We know that most people come to Christ on the arm of a trusted friend.

How are you doing at investing in people and inviting them to join you at Church at the Grove?

Remember, you gotta come yourself if you are going to bring somebody with you or have them meet you at the school!

Who are you investing in?

Here is the concept behind our Core Value “Missional Responsibility”:

We desire to fulfill the mission God has given the Church.  In both Old and New Testaments we encounter a God who is on a redemptive mission in the world.  In fact, we are astounded at the lengths to which God will go in pursuit of his mission to redeem the crowning achievement of his creation – people.  In North America, the term “mission” has been associated with either sending called people to other parts of the world or giving financially toward reaching others around the world.  With the United States now being among the largest mission fields in the world, and the fact that there are now multiple generations born and raised in a post-Christian culture, we must address the need for churches to think “missionally” in a local context.

What if each individual believer and household could see their home as a “base” for missional operations to reach the entire neighborhood for Jesus?

This is a core desire for Church at the Grove.

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.

One particular Sunday recently I greeted some guests and walked them through the building and into our auditorium at Walnut Grove High School where we gather for worship.  As we walked into the auditorium there were only a few people  that had already arrived and it was only a few minutes before the scheduled start of our gathering.  The couple asked if this was a normal occurrence to have only a few people there on Sunday mornings and I was actually a little embarrassed trying to explain that a few would come in on time and the majority would come in during the first ten to fifteen minutes of our worship gathering.  I really wish that I could have introduced this couple to a few more people before the gathering started.

We will have even more guests coming through our doors over the next few weeks as we move into the fall with school starting back and people settling in following busy summers!

1 Thessalonians 2:7–8 (ESV)
7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

Please be early!

We tend to be a little more relaxed than many churches and we have been cruising through the summer schedule with people traveling and enjoying family.  It seems on many Sundays if our crowd arrives later and later & it is a bit deflating for our worship leaders when there are only a few people sitting in the auditorium at 10am. My primary concern is guests showing up early or on time and we do not have CATGrovers to welcome them, speak to them and make them feel they are part of something exciting.  PLEASE use this fall as an opportunity to start fresh with showing up early or on time and look for opportunities to make guests feel welcome and let’s begin our gathering on time and together.

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.

Continue to financially support God’s Work through Church at the Grove
We have been so blessed by your continued faithful financial support of the ministries of Church at the Grove! Thank you so much! Let’s continue to faithfully give toward the life transformation that takes place through the ministries of Church at the Grove!

Keep Praying, Keep investing, Keep inviting!

In the Northeastern United States, codfish are a big commercial business. (Story via Chuck Swindoll)

There is a market for eastern cod all over, especially in the sections farthest removed from the northeastern coastline. But the public demand posed a problem to the shippers. At first they froze the cod, then shipped them elsewhere, but the freeze took away much of the flavor. So they experimented with shipping them alive, in tanks of seawater, but that proved even worse. Not only was it more expensive, the cod still lost its flavor, and, in addition, became soft and mushy. The texture was seriously affected.

Finally, some creative shipper solved the problem in a most innovative manner. The codfish were placed in the tank of water along with their natural enemy – the catfish. From the time the cod left the East Coast until it arrived at its westernmost destination, those ornery catfish chased the cod all over the tank. And, you guessed it – when the cod arrived at the market, they were as fresh as when they were first caught. There was no loss of flavor nor was the texture affected. If anything, it was better than before.

Each one of us is in a tank of particular inescapable circumstances. It is painful enough to stay in the tank. But in addition, there are God-appointed ‘catfish’ to bring sufficient tension to keep us alive, flavored, alert, fresh, and growing. It’s all a part of God’s project to shape  our character so we will be more like His Son. Understand why the catfish are in your salt-water tank. Understand they are part of God’s method of producing character in your life, and mine. Let’s not lose the flavor or the salt.

Important Things at CATGrove to be aware of:

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THIS SUNDAY!

Another big announcement this Sunday you don’t want to miss!

Our students are gathering for 2 more Wednesdays at UNITED.  Tonight is at Monroe High School with the CATGrove band leading.  Next week the summer finale will take place at Walnut Grove High School and I will be speaking.  I hope to see your middle school and high school students these next 2 Wednesdays at 7pm.

Be praying for our Social Circle Launch this coming January!  Is God leading you to be a part of that launch team?  Please send me an email, call me or speak to me on Sunday if you are interested.

THANK YOU!

Because we can’t do it without you and to show appreciation for all that you have done and continue to do, we offer our 2nd annual Volunteer Appreciation night!

Sunday night August 28 at Lenora Park @ 6:30 we will gather for a night of fun at the water park.  It will be for the entire family of those that serve in any capacity at Church at the Grove!  Please begin to RSVP to our office by phone or email to let us know you plan to attend.

Group Link is August 7!  Save the date that night so you can connect with one of our Group Link homes and connect relationally with some other people in the Church at the Grove family!

I hope you are having an awesome summer!  Please continue to pray that God will use Church at the Grove to impact this community and the world!  Make it a priority to be at our Sunday gatherings and bring a friend or family-member with you.

Consider where you will connect in a Community Group this fall.  Remember that circles are better than rows when it comes to building relationships in the Body of Believers.

Continue to invest in conversations and relationships with people in your neighborhood, family, and circle of relationships.  These are the best and natural places to invest in people and share the hope that is only found in Jesus Christ.

Keep praying, Keep investing, and Keep inviting!

Please pray for our Romania Team that leaves this Friday evening!  They will leave this Friday and return the following Saturday on July 30!  Pray that God keeps them safe and that they have an incredible week of ministry and mission work sharing the gospel and meeting needs in the name of Jesus.

Don’t miss this Sunday!  We will be making a couple of Big Announcements over the next couple of weeks and you don’t want to miss what we have to share.  It is very exciting to see what God is doing in and through the life of Church at the Grove!

Our youth ministry summer “UNITED” meets at Monroe High School for the next two Wednesday nights.  I hope to see your middle school and high school students this Wednesday at 7pm.

Be praying for our Social Circle Launch this coming January!  Is God leading you to be a part of that launch team?  Please send me an email, call me or speak to me on Sunday if you are interested.

THANK YOU!

Because we can’t do it without you and to show appreciation for all that you have done and continue to do, we offer our 2nd annual Volunteer Appreciation night!

Sunday night August 28 at Lenora Park @ 6:30 we will gather for a night of fun at the water park.  It will be for the entire family of those that serve in any capacity at Church at the Grove!  Please begin to RSVP to our office by phone or email to let us know you plan to attend.

Don’t forget to be reading the gospel of John chapter 1 this week each day.  Ask God to speak to you and reveal Himself to you as you read.

Group Link is August 7!  Save the date that night so you can connect with one of our Group Link homes and connect relationally with some other people in the Church at the Grove family!

I hope you are having an awesome summer!  Please continue to pray that God will use Church at the Grove to impact this community and the world!  Make it a priority to be at our Sunday gatherings and bring a friend or family-member with you.

Consider where you will connect in a Community Group this fall.  Remember that circles are better than rows when it comes to building relationships in the Body of Believers.

Continue to invest in conversations and relationships with people in your neighborhood, family, and circle of relationships.  These are the best and natural places to invest in people and share the hope that is only found in Jesus Christ.

Keep praying, Keep investing, and Keep inviting!

We had a great “Next Steps” gathering and several people turned in their membership covenant to join CATG!

I had a blast hanging with our students at the Nealin house watching the Super Bowl!  So much fun.  God continues to work and change lives!  Here are a few thoughts from our first week of “EKG: All of life comes from the heart!”

The mouth is the stethoscope to the heart.

If you want to know what’s in someone’s heart, listen to what they say.

Matthew 15:17–19 (ESV)

¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

²³ Above all else, guard your heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.

All you do comes from the heart!!

All of life comes from the heart!!

Christianity is not about behavior! God wants to give us a new heart!

Guard what comes in & what goes out!

We begin a brand new series this Sunday morning titled “The Griswold Family Christmas” as we head into the Christmas season.

CATG Griswold Family Christmas

This series will be fun and challenging as we look at maintaining a focus on what really matters for families during the Christmas season. Stress and dysfunction can steal the hope, peace, joy and love that families should encounter during this special time of year.

I hope you have had an awesome week celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends.  I hope you ate enough but not too much.

I am thankful for Jesus’ undeserving grace, my wife’s unconditional love and my children’s endless joy!

We had an awesome time down on the farm in Soperton over the last few days!  We hunted, ate, fished, four-wheeled, ate some more, made syrup, rode tractors, ate some more and spent time with family on the farm!

I am so thankful for a generous church that gives so unselfishly to make things possible like “Shop with A Hero”. Because of your generosity and the help of organizations like the Loganville Fire Dept., CORNDAWGS, Wal-Mart, the Loganville Police Dept and other it looks like we are going to reach our goal of investing in over 70 children in “Shop With A Hero”!

Thank YOU!

Now, It is Friday and I am at my home office working on a few things before we head over to my family’s thanksgiving gathering.  I will not go to a store today!  REPEAT!  I will NOT go to a store today! I want to maintain my sanity and ability to focus on my integrity and character!

Keep Praying!  Keep Investing!  Keep Inviting!

This Old House
 
Hebrews 10:35-36
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
 
This past Saturday morning I was sitting in the den with my husband drinking my coffee and watching This Old House.  As I watched they discussed all the plans for restoring a home in Roxbury, Boston, they showed the house in its current state which was terrible, it looked as if it had caught on fire at some point and had clearly been abandoned for quite a while as the windows and doors were all boarded up.  The drawings looked awesome, I was anxious to see how in the world they were going to make this dilapidated old house new again.  Norm Abrams is like a magician where these things are concerned!!!   As the show went on they talked about how they had to pour new footings and how the foundation was going to have to be re poured, they were putting up supports so that the floor joists wouldn’t collapse when they removed the old foundation and poured the new one.  There was all sorts of stuff that I didn’t exactly understand going on and quite frankly the house still looked terrible!  I finally looked at my husband and said “at this point I think I would just say forget it and go buy a whole new house!”  You see, I am more of an HGTV girl.  I like to repaint, buy some new accessories and voila a pretty new room!
 
At my church we have been doing a series on “Staying in Love” and as the day wore on I thought about that statement and I started thinking about my own marriage, and about friends that we have that are struggling.  My heart ached for them and I felt the need to thank God for the fact that in my own marriage He was our “Norm”, He was willing to put in the effort to rebuild our foundation, He was willing to work a miracle in our marriage and restore it.  You see when I look at my husband today, I see an amazing, Godly man, he is strong, smart handsome, caring, loving.  We have a wonderful relationship and I can’t imagine my life without him.  Not all that long ago though I didn’t see any of that, my marriage was that sad broken down house that needed more work than I could do but God was ready and able to restore us.  When I look at our marriage today I see something close to that artists rendering that they showed at the beginning of the show.  It is new and beautiful but it still has the character that you only see in and old restored home.  I know that we still have to do the work that it takes s to keep up our marriage.  Just like an old  home, once that home has been restored, there will be cracks in the plaster that must be repaired, eventually they will have to put on a new roof or repaint, having a beautiful home takes work but it is worth it.  In my marriage I have to keep my selfishness in check, I have to put Lee’s needs/feelings before mine.  I have to choose to hear his side rather than shouting mine.  I have to over look his faults and remind myself of my own sometimes.  I have to forgive as I have been forgiven even when Lee is wrong and some Saturday mornings I have to watch This Old House instead of HGTV.  You see having a good marriage takes hard work and sacrifice too but the rewards amazing!
 
I thank God that He restores what everyone else has given up on, that He specialized in resurrecting that which was dead!  If you are struggling in your marriage you have the very creator of marriage on your side, God sees what is possible if you will just submit to Him and allow Him to work with and through you.  Trust Him, after all, He is the expert!

• I love her unashamed passion for Jesus Christ!
• I love her unwavering commitment to God’s Word and living it out in her life.
• I love the way she serves and loves me unconditionally.
• I love the way she mothers and invests into the lives of our children.
• I love the way she laughs. (Loud)
• I love her commitment to the local church, the body of Christ.
• I love her passion for building relationships with people in need of a relationship with Jesus.
• I love her hospitable spirit toward the people with whom she crosses paths.
• I love the way she sings.
• I love her legs.  (I have to be honest)
• I love her passion for educating our children.
• I love how she overlooks my shortcomings and hardheadedness.
• I love her beautiful smile and perfect teeth.  (That happened to be in braces when we dated.)
• I love to go to bed and breakfast inns with her.  That is where we are now! June 24, 2009.

Steve’s twin brother Scott passed into eternity a little over a year ago after a lengthy battle with cancer and in honor of Scott friends and family have launched a yearly bar-b-que fundraising event for raising funds for the purpose of supporting families needing help with their medical bills. 

If you can be a part, I encourage you to drive down tomorrow (Saturday May 16, 2009) to the Social Circle North end bypass between 11am and 2pm for some great bar-b-que and to support a great cause.  The Scott Williams bar-b-que is for a good cause and worth your time.