I am writing as Mark and I are driving through Pennsylvania a couple hours away from home. It’s hard to believe that we dropped off John and Anna for their senior and junior years at Wake Forest. As someone told me long ago… the days are often long, but the years get faster and faster.

Last Sunday was a great day for GRACE.  We had joyful worship at BECA and baptized two little ones promising to teach them the good news of Jesus Christ.  An hour later, we were leading hundreds under the Festplatz tent in worship – many who were invited by you. Healthy churches are INTERNALLY STRONG – inviting disciples

Every weekend we gather together at BECA High School, but throughout the week we scatter to hundreds of addresses.  We follow Jesus into the world, where He is at work in the lives of people we meet every day – our family, our colleagues at work, our neighbors, and everyone we meet.  And we join Him in that work –

This Sunday, Pastor Manuela will continue in our sermon series – GOD IS… She will preach on God is… compassionate. It may be common to say God is love… but what does it mean?  In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis explains it this way. “All sorts of people are fond of repeating the Christian statement that ‘God

Dear friends, The Summer heat is here. It’s a reminder to me of God’s grace that He has called Mark and me to serve you in the beautiful and less humid Lehigh Valley. Summer is also a time of escalating food needs across the Valley. To address hunger needs, I hope you will join us in

Here’s a question for you: If you put together over 150 orange and blue GRACE Kids t-shirts, countless bags of popcorn, ice cream made with liquid nitrogen, boxes and water, a human brain, donations of nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars given for backpacks for our Freemansburg Elementary partnership, all kinds of crazy hats and socks,

As I write this I am flying home from meeting with the Senior Pastors from our ECO Presbyterian peer churches. It was such an encouragement to meet with these pastors from all over the country and to hear about God’s work across our growing denomination. We shared ideas and best practices and prayed for each other

Tomorrow, May is over.. and we are all glad. May is a candidate for the craziest month of the year. Every single activity that you started in September has to have a closing event – Dance Recitals, Concerts, Scouting. And then there are the sports. You can’t admit it but you’re praying your child loses in the playoffs

The business of the church is to tell and embody a story. That’s what Lesslie Newbigin said in his book,Foolishness to the Greeks. He’s not talking about a building or an institution. He’s talking about you. You are the church. You tell and embody the true story of the resurrected Jesus. You do that when you

Sunday, it was a great joy for our congregation to hear the confirmation students up on the stage at BECA saying those seven words that change a life: Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I never grow tired of people of all ages making that profession of faith. But, that’s not the end of the

This was our third year having a donkey in worship on Palm Sunday. The first year, I had a few raised eyebrows but now as a congregation, you have fully embraced the donkey. I loved seeing you have your pictures taken with “Cisco” as we launched Holy Week with the palms and processions.  It was

This Sunday, we will continue in our series, FACES at the CROSS, turning our attention to the faces on either side of Jesus hanging on the cross. Two criminals were facing the biggest crisis of their lives –their inevitable death. Their conversation with Jesus tells us a lot. How do you face your own crises? Does

This week we will continue in our Faces at the Cross series with a face to face look at Simon of Cyrene. He found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time that became the right place for a life-changing encounter with Jesus. Simon, by force, was “All- In”, carrying the cross for Jesus. His

When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 Jesus knew it was coming. He knew he would have to die so that people could live. It was time for Jesus to set his face to Jerusalem… to fully embrace God’s plan for him. He knew

Dear friends, I’m looking out the window of my office at Locust Street. And the sun is shining. How grateful I am for the sun that makes the ice beautiful and short-lived. The sun is a great spotlight on the neighborhood kids just out of school. Some are walking from the direction of Northeast Middle School. Others from the

One of the best parts of being a pastor is walking with people in the many seasons of life and hearing their stories. Every week, I learn the stories of people who are new to GRACE or learn a deeper part of stories of some of you I have known for almost three years now. Everyone’s

ON Sunday, we wrap up our RESET: Getting the Life You Have Always Wanted series. We’ve been talking very practically about how to live our best in 2019. Sunday, we will look at the challenge to RESET our relationships. God made us for relationships. We have a longing for belonging. We have an urge to merge. And that

Of all my “mentors in print,” none speak more directly nor convict as deeply as C. S. Lewis. Here’s a zinger he wrote on prayer: “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving

On behalf of all the team at Grace Church, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas! I pray that your celebrations with your family and friends have been life-giving and have drawn you closer to the God who so loved you that He sent his Son to us at Christmas.   Speaking of Christmas, I

I just returned from a breakfast appointment with a couple who has been visiting our church. It is exciting to hear them share their new experience with GRACE. ON the way home, I saw a few snow flurries.  Nothing serious… but you never know.  Our December weather has been a bit erratic.  I can’t help

What a Thanksgiving Sunday we had together last week at Northeast Middle School! I took the picture below as I was giving the benediction. It was wonderful to see our set up team, our greeting and usher teams, our choir and musicians, and our staff work together to have such a meaningful service. Thank you!

As I write, an unexpected amount of snow is falling outside my window and the first fire of the year is blazing in our fireplace. With the right boots, the right shovel, and the right wood – thanks to a dear friend in the congregation, the snow is bringing a needed Sabbath rest and hush.

This is one of the best weekends of the year. Not only do we get an extra hour of sleep, we get to celebrate God’s faithfulness to us individually and as a congregation. We will together bring forward our commitments for the 2019 mission and ministry of GRACE Church. It is so humbling to watch

As you read this, our GRACE group is flying home from Tel Aviv to Newark. We have had an amazing trip walking in the footsteps of Jesus and seeing the Bible come alive. Thank you for your prayers. I hope many of you will hear stories from our group which will make you want to

You’ve been hearing about it for months.  And it finally starts this week.  40 days is a strategic time-period throughout the Bible.  Whenever God was preparing someone for his purposes, he often used 40 days.  For Noah – it was 40 days of rain.  For Moses – it was 40 days on Mount Sinai.  For

Dear Friends, Are you signed up for a 40 days group yet? Hundreds have already bought the book/study guide and signed up. If you haven’t signed up yet for one of our groups at Locust Street, please do so right now by clicking here. You can choose one of these times for a 6-week group

Was there ever a time you got something you deserved? But it wasn’t good news. You blew it… And you paid for it. Was there ever a time you did not get what you deserved? You did your best. You earned it… And you got nothing. Last question… Have you ever gotten what you don’t

Remembering is a holy practice.  Throughout the Bible, we are invited to do it – from remembering God’s rescue mission of his people at the Exodus to Jesus’ invitation to take the bread and the cup “in remembrance of me.” The testimony from the Psalms has it just right. I will remember the deeds of

I grew up going to the beach.  My dad is a Citadel graduate so Charleston, South Carolina holds my earliest memories of family vacations full of good books, riding the waves, freckles and “crabbing.”  As the years have gone by, I have more beach memories with my own kids on the Florida coast at Seaside

At our congregational update on Sunday, it was standing room only at our Locust Street midweek Campus. After a powerful morning of worship and reconnecting with each other over coffee and homemade baked-goods, and then celebrating our children who memorized Psalm 23 at the Pastor’s Prize Popsicle Party (try saying that 5 times fast), we

I have a preacher friend who always greets me this way – “God is good, all the time.”  And he waited until I responded – “All the time, God is good.” So right now, wherever you are reading this, here I go… “God is good, all the time.” I can hear you in my mind,

Here’s a question for you: If you put together 142 electric yellow and blue GRACE Kids t-shirts, countless bags of popcorn, animal cookies and fruit, parachutes and water, hundreds of beads, donations of colored pencils and supplies, all kinds of crazy hats and socks, 5 rocking songs, and over 140 kids and leaders in the