The Mystery of the Church.

What a great start to the year yesterday morning! I'm still pumped up about the way things came together! Pastor Tim brought a great message from 2 Timothy 1:13-14 about being a Truth-Driven Community. We need to remember that God has given us a message of His grace to retain, defend, preach and suffer for. By means of hte Holy Spirit, we need to believe this message inwardly and practice outwardly!

In college we had great worship--thanks to our worship band lead by Pat! You guys are incredible. Then we dove into Ephesians 3 where Paul explains the Mystery of the Church, that God includes all peoples in the Church to make Himself known to the whole world. This passage shows how God is forming an eclectic people to be His people—the Church. Race, social status, gender, educational level, looks all don’t matter to God—He has made and is making a people for Himself He calls the Church! He makes believers to be fellow heirs—anyone can be an heir to the King of All Creation and His unsearchable riches. He is forming one body—No matter who you are—cool or a nerd; rich or poor; smart or not; European-American, Asian-American, African-American, Latino; or man or woman—God is making everyone who trusts in His Son into one new unified people for Him! All who rely on Jesus for salvation and life can count on His promises to always be with us, to send One who comforts us, to see justice done in the world in the end, to know joy that surpasses understanding and to have confident access to the ear of the Creator and Ruler of the world!

As we endeavor at Grace College to celebrate, proclaim and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
among the college age community on the Central Coast and beyond, we provide a number of ways to connect with each other here at Grace College...

• Sundays—Connect with Grace’s college-age community through two entry points into our ministry Worship Service, @ 8:00, or 9:30 am, Sanctuary; The Source, @ 11:00 am, Ministry Center.

• Mid Week—Growth Groups--Growth Groups are small groups of 6-12 people who meet weekly for prayer, care and Bible study for 10 weeks at a time. Here at Grace, Growth Groups are a bridge for our college age community into the larger church body and to deeper community. The basis of our study is the Sunday morning sermon, which gives us a chance to ask questions and fully explore what we’re learning.

• Student Service Teams—For those students who are looking for a way to jump in and serve. These are lead by our Student Leadership Team. Grace College ministry has teams that serve in areas such as: Worship, Outreach, Events, Welcome, Media, Compassion.

I had a great time getting to know a number of new students as we met in the park after church--I can't wait to do it all over again this Sunday!

in the weeds

A couple weeks back things were incredibly hectic around the church office and one of our staff said she was "in the weeds." I immediately turned around and replied that I was in the weeds too! You who've been servers in restaurants know what we're talking about--you're so buried you just can't keep your head above water. I told my buddy Andre (who I worked at the restaurant with) that I was in the weeds on the phone that week and he just laughed--we hadn't used that line in 8 years. Great lines from good days! Of course the whole thing made me think how I got into BIG trouble with my manager for throwing away a strawberry garnish off of a drink and replacing it with a lime. I mean, how careless and wasteful--strawberries cost money! All this has me think about bad college jobs and funny work related expressions. What are some funny expressions you have from a job? What's the worst job you've had in college (if you currently work there, don't mention business names!)?

fall has begun!

This weekend we saw our Poly students return and got to meet a bunch of new freshmen returning to the area! Nearly 1,000 people decended upon Mitchell Park for church, food and fun last Sunday. When Pastor Tim called out to the groups, we herd a loud scream form the kids, some gutteral sound from our youth and an amazing roar from you college types! I couldn't believe how many of you I recognized from SLO Bound on Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by and spending Sunday with us in the park before school started. Don't forget this coming Sunday our college ministry will meet back in Mitchell Park again to have free Pizza in the Park. We want to get to know you, tell you more about Grace and let you ask questions about Grace, me, or Pastor Tim. We'll even have some footballs and frisbees and other fun stuff to throw around while we hang out.

As I spent a half hour in the dunk tank on Sunday (see right!) it reminded me of the way I often felt about the beginning of a new school year. You tense up every time someone throws something at you. Sometimes it plunges you underwater and you have to pull yourself back out and up onto the platform for another round. Other times you tense up to find what was being thrown at you wasn't so bad after all. As you all get into the groove of school this week (I know you at Cuesta have been in the college dunk tank for a few weeks now!), remember that you'll get used to the water and the more you relax and take what comes your way, the more fun you'll have. I'm totally excited to jump into the madness of college with you and to walk alongside you in your journey as you figure out who you are, who and what you will be and how you relate to the God of the Bible. Deus Vobiscum!

free food four in a row

As we talked with approximately 1200 new Cal Poly students on Tuesday, we invited them all to our Fall Kick Off this Sunday at Mitchell Park from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Come by andd get some free BBQ! If that's not enough, we also made a big deal about Pizza in the Park happening September 25, October 2 & 9. Who doesn't want free pizza?? So, as you can see Grace College has free food four (Sundays) in a row! It was great welcoming all these students to their new life in SLO for the next four years.


I also got a chance to welcome back many of our students who've been away for the summer on trips, working, or hanging out in their home town. Welcome back! I've anticipated this time for so long, I can't believe it's here and we're in the thick of a new year.


Next Sunday, as we jump to three services, Grace College moves to our new 11:00am time. I've talked to Pat and I know he's cooking up something special for worship that morning. This Fall we're going to be answering the question, "Who Is Jesus?" We're going to explore Christianity at it's very core. For those with questions about Jesus and Christianity we invite you to come investigate with us. For those who do claim to be Christian, we'll look on Jesus again with fresh eyes--beyond Sunday school images and media sterotypes. Don't miss out!

welcome to SLO!

Judging from the new faces I saw yesterday, we are in the full swing of students new and old flowing in to town for the Fall Quarter. Welcome to the Central Coast (again)! It's WOW week at Cal Poly this week and we're gearing up for SLO Bound--the downtown tour for new students tomorrow. Anna's done a great job getting things ready for our booth in Mission Plaza--thanks Anna! We're going to have a prize wheel, Grace College water bottles (yes, with our name printed on it) with goodies and info on upcoming events. Come by and check us out if you have time!

Ministry opportunity for this weekend... (please help?!)

Ok... It's shameless, and I know it, but I'm going to use the blog to solicit some help moving this weekend.

As you can see from my previous post, my wife and I bought a new old house. We are moving to the property (into an RV parked behind the house) this weekend and we need all the help we can get moving boxes and furniture!

I'm going to have a demo and construction crew running at the same time preparing forms for concrete, so if you know how to do that, you're welcome to join us on Saturday.

My wife is heading up the moving crew on Saturday, and the best way to reach her is by posting a comment on this blog, or by giving us a call.

Oh! And if anyone can cook up some meals that would be really helpful, too.

I apologize for using the blog for personal begging, but... Steve Leonard said it was a ministry perk. Trust me, in my flesh I despise asking for help, but the Lord has made it very clear that He wants to teach me humility through this home purchase. So, I've decided to be a quick study. I am officially going on the record to say "I can't do this on my own!"

By the way, thanks guys for all your help this Labor Day weekend. You know who you are...