God's Good Gifts to the Church
Pastors, Professors, and Missionaries... Oh My!
I love summer! I love everything about it from the change in pace, to the weather, to the food, including the harvest tables and our church dinners, not to mention a chance for vacation time. I hope the variety that summer provides will refresh you and that applies to our worship services. Even though Pastor Craig and Kathy are getting a much-needed rest, Sunday mornings are as lively as ever thanks to a deep bench of first-string speakers. We’re calling our summer series this summer “Voices from the Congregation,” because every preacher is closely related to Grace, either as a member, staff member, or missionary.
We chose this series because we didn’t really want “guest” speakers who didn’t know our congregation and could only deliver a generic sermon. No, we wanted capable men who knew our people, our village, and our spiritual needs who could speak from a deep awareness of God’s Word and from their hearts to ours. We have asked them to share from their areas of passion and expertise with words that will make a difference to young and old, single and married, teens and grandparents, new in the faith and older saints. The poetry from the Sovereign Grace song, “Show us Christ” expresses our prayer for Sunday worship:
Prepare our hearts, O God
Help us to receive
Break the hard and stony ground
Help our unbelief
Plant Your Word down deep in us
Cause it to bear fruit
Open up our ears to hear
Lead us in Your truth
Show us Christ, show us Christ
O God, reveal Your glory
Through the preaching of Your Word
Until every heart confesses Christ is Lord
So, who are these voices? From our elder council we have Dalton Deffenbaugh and Bob Rohm. From our missionaries we look forward to Mark Awabdy, Wade McComas, and Jesse Leightenheimer. From our membership we’re delighted to have Jon Wood, J.R. Gilhooly, Zach Bowden, Randy McKinion, Billy Marsh, Matt Bennett, and one more you may, or may not, know—Trent Rogers! If you know these men, you know that each one of them is one of God’s good gifts to the Church (Eph. 4:11–13). If you don’t know them, then you’re in for a treat. It’s also a good way to build community as we get to know and hear the heartbeats of others in our fellowship.
There may be some names you might have expected to see but didn’t. We felt the same! As we looked through our congregational list, we realized that we had far more capable speakers than we could use in one summer. In fact, we could easily do this again without repeats! So, even amid the summer vacation schedule, remember that Sunday mornings at Grace will be good! Prepare your heart to be challenged and please pray for these men as they serve us by breaking the bread of life for us this summer.
Chris Miller
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