Grace Park

2011-04-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

So, the egg hunt was cold. It amazes me that every year we have done this except one the weather on the day of the hunt has been atrocious. Being that this year the hunt was the end of April I rather expected the weather to be a little nicer, kind of like it was Sunday, but I guess it just isn't meant to be. However, even with freezing temperatures the turn out was still at least 1500 people. This has to say something. Now, they didn't hang out long afer the hunt; but since there was a festival going on at the same time that closed down b/c it was too cold and no one was coming, and we still had a pretty good turn out...well we must be doing something right. The best thing is that meaningful conversations were had and slowly but surely perceptions of Christ and Christianity are being redefined. God is working in hearts.

Now we just have to see what happens this Easter Sunday. I know God is preparing hearts to be turned toward Him. He is already at work and is allowing us to be a part of that through Grace Park. I can't wait till this weekend when we get to celebrate the greatest holiday of the year with our community.

2011-04-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Our next Easter Egg Hunt is days away and the obstacles are coming in strong. This must mean God is already at work in hearts and is going to allow many meaningful conversations at this event that will lead to life change for Him. The bunny is ready to hop, 20,000 eggs are being stuffed to hide, a giant game of twister is ready to be played and people are already getting excited. There are high hopes for the outcome and contacts this event will hold. What is even better than the hunt? Easter services! How wonderful to be able to celebrate the love of our Father and the selfless sacrifice of Christ together. God is already working and preparing those He will bring to these services. Hearts will be turned to Him and lives will be changed. The best part is, that is just the beginning. We are privileged to worship him together every week--at church, in community groups, just hanging with friends. We can celebrate his love and sacrifice any time or place. We can worship Christ in everything do, everywhere we go. How amazing! May we all remember--today and always--the price Jesus paid for us!

A Year's End

2010-12-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

Looking back over this year it is amazing the things that have happenedIt has been an amazing year! But with the amazing things that happen come the hard, heart-wrenching obstacles that never seem to cease.

We have seen so many great things this year: people coming to Grace Park who were first met 5 years ago, ppl surrendering to Christ after years of prayer and showing them Christ through love, opening 2 new classes for kids, seeing kids grow in Christ, an amazing kids camp and mission trip right here where we live, Easter egg hunts, Halloween muggings and so much more...

However, right along with these things came the spiritual attacks, emotional battles and the real battles of finding ppl to volunteer for the classes and camps. People are messy. Relationships are messy. But through all that messiness we see the grace and mercy of God.

He has been faithful and has pulled us through the emotional battles and spiritual warfare. There are so many amazing things happening in and around us, yet it is so easy to get caught up in our own struggles and not look at the bigger picture. God has so much in store for each of us, for this church, for this community. Satan is going out of his way to keep our focus on ourselves so we will not see and heed the needs of those around us.

Yet through this I have been blessed to see ppl in our church and community sacrifice in order to show God's love to others, whether through time, money, meeting a direct need, a listening ear, etc. It is such a blessing to see God's light in His ppl as they foil Satan's plans and keep the focus on God instead of on the things Satan uses to distract us.

It is a blessing to be a part of God's work in Spring Hill, TN, specifically @ Grace Park and I thank God for the amazing church family he has placed here. God is at work in this community and will continue to work. Great things are happening and there is no end to the things His power can and will accomplish in this city.

Keep Praying

2010-03-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you for lifting up our church as we prepare for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. We are seeing an outpouring of God's faithfulness through business sponsorships this year. We would like to ask you to join us in continuing to pray about potential sponsors. Ask that the Lord would open our eyes to see businesses who would partner with us financially and that we would be obedient in asking. Please pray on Friday, March 12, about a potential BIG sponsorship opportunity.

coming up!

2010-02-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

So we are beginning to prepare for one of our most favorite (our being my) events of the year...our 4th annual Easter egg hunt. In a little over a month, we will be hiding 23,000 eggs for the community of Spring Hill. (Imagine having to stuff that many eggs!) In the past two years we have seen anywhere from 1200 to 2000 people at this event. God has really used this even to allow us to partner with different businesses in the community to make it a fun-filled time for families.

We are planning to have face painting, karaoke, the Easter Bunny, jump houses, spin art and many games. There will be plenty of fun to go around and no shortage of eggs to hunt. This is a time for the community to come together and enjoy life together, just hanging out and having fun.

You've been mugged!

2009-11-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

How many people can say they were mugged--on Halloween, no less--and it was a good experience? This is one of my favorite outreaches of the year. There is no way to express how wonderful it is to see someone's surprise and joy (occasionally receiving a hug) at being given a gift when they were expected to give something away.

I had the privilege of going mugging with three great ladies this year...all in different places as far as mugging is concerned. One has gone the previous two years and obviously enjoyed it or she wouldn't have come back. The second has never been mugging before and is new to the whole idea. She started off shy and held the mugs for the others to come get and take to the house. As the night went on, she began to get excited about walking up to the houses for herself and watching reactions ranging from shock to smiles. The third person was mugged last year and actually came to visit the church because of being mugged. It was refreshing to watch her come full circle. The excitement she felt and enthusiasm for mugging because she knew what it was like were inspiring. All in all...great fun with mugging!

Texas Mission Trip

2009-07-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

Imagine 100+ degree heat and physical labor with little ventilation. This is what our small group, most of whom are not accustomed to that kind of work or that kind of heat did in TX. It was an amazing trip in which we were able to drywall ceiling and walls of a house damaged by Hurricane Ike last year.

God put together a team that worked well together and even were able to finish a day early thanks to teamwork and hard work. We were able to watch the homeowners son drill a screw in. The look on his face as he assisted in the rebuilding of his home was priceless.

Here are a few pics. Unfortunately I only took my camera out one day, but there is some proof ;)

Plans gone awry

2009-05-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Why is it every time we have something planned, it changes? Maybe it is a lesson in faith, patience, or flexibility...or maybe it is just that God sees the big picture that we can not see and is preparing us for something we can not even fathom.

Whatever the case (i am leaning toward option 2) our summer is not panning out quite the way we originally planned. Some of the activities we had anticipated are not going to happen on the expected dates or even at all. Some of the people we were expecting to help are not going to make it.

Never the less, we are excited about our summer events. We will be out serving the community with car washes and other activities. We are planning our first annual kids camp. We are going to take kids out into the community to serve and let them experience the joy that comes from helping others. They will learn why and how to serve and then put that into practice.

There are many things that have to happen for this kids camp to be a success, but we know God will see to those details. Please pray for us as we write curriculum, plan activities and projects, recruit volunteers and youth groups to help and for the kids who will attend and their families. There is no doubt in my mind God is doing great things in Spring Hill and my prayer is that we will be one of His instruments.

AWESOME!

2009-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Just to attest to the awesomeness of God and His power...we had a 4 year old in our church who over the past couple weeks has had some medical issues. Through a series of events, it was discovered that she had a mass on or near her bladder. They could not tell if it was on her bladder or spine. Of course, once we found out, there were many all over the world praying for her to be healed. The doctor at Vanderbilt Children's did not think it was anything too major, but wanted to do a biopsy just to be sure. When they went in on Monday, the mass was completely gone! (there is much more to this story, but in this short version, God's faithfulness is still very clear) This has been faith strengthening for many here and around the nation. AWESOME!

Another portrayal of God's awesome love for us comes in that we just celebrated Easter. What better way to remind us of HIS love than to have a day set aside just in remembrance of the sacrifice He made for people who deserve death (us)?

Also, the egg hunt was amazing. We had over 1000 people from the community join us for a day of fun and games. Even though it was a bit chilly and damp, we had a wonderful time. God once again proved his faithfulness in providing people who were willing to work or supply candy, coupons, money, and more. Every time something began to go wrong, God worked the details out in a way we could not even fathom showing us He had it in His hands the whole time.

You may ask why we would go through so much trouble for an Easter egg hunt (20,000+ eggs, prizes, games, bounce houses, karaoke, face painting, etc). The answer is simple...love. Just as Jesus first loved us, we love one another. He loves through us. Our heart is burdened for this city, and if it takes 20,000+ eggs to show that love, we are willing. It is for the family we first got to know through such an event, who were there again, and are truly searching for Him; for those who wonder why anyone would spend so much time on one event; for the ones who came out because in this economy, something was free; for people who have forgotten someone still cares. God loves us all, and we are privileged to show that love to the Spring Hill community.

Pray HIS love will shine through us in all we do!

Faithfulness

2009-04-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Faithfulness ~ A Reoccurring Theme. . .

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:24

It was a surreal experience, not a everyday occurrence in my life, but one so strong that I will tell it for years to come. Standing there on the asphalt looking over the grassy hill with playground equipment and towering shade trees, it was as if He made the sun shine just for us, just for Grace Park's 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt for the City of Spring Hill. Although the crowd before me was massive and the speakers were blaring some random song like "The Chicken Dance", I didn't hear a thing. It was just one more fulfillment of 1 Thes. 5:24. I vaguely remember Jason and our Director of Missions on either side of me talking about the incredibleness of what we were witnessing, but it was as if I was watching from far away. And, for just a moment, a brief moment in the middle of 5 hours that I actually remember stopping to take it all in. Quickly, I was brought back to reality with a need to pull bags of overflowing recycled eggs! And, just as soon as the day had begun it was over. There we were at Sonic eating my homemade birthday cake with our fingers. (Thanks, Glenda, for remembering me on that day).

And, here we are again. This time we're three days and about 6 hours away from Grace Park's 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt for the city of Spring Hill! My lists of to dos are literally several pages long (and, why I'm writing this at 1 morning when I should be checking items off my list I do not know). I just cannot help but tell the story! As Mandy has been posting with our prayer requests recently, we have needed and have felt your prayers. (Even as little as 24 hours ago many of our church family were awake most of the night with a heavy prayer burden that the Lord is continuing to answer.) Last year the hunt of over 20,000 eggs stuffed with prizes, candy, and gift cards along with multiple prizes including 3 bikes, 1,000 bottles of water, need I go on. . .only cost our church around $100. To get the bigness of God, you have to remember that our church averages 100 in our Sunday worship gatherings.

The brief (and I mean very brief) overview of this year's hunt looks some like 23,000 eggs stuffed with everything from candy to balloons to free ice cream cones to $5 gift cards for Outback, multiple big prizes including 3 bikes and many gift cards, three inflatable bounce houses, one inflatable slide, another 1,000 bottles of water, 10 gallons of Starbucks, several carnival games with prizes, an Easter bunny, and about 50 volunteers (so far) at a cost of about $500. That has 1 Thes. 5:24 written all over it! It's all about His faithfulness. And, I don't mean to solely focus on the physical earthly aspects of it all.

Once again, He walks with me hour by hour and literally says "Trust me, I've got this under control." When I start counting eggs, He says "remember the story of David - there's no need to number the men". When I'm tempted to check the 5 day forecast, He says "remember the rain that encircled the neighborhood party and the sun that shone down on you the entire evening?" When I start panicking that people won't come, He says "Do you think I would have provided all of this to leave you standing in the park with a small crowd? Who's name is on the line here anyway?" And, when I worry that the meaning of Easter will be lost in the midst of eggs, He says, "Come, read my Word, sit with me today."

So, Lord, here I am celebrating your faithfulness once again! And, here I am trusting and thanking you that the sun will shine on Saturday, the creek bed will be dry, the balloons will soar, the kids will jump safely in the bounce houses, families will smile, cars will get parked without to much backup, the eggs will say "Jesus love you, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you" each time a child picks one up, and that even more miraculous parts of this story are still being written. Until then. . .1 Thes. 5:24!

(Thanks, Mandy, for getting this blog going for us!)

2009-04-01T13:10:00.001-07:00

It is evident God is working in and through the preparations for the egg hunt in how badly satan is trying to thwart plans and cause trouble. God has already provided in so many ways we never could have imagined--in eggs gifted from other churches, bounce houses donated, and so many other donations throughout the community of Spring Hill. We are already seeing His hand throughout.

Pray for Him to prepare the hearts of those who will attend the egg hunt to hear and see the truth of His love

Pray for needed volunteers

Pray for needed egg stuffing

Pray for Easter services and those leading and teaching

Pray against the attacks of Satan

New Additions

2009-03-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our new worship arts director and his wife have been here for 3 weeks today. We are blessed to have them. Michael and Rebekah are becoming acclimated to living in TN, meeting a ton of new people and starting new jobs. Thankfully Rebekah was able to find and start a job fairly quickly.

~Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they adjust and find their niche.

~Pray for the staff and their families--wisdom in leading and shepherding; that we will be sensitive to the needs of the community and each other; that our personal relationships with Christ will grow daily

~Pray against all efforts of the enemy to cause ineffectiveness, division, dissension, or discouragement within the body of believers

~Pray for our upcoming egg hunt and Easter services

on a side note, the afore mentioned PNO was postponed until after April, but we still need your prayers for it as well

preparations

2009-03-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

We are in the midst of preparing for some very major events...Parents Night Out, Easter Egg Hunt, and Kids Camp just to name a few. These are the ones I want to focus on tonight.

PNO will be held Friday, March 27. Please pray we will have plenty of volunteers with positive attitudes...that our volunteers will find this as worship. Pray for the families who will come, for their lives to be touched through this service to them, for them to see Christ's love in what we are doing. Pray for opportunities to share with families why we host PNOs.

For the Easter Egg Hunt...where do I begin...i think my first post gives you an idea of what a huge outreach the easter egg hunt is. Again, pray for volunteers to man the games, hide the eggs and connect with families. Pray for parking, activities and that we will have plenty of prizes, stuffing for eggs, and response from local businesses to pull everything together. Also pray for the families who will attend--that they will have fun, for their safety. Again pray for opportunities and for our volunteers to see this as a time of worship.

For the kids camp...this is our first one, so we have lots of kinks that need to be worked out. Pray for....
~the curriculum we are writing to come together
~volunteers to come and lead the groups (we are hoping for a group of teen and/or college students to help with this)
~vans and drivers to transport all the children to the various locations
~enough mission locations (local) to take the children and occupy them for 2 hours a day for the week
~the children who will attend...that we will have the exact number we need, that God will prepare their hearts to meet him and draw closer to him (whichever the case may be)
~Safety
~the families of those attending

Also lift up the various teams planning each of these projects, their health and that they will not be discouraged

Satan is already attacking, trying to cause problems and make things not happen. Pray he will not succeed and we will be strong against him. Pray for God's direction in all these events (and others) and for us to follow that direction.

Today's request

2009-03-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Today's prayer request is:
~that our community be delivered from all the sickness that seems to be surrounding it
~for our new worship arts pastor and his wife who will be traveling from Las Vegas next week
~the strength, wisdom and health of the staff and their families
~egg hunt and summer plans and preparations

History

2009-02-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

Four and a half years ago Grace Park was a vision...today it is a reality in the heart of Spring Hill, TN. It has been an honor and privilege to watch God's work in Grace Park. What started off in a garage, grew to a dance studio, then moved to the methodist church on Sunday nights is now meeting in Marvin Wright Elementary School.

We moved to Sunday nights out of necessity and have kept Sunday nights to allow our families a true sabbath...a day to spend in rest with God and family. Warm weather will find several of our families at Evan's Park on Sunday mornings playing Ultimate Frisbee with anyone who is willing to come. It is a great way for us to get exercise and hang out with some incredible people. Ultimate has been a great way to get to know different faces in the community and make new friends.

Our summers are filled with free car washes, baseball camps, games and rec camps, mission trips and this year a first ever kids camp where children can learn how to be a servant and meet needs of those in the community.

One of our biggest events is Halloween--muggings and cookouts. In October we get to see many great costumes as we cook hot dogs and hot chocolate for tricker treaters. We also get to watch the surprise on faces as we knock on doors and give the person who answers a gift instead of asking for candy as they expect.

Our other huge even is the community-wide Easter Egg Hunt the Saturday before Easter. This year will be our 3rd annual egg hunt. The first year, we awoke to snow flurries and freezing weather, but still had several hundred people in the newly built Harvey Park. Last year, we hid a total of 23,000 eggs in two different age groups, had karaoke, face painting, crafts and more. Many local businesses contributed to the festivities. There were an estimated 1500 to 2000 individuals present. This year we are expecting even more!

This barely covers where we have come in the last several years. God has continually blessed us along the journey and we are excited to see what is in store for tomorrow. His presence never ceases and His hand is very prominent in all we do and in who we are. Without HIM, we would not exist, nor be where we are today. To Him be the Glory!