Sunday Worship at Seacoast Church ~ Myrtle Beach, SC

Pam and I had the privilege of worshiping on Sunday (11/27) with the church family at Seacoast Church in Myrtle Beach, SC. Fabulous story of God's provision of this facility in a prime location. It had been a training center for a corporation. The price they paid for the land and property was probably what just the land alone was worth. They had been renting space and the cost of renting was just about equivalent to the cost of their mortgage on this place. It also included the remnants of a deli type place with space for offices and a great area that has been turned into the children's ministry area. Rejoicing with them in what God has provided as they seek to build Jesus' church in Myrtle Beach!

Week Wrap Up ~ 2011.11.11

Thanks to all who came out last Sunday evening for our All Church Prayer and Praise (Concert of Prayer). Great time together praying about the ministries which are taking place and being informed of what God is doing locally. Some great testimonies! Special thanks to Praise Team who helped to lead us and took extra time to prepare. Well Done!

Another good evening on Wednesday night of Family Night Ministries. Thanks to all who serve, whether driving the van, crossing guard, food preparation, AWANA, JV & Varsity Boys, Girls of Grace, etc. We are grateful for this ministry and its outreach.

And since this is posted on Veteran's Day, we do want to express great appreciation to all who have served and are serving in the armed forces which make it possible for us to enjoy our freedoms.

Weekend Review of Ministry at Valley Grace

(pictures from memorial service for Dee Shillingberg) - click to enlarge

Thanks so much to the Valley Grace church family who served Dee's family and friends through her memorial service.

Our fearless AWANA Commander (Ed Imes) in dreadlocks - no less. Great job to all on family night ministries.

Brighten the Night ~ Report

Great job church in serving the community through the Brighten the Night event which runs in conjunction with the annual "Trick or Treat" night in our neighborhood. Somewhere between 250-300 hot dogs served (ran out of buns for the last dozen or so hot dogs, so they were "hot dogs on a napkin"). Many bags of popcorn were handed out as well as candy with a tract. Face painting and moon bounce were also part of the evening. Thanks for all who worked to make it a success. It was interesting hearing comments from folks from the community who had been directed up our way. More pictures of the evening - HERE.

Well Done ~ Valley Grace!

The Valley Grace Church family was involved in two significant events on Saturday.

Mark McAbee Memorial Service held at Valley Grace. The family did a tremendous job with celebrating Mark's life and also pointing folks to the importance of knowing Christ and walking with Him in this life. Big "Thank You" to all who helped with set up, food, serving, clean up, sound, etc.

Convoy of Hope. Approximately 40+ individuals from Valley Grace were involved with folks from other churches in the area in serving our community with Convoy of Hope. Here is a link done by one of the area churches - click here.

Learning Lessons from a Marriage Fight

Have you ever had a "disagreement" with your spouse? Better question, when was the last time you had a fight with your spouse? What did you learn from it? Michael Hyatt has a great post entitled "What I Learned About Leadership from a Fight With My Wife." Michael and Gail Hyatt have been married for thirty-three years. They truly enjoy each other's company, but they had a "doozy" (Michael's word) of a fight. Michael identifies 5 lessons which he wants to remember for future use. These five are important for all of us to consider.

1. Clarify our expectations up front: too often we have differing expectations and our spouse doesn't know what we anticipate. Our spouse can't read our mind, but we some how assume that they should know - if they really loved me, they would figure it out!

2. Assume the best about the each other: that is one of the statements about love from 1 Corinthians 13 - "believes all things." That is, believes the best about the other. We should not assume that our spouse is doing something intentionally to make us miserable!

3. Affirm the priority of the relationship: our relationship is the most important asset that we have. It ought to be more important than "getting our way."

You can read Michael's comments (HERE) on the above as well as the final two lessons. They can make for a great discussion if you take the time to sit down and talk about these things -- even before the "fight" begins. It could help to prevent the escalation as well as serve to prevent those battles. Take time to also read through the comments to his post.

Moving Toward Grace Filled Conversations

The Setting: Bill Hybels from Willow Creek Church hosts a leadership seminar, Summit. Howard Schultz from Starbucks was to be one of the speakers. Apparently a petition with over 717 signatures was sent to Howard Schultz declaring that Willow Creek was "anti-gay" and that he should not be present. Schultz decided to cancel his contractual engagement.

In the video clip below, Bill Hybels graciously responds and reminds us that the church is not called to be "anti" anyone. The doors of our churches should have "welcome" to everyone who comes across them. That does not mean that we are called to affirm the lifestyle choices, but we are called to graciously invite them to become a follower of Jesus Christ. We are called to challenge everyone to become a follower of Jesus Christ and to live out the principles of Scripture. As Hybels points out, there is a great deal of confusion and brokenness in our fallen world. He states, "at Willow we honor the journey of everyone who is trying to follow Christ."

I loved the fact that he encouraged his audience to write letters of appreciation and invitation to Howard Schultz, rather than those filled with vitriol because of his business decision. An oh, by the way, he encouraged them to buy a cup of Starbucks coffee.

We are living in a world which is becoming more and more antagonistic to principles which God has espoused. We need to learn how to hold a graceful conversation with individuals who are not following those principles and prayerfully endeavor to lead them to Christ. Please take the time to look at the video clip below, as a pattern for grace.