Thoughts on this Weekend

This weekend at Grace was amazing! We have such an awesome church. Here are some thoughts:

• We had the largest non-holiday attendance in our history as a church. We had 1017 people at church this weekend. That rocks! Keep bringing, keep inviting, keep watching God change lives.
  
• We did our version of "cardboard testimonies" this weekend and it brought the house down. I'm serious when I say that this is only a small portion of the stories that are being written at Grace these days. What a great reminder of the life change that is happening all around us all the time.
• Al did a great job talking through what it might have been like for the Acts 2 church to celebrate their existence one year after Pentecost. It was a new angle that was really intriguing to think about.
• Despite the difficult decisions and conversations we've been having about some changes at 9:15 - many of those 9:15 folks were at church and still engaging with what God is up to. I'm looking forward to getting a "task force" together to keep working toward implementation of the new weekend service arrangement.
• Met with Josh last week - we are trying to connect with everyone after their 3rd visit. He was a 3rd time guest that I met at Starbucks last Wednesday. It was awesome to hear his story and meet his fiance after services on Sunday.
• It was also great to catch up with Jim following the services and provide him with some resources for a talk that he's giving at his school. God will continue to use Grace folks to spread His fame around the Erie region and it's always a privilege to be a part of that!
• I can't believe that we've been in our new facility for almost a year! Dave's video tribute to our 1 year anniversary was very moving and it set the tone for the amazing services this weekend.
• Brian and his teams were awesome. Who Can Stand is one of my favorite Brian Lusky songs and one of my favorite worship songs period. Don't miss the worship event that is coming next weekend. It is going to be a blast to both honor God with our worship and to be a part of a live worship album recording session!
• Got a chance to meet with Jim, Matt, and Sam on Saturday to talk about small group leadership and personal spiritual formation. It is so fun to hear what God is doing through our groups that meet all over the region during the course of any given week. This is where spiritual growth happens!

All in all it's just an awesome time to be at Grace. To have a front row seat to see what God is doing through our church and all over the city is amazing. This is only the beginning.