What's For Breakfast?

A few weeks ago I decided to make another change in my eating habits to enhance my chances of achieving my target of a 100lb weight loss by Christmas. Don't worry - there'll still be plenty of me left even at that!

I started eating breakfast!
Most of my bad eating habits start after dinner, not first thing in the morning. I have never been a big fan of breakfast, except for when I eat it in a diner with family or friends. When you think about it, if you don't shave or eat to start the day you have at least six minutes extra in your schedule to do important things - like sleeping longer.

But I'll eat breakfast Sunday and I hope you will too. We have ordered a ton of food for our special anniversary celebration and have rented extra chairs to make everyone comfortable. Here are a few handy hints for Sunday morning.

+ You don't have to rush. We'll be serving breakfast continuously from 9.30 to 10.30, so if you want to arrive at 10.29, that's okay. Walk the dog, pick up the paper, cut the grass, email a friend and turn up at whatever time suits you best.

+ We really hope you'll bring a friend / neighbor/ relative / someone you met at the supermarket checkout or even your mother-in-law.

+ Encourage your guests to complete a First Time Visitor card. They'll be on every table. Then they need to take it to our Guest Services Table where they'll get a coupon for a free gift next week.

+ Give them a tour of the theater and in particular of the one we use on Sundays where we're showing a special 11-minute video all morning.

+ Introduce your guests to one of the pastors, or if you think that might put them off, introduce them to Dan Ricci instead.

+ Please don't talk shop with the pastors on Sunday - they're there to meet new folks. You can talk to them any time during the week about issues that are on your mind.

+ Be extra friendly to people who might be guests!

+ Let's pray for a great morning and believe for a terrific future.

+ And because man does not live by bread alone, please be sure to leave your tithes in one of the offering baskets on the Guest Services table.


COOL PERSON OF THE WEEK
It's Friday and today's winner of our special award, who qualifies for a free breakfast on Sunday, is ......

Matteo Capita

Matteo is an outstanding guy who has been a blessing to us ever since he became part of Grace Church many, many years ago. He and his wife Carmella headed up our youth ministry for several years and they're just the kind of folks you love to be around.
I missed Matteo from the list of last week's cool people - our first Mississippi Relief Team. There was I in Scotland, sitting in front of a computer and racking my brain for the name of the eighth member of the team and concluding maybe there were only seven.
What can I say? Aging is a terrible thing!
But it means that Matteo has his own solo award this week. He deserves it!

Mets Tickets

Anyone want to see the Mets at Shea tonight?
We have four field level seats at third base - five rows back from the field - for tonight's game against the Rockies.
Sadly we can't use them to watch New York's finest baseball team!!

But if you can - the first person to call the office and ask for them gets them.

It pays to keep checking in here. You never know what you might find!

Sometimes God Acts Fast

We got home late Tuesday night from a great visit to Scotland. It was good to spend time with Gill's sister-in-law who had surgery for bowel cancer a couple of months ago - please join us in praying for a complete recovery for Sue. Then we had a wedding, I did some preaching and I seemed to spend a lot of time counselling as we visited with old friends. It was a great break.

Now I'm catching up with some of the folks in the church, talking to attorneys about our building project, preparing for our seventh anniversary on Sunday and generally trying to get to the bottom of the pile of papers on my desk. The problem being that just as I see some sign of wood underneath it all, Charlotte comes through and drops down a load of other material I need to look through.

The highlight of today has been a phone call I just received from Danny Holland. A couple of months ago Danny was dying. His liver was hardly functioning, he had no energy and his stomach was distended. I had met Danny a few times - his brother and sister are part of our church family - but we didn't see the man himself in church too often.

Desperate and concerned about the future, he came to service a number of weeks ago and before he left I asked if I could pray for him. As we bowed our heads in the foyer, I asked God to intervene speedily to save this man's life.

Well, he got an unexpected transplant the very next day and he called this afternoon to say he is home. God has performed a miracle and he wants to testify one Sunday when he is allowed to go out in crowds again. You should have heard him - he is bubbling with gratitude to God.

Thank God for answered prayer and for a life saved!

Sometimes God acts real fast on our behalf. Mostly he seems to take his time. But he is never ever a single second late!

Last Night I Danced

Nearing the end of the longest visit to Scotland we have made since we left here fourteen years ago, yesterday I conducted the wedding that triggered this trek back to our adopted homeland. Though neither Gill nor myself was born amid the beauty on the northern side of the wall built by the Romans to keep the Scots out of England, we spent fifteen years here, which includes most of the time our family was growing up. So Scotland became our family home.

The wedding involved a great deal of Scottish tradition, including the Celidh last night with the old celtic songs and dances that date back generations.

I found a comfortable vantage point in the hall from which I could watch the band, listen to their music and admire the skills of the dancers. Most of the men of course were looking fine in their kilts and regalia, but I felt more comfortable in a black suit than a tartan skirt!

I did dance once at the invitation of a young woman who had introduced herself to me earlier that day. "I'm Sarah-Elaine," she said, "Don't you remember me? You dedicated me when I was a baby." A few more questions on my part established the fact that this had been 24 years ago and so perhaps I could be forgiven if my instant recognition faculty appeared somewhat dulled. Later in the day she informed me that her diaper had leaked while I was dedicating her and I completed the rest of the service with a significant wet mark on my suit. Thankfully I have even less recollection of that event than the culprit.

It was fun dancing with a young woman I had dedicated as a baby. I had also married her parents some time before that. Mind you, the dance was a little too energetic for my bulk - I am sure "Strip The Willow" was less demanding a few years ago!

Meeting Sarah-Elaine was like a lot of reunions that have taken place this past two weeks - they have reminded me that in different ways we all have the opportunity to make a difference in hundreds of people's lives over the course of a few years.

If you haven't done it yet, watch "Mr.Holland's Opus" when you get chance. It's message is the story of this Scottish break.

Cool Person Of The Week

It's Friday, so it's Cool Person Of The Week time once again. There's little question in my mind about who gets the award this time round. Our first two winners have been people linked with our Hurricane Response efforts and today we're still looking in that direction.

This week's cool person is once again more than one person. In fact it's seven -

Frank Summers
Ray Balsamo
Mike Engel
John Mennona
Scott Fagerland
John Herpfer
Mark Thornton

These are the men who are making the long journey home today from Mississippi, exhausted, but fulfilled after working tirelessly to support some of the families whose homes were devastated by Katrina. They have lived in a tent and a shed, endured all kinds of difficulties, but performed a great service to people experiencing an overwhelming crisis. Dave Grimes, the pastor coordinating teams going to Pascagoula described our team as "heroic".

We're proud of them and are blessed to be identified with them. Don't miss the whole story of their Mississippi ministry on Sunday morning.

God Hasn't Moved

Gill and I are still in Scotland, but got word today that last night (Tuesday) the Town Board slipped the proposed code change onto their agenda and passed it. This means that to build more than 15,000 square feet in a residential area now requires a variance. In our case that variance must be applied for to the Town Board itself.

While I am surprised and disappointed that this was passed, we will continue to follow what the new law stipulates and will now prepare an appeal for the Town Board. I expect them to reject it,as I am sure the sole purpose of this amendement is to stop our building. If this indeed happens, we will pursue the legal road of suing the Town to establish what our attorney advises is our first amendment right. His work would be pro bono and the Town will be compelled to pay his expenses when they are found to be denying us our constitutional right.

So where does this leave us?

+ It leaves us coming to the end of our seventh year with a good strong, vibrant church.

+ It leaves us with eight men serving others in Mississippi, 22 ready to go to the Dominican Republic in three weeks, 2 leaving for India in late October and six people going to South Africa on October 31st to encourage hurting children.

+ It leaves us on the edge of one of our most exciting Sundays ever, with 154 visitors expected on October 2nd.

+ It leaves us building up to our 40 Days of Community campaign that will draw us closer to one another and help us reach our communities.

In short, nothing has changed. God is still on the throne, we are still functioning very effectively as a church. This decision does not stop us, harm us or hurt us.

We will continue to pursue our building application. But remember one of the most effective churches in our country - Rick Warren's Saddleback Church - grew to 10,000 people over 15 years without a building of their own. This may be taking longer than we expected, but God has it all in hand. Let's build the church and the church building will come together in its time.

Yesterday I Felt Old

So here we are back in the northeast of Scotland for a few days, while we visit Gill's sister-in-law who recently had surgery for colon cancer and I conduct a wedding for a not-so-young guy who was a part of the youth group when I pastored over here, what seems like a lifetime ago.

Yesterday we decided to visit a new church that had been planted here around two years ago and see how they are doing. I love church planters - we're our own brand of weird, having turned our backs on what is safe and predictable in favor of venturing forward into the unknown.

You wouldn't believe where this church is. First of all you have to realize we are talking about rural Scotland, where there are far more sheep than there are people and there are thousands of acres of fields with the occasional small community. We had lived in one of these villages, with a grand total of 1500 people living there, for fifteen years - you can imagine that the move to Long Island involved substantial culture shock! This new church rents an old Church of Scotland building several miles away from any of these small villages. It's in the country, in the middle of nowhere.

Yet when we got there yesterday, there were about 80 people there and the place was buzzing with life. I think a lot of the activity has to do with the amount of caffeine they take in. They have coffee before service, after service and they even had a ten minute coffee break in the middle of the service. That's enough to make the mildest mannered among us hyper by the time they go home.

And here's what really struck me - everyone there was so young. There were two couples older than Gill and I, but most of the crowd were teens and twenties.

None of the books I have read on church planting suggests that if you start up in the middle of a field in the back end of beyond, you will draw a crowd of young people. I guess God overloooked the bit about location, location, location.

He does what he wants when he wants and with whoever he wants. Thankfully that includes in a movie theater in Patchogue too.

That Was A Short Week

It's Friday again somehow, so here's the latest from Sunday's View and also our Cool Person Of The Week -

THE VIEW

WHAT ON EARTH?

Welcome to Grace Church as we move into the fall and get geared up for our spiritual growth campaign – 40 Days of Community. We’re looking forward to going on a journey in company with hundreds of other churches all over the world and discovering answers to the question What on earth am I here for?

We’ll focus on different aspects of that in Sunday services and in 50 small groups all over the area and you need to start planning now to be a part of one of those groups.

The first stage in establishing our small group schedule is to have 50 host homes for them to meet in. The hosts will also need to be able to make reasonable coffee and switch on a VCR or DVD player. All the material is provided, prepared by a man who is often described nowadays as America’s Pastor, best-selling author Rick Warren.

So if you want to take a positive role in our 40 Days campaign, please be sure to visit the special table in the foyer today and let Ken and Lenore Swaner know they can count on you.


SEVEN YEARS LATER

Sunday October 2nd we will be celebrating the seventh anniversary of Grace Church with a special morning we are announcing with this invitation – Why not skip church and come out to breakfast instead?

Our plan for that day is to help all who are a part of our church invite a guest. There will be no service as such, this is purely an outreach event to make some new friends as we enter the next phase of our growth.

We’re going to be serving a full breakfast from 9.30 to 10.30 and will have the rest of the building set up as usual so that you can show your guests how and where we do everything on a regular Sunday morning.

Grace has never been about us – neither is our anniversary, it’s about reaching more people who still need Jesus.

Please be sure to pick up a copy of Roger’s anniversary message – Lessons I’ve Learned Along The Way – when you come with your friends that morning.

COOL PERSON OF THE WEEK
With our Hurricane Relief Fund getting off to such a good start last week, our Cool Person Of The Week is someone who has made a substantial effort to boost it. Carmen Balsamo organized a collection at her work to help us press forward with our efforts on behalf of those who are hurting following Hurricane Katrina. She raised $5,000, which puts our fund at over $15,000 within one week of getting it under way. Great job Carmen!

Please be sure to pray for Frank Summers and the team from Grace he is taking down to Mississippi tonight. They will be working in Pascagoula, helping people there salvage their homes. The team have to take in all their own food and will be living in tents while they work in a very unfriendly climate. It will be a tough week, so be sure to pray for them every time you think about them.

Mobilizing For Mississippi

Frank is getting all set for the trip to Pascagoula with a Relief Team. There will be nine people going this time, but please keep in mind there will be a lot of further opportunities in the not-too-distant future.

As you know, our main missions thrusts have been to the Dominican Republic, South Africa and India. Over the past few weeks Charlotte has been suggesting we need another missions outlet that's not a continent away. Well, here we are. Hurting people in our own country and we need to put some energy and resources into reminding them they are still special to God.

Our Sunday offering will help us as we begin operations on the Gulf Coast. Over $10,200 was given to open our Hurricane Relief Fund and that account will now stay open for further contributions.

The Next 154

When my mother visited our church in Scotland she would sit near the back and would often have her fingers pretty close to her ears while the worship team was in action. Truth is, she didn't really like our style of church and wouldn't have been there were it not for the fact that she was with us. But she was always happy that things were going well and the church was developing, even if it was not quite her thing.

My mother would not have approved of our plans for Grace's seventh anniversary, but she's not here now and if you promise not to tell her, I think I can get away it.

On October 4th 1998, 154 people crowded into the function room of The Inn At Medford for our very first service. Today I threw out the challenge to have the next group of 154 new people there with us when we celebrate our birthday on October 2nd.

To make it easier to get folks there for the first time, there will be no service that day. We're just serving breakfast all morning from 9.30 to 10.30. This won't be the normal continental spread with bagels juice and other healthy stuff, this will be cholesterol on a plate - eggs, sausage, bacon, home fries, french toast, etc. It's all the things your cardiologist said you should cut down on and you really need to promise yourself you will - at 12.00 noon on the 2nd.

We want you to bring all the people you can. We'll have the theater set up so you can show them how we do church there. We'll even be showing an anniversary video. But it's a low-key outreach morning that we believe will lead us into the next season of the church's life with considerable momentum.

So start inviting guests and plan to celebrate with us. By the way, there will be a special sermon CD available for you on the day too.

It's definitely not my mother's church. She wouldn't have understood it. She would have wondered why, but she would have loved to see it all happen!

If This Was Softball

When we moved to the States in 1991 there were all kinds of things that were new to us. Did you know that in the UK to turn a light on the switch is pushed down, the opposite of here? Then of course there was the joy of driving on the wrong side of the road, discovering shopping malls (that was more of a delight for Gill to be honest) and of course savoring treats like bagels and real pizza.

One of the biggest changes for me was that I had to learn some new sports and say farewell to some old ones. There's not much cricket on TV here and when Americans talk about football they don't actually mean a game where you kick the ball with your feet. No decent soccer here either. But to compensate, I got aquainted with some new games, like softball. I've always been part of a church with a softball team and I love the game.

Seven innings of Saturday night fun and maybe a little tension at times too!

Just seven innings. I keep thinking of that number when I realize that in three weeks from now we will be celebrating the seventh anniversary of Grace Church. If this was softball we'd be almost finished!

The good news though is that this isn't a game. It's a life or death pursuit of men and women who need to receive the gift of eternal life. It's bringing people into forgiveness, freedom and purpose in life. There's no end to that, so the conclusion of our seventh year may well be around the corner, but there's a heck of a lot more we need to do. We've hardly started.

Tomorrow I'll be talking about the way we'll celebrate our anniversary on October 2nd. It's a challenge, it's a change and as we seem to say fairly often, we've never done it before!

Hasta manana!

It's Friday ... But Sunday's Coming!

I love that classic sermon by Tony Campolo - it's about Easter, but it's a constant reminder that however bleak one day may be, God is the God of resurrection and of the new day. Campolo's one of my favorite preachers and writers. He has a lot of insight and is extremely funny with a tendency towards being outrageous - guess he's my kind of guy!

Since this is the start of Week 2 of this new communication tool, here's what I'd like to do on Fridays. First to give you a heads up on what will be in the printed View on Sunday. That way if you should have to miss us this weekend (and who dares after last Sunday's message???), you'll be in the picture about what's happening. Then on Friday's I want to nominate a Cool Person Of The Week.

Here's Sunday's View -

Welcome to Grace Church on this special Sunday morning. There is a lot going on in our service today and all of that makes this Sunday different –

Remembering Our Heroes
Today is September 11th, a date so sealed into our memories that when we say it, no one asks what year we are talking about. We are thinking of those horrendous scenes in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. on a late summer morning in 2001. Today we salute those who gave their lives trying to rescue others; we remember innocent victims and we pray for those who still mourn.

Metamorphosis
We’re starting a new teaching series today that will run for the next two Sundays. It’s all about change. None of us stays the way we are – we are all changing in different ways. God helps us to be transformed during the course of this journey on earth and it all starts with today’s topic, Stage One: A Change Of Heart.

Hurricane Response
We’re receiving a special offering at the end of this morning’s service that will open a fund to give us the resources to respond to some of the incredible needs of those whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The fund will remain open and donations may be made at any time by designating gifts “Hurricane Relief”.

Better Together
Today we’ll be setting the scene for a fall campaign called 40 Days of Community. For six weeks, starting October 23rd, we’ll be joining with hundreds of churches nationwide and looking at the question What On Earth Are We Here For? During that time, in Sunday services, small groups and special events we’ll be looking for answers and taking steps to develop community within the church so we can serve the community around the church.


HURRICANE RESPONSE TEAM
We are currently putting together a first response team to leave for Pascagoula, Mississippi next weekend and spend a week in this town helping people salvage what is left of their homes. Pascagoula is receiving little outside help, but the folks living there need others to come alongside them and assist with tree removal, taking up ruined floors, removing flood damaged sheetrock, etc to try to save their houses.
It’s hot, humid and inhospitable. Our team will need to travel by road so they can take in all they need, including tents to sleep in. It’s going to be a rough trip and it’s only open to men this time. But we do have a couple of spots left for a few more guys. Talk to Frank Summers today if you want to be part of our first response effort.

BRINGING IN THE FOOD
We’re feeding hundreds of people each month through our Grace Care programs and appreciate all who make it possible. If you have a couple of hours a week to help with food pick-ups (which include loading and unloading the van), please call the church office or talk direct to Kerry Tooker at the Grace Care cart in the foyer today.


COOL PERSON OF THE WEEK
Our first Cool Person Of The Week Award goes to three people so it's persons of the week this time. And they are (drum roll please Steve) ...

Jake and Johanna Fagerland and Jake's friend Gary

Jake and Johanna did two great things last Sunday. First, Jake brought his neighbor Gary to church with him. Second, all three of them decided they wanted to do something to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. So they put together a plan to collect change from people as they came into the movie theater for the service. They set up their sign at a table in the foyer and waited with their magic change jar. It wasn't really magic of course, but it did count what was going in and kept a running total, which is pretty cool. So by the end of the day these two younger members of our congregation and their guest had collected $115-71. Great job kids! Way to go! A real example to us all.
Note to everyone: They'll be there with the magic jar again this week, so be ready to part with all your change at the door. Rumor has it the candy lady will be back too!

First Response Team

Okay, Frank Summers is going to lead our first Hurricane Relief Team, leaving for Pascagoula, Mississippi next Friday night, September 16th. We already have four people ready to participate and should quickly fill the remaining spots.

Ramp Ford in Port Jefferson Station are donating the use of a 15-passenger van which will carry both personnel and equipment.

Check back for info on ways you could help the team.

Pascagoula, Mississippi

I just had a heart-rending conversation with a lady in a town I have never heard of before - Pascagoula. It's near the Alabama border and away from the glare of the TV cameras, but there are homes there that have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and people there who don't know where to start putting their lives back together.

So here's our first missions project to the Gulf Coast region:

We need six men - sorry ladies, this one is not for you - to go drive down to Mississippi next Friday night (September 16th) and spend four or five days in that town, helping people to salvage what is left of their homes.

They'll be relieving a team from my friend Tony Liston's church in Iowa, who will be there this coming week. The team will need to camp while they are there, take care of themselves and help strip the ruined sheet rock out of homes, remove fallen trees, etc., etc

Carolyn Ezell, who is our contact there, wept as we talked on the phone. She is one of the pastors of a great church in California, but has gone home to help her family and community recover from this devastating blow.

I saw Rick Warren on TV today. He was asked, "Where is God in all this?"
His reply was, "I kneeled on the floor of Houston Astrodome and talked to an evacuee and as I did so, I looked at all the caring people around me offering support and help. God was right there."

If you can be the hands of Jesus in Mississippi for a few days - now is the time! Please call our office for more information.

This Has Been A Good Day

It started this morning with the follow-on from a mini-retreat we sponsored in June for ten local pastors. We met up again today and I continued to take them through the DVDs of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church Conference. Now to be honest, I preferred the setting of Montauk Yacht Club to the basement of a church in Patchogue and we ate better out there than the steamed vegetables from the local Chinese place that I crunched my way through at lunch time today.

But what a profitable time we had as we talked, prayed, studied, laughed and discussed things together. They are a great bunch of guys, including the lone lady who is brave enough to associate with us, Sister Elaine from the Lighthouse Mission.

Then tonight was the Town Board meeting where they were discussing the proposed amendment to the town code that is really a thinly veiled attempt at halting our plans to build. We had some great presentations made on our behalf and it was good to have four local pastors speaking up in support of churches retaining the automatic right to build in residential areas. After we had all done our bit, it was left with the Town Board. At some point in the not-so-distant future they will decide whether to go ahead or make places of worship exempt from their revisions.

God knows! It's all in his hands and the people who sit on the Town Board are there by divine permission if I read my Bible right.

You know what I thought was best about tonight? It was great that we have the freedom to voice our opinions, make ourselves heard and confront our lawmakers face to face. It may have its flaws, but this is a great country and I for one am thankful for the freedoms we enjoy.

It's Official - I'm Not Jonah!

I just got back from our Labor Day Picnic - what a great afternoon! We're always in such a hurry on Sundays as our time at the movie theater is limited, that there's little time for fellowship, so it was great to have around five hours hanging out with so many of our church folks. Best of all, today has helped remove a dark cloud that has been hanging over me for the past twelve months.

You see, we had no pincic in 2002 or 2003 because it rained both those years. One of them was the wettest Labor Day on record. I can't remember how many inches, but it was cold, wet and windy.

Last year Gill and I went on a cruise the week before Labor Day. It was a great deal that I found on the internet and I couldn't believe the price for a two-stop, five nights sail in the Gulf of Mexico. Of course not long after I had parted with my cash, some kind soul pointed out to me that the reason the prices were so low is that they can hardly give away reservations at the height of hurricane season. Hurricane season! I never thought of that, but was sure it wouldn't affect us.

And it didn't - not until the third day of the cruise when we learned a hurricane was approaching southern Florida and would be slowly making its way up the west coast and through the Gulf. So we had an extra four days at sea at no extra cost, bouncing around on the extreme edges of the storm.

We didn't get back to Long Island until Wednesday, although we had been due home on Saturday. We missed the Labor Day Picnic, which had been held for the first time since 2001 on what turned out to be a spectacular summer's day. And then the rumours started to circulate. The name of Jonah was being mentioned under their breath by certain people.

When Rog was here, they reasoned, it rained. This year he and his bad weather are 1500 miles away and here it's sunny. They thought they had found the weather connection - it was all my fault. So tonight I feel vindicated. I was here for the picnic and the weather was beautiful. No humidity, clear skies and the upper 70's.

So you can't blame me any more. However, we do need to continue the hunt for the Jonah before next year's picnic comes around!

Kicked In The Stomach

We had a good service this morning.
At first I thought it was going to be a difficult day when I couldn't find the pants I planned to wear and put on some others - only to discover they didn't fit. Since I leave the house early on Sunday mornings, I didn't want to disturb Gill, so after some hesitation I took one more look and of course the khakis I was looking for were right there in my closet, but a little nearer the back than I had expected. Wardrobe sorted out, it was all plainsailing from thereon in!!!

This was the last week of our Survivor: Long Island series and I was speaking on Staying The Course. In opening I mentioned that over the past few weeks we had looked at some of the tough things we have to attend to if we are going to come out winners and I mentioned that today's subject was difficult too. Then, I can't believe I said this, but I know I did, I added - "And if you leave here today feeling kicked in the stomach, I'll know I did my job!"

When things were getting put away at the end of the service, someone told me that a lot of folks had mentioned to her they were going home feeling kicked in the stomach! A lot of people went home with the tape of the service too. In fact one of our pastoral team suggested to me that everyone in the church ought to hear the message and said we should get CD's made and mail them out.

So that's what we'll do. For the sake of the many who were not with us as this is unofficially the last weekend of summer and also so that those who were there can be doubly sure they got the point, we are getting copies made for the whole church and will mail them out.

That's not because it was a particularly brilliant sermon. It's because Long Islanders probably need to hear the heart of the message more than most. In a world where we run ourselves ragged, it really is necessary to follow the example of Jesus and focus on the one thing that should direct our lives -
Philippians 3:13-14 - One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Too often God is tacked on in the little space that's left - if any - when everything else is done and everyone else's demands on us have been met. But there's a better way, putting our desire for him first and letting everything else take its place behind that.

So, look out for the message in the mail - we hope to get it to you within the next seven days. It's essential stuff if we want to be winners.

The Waiting Game

Several light years ago, when I was a kid living in a simple but loving home in the southwest corner of England, there was one day I dreaded more than any other. It wasn't the day school started up again after those long idyllic summers, or the arrival of the six-monthly reminder from the dentist that it was time to sit in the torture chair again. I hated Christmas Eve.

Not because it was Christmas Eve or that I disliked Christmas. Hey I was a kid, I loved Christmas, but when I woke up on December 24th, there was only one thing standing between me and Santa's goodies - what always seemed the longest day of the year. That's why I didn't like it. I wanted it over with. Why couldn't it be the only three hour day in the year? Give the other 21 hours the rest of the day off! So I waited and waited and waited, all the time getting more and more excited about what I would discover early the next morning. Impatiently I wished the hours away.

A world away from Exter in the 1950's, Saturday evenings have become my new Christmas Eve. Here I sit at my computer just waiting for it to be time to go to bed, so that I can wake up and it will be Sunday.

You see, I get excited about Sundays. I'm pumped here tonight. Who is going to be there? What people will visit Grace for the first time? Who will be encouraged, built up by the service? How many people will give their lives to Jesus? How many will find fresh hope?

We've been planning tomorrow for months. I remember back in May when we decided that we wanted to teach the lessons we've been covering this past few weeks and then thought that they would fit into a series we could call Survivor:Long Island.

That was over three months ago and tomorrow we get to develop all that we have been planning and praying over. But it's not all about good preaching material, great music, class video or even the special fun segment for the finale of our series - it's about God using all we do to transform lives.

Is there anything better to be involved in? If there is, please let me know. Meanwhile, playing the waiting game here on Saturday evening, I'm pumped because in little more than twelve hours from now, we'll be doing stuff that will radically affect some people for eternity.

I look forward to seeing you!

Ready For Action In The D.R.

We received this great photo from our missionaries in the Dominican Republic yesterday. Rob and Kelli Nelson are pictured standing beside the brand new van they have been able to buy for their work in needy communities all around that impoverished country, thanks to the amazing response of Grace Church members during our Mission Possible series in May.

They had just picked it up from the dealer when this shot was taken. Then they loaded it up with supplies and drove off to Arroyo Seco, located in the hills above Bella Vista, to offer health care to people who have absolutely none.

Next month we have a 22-person missions team from our church going down to work with Rob and Kelli. The men are going to undertake a work project with one of the churches they are linked to, while the ladies assist in medical clinics. We have teams going down there at least twice a year, so now would be a good time to start making plans to be part of the Spring mission. Stage One is to get a passport if you don't have one already.

I sometimes think that having a current passport should be a basic requirement for being part of our church! Do you know that by the end of November more than 10% of our adults will have been on a missions trip this year? - Either to the D.R., India, South Africa or Indonesia. You never know when God might touch your heart and whisper that this next venture is the one for you, so it's best to be prepared. You could start saving too - put back a few dollars a month so that when the opportunity arises, you will already be prepared.

By the way, the figures I gave do not count those who will be headed for the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You can read more about that by just scrolling down the page.

Your gifts are the main support for the Nelson family and for all they do. And it is your caring hearts that have put them back on the road. I am tremendously proud to be part of this church.

Are We Sending A Team?

With the heart-rending news reports coming in all the time from New Orleans and Mississippi, there's a question that I'm getting asked all the time? Are We Sending A Team?

Now this is not just coming from people who are a part of Grace Church, it's being asked by those who don't come to our services but clearly know what we're about. And the answer is "Yes!". Of course we are. This is what we do.

Don't get me wrong, we're not looking for people to fly into who knows where, drive along non-existent highways and go dredging through flood waters for victims and survivors. The professionals are doing that. But when the dust has settled and the immediate response teams and charities have gone home, thousands of people are going to need help putting their lives back together.

So here's the plan -

+ On Sunday September 11th, we will be receiving a special offering that will open a fund for Hurricane Relief in the Gulf Region. So if members of your family or the people where you work are wondering what to do, here's the answer. In fact, why no be pro-active and initiate a collection for our relief fund?

+ We have registered with several agencies and are actively doing all we can to stay abreast of things so that when we find openings for hands-on involvement, we can send people to help and give them the funds we have accumulated so that they can disperse them.

That strategy worked well in our Tsunami Relief efforts and today there are families in Banda Aceh who will have their homes rebuilt because we got involved. Sadly, for all the billions pledged by governments and donated to aid agencies, nothing has reached the hundreds of thousands who are still homeless, living in the rubble of Banda.

In this domestic disaster, we are looking for hands-on involvement and a real investement in the lives of others who are hurting terribly right now. So that's the strategy. Collect resources and then send people.

That's what we do at Grace - but the concept is not original. It all started with a guy called Jesus!