What does it NOT mean for us to be “a part of the LifeChurch.tv Network”
For Grace Community to be “a part of the LifeChurch.tv network” does not mean:
1.It does not mean we will be a legal part of LifeChurch. We are still Grace Community and they are LifeChurch.tv.
2. It does not mean that we pay them a fee or send any funds their direction at all. LifeChurch is making this material available to all at no cost and they have hired staff to help expedite our use of it.
3. It does not mean that Dave will never speak at Grace. We have the freedom for that to happen at any time and there are actually several breaks in the year when it is planned for local pastors to speak.
4. It does not mean that Dave will be less connected to Grace…quite to the contrary. Being in this partnership gives me the opportunity to lead and serve in ways that the week by week crunch has made difficult in the past.
Perhaps you have other questions about this cool new connection with LifeChurch.tv. Simply comment here or email dave@findinggrace.com or call 369.9897.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Congrats Dave. You will have more time to pastor people than ever before. I wrote this a couple of months back.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Thanks Andrew,
This link Andrew Statezny sent is really helpful. I have not communicated very much about what a great personal encouragement it is to be in this new network arrangement.
Andrew is a campus pastor with LifeChurch.tv and his experience is common it seems among other pastors around LC…guys I have met in Ft. Worth, Stillwater, Tulsa,Albany, and Ada, OK all reflect this experience.
One accurate way to view this is that at Grace Community you have more of a pastor now…not less. You have more of my time, more of my leadership, etc.
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Regarding Dave’s original points 3 & 4 above …
I would hope that perhaps one way we could still hear Dave speak and feel him lead and serve would be to resume Midweek services on a somewhat regular basis - maybe not every week, but occasionally as a complement to what we learn on Sunday and connect with in our Small Groups. I know that we all lead busy lives, and that an “extra” service in the middle of the week may be hard for many to attend consistently. But it could be a wonderful option for those who want to remain connected to others at Grace to do that during a periodic Midweek service. These have typically been low-tech services, so the number of volunteers needed to make them happen is probably also low. Still, it would require some of us making the commitment to serve in perhaps a very small way only once in a while and to attend in a big way more than once in a while. Does anyone else have some thoughts on this?
September 4th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Thanks for the comment Julie,
It seems like a key need we all have is for day by day encouragement. The small group is designed to meet that need and I am concerned that we not really give these little pods of fellowship a chance. Heb 3:13 says “But encourage one another daily…so that none of you will be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness”. Also we have Jesus walking around in real life with HIS disciples. And we have the early church in Jerusalem and in Rome doing life daily in homes and on the streets.
Grace needs to flex and become wise on this I think. We need more groups and more people in groups that are functioning as daily sources of encouragement.
My own experience is that groups like this over the past few years have helped me grow more than anything.
This month around Grace the door will be open to lead groups and be in them and I encourage everyone to take a step and bring someone else along.