What I have learned about and from Church history has been a real game changer for me. I’ve come to understand that Christians have a great advantage in facing issues today by observing how they have been addressed for 2000 years. Makes sense right? But beyond the benefit from learning from our past, Church history is just so cool! It’s the history of the Holy Spirit working through people to make Jesus known. The stories are in every sense of the word, AWESOME. 

I just ordered the series of books below in hopes to teach my kids church history, and to learn more myself. (Yes, I still learn a lot from kids books. Don’t hate)  You can get this series for 50% off, which is less than $5 per book, for a limited time here.

I’ll let ya know how I like mine as soon as they come in and I put them to use!

Yesterday we held our church membership class for perspective members of Grace Bible. Some ask, what the point of church membership? Is it even Biblical? This post at the link below offers some clear and informative thoughts on the subject.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2014/03/28/is-church-membership-really-required/

I love to fish and I love to laugh, so this video was perfect!

FISHING BLOOPERS

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G-V_91c5ojU

For me, there is no greater privilege than to serve as a pastor of a local church. I am amazed, humbled, and thankful that despite our flaws and inefficiencies, God has seen fit to use the local church as such an important instrument for his work. I know I speak for our Grace Bible family when I say that God has placed in us, a desire to be a shining faithful expression of God’s glory. A desire to be faithful, healthy, and fruitful. To be salt and light. To MAKE DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ!!

Myself, along with the other elders of Grace Bible will be going on a ministry focused retreat later this month. We are reading this book as a team in preparation for our time:

Here’s a link if your interested in reading it yourself. 9 Marks of a Healthy Church

Also, another great book I have been reading re: the ministry of the local church, Center Church is only 2.99 on Kindle. Here’s a link to that one: Center Church, by: Tim Keller

Y’all please pray for our time as elders later this month. Pray that God by His Spirit through His Word, would direct our conversations and time.  Pray that we would bear in mind the charge of Acts 20:28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”                                        

Last night our 7-12th grade student ministry began a series on the freedom of self-forgetfulness. Here’s a great book on the subject if your interested: http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Self-Forgetfulness-Timothy-Keller-ebook/dp/B007WU2S5Q

I had a great lunch with Rhome van Dyck yesterday.  Always enjoy time with him. As a gifted Bible expositor, Rhome has long been a favorite guest preacher and teacher Grace Bible.  While Rhome maintains a full teaching schedule, the bulk of his time is spent writing and producing Bible Studies for Sacra Script.  Their stuff is top notch. They’re goal is to get the meaning of the Bible to the reader. They take the necessary time and do detailed study of the original authorship, audience, setting etc, to make ORIGINAL MEANING available to people.  If your looking for a personal or small group Bible study, I highly recommend their material. You can find their products here.