Grace Church

 

I keep trying for "that" family picture....but in this one Selah is sleeping Jon and Sam are not looking at the camera and Steve is holding Sarah like a sack of potatoes:)   I need a summer one to replace the one on the top of the blog where we all have winter clothes on!  It's too hot to look at us in sweaters!

 

We are really excited about some things happening at our church.  We came to this church 7.5 years ago.  It was a literal junkyard and falling down.  We had to have dump trucks come in and take away all the junk that was on the property, in the buildings...it was unreal especially to someone like me who could totally do "Clean House"  I LOVE to throw things, or give things away, and that's when it's my stuff.  I really love it when friends let me clean out their house or closets.  So I had lots of stuff to throw away here.   Since being here, we have redone all the buildings, the yard, torn down part of a building and rebuilt.  It's been a lot of physical work.  Obviously we've had a lot of help too!

 

Just as we've had to work on the physical aspects, there have been real spiritual aspects here that have been hard to deal with.  Without going into specifics, there have been things that needed to be corrected, dealt with and changed.  It's been a lonely ministry at times.  But we were committed.  We've had people come and go over the years and honestly it was good when they left, if they weren't  on board and positive.  When the accident happened, and we were gone for so long, we wondered at times how it would affect our church, but we didn't focus on it because there was nothing we could do and our focus is ALWAYS on our family FIRST!  When we came home, there were some changes and it was good.  We finally are seeing a light, a break through here.   It's something I prayed for and I'm a bit shocked to see it starting to happen:)  Our church has a ways to go but it feels like the foundation has been laid and we are ready to build spiritually.  It's been a long haul! 

 

We're a truly different kind of Pastor's family.  When I say our kids come first, they totally do....  we've seen too many friends who were hurt by their parents who put "the ministry" in front of their kids.  We vowed to never do that and we have not.  We are not interested in being "cool"  or being "traditional"  we like to be who we are somewhere in the middle, just being ourselves and serving God....  Our heart has always been to the hurting and the down and out, whether that was street ministry, prison ministry or orphans.  We have no desire to be "trendy" or to attend some conference on "how to build your church"    Jon doesn't "dress" a certain way to "win" a certain crowd. It used to be you could tell a preacher cause he had on a 3 piece suit, now it would be you can tell a preacher cause he has on jeans with holes in them, cool shoes, his shirt on the outside and his hair gelled LOL

 

So we have several new things going on and some ideas about different ministries that is specific to us and our neighborhood.  We truly are "the church in the swamp" and we love that aspect:)    We want to start something for families with special needs children and adults.  We already have a great prison ministry going.  We are thinking about starting an archery class for kids from this area.  We have some new members and some who have just committed to working with us.  It's really exciting to see some things come together.  Oh we're not a "mega church" but it is great to see what God is doing.  

 

We are excited and thankful for what God is doing. 

 

So if you live in our area, come and check us out!

Grace Church

7060 Berry Road

Zephyrhills Fl 33540

 

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FYI- we have come to the conclusion that we favor "family church" meaning the families stay together throughout the service.  We've seen our kids learn much more that way than being sent off to a "children's church"  At first, we did it out of necessity  but then we began to realize it was a good thing and then we found we were somewhat a  part of a movement LOL  It's called the Family Intergrated Church Movement

(or you could just call it church as it was for thousands of years before children's churches started)

We do not dogmatically hold to every part of that movement but we do believe in families sitting together, learning together and children learning what the church is....

 

Jon grew up in the Methodist church sitting with his family and I grew up in the Church Of God sitting with my family.  We both did go to Sunday School but for the main worship, we were with our family.  I truly believe it was a good thing for both of us.  Poor Jon went to a very quiet church, where he would often count the ceiling tiles (and can still tell you how many tiles there are LOL)  Me, I grew up in a crazy, running the aisles, shouting, Pentecostal church so church was NOT boring:)   You absolutely did not know what was going to happen in a service:)  It was wild at times!    But the thing we both learned, was how to be a part of the church.  I truly think, based on research I've read, that one reason so many Evangelicals leave the church when they turn 18 years old is that they have been marginalized by being in children's church and youth group without knowing the fullness of feeling a part of the church as a whole.   There is no reason to "dumb down" church for kids and have no expectations of them.  We've seen a growth in our kids' understanding (Steve and Shad) by the questions they ask us later.  We can tell they are learning.  Also our little ones have learned self control by learning how to sit through church.  Sam rarely moves from "his spot" and he enjoys church, especially the music!  Sarah does pretty good too.  Anyhow just wanted to give you a head's up.