​What a great Sunday it was celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus with you last week!  So many new faces, some powerful worship of a worthy King, kids in their cute Easter outfits, Egg hunts and don’t forget the donuts.  God truly did some amazing things this past week and I am excited to be serving Him as an awake minister of His gospel message.  How about you?
 
Wrapping up our series on prayer and launching our series about celebrating couldn’t happen at a more perfect time.  Easter is the celebrating of the most important day in the history of the world. It was so exciting to join with the 564 people who came for worship on Sunday. We will continue celebrating over the next 7 weeks.  

We have a church social next Sunday that we like to call Celebration Sunday.  Our goal is to make this a Sunday that we celebrate at least once a year.  It is a time to participate in baptisms, baby dedications, voting on elders and church projects, and taking a moment to remember the blessing it is to serve such an amazing Savior.  We have an Ebenezer Wall at the church where we write down key moments in our spiritual walks that we don’t want to forget.  Moments like the day of our salvation, the day of our baptism, the dedication of our kids or the day of our healing or recovery.  We are bad at rejoicing because we are bad at remembering.  After the second service we will fellowship together and the church is providing hamburgers and hotdogs to help us celebrate.  Make sure you are there so you don’t miss out.
 
Celebration will not end next Sunday as the series will go on for a few more weeks covering topics of celebration like Salvation, Healing, Moms (Mother’s Day), Recovery, the greatness of God, Rest and Peace, and the fact that God is still calling people to be ministers of His gospel message.  Who will you invite to celebrate with you?  Things worth celebrating are meant to be celebrated with others.  Be intentional to invite someone to celebrate with you.

-Pastor Paul

The Senior Parking Expansion is completed and many broken areas of our existing parking lot have been repaired.  We are hoping that next week our parking lot will be resealed and striped.  This new space added 15 much needed parking spots on the same level as our sanctuary.  What a great way to bless and look after our Seniors.

Note: Please leave these new closer spots for our Senior Saints on Sunday mornings.  This will allow us to leave the handicap spaces for those in wheel chairs and those who struggle to  walk.  

Other projects that are underway are our new church sign, the fencing for around the park area has been ordered and the solar will begin after our church vote (if approved) on April 24th.

Thanks to all of those who give faithfully to this church so that we can take on projects and improvements.

-Pastor Paul

Family Info: 
I've been married almost 23 years to my wife Monica. We have three splendid children:
Noah (15), and Bella and her husband Tyler Vanderwall.

How long have you lived in Lake County?
All my life, really, and the same is basically true for Monica. My parents moved here when I was 10 days old, and I only left for college. I love it here!

What do you do for work?
I work for myself, running two different websites/online communities that I built up over the years. The first is Banjo Hangout, which is basically a social network for banjo players. The second is Zwift Insider, which is a blog covering information on Zwift, a "computer game" for cyclists riding indoors. Banjos and bikes - that's what I do. And I love it!

Places you and your family serve?
In terms of regular ministry at Grace, I oversee Sunday worship teams, helping plan the teams and also make the music. Monica and I also host a small group at our home on Sunday nights, and put together Grace's weekly email newsletter. We're also part of the Sunday morning prayer team, and Monica is one of the Sunday service hosts. Noah serves in Awana and VBS.

Favorite verse/passage of scripture?
There are so many! Psalm 150 is a long-time favorite... I wouldn't be much of a worship leader if it wasn't. But the last several verses of Ephesians 3 also speak to me regularly. I love the thought that He is "able to do far beyond all that we ask or think." I need to be reminded of this. Often!

How long have you been a believer?
My mother led me in a prayer of salvation when I was just three years old, after we came home from seeing my older brother Steve get baptized. Of course, my walk of faith has had many ups, downs, and learning experiences since then! But He's always been by my side.

While our little ones will be in Sunday School or Jr. Church this Easter learning about the resurrection of Jesus, we're mixing in some fun between services. So please join in the frivolity up at our playground. Our coffee and goodies will be served there and will give you a great view of all the areas the kiddos will be searching for Easter Eggs. So if you're coming for the second service, this is a day you don't want to be late! About 10:15, we'll start the hunt, with sectioned-off areas for toddlers - 4 years of age, K-1st grade, and 2nd-3rd grade. It will be a timed hunt with our Egg Referees in place to run smoothly. But wait! We didn't forget about the 4th-6th graders; you're on clean up. Once the little ones have found all they can during their time, we will unleash you into the wild to uncover what may be left! See you there. ​

​The 2022 Chip in for Youth Golf Tournament is fast approaching. As our number one fundraiser for students to go to summer camp we rely on this golf tournament to bring the price of summer camp from around $400 a student to $100. We believe this is important because we live in a county where price plays a big factor as to whether or not a student can go to summer camp. As our number 1 outreach event of the year we want summer camp to be affordable for all so we can get the students to a place away from their day to day life and tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. In our tournament we still have open golfer spots and open sponsorship spots. With less than a month to go we are working hard to fill these final spots. If you are an avid golfer or you don’t know which end of a golf club to hold, this is the tournament for you. We have people who love golfing and have golfed a lot and we have people who have never golfed before. Sign up for the tournament or sponsor one of our holes.

Tonight, we conclude another Awana year. I’m not exactly sure how long Krishelle and I have been working in Awana, but it’s somewhere around 35 years. Awana’s motto is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve him. That has been our goal from the beginning. This year we saw 16 more kids give their lives to Christ. We pray that they continue to grow in a relationship with Him and that the verses they learn in Awana stick with them their entire lives.
 
We have a lot of people in Awana that have worked for many years, as well as a number of new leaders each year. Besides all of our directors and leaders, I’m especially thankful for Glenn and Anita Bridges. Glenn either organizes or brings the message himself each week to the clubbers. Anita is our club secretary as well as the organizer, buyer, and financer of our Awana store. If you haven’t yet seen our Awana store you should look in sometime. We have a reward system where kids earn “Awana bucks“ each week for saying verses, bringing a friend, etc. They can then use those “Awana bucks” in the store. It is a great incentive for them and one of the main reasons they memorize so many verses.
 
Lord willing, we will be starting back up this September. We are always looking for new leaders to pour into the lives of these kids each Tuesday night September thru March.
 
Begin praying now if this is a ministry God would have you to be involved in 
Many of you pray for Awana each week and that prayer support is critical. Thank you so much for those of you who faithfully pray. 
 
Serving alongside you,
 
Doug Bridges

Ladies, we hope you did not miss the Women’s Conference this last Saturday, March 26th. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, worship, challenge, and call to action. We hope you left encouraged. Do not let the valuable instruction go void in your life. Reflect on the scriptures covered, pray daily, and continue building the connections that you made during the event. Many have shared that during the round table discussions they were able to get to know other ladies better and build a sense of collaboration.

Dawn Trickett used Isaiah 43:18-19 as an outline to illustrate the natural brokenness of the human condition. Each one of us are broken and hopeless without Christ. With Christ, He can repair the broken and give hope to the lost. Let us then not dwell in the former ways, before Christ, as they no longer have a hold on our lives. God is doing a new thing in each of us. The past is now dead, and a new life with Christ has begun. Healing is possible because of Christ. God has created life in the desert and rivers in the wastelands.
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Save the Date:
Women’s Retreat October 28-30 – Albion Field Station 

We serve a great God! He is loving, caring, and always good. We have the great privilege to be able to come into His presence and make our requests known to the King.

Let us then pray like it matters!

In our current series we have asked the question, “Why Pray?” Jesus Christ is salvation for the lost and life for a believer. God is the creator of all things and the initiator of life itself. He sustains us and satisfies us. Bread alone is not what we live by, but by every Word that comes out of the mouth of God. We can not forget that the Almighty God hears our prayers of petition for the lives of the lost. Salvation is possible for anyone through the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us then pray for salvation of our family, friends, neighbors, government, and even our enemies.

We then asked the question, “How Do We Pray?” There are no special words to say, no higher education to complete, and no enlightened eloquence required to pray to God. He hears the prayers of the simple as a Father who hears His children. The Holy Spirit interprets even the groans of our hearts when we do not know what to say. We should pray without ceasing as we live life, but we cannot neglect praying to God in solitude. Let us pray to Him daily in quiet with humility, adoration, confession, resolve for restitution, thanksgiving, forgiveness, unity, petition for others, and faith and submission for His will to be done.

This last Sunday Pastor Paul walked us through the powerful prayer at the cross. Christ can save even the most evil and wicked this world has to offer. There is no person out of the reach of Christ. The grace of God is greater than our transgressions. Let us then pray for the salvation of the wicked as we do not know if we will be able to witness a miraculous change in their lives.

If you have not joined us for the 40 days of prayer and fasting, it is not too late. You can find the devotional booklet online here: www.gracechurchkelseyville.org/40-days-of-prayer-and-fasting.html

Join us today to pray that God will be glorified in our county, that the Gospel will be sent out, and that our county can see Christ through the church.
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-Pastor Brent Smith

Due to the pandemic, we have been physically isolated from the community of women either by choice or by necessity these past two years. Consequently, I have found myself emotionally and relationally distant from God and from other women. It has been a challenge to connect with other women and have real “fellowship” (authentic community) when physically isolated from others.

What about connecting with God on a deeper level? Hmmm. It becomes harder when we are by ourselves and there is no one to keep us accountable in our faith and love. To put it another way, lit firewood is extinguished quickly when it is not with other firewood in a fire pit. Our faith and love for God and others may “grow cold” when we are physically isolated and distant from other firewood in the fire.

I believe that oftentimes, as women, when we find ourselves isolated and distant from God and others, we default to living in the past. We hold onto our past mistakes, past sins, past unhealthy emotional responses, past hurts, past losses, and past wounds.

During the past two years, we, as women may have carried a lot of the “past” on our shoulders. Sometimes the effects of the “past” manifests itself in how we are living in the present. We grieved over these losses, as sometimes we should.  But the past events have weighed us down. We have, at times, felt very isolated and alone in our grief. We have walked alone and have tried to “carry on”. Even though our hearts are broken, our emotions unfiltered, and burdens are heavy. Sure, we know the Lord has been there. We think to ourselves, “He knows what we are going through.” but we dare not reveal what we are going through to others. “We will get through this”, we think to ourselves, “alone”.

I am comforted by Isaiah 43 verses 18 and 19. The prophet Isaiah is encouraging the Israelites to forget the former things—the past.  Years of hardened hearts, unanswered prayers, and rebellious hearts wandering in the “wilderness and wasteland”. This references the former years of when God seemed to have abandoned His people, His very own children. Isaiah’s exhortation is to not “dwell” or live or make your shelter in your past. God’s promise in verse 19 is that He is doing a new thing! A brand new future! Not a “back to normal” thing, but instead new growth. This is like new plants growing in the spring. Can we really see and understand? He is making a way (a road) in the wilderness and “streams” (refreshment, abundance, satisfaction) in the wasteland.

One reason that we want to bring women together for this one-day Women’s Conference on March 26th, is to reconnect with God and His purposes for us and to re-establish that “sisterhood” or fellowship with other women which may need to be re-kindled after these two years of physical isolation. Women are wired to grow and thrive in community. When we do not have community or when we do not cultivate community, we wither away like flowers in the desert sun without water. However, Hebrews 12:2 says, that Jesus (God) “is the author and perfecter of our faith.” Philippians 1:6 says, “that He (God) who began a good work in you (us) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Jesus will complete his work in us even in our “wilderness and wastelands”. However, we need community with others and be in communion with God.

I feel that now is the time to re-connect with the NEW purposes of God in our lives. Not just the old getting a makeover but something altogether new, unheard of, unimagined, a forward to better future—a road in the wilderness, (what? No way! Yes, there is a way; don’t you see it?) and streams--not just one stream, but streams (multiple outlets) from the wasteland. God is the one who will make this happen for us. Let us show up to where He wants us to be and receive what He has for us.

Won’t you join me at the Women’s Conference on March 26th?
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God has a “new thing” for us. We don’t have to live in the past. Our destiny is forward to better! By God’s power and grace, we will see the “way” in the wasteland and “streams in the desert”.