Hello family & friends,

I hope our first Grace Church newsletter finds you well. I am excited to share with you a few things about our church plant including where we are and what’s upcoming.

Timing

Since the interest meeting on September 18th I’ve been meeting with many of you individually to answer questions and extend the invite to join us. I’ve enjoyed getting to sit down and talk, dream, and pray with people interested in planting this church with us. I walk away humbled that there are men and women considering joining us in this endeavor.

We are committed to planting a church centered on Jesus, and I’m ready to lead an army of people to share the gospel and see Jesus save many. We are committed to taking ownership and responsibility for the city of Benbrook as well as planting gospel-centered churches throughout the Southwest part of the Metroplex (i.e. Aledo, Granbury, Joshua, Godley, Crowley, Cleburne). I have a vision for planting in the more rural areas in North Texas.

2017 Timeline:

• January through April – Meet once a month to pray together and to discuss our vision on a weeknight (replacing our City Group gatherings). More info coming next month.

• May through August – Meet on Sundays as a core team to define who we are and equip us in how we will live. Also hold three preview Sunday gatherings in the summer (June, July, August 13th).

• August 20th – Publicly launch Sunday gatherings!

Sabbath Before We Work

With weekly Sunday gatherings starting in May 2017, the elders at The Paradox want you to have a few months of rest before we hit the ground running. Your ministry leaders are aware of this and are working on recruiting and training new volunteers to replace you by February. We have 100 people in this Fall’s partnership process at The Paradox, which is our highest amount ever, and I believe it is God’s answer to the question we were asking, “Who will step up into these roles?” Praise God for his faithfulness to his church!

We will then begin serving Grace Church as needed in May. As well, we will take an intentional break from City Groups in May and June. This will stagger our transition from The Paradox to Grace Church.

What Can You Do?

1. Pray with us

Join me in thanking God for his work thus far and asking for the grace of God to transform sinners and sufferers.

• Praise God for leading 24 adults (20 children) thus far to commit to joining Grace Church.

• Praise God for the Benbrook City Group multiplying a new group in two weeks.

• Pray for Jesus to save three people this year through our bold evangelism.

• Pray for Jesus to save 25 people in 2017 through our bold evangelism.

• Pray for humble, grace-driven, and skilled leaders to be developed and installed for guest services, volunteer coordination, evangelism, assimilation & groups, children’s ministry, worship, and finances.

2. Share the gospel

May the word of God continue to increase and the number of disciples multiply (Acts 6:7).

• Be intentional in building relationships with your friends, coworkers, neighbors, other parents on your kid’s basketball team, and be bold in sharing the good news of Jesus with them. If you need help I recommend reading The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever.

• Be regularly sharing the gospel with your children. As a church we are a family of families reaching a city comprised of families. I would encourage our parents to have a daily time of family worship/discipleship (7-10 minutes). If you need help I recommend reading this blog What Works For Us (And Might Work For You) In Family Worship and using The Jesus Storybook Bible (ages 2-8), The Gospel Story Bible (ages 8-12), Big Truth For Young Hearts (ages 6-14), and a catechism. I get giddy thinking of baptizing our children in the future!

We will be a grace-saturated church in and for Benbrook displaying and proclaiming the grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Join us in committing to one another and to Jesus’ mission to the city of Benbrook and beyond.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Ryan Keeney
gracebenbrook.com