your house? What truths are you hiding in your heart as you sing?

(If you are looking for a place to start, you can find a playlist of our Sunday morning worship repertoire on Spotify or YouTube.)

I love you, church!

-Nathan Ehresman

Church Planting FAQs

Forgive me for seemingly bringing church plant updates each time I write the Staff Journal… but I’m so excited about this opportunity to multiply our ministry and I want to share that excitement with you!

I also recognize that this is still a new and somewhat unfamiliar idea to many of you, so I wanted to take this opportunity to address some questions I’m hearing often. So, in the spirit of our FAQ sermon series, here are my responses to some church planting FAQs:

Why plant a church?

Research has shown that a new congregation “will bring new people into the life of the body of Christ at six to eight times the rate of an older congregation of the same size,” (Timothy Keller, Center Church, 359).

In other words, starting a new church is one of the best ways to reach new people with the life and hope of the Gospel.

Why Lyons?

Short answer: Lyons (and all of Rice County) desperately needs the gospel.

According to our research, about 85% of people in Rice County are not attending church anywhere. This is an exciting opportunity for a church to step in and bring the hope of the gospel to a community that is broken, yet experiencing some positive momentum.

For the long answer, read my Staff Journal from January 30:

What do we know so far about the church plant in Lyons?

We have a name! The new church in Lyons is called King’s Cross Church. From planter Caleb Barrows:

“As Paul, Ashley and I were considering various names we thought fit the area and the gospel, King’s Cross emerged as the winner. We love that it captures the glory of who Jesus is in his kingship over everything, yet the suffering of Jesus in that this same king was also willing to die on a cross.”

We also have a launch date! King’s Cross Church is aiming to have their launch Sunday on September 20, 2020!

Between now and then, they are hard at work doing foundational tasks like writing a constitution and bylaws, while simultaneously building their launch team (the group of people who will be there from the start to make Sunday morning services happen).

We have planted 3 local churches and 1 international church in the last 8 years. What is different this time around?

We, as a church, are not the ones initiating the church plant this time. We are working with Synergy Kansas to plant this church.

Bonus FAQ: who or what is Synergy Kansas?

Synergy Kansas is a leadership group which gives oversight and direction to a combined effort of FEC church planting in Kansas.

Synergy Kansas is comprised of:

• the lead pastors from Grace Community Church (that’s us!) and our three local sister churches (Grace Community Fellowship in Hillsboro, Grace Crossing in Moundridge, and New Anthem Community Church in Hillsboro)

• key leaders from the FEC: Dave Reimer (our founding pastor) and Jay Nickless (former Grace staffer, now the church planting fielder coordinator for the FEC)

So what difference does that make?

We are not the primary sending body; it is a team effort. And what that means is that we are not primarily responsible for providing the resources—time, money, people—necessary to get the church started.

In the past, we have asked members of our church family to commit to changing church families to be part of the launch team. In the past, we hosted “baby showers” where we asked you to contribute to the start up cost of the new church, like you would give gifts to new parents to ease the burden of the transition into parenthood (just like babies need a lot of stuff, new churches need a lot of stuff—chairs, sound equipment, signage, printing, and more!).

Those opportunities are still available to you if you are interested (more on that later), but we do not bear the same burden to provide those resources as we have in the past. Because this is a team effort, that responsibility primarily falls on Synergy Kansas, which means it is spread out across our fellow churches.

Because we value church planting, we have a specific line item in our budget for supporting church planting. We contribute regularly to Synergy Kansas, and in turn Synergy Kansas is providing the primary financial support for this church plant. That means when you give to the Lord at Grace, you are already giving to the launch of King’s Cross Church!

Our role this time is to continue sharing updates with you, to continue giving faithfully to the Lord here at Grace, and to pray for King’s Cross and for planters Caleb & Paul and the impact of the gospel in Lyons.

What can I do if I want to be involved?

You can…

• sign up to receive prayer updates from King’s Cross Church (write “church plant prayer updates” on the Connect With Us form)

• sign up to be part of the launch team, meaning you commit to serving on one of the teams (worship, hospitality, children’s ministry, tech, etc) that will make Sunday morning services happen at King’s Cross Church (contact Caleb Barrows at caleb.barrows@gmail.com)

How can I find out more?

First, you can check out the Church Planting page on our website:

If you have more specific questions about information or how to be involved, feel free to reach out to Caleb Barrows at caleb.barrows@gmail.com.

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I have seen first-hand how God is preparing the ground for King’s Cross Church and I am so excited to see how he uses it to impact Lyons with the Gospel. I am excited to continue sharing updates as things develop, and I hope you will join me in praying for gospel transformation in Lyons and greater Rice County.

On the home front, I’m looking forward to worshiping with you this Sunday! We will worship through song, we will pray together, we will take the Lord’s Supper, and we will explore how we are to live before we get to heaven.

I love you, church!
Nathan Ehresman

So... why Lyons?

Church planting is in our DNA here at Grace.

We started as a church plant.

We have planted three churches in our area (Grace Community Fellowship in Hillsboro, Grace Crossing in Moundridge, and New Anthem Community Church in Park City) and one outside Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

And now, we are partnering with Synergy Kansas (the combined church planting effort between the four FEC churches here in our area) to support Caleb Barrows and Paul & Ashley Brandes as they plant a new church in Lyons, KS.

In case you missed that announcement last Sunday, you get get to know Caleb & Paul and their vision for planting a church in this video:

Because Addie and I had the opportunity to serve on the Target Analysis Process (TAP) Team, I want to pull the curtain back and give you an inside look at how—and why—the TAP team sensed that God was leading us to plant a church in Lyons.

If you have the time, this video is an awesome opportunity to hear about the process and our takeaways directly from each member of the TAP team. It was an amazingly encouraging night as God’s guidance on the whole process was affirmed:

In the meantime, let me outline the highlights for you here:

The Target analysis process

The Target Analysis Process consists of four phases: consideration, research, exploration, and confirmation.

Consideration

During the consideration phase, the simple goal is to construct a list of potential target communities. At our consideration meeting, everyone on the team brought a handful of potential communities that intrigued them and we compared notes. (Our only criteria was being within a 2-hour drive of Sterling, where Paul—one of the church planters—and his family live.)

How we saw God working through the Consideration phase: There were 16 different communities proposed, but six of them were on nearly every list: Great Bend, Hutchinson, Lindsborg, Lyons, McPherson, and Sterling. It was easy, then, to sense God’s leading as we narrowed our focus down to these six.

Research

The goal of the research phase is to get to know each of the target communities. Each community was assigned to a member of the team and we took our community and did some detailed research: what does the community look like geographically? demographically? culturally? spiritually?

Each team member presented their research and then we prayerfully evaluated the six communities through four lenses: proximity (how feasible is it for Paul & Ashley to drive from Sterling where they own a home?), compatibility (would the community be a good fit for the church planters?), saturation (are there already new churches vying for the attention of people?), and receptivity (are people in the community open to the idea of a new church coming to town?).

Based on the research and these criteria, we narrowed our list to three: Lyons, McPherson, and Sterling.

How we saw God working through the Research phase: The biggest takeaway from the research phase was that in Rice County (where both Sterling and Lyons are), as many as 85–90% of people are not attending church anywhere. That makes Rice County—a rural county which seems pretty “Christian” at face value—one of the most unchurch counties in the whole state. God’s point was obvious: Rice County needs to hear the Gospel.

Exploration

The exploration phase is where the rubber meets the road. On consecutive Saturdays in November, we traveled to McPherson and then to Lyons & Sterling to pray for the community, to talk with people on the street, and to meet with strategic contacts in the community.

During our visit to McPherson we found out that people were open to the idea of a church plant because there are only a few good churches that people seem to cycle through. We also made a critical discovery that informed our decision: there are already two church plants in the process of launching in McPherson.

During our visit to Lyons we had an amazing opportunity to chat with people on the street as they waited for a parade to start. People in Lyons see a lot of church buildings, but they admitted that there are many people who do not go to church. We also got to meet with a couple local business owners who offered unique insights into the community’s needs as well as the efforts to bring revitalization to downtown and renewed pride in the community.

In Sterling, we were able to talk to a number of community members, college students, and a local business owner. While there are a handful of churches in this small town, they are all plateaued or declining and college students were not finding a good fit.

How we saw God working through the Exploration phrase: Most obviously, the two church plants happening already in McPherson could not have been a more clear “not right now” answer. As for Lyons and Sterling, the exploration visits only confirmed what we found in the research face: Rice County needs a gospel-preaching church. In some ways, even though we did not come away from exploring Lyons and Sterling with a clear answer right away, we felt free—no matter which we chose, it was going to be a good decision.

Confirmation

Then it all came down to the confirmation phase, in which we discerned where the Holy Spirit was directing.

In anticipation of our meeting, everyone spent time prayerfully evaluating the research and the visits, and then we fasted together leading up to our final meeting. At that meeting, we went around the circle and everyone shared their initial leaning. And that is where the cool part happened.

In the spirit of transparency, in some ways it felt like a foregone conclusion that the church plant was going to be in Sterling all along. That’s where Paul & Ashley live and where they already have history and an in with the community. It’s a college town, where we can tap into the passion of the college students to build a leadership people to develop more church planters. That’s the safe and comfortable option. But the Spirit doesn’t often lead the safe and comfortable way, does he?

How we saw God working through the Confirmation phase: As we went around the circle, everyone said “I’m leaning toward Lyons. But I came here thinking I was going to be the only one leaning toward Lyons.” But then every single person felt God’s leading toward Lyons. How much more clear could the confirmation have been? We had our answer: the Spirit was leading us to plant a church in Lyons, KS.

Why I’m excited about Lyons

Two things stood out to me from our time in Lyons: there is a lot of social need for the gospel, and the town seems to have some positive momentum building.

First, the social need: although people seemed to love their community, they were also surprisingly open about the community’s struggles with drugs and depression (several people mentioned a number of recent suicides that have rocked the community). Every time I heard that, all I could think about was how much this community could use the hope of the Gospel.

Second, the positive momentum: people are pouring a great deal of effort into reviving downtown and drawing more young families into the community. Additionally, there is a “kindness revolution” spreading throughout the town as local businesses partner together to spread kindness and pride throughout the community. Again, this feels like the perfect opportunity for a church to join in with what God is already doing and be part of the solution.

Ultimately, that’s what it comes down to: I am excited about the church plant in Lyons because I have already seen how God worked to lead us to that conclusion, and how he is already working in the community, preparing the ground for the work of a gospel-preaching church.

How you can be involved

If you are interested in hearing more or learning how you can be involved, email Caleb at caleb.barrows@gmail.com. And then make plans to attend an interest meeting on March 1 at noon in the Fireside Room.

In the meantime, please be praying for Caleb and for Paul, for the community of Lyons, and that God would be preparing the ground for many to bear the fruit of faith as a result of this church plant.

I love you, church!
Nathan Ehresman

PS, you can watch Caleb’s sermon from last Sunday in the video below, starting at around 34:00.

And Then God Stepped In

What would it look like if we all shared our faith with one person?

That was a big question I took away from last Sunday.

I can tell you one thing: I’m here today (following Christ and working in a church) because someone from the church shared their faith with me.

Growing up, I was taught to help people and I was taught to have good manners. I think I was a “good kid.” It was all goodness for goodness’ sake—I was taught to be good ‘because that’s the way we treat people.’ It had nothing to do with Jesus. In fact, I never heard about God in my home growing up.

And then, God used some other family members to step in.

At the birthday wish of my Mimi, my aunt and uncle started picking me up and faithfully took me to church every Sunday for years.

Those first years had a few highs and mostly lows as I withdrew rather than leaning into learning the Bible and getting to know God.

And then, God used Ben to step in.

After years of muddling my way through church—not knowing the Bible and being overwhelmed at the task of learning it, going through the motions but not really understanding what was going on—Ben took me under his wing. He showed me how to read and study the Bible. He showed me how live in obedience to Christ. He showed me how to let my love for God overflow into a love for people, in accordance with what I was learning in the Bible.

The spiritual leadership that I did not have in the home came to me in the form of faithful members of the church.

And that’s why I am here today. I feel indebted (in the best way) to the church for the way she brought me into the fold, and I want to be part of that for others.

Remember that story Pastor Kyle shared on Sunday? Of how God passed a lineage of faith from a faithful, no-name Sunday school teacher down through the generations to Billy Graham (who, I might add, directly impacted the faith of a number of members in our own body)?

That is the potential power of sharing your faith with someone who might not otherwise hear an accurate representation of God and his steadfast love.

So, I hope that God has directed you to your ‘one’ this week, and I pray for confidence and boldness as you pray for opportunities to share your faith with that person.

During week 1 the aim was to create a habit of sharing your faith by being prepared to share your faith. Last week, the aim was to create a habit of sharing your faith by identifying someone with whom God is directing you to share your faith. And now, I invite you to join us this Sunday as we aim to create a habit of sharing your faith by recognizing the people God has put closest to you and how you can share your faith with them.

(I also want to remind you to stop by the big piece of blue paper in the foyer and write the name/initials of your ‘one’ when you get here on Sunday! It has been a joy for me to pray over those names every time I have walked by this week.)

May God do a mighty work in our community as we all create a habit of sharing our faith!

I love you, church!
Nathan Ehresman

Introducing Habits of Grace

“Are you playing a joke on me?”

That was the text I got from my sweet wife after, for the fourth day in a row, I left the house without grabbing the goodies she had asked me to deliver.

The best excuse I can come up with?

I’m a creature of habit.

When it’s time to leave for work, I grab my bag, my water bottle, and my keys, then head out the door. It didn’t matter how many times we talked about “Okay, we have those goodies to deliver today!” It didn’t matter that the goodies were physically in my path out the door… when I got into my ‘it’s time to leave’ rhythm, I forgot. Four days in a row.

I know, I know… it’s a bad excuse. But hang with me…

Here’s the point: if it’s not part of a habit in my life, it probably won’t happen.

If I don’t have a habit of exercising, it probably won’t happen.

If I don’t have a habit of brushing my teeth, it probably won’t happen.

If I don’t have a habit of setting aside time to be still to read the Bible and pray, it probably won’t happen.

Anyone else?

That is why we have created this rhythm in our church calendar where, every January, we will devote attention to equipping ourselves to create habits which continually orient our hearts to receive God’s grace in our lives.

We are calling this annual season Habits of Grace.

This year, we will spend the month of January focused on evangelism & discipleship. Our big goal is to create a habit of sharing your faith.

So, what exactly does it mean that we are “doing a month-long emphasis on the habit of evangelism & discipleship?”

What to Expect

• A sermon each week exploring this topic in Scripture

• A take-home challenge each week, all designed to help you take your next step in creating this habit of sharing your faith

• Curated resources we pray will aid you and your family in establishing this habit of sharing your faith

• A focus on this topic across the scope of ministries at Grace (from GraceKids to Community Life Groups and beyond)

If I don’t have a habit of going out of my way to tell the people around me who God is and what he has done in my life… it probably won’t happen.

Real talk: forming habits takes work. But forming a habit of sharing your faith with the people around you is worth every bit of work and then some.

Remember: you’re not in this alone. We are all walking through this challenge together, climbing the mountain of forming a new habit together. And the potential impact on the kingdom of God is immense!

That is why I am excited for Habits of Grace.

Please join me in praying that God would do a mighty work, establishing deep within each of us a habit of sharing our faith with the people around us. May we be a church marked by our love for God, love for people, and fervor for leading others to do the same!

I can’t wait to get started with you this Sunday!

I love you, church!
Nathan Ehresman

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

O God of gods and Lord of lords,

Thank you for who you are:

for your perfect love which casts out fear;
for your goodness which gives me confidence;
for your never-changing character which gives me peace;
for your justice which gives me hope;
for your holiness which stirs my heart to praise;
for your omnipresence which gives me comfort;
for your unending grace which humbles me.

Thank you for what you have done:

for crafting creation to sing the beauty of your glory;
for opening my eyes to the truth of my need for you;
for making a way for my sinful soul to be reconciled to you;
for giving me victory over the sting of death;
for humbling yourself to dwell with me;
for giving me the local church where I can be motivated, encouraged, united, and equipped;
for sending me out into the world to be salt & light and to make disciples.

May thanksgiving and praise be ever in my heart and on my lips:

when I sit in my house and when I walk by the way;
when I lie down and when I rise;
when I feel near to your heart and when I feel distant;
when peace comes naturally and when peace is a struggle;
when I am walking on the mountaintop and when I am walking in the valley of the shadow of death;
when I am standing on the rock and when I am in the miry bog;
when your love for me is obvious and when I am caught in despair.

You are good and your steadfast love endures forever.

To you be the glory and honor forever and ever,

Amen.

Grace Resources

Here at Grace we exist to love God, love people, and lead others to do the same. (Maybe you have heard us say that?)

A big part of what we do happens on Sunday mornings—that is the special time set apart for us to come together as a church family, as one body, to worship God together and to be motivated, united, encouraged, and equipped.

But it doesn’t stop there.

We believe that the church isn’t this building where we gather. The church is a people; you are the church.

And that is why another big part of what we do is offer resources to help you to grow in your love for God, love for people, and ability to lead others to do the same during the week.

We want to equip you to go be the church.

So, now, I present to you a list of the resources we currently have available:

Sermon Outline and ‘What’s Real?’ Questions

So, let’s say you had to take a quick bathroom break during the sermon and you missed one of the blanks.

Good news: we post each sermon’s outline (with the blanks filled in) on our website!

Then, let’s say your Community Life Group is discussing the previous sermon but you could really use a discussion guide.

Good news: each sermon outline is accompanied by What’s Real? questions that help you and your group explore if what is true in the Bible is also true in your life.

[PS, let’s say you are loving this FAQ sermon series but wish you had someone you could talk to about it. We would love to get you connected to one of our Community Life Groups! Fill out the Connect With Us form and say you’re interested in joining a Community Life Group.]

Next Step: Download the sermon outline and What’s Real? questions on the Sermons page of our website.

Sermon Audio and Video Recordings

Whether you are home with a sick kiddo or traveling or whatever the reason you may miss a Sunday morning service, we have you covered!

If you are not here but within reach of a smartphone or computer, you can join us on Facebook Live for the 10:30am service.

If you miss Sunday all together, you can find both audio and video recordings of each service on the Sermons page of our website. Or, if you a podcast junkie (like me), you can find our podcast feed in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify by searching for “GCC Newton”.

Next Step: Tune into video or audio recordings of our sermons on our website or through your podcast provider.

‘Is there HOPE for the Truth?’ Apologetics Class Recordings

This fall, we are excited to be offering an apologetics Sunday school class aimed at equipping you to “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

We also know that so many of you serve during one of the two service times and attend the service during the other, and are thus unable to attend the class.

Well, more good news: we have both audio and video recordings of each session of this class available!

Next Step: You can find both on the Resources page of our website, or a podcast feed of the audio on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (we hope to have Google Podcasts live soon) by searching “Grace Resources”.

Worship Playlists

Listening to worship music rich in biblical theology is a great way to stay grounded in truth while connecting with God’s heart. Our worship council puts a great deal of prayer into choosing the songs that we sing, making sure they point us toward God and keep His Word on our lips and in our hearts.

As a resource to you, we have compiled a playlist of all the songs in our Sunday morning worship repertoire on Spotify and YouTube!

Next Step:

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It is our joy to serve and equip you as you seek to love God, love people, and lead others to do the same in your daily life. It is our prayer that these resources would be a small help toward that end.

Now, after all of this talk of how you can stay connected to what God is doing here at Grace throughout the week, I have to say that I can’t wait to worship with you as we gather together this Sunday!

I love you, Church!
Nathan Ehresman

Schedule Your Margin

Fall is exciting.

And yes, I get excited about fall partly because I enjoy football and flannel shirts and cool weather (but I’ll pass on the pumpkin spice-flavored everything).

Fall is also exciting because it is a new season - and I’m not just talking the position of the earth relative to the sun. Fall is exciting because there is so much momentum that comes with a new year of school, a new season of activities, a new time of ministry.

There is a lot of excitement here in the halls of the Grace Community Church facility with ministries ramping up after the slower summer season (check out the Upcoming Events page to sign up for things like Awana, Grouplink, and women’s Bible studies).

After taking the summer off from my seminary studies, my next class starts on Monday and I’m so excited that I have already started working on my first assignment. (Yes, I’m that student…)

I have already felt, however, how fast all of that excitement can translate into busyness overload.

There are so many things to be excited about and that means so many things to say ‘yes’ to and that means so much to fill the schedule.

But, if we’re not careful, all that busyness can get in the way of responding to God’s leading.

If every night of the week is accounted for, will you be able to take the time when your neighbor obviously needs a compassionate listening ear? If you are so busy that the minute you slow down you fall asleep, will you be able to muster the energy to get alone with God?

That’s a good thing about margin: it’s there for when something unexpected happens. Which is good, because God operates on his own schedule.

So how can we counteract the busyness of a new season and create margin?

A number of times I have heard the advice to “schedule your margin.”

I have to admit that, at first, I thought it sounded ridiculous. How can it be down time if you scheduled it?! But I have learned (the hard way) how good and necessary that advice is.

“Free time” doesn’t seem to stay free for long. It’s as if all the things vying for my time look at that unclaimed block of time and say ‘Oh, he’s not doing anything… Dibs! I get to fill that time!’

It takes intention to claim that open slot in the schedule for margin.

Maybe this looks like getting up a little extra early to start your day with Bible reading and prayer because you know the day will be too busy to fit it in later (pro tip: put your alarm clock across the room so you can’t turn it off and fall back to sleep). Maybe this looks like protecting your lunch break to be time to get outside and talk to God. Maybe this looks like limiting activities to only a couple nights a week so you can be free for spontaneous family and friend time.

Whatever it looks like for you, I want to challenge you to make scheduling margin a priority as you set your routine for this new season.

Be still. Savor the calm. And keep your eyes open for how God might drop into your lap opportunities to love the people around you.

I love you, Church!
Nathan Ehresman

Be Careful What You Pray For

We have all heard the phrase “be careful what you wish for!”

I have also heard someone say, “be careful what you pray for!”

And I felt that phrase right in the heart this week. It felt like God was calling us out for talking a big game but not having our hearts in the right place.

“Did you really mean that?”

You see, Addie and I have prayed for years that we would be able to hold our stuff (our belongings - our actual, physical stuff) with an open hand. That prayer has taken on a new life in recent months as our ever-curious 14-month-old Caleb grows in mobility and dexterity.

I don’t know how many times we have said to each other, “It’s just stuff. Our job is to create a safe place for Caleb to play. If something breaks, oh well. It’s just stuff.”

And so we watch with a smile (on the outside) as he pulls books off the shelves, thumbs through them, then tosses them into a pile, bending pages and covers every which-way.

“It’s just stuff. Our job is to create a safe place for Caleb to play. If something breaks, oh well. It’s just stuff.”

That’s easy enough to say when it’s just some paperback books getting bent out of shape. (And, believe me, I call books ‘friends’, so it’s probably fair to say I have a more emotional attachment to my books than the average person. So it’s not really that easy.)

But then this week turned into put-up-or-shut-up time.

Twice, on back-to-back days, things actually got broken. Like, broken-beyond-repair broken.

“It’s just stuff. Our job is to create a safe place for Caleb to play. If something breaks, oh well. It’s just stuff.”

Or, that’s what we were supposed to say…

But these were two wedding gifts. From two special people.

We were sad. Sad that they got broken. But also sad that we were sad that they got broken.

That sadness made it clear that we were giving lip-service to holding our stuff with an open hand without having our hearts in the right place.

So now we return to that prayer with a new fervor, asking God to transform our hearts to truly see all that we have as a gift from him that we are free to let go of at any time He sees fit.

And there’s a tricky balance there, as there is in so many situations: we don’t want to be reckless with our stuff - we want to steward well what He has given us - but we also want to guard against being so attached to our material possessions that we are sad when they break or are lost.

As Addie and I have been processing through the events of this week, the chorus to one of the songs that we sang during Summer Quest came to mind:

As the world shake shakes
And things break break
You are my rock my everything

The reality of our fallen world is that things do break. Cake stands break. Wooden crosses break. Bodies break. Relationships break.

But the beautiful gospel never breaks: no matter the brokenness around us, God stands strong as our rock, our everything.

I pray that as you find yourself in the midst of brokenness - whether you are sweeping up broken pieces of glass, sweeping up the metaphorical broken pieces of a relationship, or sweeping away tears over the broken body of a loved one - you would find peace and strength in the truth of God’s steadfast faithfulness that endures forever.

I love you, Church!
-Nathan Ehresman

Room for Mystery

I love mystery stories.

I love the sense of awe and wonder when I get to the big reveal and I am totally amazed at how the hero (probably a certain mid-nineteenth century British consulting detective) sifted through the misdirection and minutiae to uncover the truth.

I also love the process of taking in all the information for myself and trying to figure out what is going on before I get to the end. (The more insignificant it seems the more important it really is, right?)

I enjoy this process so much that I like to go back and reread the same mystery story again because I pick up different details/clues/hints along the way. Each new detail that I discover reveals more of the story and the more I am drawn into it.

This is what all the studying for my Theology courses this semester has been like.

Just like going back to the same mystery story mining for more details, the more I study who God is the more details I pick up. And the more details I see the more I am in awe of Him.

That is a beautiful truth about our infinite and perfect God.

Because God is Creator and we are his creatures, we can only know God insomuch as he reveals himself to us. Even then, we are unable to fully grasp who he is because of our fundamental difference in nature: he is infinite and we are finite; he is perfect and we are broken.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this is a “you’ll never get to the end of the story so don’t bother starting” situation. No, this is a “the story is indescribably beautiful so keep keep drinking in its beauty with each day of your life” situation.

It is a noble task to devote oneself to knowing him more and more each day even though we will not know God fully until the day we stand face-to-face with him. That is why I believe there is also room for mystery in getting to know God.

In my recent reading I came across this prayer from Augustine’s Confessions in which he captures the beautiful mystery of God’s nature:

Most high, utterly good, utterly powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, deeply hidden yet most intimately present, perfection of both beauty and strength, stable and incomprehensible, immutable and yet changing all things, never new, never old, making everything new and “leading” the proud “to be old without their knowledge” (Job 9: 5, Old Latin version); always active, always in repose, gathering to yourself but not in need, supporting and filling and protecting, creating and nurturing and bringing to maturity, searching even though to you nothing is lacking: you love without burning, you are jealous in a way that is free of anxiety, you “repent” (Gen. 6: 6) without the pain of regret, you are wrathful and remain tranquil. You will a change without any change in your design. You recover what you find, yet have never lost. Never in any need, you rejoice in your gains (Luke 15: 7); you are never avaricious, yet you require interest (Matt. 25: 27). We pay you more than you require so as to make you our debtor, yet who has anything which does not belong to you? (1 Cor. 4: 7). You pay off debts, though owing nothing to anyone; you cancel debts and incur no loss. But in these words what have I said, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks about you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you because, though loquacious with verbosity, they have nothing to say.

What an amazing sense of wonder and mystery at our good and great God who is immutable yet changing all things, who is wrathful yet tranquil, who pays debts despite owing nothing.

So my challenge to you is to embrace the mystery of getting to know God. Continue searching for more and more details that unravel a fuller picture of who God is. But also take time to sit and enjoy the glorious mystery of his incomprehensible nature.

I love you, Church!
Nathan Ehresman

The Heart Behind Our Sending

If you have been with us regularly over the last few months you may have started to pick up on a pattern in the way we end our services.

We end our services with what we call a “sending.” We call it that because we see the end of our service as the beginning of your week of living out your faith—we are being sent to go live out the truth we just sang and heard.

Sometimes the sending is a reflection on the sermon we just heard, sometimes it is a benediction from Scripture (like the priestly blessing from Numbers 6), and sometimes it is what we call our sending. Our sending is something we wrote as a staff that we feel captures God’s heart for our church.

So, as the words of our sending are hopefully becoming familiar to you, I wanted to take a few minutes to share the heart behind them.

I will break our sending down into a few chunks and add some commentary on each chunk. Here’s the first part:

We have been motivated by the love God has shown us in Christ.
We have been united in our worship of the living God together.
We have been encouraged by our fellowship with one another.
And We have been equipped by the preaching of God’s Word.

These lines get at what we see as the purpose of our Sunday morning services. Our services are designed so that we would be a church that is motivated, united, encouraged, and equipped.

Motivated to love God and others because He first loved us. United as one body, worshiping the one true God together. Encouraged to persevere and grow by sharing life with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. And equipped to apply the Truth in our own lives, as well as to minister to those around us.

It is our prayer that by gathering together for an hour (or so) on Sunday, we would all be better equipped to go be a gospel witness for the other 167 hours of the week.

Now, go in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power in you each and every day. Isn’t that kind of crazy to think about?! But it’s true: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you,” (Romans 8:11).

So, think about what that means for you: you do not have to wonder if you said the right thing when your coworker asked about your faith—it’s the Spirit’s job to change hearts. You do not have to rely on your own strength to get through the pain of heartache—the Spirit gives you strength. You can lean into the Spirit’s leading and trust Him to do the work only He can do.

In all that you do, love God boldly.
In whatever neighborhood, whatever workplace, whatever school God has placed you, love people sacrificially.
In whatever stage of life you find yourself, look for opportunities to faithfully lead others to do the same.

This is our purpose as a church: to love God, love people, and lead others to do the same. This purpose is something that can permeate all aspects of your life, no matter where you are or what season of life you are in.

We believe God has you in your specific neighborhood, your specific job, your specific school because you are part of His plan for reaching that neighborhood/workplace/school with the gospel.

We also believe that whether you have been a Christian for ages or your faith is just blossoming, there is someone you can learn from and someone who can learn from you about loving God and loving people. Be diligently seeking out those people, and make the most of the opportunities you get.

YOU are the church. Now go BE the church.

The church is not a building; the church is a people. It can be tempting to think it is the church’s job to teach people about God, or it is the church’s job to visit the vulnerable in their affliction. But remember: you are the church. So, yeah, it’s “the church’s job”—but that means it’s your job… it’s our job.

We won’t always end our service with these words, but we will frequently because we believe they echo God’s heart specifically for our church—for you. It is our prayer that hearing this sending gives you a more clear understanding of how God is calling you to be part of what He is doing in and through Grace Community Church.

I love you, church!
-Nathan Ehresman

Jesus > Kit-Kats

Valentine’s Day was pretty fun growing up. It usually started out with some kind of cherry-flavored baked good for breakfast, then it was out the door with my home-decorated shoebox-turned-mailbox, ready to collect a pile of cartoon-themed valentine cards. Or, more importantly, to collect the pieces of candy taped to the pile of cartoon-themed valentine cards.

The day always started out well enough, but then my sin-nature inevitably reared its ugly head.

After all the valentines were passed out we would dump them out on our desks and sort through them all to assess the haul. No matter how many valentines and pieces of candy I received from my classmates, I wasn’t happy if I got the one with Raphael instead of the one with Leonardo (the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not the Renaissance artists; my friends weren’t that sophisticated). I wasn’t happy if I got the one with the Butterfinger instead of the Kit-Kat.

I have this bad tendency of comparing myself - or what I have - to other people and what they have. I am happy with who I am or what I have until I see someone who is more or has more.

No matter where my eyes fall, temptation lies in waiting.

It’s kind of like how I set our 10-month-old son Caleb down in the middle of the room and the first thing he wants to crawl for is the electrical cords. So I turn him away from the cords and he crawls over to the stairs. So I turn him away from the stairs and he crawls into the bathroom and tries to pull up on the toilet.

The sin inside of me is always pulling my heart toward the things - whether it is a new gadget, an additional skill, or the ability to dunk a basketball - that I don’t have.

While none of these things are inherently bad, the longing for what I don’t have distracts me from thanking God for what He has already given me.

Recently, God was stirring in my heart an awareness of this propensity to sin, and then He brought Philippians 3:7-11 to my attention:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

… the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

I am constantly getting lost in longing for what I don’t have. What I so easily forget is that what I do have is everything.

Because I am in Christ and he is in me, what I do have is of surpassing worth beyond anything else that I could ever long for.

What a humbling truth.

But, at the same time, what an encouraging truth!

My heart is stirred to praise when I consider the grace of God to offer me resurrection from the dead by no means of my own, but by the loving gift of Christ’s righteousness.

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I hope you will join us for worship on Sunday! I’m excited because Pastor Kyle (and a worship choir!) will be introducing a new song to our repertoire and Pastor Jack will be kicking off a new sermon series on the book of James, during which we will be challenged to consider the question Is what’s true in the Bible real in my life?

I love you, Church!
-Nathan Ehresman

A Prayer for 2019

How successful are you with New Year resolutions?

Journal daily… drink 3 Nalgenes full of water each day… don’t use the snooze button…

These are all resolutions of mine from years past. I have had varying levels of success, but almost inevitably lose focus and fail to carry the momentum of a New Year resolution through the full 365 days.

A few years ago, Addie introduced me to a new way of doing beginning-of-the-year reorientation: choosing a “word of the year” on which you regularly mediate. It could be anything you want; the idea is to choose something that, by being reminded of this word, will draw you closer to God.

My 2018 word of the year was immutability, which refers to God’s attribute of being absolutely unchanging. This proved to be a perfectly fitting word for what turned out to be my most change-filled year yet (new job, new baby, new house). Because I had chosen immutability as my word of the year, I was constantly reminded that no matter how much things change in my life, God never changes. I found great peace in that.

This word of the year practice has been far more beneficial to me than any set of resolutions ever was, so I plan on continuing it for 2019.

(Can we pause and say, ‘Whoa! It’s 2019?!’)

I have decided to put a twist on it this year, though.

During the month of January, we are focusing on prayer here at Grace:

• Each of the four Sundays of January, Pastor Jack will be preaching on the topic of prayer

• We are hosting the A Praying Life seminar on January 18-19 (If you haven’t signed up, there’s still time! Register right now by clicking here)

Drawing on that prayer focus, I have decided to write a short daily prayer based on my 2019 word of the year: value.

Gracious, Almighty Father God,
Thank you for Your steadfast love which endures forever. I pray that You transform my understanding of value this year. Help me to see that my value lies in Your love for me, rather than in anything I do or don’t do. Help me to value each and every person I encounter the way You do; may my interactions with people be filled with a reflection of Your steadfast love. Help me to value each moment - big or small - and how it can be used for Your glory.
Amen.

It is my prayer that, by reading my attempt at reorienting my focus on finding my value in God and understanding value the way He does, you will be inspired to choose your own word of the year and write your own prayer.

May 2019 be a year in which God draws you near to His heart in new and deep ways!

-Nathan Ehresman

PS, I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we worship through song together and explore how Jesus prayed in Mark 1:35 and Luke 5:16. We will also be voting to confirm the three elder candidates presented by the current Board of Elders. And, finally, if you want to learn more about Grace, join us for Starting Point immediately following the 10:30 service!

Creators in His image

Addie and I really enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the parenting conference here at Grace last weekend. (There is still time for you to join us for the last session this Sunday morning!)

One of my big takeaways from the sessions is that it is weird to not talk about God with your kids all the time because He is everywhere - reflected in everything - as the Creator of all.

This truth was encouraging and inspiring as I think about raising Caleb to have an innate God-consciousness from his earliest days. But it also got me thinking about what it means for me that we are created by God.

We are unique among all created things because only human beings are created in the image of God, the Creator.

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. -Genesis 1:27

Being created in the image - or likeness - of God does not mean that I can accurately picture God looking like what wise old grandpa looks like; being created in the likeness of God means that we bear a resemblance to his attributes.

We have the capacity to love because God is Love. We desire justice because God is Just. We are able to exercise creativity because God is Creator.

So, maybe you don’t design or paint or write calligraphy or build or sew or play music… but you are creating somehow. Maybe you are a creative problem solver. Or maybe you are creating an open and loving atmosphere in your home. Or maybe you are creating memories by going on adventures big or small with your family. Because you are created in the image of the Creator, you are creating somehow.

As a creator by trade, it can be hard for me to release a creation of mine out into the world. It feels like I leave a part of myself in everything I create. And because everything I create has a part of me in it, it can be hard to receive feedback on my creation without taking it personally.

I believe both of those impulses - to create things that reflect me and my nature, and to hold my creations personally dear - are direct results of being created in the likeness of our Creator. God created us in His image, which means there is a piece of Him in us; and because God created us in His image, He loves us dearly and takes the way we treat each other - His creations - personally. 

The Creator of all things created us to be creators like Him.

The cool thing about this is that every time you create, you are acting in response to who God is. Every time you create, you are engaging in an act of worship. By living out the imago dei - the image of God in you - you are pointing those around you back to their Creator.

So, how are you flexing your creative capacity as a way to reflect the personality of your Creator?

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I hope you will join us for our services on Sunday morning! Pastor Mike Barter from our church plant in Hillsboro - Grace Community Fellowship - will be preaching here, while Pastor Jack preaches there. We will also get the special opportunity to hear from a missionary couple we support and, as always, we will pray together, sing together, and study the Bible together.

See you Sunday!
Nathan Ehresman