Fall Festival…it’s BACK!

By Erin O'Hara

After a Sabbath rest last year, the Fall Festival at GCC is returning, complete with moon bounce, carnival games, food and fun for the whole family! Sunday, October 30^th, 5-7pm - the Family Life Center will be transformed into a colorful world of people, games, candy and costumes. This ministry event brings joy to my heart!

Joy is a gift we receive from the Lord! In reviewing the context for joy in the Old Testament, it is often surrounded by times of celebration, thanksgiving and offerings to the Lord for the blessing that He imparted to His people. Many times, food and feasts were part of the joyful festivities.

In the fall season, we are reminded of the harvest, the blessing of the Lord’s provision, the richness of His creation and imagery as the leaves turn beautiful colors and the air becomes crisp. As we gather, we have the opportunity to celebrate God’s goodness, His imparted blessing to us. I feel so blessed by my church family and the chance to gather, feast, celebrate and laugh with one another. The relationships that have formed at Grace are a beautiful connection and impartation of God’s blessing to me.

In addition to the celebration of our family, the Fall Festival allows us the chance to multiply God’s joy to us and bless others with it who may not have ever experienced an eternal connection like the family of God. We want to CHALLENGE you to pray for and then invite friends, family, neighbors who would not otherwise step onto a church campus. What an amazing opportunity for them to see and experience the joy of the Lord!

* face painting * scavenger hunt * toss away * moon bounce * portraits * balloon art * cookie decorating * costumes * skits * donut eating * bracelet making * sporting competition * songs *

Evangelism Training Class

By Eric Miller

I'm excited for our upcoming Evangelism Training Class (This Sunday, October 23 at 9:30 AM in the Chapel) for several reasons ... allow me to explain:

1. We're all called to share our faith. While we can often come up with reasons why we don't want to share our faith, we know that it's still a commandment and it's still very important. So I'm excited to help us wrestle with those thoughts and feelings to come to a point where we're willing to take a step of faith in hope that the person we're sharing our faith with will also take a step of faith ... one that has WAY more significance than us risking embarrassment or being uncomfortable!

2. All we have to do is plant the seed. We're called to present the gospel to any and everyone, no matter where we are or who we're talking to. This can be very scary to us. But I love thinking about the reality of Scripture, where we can rest in knowing that our job is just to scatter the seed, it's the Holy Spirit's job to make it grow. If you think about it, we get the easy part!

3. I love hearing and sharing stories of how we've been able to share our faith and plant seeds of the gospel in people's lives. It's a great time to pick up some new ideas and methods of how we can do that and take a risk to get out of our comfort zones.

I hope that you'll join us this Sunday! I promise it will be a rewarding experience to be a part of!

A Journey Through Acts

By Pastor R Dallas Greene

The Acts of the Apostles could easily be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit working through the apostles. It has been my prayer that each of us would become increasingly aware of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives and that we would all experience greater intimacy with God. As I open this book to you on Sundays and many of you are studying through Acts on your own and in your small groups, I am hearing how the Holy Spirit has been empowering your witness and giving you divine appointments. We have asked you to pray about your one, to write their name in black on the cross in the lobby atrium, and when you present the gospel to them to underline their name in green and if (or when) they come into the kingdom to circle it in red.

About a month ago, a woman felt burdened for her son-in-law and placed his name on the cross writing his name in black. She prayed for an opportunity to talk with him. That very afternoon her son-in-law came to her house. She told him that she had placed his name on the cross and she would like to tell him the good news of the gospel. As she began testifying to the goodness of God, the sky outside was cloudy and then a shaft of light broke through the clouds. Then there was a glorious rainbow reaching from one side of the horizon to the other. She felt God was confirming her witness with special effects. When he had to go, he asked if there was more, she said yes and he said she could talk to him anytime. So she underlined his name in green and someday soon, I hope she will circle his name in red.

This past Sunday a staff member’s son saw the cross and put his name on it. That afternoon the mother wisely asked him if he knew the gospel. He asked her to tell him the story about Jesus. He listened carefully to what his Mother said to him. He had some questions. When she finished, she asked him if he would like to receive God’s free gift and believe that Jesus took his place on the cross. He said yes. He will be circling his own name in red. We know there is a celebration in heaven and we will be flying a balloon this Sunday to celebrate on earth.

God is moving! The Holy Spirit is prompting us to pray, to be intentional and to be bold. He is drawing people to Jesus and opening their hearts to believe. I give thanks to God for the ones we know have come in and look forward to hearing your stories about the ones yet to come in.

Would you be willing to share your story of how you've spread the gospel to your one? We'd love to hear and pray and rejoice with you!

Celebrate Recovery

By Verlyn Mahaffey

It’s Thursday night and there is a gathering of leaders in a small office and they begin to pray for the night for God’s presence, for the Holy Spirit to work in hearts, for their hearts to be right before Him!

As they leave the office full of hope, joy and strength for the evening they see the people coming. They greet and talk for a while until the Praise Team begins to sing praises to God. This night is explosive with praise and singing to the Lord.

God is moving, one knows and feels His presence. We sit down as a leader takes us into a time of testimony to what the Lord is doing in our lives. Person after person gives glory to the “I Am” in their life and the changes and healing that He is doing; relationships restored, marriages restored, lives changed, victories through His name!

Cannot get much better! But it does in the small groups that take place where intimacy of sharing, praying, listening, hoping, crying, laughing all bringing an opening for God to work. This happens here at Grace every Thursday evening at 7pm here in Celebrate Recovery. It is an amazing spiritual journey!

Heritage Days

By Brenda Rota

We were very excited to go back to Heritage Days in Middletown this year. Last year was the church’s first year to participate in this well attended event. With more than 30% of our church family from Middletown, it makes sense to have a presence there.

This year we tried something new. Our youth got involved by entering a float in the parade. They brought great energy to the parade! The youth praise team rode on the float with their instruments and many from our youth group and church body walked alongside to hand out candy. Hearing the lyrics, “Jesus is alive”, sung down Main Street in Middletown surely brought God glory. It also gave all those on the parade route a clear message of who we are at Grace Community Church.

GCC ran our tie dye booth for the second year in a row. We did not choose tie dye because we have a resident expert. I can confess to you I did not tie dye my first shirt until last year at Heritage Days. Rather, we chose an activity to bring people into our booth who we could engage in a spiritual conversation. I was asked several times if this booth was a ‘money maker’ for the church. I loved their response when I told them it was not our goal to make money. It was our goal, though, to meet our neighbors and talk to them about Jesus.

When was the last time you set aside an entire day to be in community? All four of our pastors, the staff and many from our church body spent the better part of September 25, 2011 getting to know the people who pass our campus every day. At the end of the day, the vendor next to our booth came over to hug me good bye. She said, “I’ve watched your booth all day. Your church is like a big family.”