Dear Grace United Methodist Church Family, Pastor Beth and I had the wonderful gift of gathering with other clergy in our District this past week!  It was a good opportunity for me to meet colleagues in this area and our DS, Sharon Austin, organized a wonderful training for us on Church Vitality.  We worshipped together, learned together, and dreamed together!  One of the…

Dear Grace Church Family, By the time you receive this communication, my hope is we will all have weathered the storm coming our way as I write this.  There are things I know even before the storm reaches land.  I know we are going to be called to be the church now more than ever before.  There are things I am not…

Dear Grace Church Family, This Sunday is Laity Sunday.  It is a very special day in the life of the church.  It is the day we honor the role of laity within the life of the Church.  I have been so impressed with the number of “high capacity” leaders at Grace UMC.  A high-capacity leader is one that takes on an area…

Dear Grace Church Family, God’s grace and peace to each of you this day.  I have so much on my mind to share with you this morning, but sometimes all that is whirling in our world needs to stop and all our eyes need to turn to something more important.  We are in such a time as this.  The devastation brought on…

Dear Grace Church Family, It has been such a gift having my parents here this week.  We spent some time in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.  I am pretty sure a set of binoculars are in my future, for I really enjoyed watching all the beautiful birds take flight.  It was a great way to spend the morning.  We will be at…

Dear Grace Church Family, As I write this, we are fresh from the Presidential debate that aired Tuesday evening.  It is likely that we will be tempted in our spirit to turn our reliance towards our worldly leaders rather than Christ’s call to “love our neighbors as ourselves”.  I invite you to remember that there is no President that is going to deliver us the…

Dear Grace Church Family, As we prepare for the book study and sermon series looking at the Multiplying Love, resource by Paul Chilcote, I wanted to be sure to communicate an openness on my part and Pastor Beth’s part to make ourselves available to those of you who might have questions.   Some of you have already purchased the book and started reading…

Dear Grace Church Family, I attended my first Church Council meeting this week.  It was great to look out at all the faces and recognize that most of the people in the room had participated in an onboarding process with me.  This means we had spent a couple hours together for the purpose of leadership getting to know me and how I lead.  I…

All on Board! Dear Grace Church Family, This past week, I had the opportunity to participate in an onboarding experience with some of the lay leaders at the church.  The onboarding was facilitated by Rev. Tim Smiley.  Tim has served as both a pastor and a District Superintendent.  He is also a very good friend of both Pastor Steve and Pastor Gary.  It was a deeply…

Dear Grace United Methodist Church Family, What a beautiful Sunday afternoon we had last week!  It was so great to eat hotdogs and hamburgers, watch the kids on the water slide, and celebrate the beginning of a new school year!  We are preparing for family promise and all things pumpkin!  By the time you read this, I will have completed the “onboarding” process with…