Urban Hope 2012

Please be in prayer for 22 of our church family who has headed off to Urban Hope for the weekend of ministry in the Block Party today (4/20/2012). Please pray for safety, good weather, and great opportunity for ministry as they support our brothers and sisters who minister for Christ there. You may click on the above picture to enlarge as well as click HERE for a few more pictures.

Worship Thoughts in Preparation for the Lord's Day

I have been reading through a book entitled Transformational Church written by Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer. We recently discussed the chapter on Worship in our Team Huddle. Here are some thoughts that I found helpful to me and I trust that they will be to you as we prepare to come together as a church to worship our Savior. Please remember that worship is not limited to the music, but is to include the whole service.


* Worship is designed to actively embrace Jesus

* Worship is a manner of living and not a mode of church programming.

* We should arrive with the expectation of God's presence to be real and transformative in our worship experience.

* God is glorified when Christians gather together to worship Him

* Are we making consumers of religious goods and services or making disciples?

* When people attend worship, are they simply observing a show or being transformed by God? (Isaiah arrive depressed by left transformed because God is always able to change our circumstances)

* Real worship will transform the worshiper.

* Reducing worship to a focus on style removes God as the reason for gathering.

* When music (regardless of genre) is confused with worship, Satan wins.

* Worship can result in different expressions - David danced before the Lord, John in the book of Revelation fell down and lay still at the feet of Jesus. Two men in the presence of the same God, experienced two different forms of reverence.

* Reverence is an attitude of the heart, expressed and informed by the culture of the worshiper.

* God’s purpose in worship is not to make everybody happy. God’s desire is for people to discover and glorify Him through worship. Compromise is a dreadful word to use when we discuss worship.

* Worship should be what unifies the body of Christ.

Our challenge is to plan our worship service so that people are led in this time and place to worship the eternal God! 

Revealing the Artificial Standard

Our culture puts a great deal pressure on the external appearance as revealed through the media (magazines, websites, etc.). As a result there is a great deal of comparison taking place by young ladies as to what they ought to look like, and young men who often get caught up in comparisons. We need to understand that there is a tremendous amount of image "enhancement" which is being done. An artificial standard has been created which is impossible to achieve.

It is for us to be reminded that what we see is most often not the real thing. We used to hear that "pictures don't lie." Now they can. This is also a good opportunity to have a discussion with your daughter or son about artificial standards. The Scripture is right when it says that "charm is deceitful and beauty is vain" (Proverbs 31:30) but the quality of character which comes from a growing walk with Christ, is something that doesn't fade, but in fact, can become even more attractive as we mature in years.

HERE is a link to be able to click on "Before" and "After" to see the immediate affects of photo retouching.

HERE is a link to a youtube video which includes a professional photographer revealing that it is almost unheard of to release a photo that has not been retouched.

Urban Hope Work Weekend - Thanks for your prayers and support to make this possible. Great to hear again what God is doing in downtown Philadelphia. We are planning to return for the Street Carnival April 20-22 which is an opportunity to make connections for Christ. This is open for youth through adults. More information to come. A link to additional pictures from the Urban Hope Work Weekend is HERE.

The team repaired the ceiling and lighting in the youth center, worked on repairing leaks in the youth center basement, painting, patching walls and  electrical and plumbing repairs throughout the church, youth center, and housing facilities.

4 Message Sermon Series

We will take four weeks beginning on January 29, 2012 to study together "Marriage Matters." This will be a reminder of God's design for marriage. The topics and dates are listed in the above slide. We plan to return to our Galatians study "Grace-Filled Living" on March 4th.

Thanks to all for a Great Christmas Season @ Valley Grace!

The Christmas Eve service was a special time for pausing and reflecting on Jesus' birth. Thank you to all who participated to in the service as well as the planning and preparation including decorating for the event.

So grateful also for those who came to share in the Christmas Sunday service. The choir, and all the special music was truly appreciated. The Praise Team did a great job in leading us in music. Thank you for taking the extra time to rehearse to make it a great day. Well done, Valley Grace!

Christmas Letter to Valley Grace Church Family

Pam and I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you our Christmas letter to the Valley Grace Church family. In order to read a full PDF please click HERE. (Note: we wish we could continue the tradition of the past in sending a personal card to each family who has made Valley Grace their home church. But it has just become impossible and so following the suggestion of some individuals, we have made available a letter which was inserted in the bulletin this past week.)