Note From Pastor Jonathan

We recently held our church family’s Annual Meeting, where leaders were elected and ministry highlights were presented. An Annual Report was distributed (available today at the Literature Display), a compilation from our Ministry Staff. How encouraging to get a quick overview of what God has been doing through our Grace Church family!

Here are just a few excerpts of how God has been at work among us this last year. I’m so grateful that he is willing to use every one of us, no matter our background or gifting, as long as we stay available and surrendered to him. Thanks for making a difference in his name, praying, giving, and serving!

There were 184 individuals who publicly declared their faith through baptism in 2012. So many great stories of how they came to Christ! Many especially loved the baptism at our August Beulah Beach picnic (next one is August 25th!).

Our “Grace in the City” weekends were launched in 2012, where a few dozen people at a time get a taste of what God is doing in the city of Cleveland…and how we can participate in serving.

We moved forward on some capital projects: the much-anticipated paving of our parking lot was completed in August. And, we were able to purchase 8.5 acres of green space adjacent to our lower lot (7545 Webster Road…stay tuned for plans!).

We welcomed two new pastors: Steven “BB” Taylor—investing in youth, and Scott Lessing—leading our children’s ministry. Pastor Dennis Barta transitioned into leadership of congregational care. We also welcomed 2 new self-funded affiliated counselors, Ashley Culver & Ryan Edlind, who join Jamie Norton.

In the fall we launched a “Raise the Bar” challenge. We’re grateful for how many participants were “in”:

#1—I will be a self-feeder with God's Word, reading at least 5x/week. #2—I will pray with a friend or spouse for 3 minutes a day. #3—I will stay connected with other like-minded believers in a smaller group setting (e.g. men’s or women’s group, home group, adult class, etc). #4—I will invite 1 person a month to a service or an event at Grace. #5—I will serve at least 1 hour/week in a volunteer capacity, whether in the church or in the community. #6—I will give an additional 1% to the Lord for local & international impact. #7—I will take steps to remove from my life "everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" so God can accomplish what he wants to do in me and through me. Hebrews 12:1

We launched 40+ Adult Classes each quarter and had our highest-ever attendance this past year (1011 people each week). Practical Christian Living (PCL) discipleship groups continue to impact more and more people, too.

Thank you, Lord, for your activity among us, and for allowing us to be a part of your plans!

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Larry Hammonds’ influence on my life started when I was in elementary school.

I grew up in a great home with parents who loved—and still love!—Jesus. They’ve been a great example to me, and I learned a ton as I observed the way they lived and trusted God.

Yet all of us Schaeffer kids were like any other kids. It was important for us to have other positive influences in our lives. To have other adults supplement—and confirm—what we were being taught at home. That’s where Larry comes in. He was my Sunday School teacher in 5th & 6th grade.

If you know Larry, who still attends Grace with his family, he has a contagious joy and love for Christ. He’s taught Sunday School here for years, touching a lot of lives along the way.

His investment in kids is right in line with the view of Jesus, who said: “‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.’ Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.” Mark 10:14-16 Contrary to the culture of the day, Jesus valued kids a ton!

I could mention other teachers and youth leaders along the way who had an impact on my life. The point is this: YOU can have a big influence on the lives of others by investing in kids’ ministry. Helping in a class is way more than watching kids while their parents are in service or an Adult Class. You can have an impact in ways beyond what you imagine.

There’s an insert in your bulletin today that shows the various times you can invest. If you’re not plugged into a ministry yet and think this might be an area the Lord is calling you to, fill out the attached form and drop it in the plate today…or stop by the table in the Lobby.

Thanks, Larry, and everyone else who has helped to shape my life…and the lives of so many others! (and sorry for the times I misbehaved in class). I’m grateful for each one of you.

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Part of the future judgment on us as a church—and as individuals—will be based on how we responded to people in crises. Jesus said in Matthew 25:35-36: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

I am so grateful to be part of a church that will be able to say to Jesus, "We did respond to the least of these brothers and sisters of yours and we did it for the sake of your Name."

Over the years, Grace has sent out hundreds of individuals on short-term trips to needy places here in our city, the states, and around the world. Participants experience God on a deeper level and have a new resolve to continue participating in the Great Commission through their prayers and generous giving. Trips like this can be life-changing.

…You can travel to our Grace Church home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to teach and minister to young girls and boys who were at risk of being sold into sex trafficking, but now have a safe place to live and an opportunity for education.

...you can travel to remote mountain regions of Ecuador to tend to the medical, dental, and vision needs of people who live in great poverty, as you share the gospel and pray with each individual.

...you can travel to under-served communities in Appalachia, West Virginia, and get involved in the outreach and construction efforts of a rural church plant.

...you can travel to Cleveland and participate in a "Grace in the City" weekend, coming away with a greater understanding of urban poverty and a passion for continued inner-city ministry.

...you can travel to a Native American reservation in South Dakota to help with their construction needs and to share the gospel through children's and teen ministry.

...you can even do away with travelling as you and your family participate in the "Build a House" project this June in our front parking lot. We'll be building two houses in partnership with Help Build Hope and Habitat for Humanity.

Finally, let me encourage you by saying that the Lord will use whatever you're willing to give him...sports, technology, art and drama, construction and medical skills, children's ministry, music. The list is endless.

My hope is that this kind of global engagement will only grow. I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am for all of you, and how honored I am to serve as a pastor here at Grace. If the Lord is prompting you to pray, give, or go, here’s how to get more info:

· Pick up a brochure from our Literature Display · Visit the Missions Info Center just off the Lobby · Join the "Prayer for Missions" prayer team · Support a team by providing needed supplies or financial support · Contact John Uher at JohnJUher@gmail.com or Michelle Uher at Michelle.L.Uher@gmail.com

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One news outlet titled it “Horror in the Court.” National secular media largely ignored it, until the last several days. Then liberal Fox News commentator Kirsten Powers wrote a column calling the media silence “a disgrace.” Washington Post editor Martin Baron admitted, “In retrospect, we should have sent a reporter sooner.”

Now, everyone seems to be talking about Kermit Gosnell, detailing the ghastly descriptions in the capital murder trial of this 72-year-old Philadelphia abortionist accused of delivering live babies and killing them. Former staff at the Women’s Medical Society, the killing-for-profit business he operated, testified against their onetime boss, painting a picture that is so graphic and repulsive that I’d rather not list the details here.

You can google his name. In fact, I urge you to do so. Let’s just say this about what occurred in this so-called clinic: “If Kermit Gosnell had been doing this to puppies, it would have the nation in upheaval,” tweeted Steve Noble, from Raleigh, NC.

I couldn’t agree more.

Witnesses and prosecutors say Gosnell ran a filthy clinic with untrained workers, paid employees under the table, performed abortions after 24 weeks gestation (the legal limit in Pennsylvania), stored baby parts in jars, and kept a padlock on an emergency exit. Worse than that, one employee said over 100 babies born alive were killed. Unthinkable.

Gosnell faces the death penalty if convicted of killing seven infants born alive in his West Philadelphia “House of Horrors.”

Editors from mainstream news organizations denied pro-abortion bias influenced their lack of coverage. But Megan McArdle, a self-described “pro-choice” correspondent for The Daily Beast, was more candid. Journalists like her probably hesitate to report stories that show the ugliest aspects of abortion, she acknowledged: “The truth is that most of us tend to be less interested in sick-making stories—if the sick-making was done by ‘our side.’”

The Gosnell trial could stretch through May. Prosecutors have spent three years building their case, after FBI agents raided Gosnell’s office in February 2010 to investigate his distribution of painkillers.

“Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us…” Psalm 123:3

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Are there things in the Bible that are tough for you to accept?

Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “I trust Jesus, but not the other guys who wrote the Bible.” Here’s the problem with that logic. Jesus trusted the Bible — every word of it! He taught that the Bible was a unique book, above all the others.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:18, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (NIV).

Jesus says the Bible will last until the end of time. It will accomplish what God wants to accomplish in this world. In John 10:35 Jesus said, “We know that Scripture is always true” (NIRV). Jesus proclaimed the truth of the Bible. And when Jesus talks about the truthfulness of the Bible, we need to listen.

I like the way Rick Warren talks about this in a recent post. Here are some excerpts:

When Jesus talks about the Bible, he doesn’t just talk about it as poetry and history. He saw the Bible as something that changes lives. In Luke 11:28 Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (NIV). Jesus didn’t just want us to read the Bible; he wanted us to obey the Bible. That’s what you do with anything the Creator of the universe writes.

When Jesus talked about the Bible, he talked about it as if the people and events in it were real. Jesus believed in Noah and everything that happened with the flood (Matthew 24:37-38). He believed in Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-5). Jesus believed in the tragedy of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 11:23-24). He believed in Jonah and him being swallowed by a large fish (Matthew 12:39-40).

People who think that the Bible is mostly good stories that didn’t really happen always point to those four accounts. Jesus believed them all! He accepted the Bible as factual history.

If Jesus really believed in Jonah, then I should, too. I don’t know how God created a fish that could swallow a guy, but he did. I trust in the Bible because Jesus trusted in it.

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