Our next adventure at Grace Community...

A few weeks ago we took a Sunday to reveal our next big adventure at our church. At our north campus we challenged our people to continue to move from one service to two. It's so exciting to see our north campus continue to reach north Clarksville and get to see life change week after week. For our south campus we are have reached the point where we feel it's time to build a facility. We have rented a school for the past 5 years and God has allowed us to maximize that space to the point where we simply have to create more seats so we can see more people hear about Jesus. You can watch our lead pastor Chad Rowland cast vision for these next steps here by video but what excites me more than adding services or building facilities are the five things our church is praying for as we move through this journey.

1. That God would protect us from treating temporary things as if they are eternal
2. That God would give us generous hearts
3. That God would not allow space to keep us from reaching people now
4. That God would one day allow us to share Truth with every single person in our community
5. That God would enlarge our influence beyond our city walls

Dreaming big and so excited to see what God does next. If you are out there and you follow this blog I would love for you to hop in and join us for one of our services at our online campus. You can check that our at www.gcomlive.com.

5 reasons we partner with Compassion International

This Sunday we announced that Grace Community Church was officially partnering with Compassion International to do ministry in Guatemala and specifically in Guatemala City. Sunday was a day I will never forget as I watched people hear the story of Compassion and respond by sponsoring kid after kid. Here are a few big reasons why we are now working with compassion to reach Guatemla for Jesus...

1. Changing the life of one child can change the destiny of a family // when you help a child break free from poverty you impact an entire family and open their family to be engaged by a local church and have hope!
2. When we partner with Compassion we are partnering with the local church // when we send mission teams into any country we want to support the work of the local church. Compassion only works through the local church and works to connect us with local churches.
3. We want our families to be able to meet their sponsor kids when on mission trips // that simple, connection is a powerful thing!
4. We want our mission trips to be focused on spreading the message of Jesus // Compassion is not just about freeing people from poverty it's also passionate about seeing people discover Jesus.
5. Compassion helps us give our families a way to do mission work together // every family can work together to sponsor a child and change a life. I have seen it work in my home for five years as my kids have loved on our sponsor child in Kenya.

Check out the first CD from the GCC Worship Team

This past Sunday we released our first worship album as a church. This is a five song EP that captures the five songs that have shaped our church the past 2 years. I could not be more proud of our worship and tech team for putting in the hard work to make this project a reality. After serving here 5 1/2 years I still am inspired every Sunday as I see people from all walks of life serve, worship, and live life together. You can grab the CD here online or if you want a hard copy you can also order it there also! The team called this “The Prelude” because we all believe the best is yet to come! Pumped about this first project and can't wait to see what is next!

Check out our OPEN HOUSE at Relevant!

In just a few weeks on August 8 at Relevant Student Ministry we will host our 2012 Open House for families to check out what we do as a youth ministry. We make this night happen for new families that have moved into our area, for new 6th graders, for incoming freshmen, and for other parents who just want to learn more about the goals of our ministry. When we started this last year we did not expect it to work but to our surprise it turned out to be an amazing night and a great opportunity for our team to hang out with parents. There are a few wins that come out of doing an open house before you kick off your fall schedule and here are a few...

1. An open house lets you tell your story and share your values // we want people to know our story and our goals for the year. This is our shot each year!
2. An open house allows you to connect and partner with families // anytime you get to hang out with parents is a big deal. This time allows us to set the tone of the year with families.
3. An open house gives you time to meet new students before the rush // with a smaller crowd your team has a better shot to meet new students and make them feel comfortable.
4. An open house nights gives you a natural spot to gather small group leaders for training // we have found this is a great night at our normal time and venue to train leaders and it allows small group leaders to meet new students. Double win!

Read the Bible? Why and where do I even start?

Yesterday I had the chance to speak at Grace Community and we talked about how when we encounter the Bible we should be driven to action. The Bible is living. The Bible is given to us to shape our lives and reveal the heart of the God we serve. We know we need it but it's very difficult to find a rhythm with the Bible in our everyday life. Anything worth having or doing ever comes easily. It takes work to integrate the Bible into our life and then live what we read out. You can watch what I said about the Bible here but I wanted to give a few ideas for anyone who was at GCC Sunday and wondering how they could get started engaging the Bible. Here are a few ideas that really help me stay on track and YES just like you I need help staying on track when it comes to taking time to read the Bible.

• Just do it >> at some point you have to drop the excuses and just go for it! Make sure you start and start today. You need the Bible in your life so just start today.
• Have a plan >> plans really help everyone. Use You Version on your computer or smart phone to find a reading schedule. Read a chapter a day. Head to a book store and buy a devotional. Find a plan to help guide your time.
• Schedule time to read >> this is basic but make sure and plan when you will read. You have a calendar so book the time. It's that important.
• Take away one big idea each day >> look for that one idea everyday. Pray and ask God to give you a big idea every day when you read and then look for ways to live it out.
• Drop the guilt >> you will miss days so please drop the guilt and pick it back up.
• Question, explore, and think >> you will encounter things that you don't understand. Keep questioning and learning. It's OK to THINK!
• Drop the agenda >> keep and open mind when reading the Bible and let God speak to you. Don't read to find answers to your problems, read to find God in the middle of your mess.
• Memorize when you find the jewel of truth >> when you find that verse that just stands out go ahead and try to memorize it!

Best Fathers Day gift ever!

Today is probably one of the best days of my life as a dad. Today I get the honor of baptizing my youngest daughter Kelyn. She is 6, she loves Jesus, and her faith is simple but profound. Kelyn became a follower of Jesus a year ago and we have been helping her find clarity over the past year. Today is just the day she gets to share her faith with her church family at Grace Community and she is pumped...so is her Dad. Both my daughters love Jesus, love the church, and support their mom and dad as we serve as pastors. I am so blessed to know both of my daughters know the Father who will never fail them. I am also blessed to be their dad and help them grow into the young women God wants them to be. As a dad I am just going to keep letting my girls know God loves them, I love them, and they are the most beautiful girls in the universe!

Changes at Grace Community Church...

The past few weeks have been a real time of change for our team at Grace Community Church as one of our co-pastors is leaving to lead another church. I have loved serving with Ron Edmondson and we are excited for his next adventure. You can read about where Ron is headed on his blog. I have been here on staff at GCC for five years and I have loved every minute of serving with our team. Change is a difficult process but the strongest organizations learn to embrace it and lead through it. I am super proud of how our team of staff and volunteers have dealt with our staff changes the past few weeks. Here is a video we shared with our church this week as we try to answer some questions people have about our direction as a church. After five years here I feel like our best days are yet to come. Check out this video...

the importance of youth ministry

I have been serving teens now for 15 years as a volunteer and on staff at different churches and I still need to be reminded why youth ministry is important. I need to be reminded because the truth is that student ministry can be difficult. Many times it's just easier to let teens do what they want and think they don't desire or need adults in their lives. It may be easy to ignore them but the truth is that they are desperate for adults to actually show up and invest in their life on a consistent basis. Consistency is big because so much of life today is inconsistent. The typical American dream is fading. Family life is always changing. Teens are being forced to make choices about their future (college and career) at a time when they are just figuring out who they are. Teens need consistency and they need it from the church more than ever. We named our student ministry Relevant Student Ministry because we really believe in a culture that is continually changing Jesus is the one thing that will always be unchanging. Jesus is relevant today and forever. Student ministries all across the country have the chance to partner with the church and with families to lead teens to Jesus. That's why what we do in youth ministry is important. Here are three factors that make what we do in youth ministry significant for the future of the church...

• Youth ministry is discipleship not just gathering a crowd >> Our goal is to help teens follow Christ with all of their life. We are not just trying to reach teens, we are also trying to shape them to look more like Jesus. This is not hype. We see this happen by leading teens to engage in worship, study God's Word through relevant teaching, and process faith through small group led by adult mentors. Our hope is to lead teens to be followers of Jesus with all their life.
• Youth ministry can reach teens in a city for the Church not just a church >> Many teens don't go to their church because it's unhealthy and they know it is not working. Youth ministry gives us a chance to reach teens in our city and lead them to Christ. Youth ministry is not just about a single church it's about advancing the mission of the universal Church God is advancing. We have reached teens in our city who will then plug into church with their family at a different church. We are here to serve our city not just our church.
• Youth ministry can connect teens to the mission of the church >> Teens need a bridge to encounter the larger mission of the church and we can be that bridge. Teens can serve now with other adults in the church. Teens can go on mission trips now with the church. Teens can worship and grow together with the church. Connect a teen to the church today and they will connect with the church in college!

Experience or Education...you need both!

Many people find themselves graduating college and asking if the need to gain needed experience or move further in their education with a graduate degree. In reality you need both. One of the most dangerous things people in ministry can do is wait to serve. Your call as a pastor, leader, missionary, servant is not to get a degree, it's to make a difference in the Kingdom of God. Yes, you need education but you also need to get your hands dirty and filter your knowledge through serving. Here at Grace Community Church we are launching a program to help young leaders serve and learn at the same time. Yes we know it sounds odd but we’re calling it, for now, our Residency in Ministry program. Similar to a medical residency, we view this as a post-college “residency” where those in the program will be doing real ministry alongside pastors who are a little further down the road. They’ll be entrusted not with making copies (though, as we all know, that is a small slice of ministry, too) but with life-changing ministry. They’ll be viewed as full-on staff members, held to the expectations of the rest of our staff team. They’ll also receive a small stipend and have their housing covered.

In addition to doing the work of ministry, one major benefit of the program is that seminary tuition will be included. Clarksville is 45 minutes from the new Nashville campus of Southern Seminary. We’ve already had staff members (myself included) who have worked full-time at Grace and attended classes concurrently. And as I said above, I believe that this is a great way to learn and do ministry: in the classroom and in the “lab.”

We’re receiving applications now, looking to have residents in place by August, 2012.
If you’re interested, just head right HERE and start the application process. If you know someone who would fit the bill, send this info along. If you have any questions, we’ve tried to answer the most frequently asked HERE.

We’re stoked about this program, and are convinced it will be a great benefit to a great number of young leaders.

The end of NO SHAVE November

It's November 30 and for the first time in 5 years of No Shave November I made it to the end without shaving the beard. Victory is mine. Fear the beard. And yes the beard better fear me in the morning because it is time for a trim. First time I grew a beard was after I read the book Wild at Heart (a must read if you are a dude and you have not read it). I remember all the prim and proper church people giving me grief. There was nothing better than ignoring them and growing the beard. Since my first beard over 7 years ago I have to admit I love the beard and more importantly my wife loves the beard. Today I will celebrate this month long victory. To all the teens and college students at Relevant and Aqua who made it, I salute you. If you quit in the middle of the month then man up and make it next year. If you are a girl and you grew a beard you probably need to see a doctor! Long live the beard!

Thanks...

Thanksgiving week is a natural break for my family. All fall we have been going 100 miles an hour and for one week in November we get to slow down and celebrate a time where we stop and give thanks. 2011 has been a defining year for our family. Both our girls are in elementary school now. Chelsea came on staff at Grace Community and she is wrapping up her graduate degree in school counseling. God led me to stay focused on student ministry and stay anchored in our church and our community. Our family is thankful. We have watched God constantly guide us and give us strength for the next challenge. In a few hours we will hop in the car and head out of town to spend some time with family. Before we hit the road I wanted to just process what I am thankful for this year and some people I'm thankful for...here goes...

• My girls...wow I am blessed with three amazing women who live at my house! Chelsea and our daughters Kelyn and Kozbi are such a blessing. I am so grateful God allows me to be husband and dad to these women.
• God's grace...it's amazing that God keeps coming after me and shaping my life. I'm thankful to serve a God who does not give up on me or the people around me.
• Our team at Grace Community...every week I get to work with some of my best friends. I get to hang out with some of the most amazing volunteers in the universe. I get to lead in a church where God is changing lives. 
• Our teens at Relevant...I'm blown away by the teenagers relevant student ministry gets to invest in each week. I'm so thankful that we get to be an influence in their life pointing them to Christ.
• Our Relevant alumni living life all across America...yea it's so cool to get to watch formers students make a difference for Christ on their college campus.
• Leaders who read this blog...I really do enjoy writing and I am blown away that student, kid, and family ministry leaders across the country would even give this time of day. Thanks for reading and thanks for serving the next generation.
• Leaders who have invested in me...I have been able to meet some many amazing next generation leaders in 2011 and build some great friendships. So blessed to have people out there who are helping me be a better follower of Christ and leader.
• My Tennessee Vols and Tennessee Titans are still fighting to get better...yea it has been a long football season for me but my teams are still trying to make a bowl and the playoffs. You know I had to talk about football somewhere in this post!

Praying you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving and that you have time to process what you are thankful for this year. Slow down and embrace some time to just be grateful.

FAMILY communion

We celebrate communion at our church several times a year as a church family, and we also make communion available every week for people who want a weekly experience. Our family ministry team wanted to find a way for kids who were Christ followers to be able to share in communion on those Sundays that were church wide and that idea is what led to our family communion area in Cross Street. This Sunday we created an area for parents and kids to share communion together. We left instructions for the parents and empowered mom and dad to have a moment of remembering with their kids. We also had one of our family ministry staff team stand by the area to answer any questions. Not every parent made the effort or felt the need to participate but many did. It was so incredible watching families remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us together. It was powerful to watch kids and parents pray together. As family ministry leaders we have to continue to find ways to help parents and kids share signigicant spiritual experiences together. For our team, family communion is just another experience that connects faith and home.

Yep...we're looking for some amazing volunteers!

Not sure about your church but at Grace Community we are trying to find new volunteers all the time. This week is our event we call ServeNow. We really believe that every teen and adult in our church needs a place to serve in our church and in the community if they are going to grow in their faith. We believe serving is connected to spiritual growth because it opens our hearts to the needs of others. What we try to do with ServeNow is have one place, one Sunday where people can sign up to "test drive" a place of serving. When people sign up they are only signing up to try out serving out in one of our ministry areas by hanging out with a seasoned volunteer for a Sunday and if they feel like that is the right fit they can commit. If they don't like the experience...they can simply walk away. We have found that if  we make serving a priority of the entire church (not just our ministry areas!) we can fill our volunteer needs and help people grow spiritually at the same time. This is how we are helping people make a difference with their time and talents. What are you doing to help people serve in your church?

Cross Street LIVE...this Sunday @1:30!

Yes...we are stoked to have the new season of Cross Street Live starting this Sunday (family lunch at 12:45 and CSL at 1:30) at the Rossview Campus of Grace Community Church! CSL is an experience where kids bring their parents to church. We have new actors, new dancers, new videos, new games, new everything coming this week. We know fall break is wrapping up this Sunday so make it count with your kids and get to Cross Street Live. Sunday is going to be epic! No matter where you go to church on Sunday make sure your family is at CSL, it's open to the entire community! Here is a sneak peak at what CSL looks like!

Kidmin Conference, California, and all in one wild weekend!

It's going to be a wild weekend for our Family Ministry team at Grace Community Church. This weekend 4 of us are getting away to hit a conference and visit some churches on the west coast. I am headed to check out the student ministry at Saddleback Church and Mariners Church in California with my friend Terrace Crawford. Our Kids Ministry Team is heading to Chicago for the Kidmin Conference learning from some of the best children's ministry leaders around the country. The reason this kind of stuff matters is that leaders have to strive to be learners. Our team never wants to stop asking questions and learning from others. Praying this weekend brings big ideas for our family ministry team. Look from some cool stuff from California on the blog this weekend.

Breaking free from failure

This week I had the chance to speak at Grace Community as we started our series called Free. Sunday we checked out how we can break free from failure and looked at how Jesus helped Peter move forward after failure in John 21:15-19. Jesus stepped into an awkward moment with Peter and helped him understand that his failure couldn't be allowed to define his future. The same is true in our own lives...failure can never be allowed to define our future. Here is the video from Sunday...

Breaking free from failure from Gcomchurch Sermons on Vimeo.

Loss

In life we all face loss. On Sunday night we found out that 2 teenagers (a senior and a college freshman) connected with our church and student ministry died in a car wreck. Watching our students deal with loss has been difficult. Our volunteer team has even struggled as we wrestled with how to help our teens through the process. Loss hurts in any situation but when it comes to loss of life there is a deeper pain. When we lose those we love, we are confronted with the reality that this life is short...is not permanent...is a gift. We are now in the the middle of grieving and hurting with these families but as we mourn together we grow stronger. As I have reflected about this time of loss here are some things we are striving to remind teens...

• Life is short // We say this all the time but in times of loss we are faced with the reality of our own mortality. Over and over we have heard teens and adults reflect on the brevity of life. Our team is just trying to help teens learn from this loss. Life is short and the reality of that truth is in our face this week.
• God is present // It's during times of loss we long for the presence of God more than ever. God is not just present when things are going well. God is present in the hurricane of pain that death forces on us. This week our message is simple..God is with us.
• Relationships matter // Times of loss remind us that we need each other. Teens simply want to be together. For our team, the importance of the small group leader is elevated in times of loss. The consistent relationship a small group leader has with students really matters when teens face the hurt of losing a friend.

We have been reminded this week that we don't have all the answers. We are not in control. We also know we can't explain why. What we can do is simply be present as students face loss head on. We will point people to Jesus who saves and hope that sustains.

Revolution Conference 2011...coming Saturday!

Every August our Family Ministry Team at Grace Community hosts a conference for our volunteers who work with kids called the Revolution Conference. There is never a perfect time for a training event. We never get "all" our volunteers there, but we believe that training and renewal are a big deal. We also enjoy giving our volunteers a few surprise gifts for coming to our training events and we have a cool gift for this year! We are so excited that we have Joy Bowen from the Rethink Group as our guest speaker. Joy is one of our favorite leaders and she has so much wisdom from her time serving in several churches. We feel this day is important because it allows our volunteers to hear the "why" behind what we do each week and learn more about how we call all improve! Why and how are both so important ideas we need to communicate to our volunteer team. We can't wait to see how God works this year at the conference. To see our plan for the day just check out www.revolutionconference.tv.

yes...I work with my wife!

Yes, it's official. I now work with my wife. This week Chelsea joins our Family Ministry Team at Grace Community Church as our Family Ministry Coordinator. She is part time which is great for her full time job as mom and wife. Truth be told Chelsea has been my top leader in every ministry I have ever led through the years. As a teen she felt a call to ministry but felt when she married a pastor she had filled that calling. Chelsea is also one of the best educators I have ever seen in a classroom setting. I really like hiring teachers for our family ministry team. (If you can run a class, connect with parents at school, deal with administration, then you can thrive in the church setting) As Family Ministry Coordinator, Chelsea will lead our partnership with parents, strengthen our organizational systems, and help us build our special needs ministry at GCC. She also has to put up with me but she has been doing that for fifteen years.

Yes we hired my wife and I know that would not happen in many organizations. At Grace we have decided to always hire the right person for the role regardless of what their last name happens to be. We have several family connections on our team and we work hard to make sure there are healthy boundaries between work and family for everyone. Why hire Chelsea for this position? Here are a few reasons...

• Calling // Chelsea feels called to invest in families and kids. This is a calling she has lived out for years as a volunteer so it is so great to see her live that out at our church on staff.
• Education // She is finishing her graduate degree in school counseling at Western Kentucky University...wow, that is going to be useful.
• Experience // so many years as an amazing volunteer...an amazing parent...a teacher with 8 years of experience...what more can I say.
• Team Connection // yea, Chelsea was interviewed by several on our team and this is just a great fit for our staff team. Connection matters. Thrilled she already has healthy relationships with the team.

There ya go...excited about this addition to our team as I know this will help us advance the Kingdom of God.

check out our new website

On Sunday we launched our brand new website at Grace Community Church where I serve. So proud of the team that worked to hard on this project and really excited about the results. We believe our website is the front door of our church. When people are checking out where to attend they look to the web first. When people need information they are gonna hit our website. When they miss a Sunday and want to stay up to speed they are going to grab content from our website. The new design helped us refine our message and communicate more effectively. We are also using QR codes now to help direct people to specific parts of the site so if you have a reader test it out on the logo above. Hope you will check out the new site.