Two Year
Ministry Plan

After a summer of studying Short Books of the Bible and Not Mine, a series on stewardship, we are excited to return to the Gospel of John! To help us remember and refocus, we have a few resources to capture our imaginations and point our hearts towards what God has for us in John’s Gospel.

The Grace Church Member’s podcast recently released an episode where Bill White sits down with Chris Rivers and Scott Mozingo to look back at the central themes in John—particularly what it means to have a real, living relationship with Jesus Christ. They look at the life and ministry of Jesus through John's distinct lens, emphasizing the significance of trust, obedience, and discipleship. Bill gives us a recap of key narratives from the first ten chapters of John's gospel, and in preparation of the upcoming chapters, they discuss the paradox of belief and doubt, along with other themes that are prevalent in the second half of John's Gospel.

You can listen to this podcast episode on your preferred platform, or click here to listen in our Resource Library.

We also watched a video this past weekend that captures the big ideas of John and reminds us that we must either accept or reject Jesus as he offers himself. Click below to watch. You can also watch sermons from the first half of the series on the series page!

Did you know that we recently launched a podcast for our church body? When serving in ministry, we are often clear on the “what” behind the mission we are trying to accomplish and the "how" behind achieving our ministry objectives. Ironically, we can often forget the "why" behind the ministry we do.

The purpose of the Grace Church Members podcast is to discuss discipleship practices in the life of our church and help our congregation think about why we do the things we do. So far, episodes have covered topics such as baptism, singing, serving, and death/natural burial. These conversations have proven valuable for our members to engage with and reflect on.

In our most recent episode on death and natural burial, Matt Kelley had this to say:

Several years ago, we started a conversation about what it looks like to take care of people not just through life, but also through death and burial. We knew that we were trying to disciple people from birth until the grave, but once we got to the grave, we were not involved, and we felt like that was something we needed to explore. So we did a lot of research and honed in on something called natural burial.

The episode goes on to explain what natural burial is, its benefits, and why it is important for us as a church. This topic is just one of many that is helpful for us to reflect on and consider how we are being discipled and discipling others within our local congregations. Our hope is that this podcast challenges our members to be more fully devoted to God and his mission of making disciples.

To listen to this podcast and subscribe, click below. To learn more about natural burial, click here.

Men’s Roundtable is a ministry of Grace Church which lays a biblical groundwork for men of faith to take responsibility for and move towards those around them, all while depending on God. An exciting new facet of MRT that launched this past year is the Men at Grace podcast.

On the podcast, Chris Rivers interviews men from Grace about their personal experiences around topics such as conflict in marriage, work in a fallen world, and building into the next generation. These men share honestly and courageously about how God has worked in their lives.

Here are a few highlights from recent episodes:

Something that’s been very clear for me is that I want to be different. I want to be different than the people around me—in a positive way. Being around so many people of this world, and our culture, I want to think about how I can set myself apart and look different from everyone else around me. How can I go into a meeting at work differently? How can I love people differently? How can I be a different friend? How can I be a different husband? How can I show who Jesus is in this way?

Episode 15 - “What Kind of Man Do I Want to Be? With Micah Williams and Brandon DeJong”

All men have a unique energy—there are three buckets that a man can use to deploy his energy. You can deploy it positively, as God intended. You can squander it, which is tantamount to passivity. Worse still, you can deploy it in a negative way—anger, anxiety, adultery, alcohol. There are so many ways you can go to a dark place if you don’t have a plan. The challenge for me was, how am I going to steward this gift? I knew if I didn’t have a structured plan for my life, I would risk falling into the category of passivity or using my energy negatively.

Episode 13 - “Stewarding Masculine Energy, With Paul Gaeto”

These honest conversations are a great resource to equip men for the work of leadership and discipleship, and we hope you will take advantage of them. To see all episodes and subscribe, click below.