If our church were to disappear, would Church at the Grove’s influence be missed?

Our role as a church is to be a bridge.  As we serve and love those in our community we form a bridge through our actions over which the good news of Jesus can travel!  I heard it said recently, “Influence is when you (church) become part of the fabric of the community.” My desire as a pastor is that Church at the Grove become a part of the fabric of the community. My former pastor Mike Linch spoke about this at a recent meeting of pastors and church leaders and it was a good reminder of the need for us to focus as a church on serving and loving our community.

Our community needs our church.  Our church needs our community.  True, lasting influence is gained over the long haul and leads to credibility with the community.

How do we “win” over the community….?

• We have to learn to love the things they love and get involved in the things that are important to them.

• My heart as a pastor is for God to raise up some leaders that will become the “flag waivers” (leaders) for our community ministry needs.

• We want to serve our community with “no strings attached” just like Jesus love on people He came into contact with.

• Popular author and blogger Seth Godin states, “If you are not remarkable, you are invisible.”

Church at the Grove, let’s dig in over the long haul, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, let’s serve our community in a remarkable way!

Check out my friend Brian Dodd’s thoughts on serving the community as a church:  http://briandoddonleadership.com/2011/10/25/13-tips-on-how-churches-can-best-serve-their-communities/

I feel a little like that this week!  It is very similar to the emotions I experience just over 5 years ago when we had our first preview services for Church at the Grove.

• This Sunday night we will have our first preview gathering in Social Circle at the Middle School Activities building at 6pm.  We would love for you to be there!

Although we have been through something similar to this when we launched CATGrove and we may be a little more prepared than we were over 5 years ago. Nevertheless, we really don’t know what to expect, who will be there and exactly how things will go! Isn’t that great!

It is in times like this that we get to experience God at work in the most intense and fresh manner.  We take a step of faith and He works in and through our faith!

I am hoping to have a great turnout from our Walnut Grove “Grovers” this Sunday night. We need some of you to come early and greet.  We would love to have some of you join us in the afternoon and set up and we will need some of you to stay a little late and help us breakdown.

On Saturday November 5 at 6pm we will have a Social Circle Launch Team Meeting for those feeling God’s leadership to be a part of this new endeavor.  The location is to be determined.

Please keep praying, keep investing and keep inviting!

I was talking with a friend today sharing some of the story of Church at the Grove and I was so excited talking about what God has done in five years of life-transforming ministry.  I get excited when I reflect on the past, rest in the present and envision the future of Church at the Grove!  My friend commented about how many churches struggle maintaining their focus on reaching people outside the church over the long haul.  It is a difficult task to maintain an outward focus but it is the very heart of God to make His name known to all people.

I came across the Spurgeon quote in the first line above and my heart ached at the thought that CATGrove would ever be negligent of the out outside world.

My prayer is that we would continue to flourish in the years to come by focusing on The Great Commission.  Let’s resolve to maintain our focus on the outside world and God’s love to for those that are yet to be reached.

Luke 15:7 (ESV)
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Let’s stay focused!

This Week in The Grove:

5 year anniversary!
On September 11 we will celebrate an incredible 5 years as Church at the Grove! (Insert applause & cheers) These 5 years have been significant in seeing many people turn to follow Jesus & seeing lives transformed as we have impacted our local community and even touched lives around the world.  September 11 will be a big day and we want everyone who calls Church at the Grove home to be there and to bring your family and friends to join you!

Two Services on September 11
We have continued to see our CATGrove family grow and as a result, we need to create more space for new people.  On September 11 we will launch with 2 Sunday morning gatherings at 9:30 & 11am.  This is to create another opportunity for you to invite your family and friends that you have been praying for and investing in!

Community Groups begin September 11
Our new Community Group semester will begin Sunday September 11! I am convinced that one of the important elements to our growth this past year (God gets the credit, of course) was our Community Groups this past year.  We had more groups and more people connected to groups than ever before!  Please choose a group over this next month and get connected to other people in the church!

Church at the Grove Social Circle
This coming January we will launch a 2^nd location gathering in Social Circle.  God has called us since before we ever launched our 1^st gathering to be aggressive in ADVANCING the gospel through planting new churches and new locations of CATGrove!  I am asking everyone to please pray about being a part of this launch team that will help get this new gathering started.  It will be one of the most exciting things you have ever been a part of.  Consider making this your campus, consider giving one year or six months to help get Social Circle started.  We can’t do without people like you.

There was one little boy that particularly caught my attention (and everyone) each time he rounded third base!

Each child is greeted with the crazy applause of parents, grandparents and other attendees as if it was the seventh game of the world series as they round third base on their way to home plate.  One little boy would round third base every time with a huge smile on his face and he would maintain eye contact with the fans in the stands the whole way across home plate.  Often, he would actually miss home-plate because he was so focused on the fan support. He was absolutely enthralled with the encouragement from the fans as he made his way down the third-base line to cross home plate.

This is a great picture of how important “community-life” is to the individual Christian as they “run the base paths” of life in the world.  We are not meant to live our Christian lives alone.  It is the encouragement of others that offer Christ’s strength and support as we travel through life.

Remember that you can run farther when others are watching!  That is why you should not neglect being involved with other believers in small groups or teams that serve together.

Here are a few things going on at The Grove this week:

Volunteer Appreciation Night August 28 6:30pm-8:30pm at Lenora Water Park
Make sure you get your reservation in for this fun night for you and your family!

5 year anniversary!
On September 11 we will celebrate an incredible 5 years as Church at the Grove! (Insert applause & cheers) These 5 years have been significant in seeing many people turn to follow Jesus & seeing lives transformed as we have impacted our local community and even touched lives around the world.  September 11 will be a big day and we want everyone who calls Church at the Grove home to be there and to bring your family and friends to join you!

Two Services on September 11
We have continued to see our CATGrove family grow and as a result, we need to create more space for new people.  On September 11 we will launch with 2 Sunday morning gatherings at 9:30 & 11am.  This is to create another opportunity for you to invite your family and friends that you have been praying for and investing in!

Community Groups begin September 11
Our new Community Group semester will begin Sunday September 11! I am convinced that one of the important elements to our growth this past year (God gets the credit, of course) was our Community Groups this past year.  We had more groups and more people connected to groups than ever before!  Please choose a group over this next month and get connected to other people in the church!

Church at the Grove Social Circle
This coming January we will launch a 2^nd location gathering in Social Circle.  God has called us since before we ever launched our 1^st gathering to be aggressive in ADVANCING the gospel through planting new churches and new locations of CATGrove!  I am asking everyone to please pray about being a part of this launch team that will help get this new gathering started.  It will be one of the most exciting things you have ever been a part of.  Consider making this your campus, consider giving one year or six months to help get Social Circle started.  We can’t do without people like you.

In light of this day, let’s look at an excerpt from Washington’s Farewell address that connects these valuable freedoms to the True GIVER of Freedom!

September 26, 1796

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

May we never forget from where our true freedom comes!

God Bless America!

Weekly fast on Mondays
Please continue in our church-wide fast this week.  You may change the day since July 4th is on Monday but please don’t forget to continue to pray and fast for our Social Circle Launch; the continued focus of CATGrove; our Romania mission team and for God to work personally in your life!

Group Link
We will gather again in our Group Link gatherings on July 10!  Let’s get together for some fun and fellowship.  If you have any questions about where you need to be, simply ask!

Community Groups
Community Groups will be launching before too long!  Be thinking about where you will connect for relationships and spiritual growth this fall!  True spiritual growth doesn’t happen sitting in rows starring a the back of people’s heads!  It happens in circles sitting face to face with people!  Make it a priority!

This past Sunday:  Matthew 5:8

Purity of Heart comes from a singular devotion to God.

Purity of Heart is about living a life of integrity

Purity of heart cleanses the eyes of the soul so that God is visible.

Jesus is our reward

This is the great story Nathan shared about how we tend to focus on the exterior rather than the inner heart!

Story from Max Lucado
“Once, when we were leaving for a week-love trip, I remembered I hadn’t unplugged the  ham radio.  I ran back in the house, puled the plug and dashed out again.  But I pulled the wrong plug.  I unplugged the freezer. It was summertime, and it was hot.  For seven days, a freezer full of food sat in a sweltering apartment with the power off.  When we came home, my wife decided to get some meat out of the freezer. As she opened the freezer door – well, I won’t go into details as to what she saw but I will say it was a moving experience.  We then figured out that I had unplugged the freezer instead of the radio.  Guess who would be responsible for cleaning it? You got it. So I got to work.

What is the best way to clean out a rotten interior?  I knew exactly what to do.  I got a rag and a bucket of soapy water and began cleaning the outside of the appliance.  I was sure the odor would disappear with a good shine, so as I polished and buffed and wiped.  When I was through, the freezer could have passed a Marine boot-camp inspection.  It was sparkling.  But when I opened the door, that freezer was revolting.

No problem, I thought. I knew what to do.  This freezer need some friends. I’d stink, too, if I had the social life of a machine in a utility room.  so I threw a party. I invited all the appliances from the neighborhood kitchens.  It was hard work, but we filled our apartment with refrigerator, stoves, microwaves, and washing machines. It was a great party.  A couple of toasters recognized each other from the appliance store.  Everyone played pin the plug on the socket and had a few laughs about limited warranties.  The blenders were the hit, though; they really mixed well.  I was sure the social interaction would cure the inside of my freezer, but I was wrong.  I opened it up the stink was even worse!

Now What?  I had an idea. If a polish job wouldn’t do it and a social life didn’t help, I’d give the freezer some status!  I bought a Mercedes sticker and stuck it on the door.  I pained a paisley tie down the front.  I put a “Save the Whales” bumper sticker on the rear and installed a cellular phone on the side.  The freezer was classy. It was stylish. It was … cool.  I splashed it with cologne and gave it a credit card for clout.  Then I backed away and admired the high-class freezer.  “You just might make the cover of Popular Mechanics, I told it.  It blushed.  Then I opened the door, expecting to see a clean inside, but what I saw was putrid – a stinky and repulsive interior.

I could think of only one other option.  My freezer needed some high-voltage pleasure! I immediately bought it some copies of Playfridge magazine – the publication that displays freezers with their doors open.  I rented some films about foxy appliances.  (My favorite was The Big Chill.)  I even tried to get my freezer a date with the Westinghouse next door, but she gave him the cold shoulder.  After a few days of supercharged after-hours entertainment, I opened the door.
And I nearly got sick. –END–

Here it is summer time and we are having tons of guests every Sunday!  What I am even more excited about is the fact that our guests are coming back a second and third time! That is HUGE and it confirms that God is doing some incredible things in the life of The Grove.

I was absolutely thrilled about how our GROUPLINK went on Sunday night!  In three different homes we had over 120 people connect together to fellowship, eat and share in the vision that God has given Church at the Grove. That is huge for a hot Sunday night in June.  Huge thanks to Craig and Amy Story for coming up with the idea and organizing GROUPLINK.  Huge thanks go out to Chad and Anita Spinks, Russ and Joanna Spires and Craig and Amy again for hosting groups in their homes.  Remember, our church is only as strong as the relationships cultivated in authentic community! We can’t grow as disciples simply sitting in rows starring at the backs of people’s heads.  Authentic community comes from sitting in circles face to face!  Keep growing GROVE and don’t miss out on the relationships God wants you to have.

In light of that, please don’t take the summer off from Church at the Grove!

You are going to travel and take vacations.  You are going to visit with family.  You are going to spend time at the pool.  But don’t take a vacation from your faith community.

You potentially can wake up on a Sunday morning and realize the summer is gone and you haven’t connected with your church for weeks or months.  God doesn’t want that for you.  It is not spiritually healthy for you and it will not advance the gospel and the mission God has given our church.  Please make it a priority to be a part of our gatherings this summer when you are not out of town!  I miss seeing you and I know others miss you.

Don’t forget about our CATGrove fast that goes through July! Fast your two early meals on Mondays for CATGrove’s continued missional focus and our Social Circle Launch next January!  God is working and we want to continue to see HIM accomplish His will and purpose through us.  Some things only come by prayer and fasting. That is what Jesus said!

• Be praying for our Romania team as they complete preparations to go at the end of July.

• Be praying for the Sports Camp taking place in Holt, Alabama outside of Tuscaloosa this week.

• Be praying for our children’s and youth ministry leadership as we seek to fill that position.

• Be praying for UNITED, our summer youth ministry on Wednesday nights at the local High Schools.

• Try to come by Chick Fil A on Wednesday’s Spirit night to help raise money for our Romania Team.

Keep praying, Keep investing, Keep inviting!

One of our core values is “Authentic Relationships” and I believe with all my heart we have seen God bless us with rich, genuine relationships.

It is out of this core value and CATGrove reality that I PLEAD and URGE you to participate in our “GROUPLINK” this Sunday night June 12!

We have a “GROUPLINK” gathering in the Loganville area, Social Circle area and the Monroe area.  If you have questions you can go to www.churchatthegrove.com and click on “Get Connected” and then “Community Groups” or just click here and you will have some info details on what is happening.  We will be glad to answer any questions you have on this coming Sunday morning.

Read what Jesus said in John 15:12 and consider how this applies to our local faith community.

We are challenged by Jesus to demonstrate His love for the world by loving one another!

Would you be willing to join us as we take steps to put this important principle into action.

Keep praying, keep investing, Keep inviting!

See you Sunday!

I came across something that is just plain STUPID!

I repeatedly talk about the fact that unfortunately Christians are often known more for what they are “AGAINST” rather than what they are “FOR”! We get too much publicity for boycotts, protests, and basically what we are against rather than being proactive in the local community to offer positive impact.  We should be known for what we are FOR!  I am for people, I am for life, I am for children, I am for making a difference, I am for making someone’s Christmas special.  We could go on and on.  One public school administrator recently spoke about a local church’s activity in the community, “They are serving to be heard”.   He was speaking about a local church serving through kindness and making a practical difference in order to have credibility in the community.  Credibility leads to being heard.  Sometimes when you serve, people ask, “Why”?

I came across an article on the web describing a local church in TX that has set up a “naughty or nice” website for people to post businesses that either say “Merry Christmas” (nice) or “Happy Holidays” (naughty).  The web site is grinchalert.com and allows people to list businesses that promote “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”.

Is this what the Christian faith has come to? Have we taken the majestic and powerful gospel and the great commission and resorted to this as it’s expression? That is just plain stupid.

You can go here to see a Fox News report on this church’s efforts.  Is this the kind of publicity we want to be known for at Christmas time during an economic depression.  Why can’t there be a news report on how a church has made Christmas special for a group of orphans and widows?  What about a news report for how a church made a difference for families that have dads and moms serving overseas with the military?

Hear me out:  I am not a big fan at all of political correctness and I would rather hear “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays” any day!  I support freedom of religious expression.  I could go on.

But….

This whole campaign doesn’t take into account that everyone doesn’t believe that Jesus’ birthday is significant.  We should not put them on a “naughty” list!  They should be put on a “prayer” list. We should be praying for their spiritual eyes to be open.

Rather than waste our resources on a silly campaign for political correctness, we should be utilizing our resources for the Great Commission.

We shouldn’t trivialize what God takes serious…People’s souls at stake.

This “naughty and nice” lists makes Christians look petty and exposes us to public ridicule!

This “naughty and nice” list demonstrates weak Christian Theology!  It implies that if someone says “Merry Christmas” they are sound in their beliefs, and their relationship with God.

It simply misses the point.

In Matthew 9:36-38 it says that Jesus look at the crowds and was moved with compassion not criticism.  He saw them not as a group that should be put on a naughty list but as people in need of a savior. That should be our heart and attitude this Christmas season.  Let’s encounter people that believe differently than us with COMPASSION!  When we see or hear “Happy Holidays” may we be moved to intercede and pray for those that need to turn to the Savior whose birthday we celebrate this season.

I am with Jesus in that we should be praying for churches to be sending laborers into the harvest field rather than putting people on a “naughty” or “nice” list this Christmas season.

Don’t miss this Sunday at The Grove as we conclude our “Griswold Family Christmas” with the Advent focus on LOVE.  See you Sunday

Until then:  Keep praying, keep investing, keep inviting!