Prepare
Experience the season of Lent more meaningfully by participating in the Lenten seminar “The Last Days of Jesus: The Greatest Story Never Told” March 12-13. More information on the seminar is available online.

Prepare your heart for Easter weekend by participating in Grace’s Maundy Thursday experience. On Thursday, April 1 in the Mini-Auditorium at Grace Timonium you can guide yourself through a reflective experience on the final events of Jesus’ life. The experience is available 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. and is appropriate for elementary-aged children through adults. Parents, please plan to accompany young children.

Attend
Complimentary tickets are provided for Good Friday and Easter services. Tickets are available in the Gallery during weekend services, at the Welcome Desk during the week, or anytime online.

Invite
Consider someone in your life you would like to invite to attend an Easter Weekend service with you. As you get complimentary tickets for yourself, take a leap of faith and grab an extra one to invite someone new!

Serve
Be a part of serving more than 6,000 people who will remember Good Friday and celebrate Easter at Grace. Throughout March, you can sign up for a serving opportunity either in the Great Room during the weekend services or online.

Join us for this comprehensive six-hour seminar presented by Doug Greenwold. The seminar will change the way you read the Scriptures as you learn about the culture, context, and geography of Jesus’ time.

Doug Greenwold is the Executive Director of Preserving Bible Times. PBT is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and presenting Biblical truth. For more information about PBT, click here.

You can download the brochure or register online.

The gates.
The hill.
The tomb.

A king rides in. A lover dies. A stone moves.

God’s passion expressed.
Majesty * Mourning * Miracle
I John 4:10

Find out more about expanding your Easter experience, get ticketing information, or sign up to serve Easter weekend.

Sunday, February 14

All campuses operating on a normal schedule.

More information is available at www.gfc.org/services.

Monday, February 15 – President’s Day

All GFC facilities are closed and there are no events scheduled.

Everything you might want to know is posted under each campus. Here are the shortcuts:

• www.gfc.org/timonium/weather for the Timonium Campus
• www.gfc.org/shrewsbury/weather for the Shrewsbury Campus
• www.gfc.org/gracecity/weather for the City Campus

Whenever there are cancellations due to weather, we will post the information on the main news page (www.gfc.org/news).

For many, it’s a kind of last-minute tax planning. If that applies to you, then we want to make sure you know what the IRS policy is for gifts to be counted in 2009.

Year-end contributions can be mailed or dropped off at the Welcome Desk, but must be received by Grace or postmarked no later than December 31 in order to qualify for tax purposes in the current year. The Grace offices in Timonium will be open until 5:00 p.m. on December 31.

Gifts made at services in the month of December will be counted in 2009, but gifts made at the first services in January will be receipted in 2010.

If you are planning to make a gift of securities, you will need this information. Gifts through mutual funds or other gifts of property can be more complex. In this case, please contact the Financial Ministries Department as soon as possible in order to ensure that your gift can be processed before the end of the year. You can call Stacie Porter at 410-561-8424 x238 or email sporter@gfc.org.

Much more information about giving at Grace is available at http://www.gfc.org/giving.

Life moves fast this time of year. It seems like there is more to do than time to do it. I hope and pray that you’ll be able to carve out some time to reflect on how incredibly loved you are by our God and Creator. Our theme for this Advent season is “Love Came Down,” and it’s an amazing reality that God’s love came down and took on human form in His Son, Jesus Christ.

By God’s grace, people have been encountering God’s love for nearly thirty years at Grace Fellowship Church, and our lives have been changed. Recently, we received a note from Lonnie Spence. Lonnie has been part of Grace for the past couple of years and has recently become involved in the SHAPE ministry, helping people find the service opportunities that fit the way God has made them. Here is part of what Lonnie wrote:

“You have no idea how you and the Grace family have changed my life and continue to do so…When I first came to Grace I was surprised by how joyful everyone seemed. When I started to get to know people I realized that the joy went all the way to the heart. The more I attended, the more I listened, the more relationships I entered, the more I realized that a true personal relationship with God was what I was missing. I have begun my relationship with my Father and I’m now seeing how really amazing He is, how He is always so close and I see all the gifts He has given me and why. When I talk about the love I feel at Grace, it overwhelms me. Grace feels like home to me. I love serving in SHAPE and want to get more involved in other ministries. I feel His Spirit on this team.”  

For nearly thirty years, stories like Lonnie’s have been coming to life at Grace. And in the past month, there have been more praiseworthy events. But none of this is possible without your faithful support. Despite the difficult economy, our congregation has demonstrated great generosity. We are profoundly grateful for your commitment to Christ and His church. Current trends in giving indicate that this will be a challenging year for us economically. Please pray with us that God will provide all that we need to do what He has called us to do this year. If you have the ability to make a special year-end contribution, it will be a welcome blessing. 

May this Christmas season be one in which you experience the God whose Love Came Down.

With profound appreciation,
Danny O’Brien
Senior Pastor
Grace Fellowship Church

• Attendance at the Shrewsbury Campus weekend service has been consistently over 700 adults and children, leading them to go to two service times at the start of the new year!
  
• At the end of November, we dedicated our fourth and fifth Sandtown Habitat houses in just three years.
  
• Over 120 middle school students from Grace attended the Alive weekend in Ocean City. Many dedicated or rededicated their lives to Christ. Let ministry director, Ryan Siegers, tell you about that!
  
• After two years of searching, we have hired our new small groups pastor, Rusty Russey. Rusty comes to us with a wealth of experience, much of it gained at Saddleback Church in Southern California. Please welcome Rusty and Nancy, and their children, Ian and Hope.
  
• Last month, 78 fourth and fifth grade students and their leaders encountered God on an action-packed weekend retreat.
  
• On Friday night, November 6, about 350 people from Timonium and GraceCity piled into buses and took the 25-minute trek up to the Shrewsbury Campus for our annual Grace Rising celebration. Catch a glimpse of the sweet time we had together, and if you haven’t already, take time to visit this campus. What a blessing to see what God is doing because of your investment!
  
• Earlier this fall, we launched a new ministry for men called Ironmen. Every Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m. (yes, that’s 6:15 a.m.!) over 120 men gather at the Timonium Campus; God has shown up in some amazing ways as these men have opened themselves up to Him.

If you have a sentence or two you’d like to share about something God has done in your life, please do so!

Come as we continue to dig deeper into the Scripture as it relates to men and women in the church.

Timonium Campus

We’d love to meet you after any weekend service at Welcome Central. If you’re interested in learning more about Grace, we have a Newcomers’ Reception on March 21, at 11:15 a.m. in the Great Room. To register, contact Cathy, 410.561.8424 ext. 204, or cthornton@gfc.org. We look forward to meeting you!

Shrewsbury Campus

Join us after the service on January 10, at 12:45 p.m. in the Cafe, to learn more about Grace Fellowship Church and the Shrewsbury Campus.  A light lunch will be provided for those attending the Reception. You can sign up at the Welcome Center.

GraceCity

The fourth Sunday of each month, right after the service Phil Stetler, philstetler@gmail.com, would love to answer any questions you may have about the GraceCity campus of Grace Fellowship Church!

The year 2003 marked the start of what we hope will become an “eternity-reaching” tradition here at Grace.

Several years ago, God moved in a number of people, planting in them the seed-idea of a special, sacrificial offering to serve His Kingdom and to bring the Gospel to a broad area. The ThanksGiving Offering, which is a second sacrificial offering above and beyond our regular giving, takes place in the weekend services after Thanksgiving Thursday.

How ministries are selected

Various ministries with whom we already have relationships are selected each year to be recipients of this offering. They are selected through prayer, with dependence upon the Holy Spirit, during a season of discernment, and based on the following principles:

1. We use the Acts 1:8 model for choosing the ministries.
   The verse reads “and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (NIV) Thus, ministries are selected that cover all these regions, from Baltimore to Indonesia.
2. Two questions are asked concerning each of the potential ministries: “What might not happen if we don’t give?” and “What could happen if we do give?”

The money collected will be distributed among the ministries selected.

The ministries this year

1. We’re building a home!
   

   Hard at work gutting and restoring a Sandtown home.

   Over the last three years Grace has built five new Habitat for Humanity homes in our 15-block focus area in Sandtown. It’s been an amazing annual opportunity for us to work side-by-side with the new homeowners and others to completely gut the row house, and then, out of that shell, build these beautiful new homes for these families. In the process of engaging with the new homeowners and their neighbors, we have been the ones that have been changed into Christ’s image. This is something precious and rare to behold.

2. We’re supporting a community!
   From the beginning of our Baltimore City campus, the proximity of the Sharp-Leadenhall community has been a magnet for building relationships and a network of partnerships to serve and empower this long- neglected neighborhood of south Baltimore.Sharp-Leadenhall, diminished in size and pushed under I-395 through years of gentrification, has given GraceCity a wonderful reception, and a welcome invitation to partner in improving the quality of life in the neighborhood. Together with the neighborhood Planning Committee, and an agreement with the city of Baltimore, GraceCity plans to come alongside this area by supplying the volunteer and programming base to support an after-school program for the children of Sharp- Leadenhall in the Solo-Gibbs Center.
3. We’re empowering the next generation!
   

   The Village Longhorns vs The Saints

   The Park Height Saints Football Program is a Christ- centered program which emphasizes teamwork, self respect, and school achievement in a neighborhood where teen pregnancy, illegal drug activity, dilapidated houses, and criminal activities run rampant. The program is composed of 160 boys and girls ages 5‐15 living in the community. Since the founding of the program in 2000, not one of these youths has gone to jail, dropped out of school, sold drugs, or been killed. Many now coach; several are in college pursuing careers; others are active in their churches and communities.

   Through this ThanksGiving Offering, the Saints program will be able to outfit many of the children with proper safety gear, pay league and officiate fees, pay travel expenses for outside games, and encourage community projects.

4. We’re giving moms and kids a new roof!
   The Shrewsbury Campus is building a relationship with the The New Life Center for Children and Mothers located in Glen Rock, PA. New Life is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to assisting women with children in their transition back into society.New Life is committed to meeting the emotional, physical, academic and spiritual needs of women with life controlling problems like drugs and alcohol. Emphasis is placed on participating in society through self-discipline, academic and vocational training, and intensive counseling. These women also take parenting classes to ensure a safe and healthy life for themselves and their children. The Center helps these women adjust back into society.Your offering will go towards a much-needed roof replacement for the facility that houses their moms and kids; they’d love to do this before the winter hits.
5. We’re caring for the sick and poor!
   

   A Landrover waiting to be converted into a mobile clinic.

   Ngona, a slum outside Lilongwe, Malawi, has a population of 50,000 and a staggering HIV infection rate of 33%. Somebody Cares, the ministry with whom Grace has partnered to build wells and supply fresh water to villages in the area, coordinates volunteer home-based care and recovery workers who help people struggling with HIV/AIDS. As the infection rate climbs, the number of those infected outstrips those providing home-based care. Without these care-givers, many of those infected become so ill that they are not able to keep their doctor appointments or pick up their ARVs. Poverty and distance also prevent hundreds of patients in the surrounding villags from making the often multi-hour journey to the nearest clinic.

   So, imagine: instead of waiting in your little home to die; instead of clambering onto the back of a bicycle in your sickened state; instead of walking 14km one-way to the closest clinic when you’re already feeling ill, your anti-retroviral medications are delivered to you, your monthly check-up comes to you.

   We’d love to help Somebody Cares get a land cruiser that they’ll outfit with a stretcher, a refrigerator, and a wheel chair.

What if I am away on Thanksgiving weekend?

Offerings for the ThanksGiving Offering can be brought the following weekend, given online, or mailed to the church during the week. If you give by check, please mark your checks clearly in the memo line. Gifts are processed during the first week of December.

Two weeks ago we announced that after a significant season of study, prayer, and discernment we are making a shift in our practices regarding women in ministry.  Specifically, we announced that women who are appropriately gifted and called will be welcomed to serve as elders, to teach in our weekend services, and to be considered for ordination.

We recognize that not everyone has experienced this announcement the same way.  For many, this change has been received with great joy, while others have experienced confusion and disappointment. Some of the confusion and disappointment is because our communication process was inadequate; for that we are grieved and take full responsibility, asking your forgiveness. 

We should have done the following:

1. Communicated the decision to those who serve in a leadership position first;
2. Provided additional time for people to process the decision, along with additional teaching and resources to understand it; and 
3. Released a paper outlining the Biblical basis for this position.

Therefore, we are taking the following remedial steps:

1. Providing teaching in the following venues to bring understanding for the Biblical basis for this decision:
   • Weekend services teaching (see sidebar)
   • Alternate venues (see sidebar)
2. Availing a member of our elder team to meet with any member of our congregation, family, or small group who would like to personally ask questions or engage in a dialogue; and
3. Preparing a position paper for release in the next few weeks.

In addition, we will defer installation of the new elder candidates until the first of the year so that we have time to complete these steps.

We also want to be clear: we are unified and in full peace that the decision itself is the right decision for Grace Fellowship Church.  We are also in full agreement that the process of communicating and implementing it was well short of what you deserved.

We recognize that not everyone will agree with this decision. There are many faithful, conservative followers of Christ who view this matter from differing perspectives. Despite these differences of conviction, we are called to something greater: to demonstrate love toward one another, working to provide an environment of grace with one another. 

Thank you for your grace with us.

Respectfully,

Ben Abell, Bob Arnold, Jim Gibbs, Danny O’Brien, Russ Pope, and Ron Walcher
The Governing Elders
Grace Fellowship Church

Please read this document: it explains the change in our structure, and outlines in greater detail our reasons for welcoming gifted and called women into positions of leadership within this expression of His body.

Because we expect that some will want to process this decision in community, we are inviting you to a town hall style meeting where we’ll be able to go into greater detail about our process and our understanding of Scripture, and where you are welcome to bring any thoughts and questions you may have. The meetings are scheduled as follows:

• This Thursday, 10/22, at 7:00 p.m. at the Timonium Campus
• Next Sunday, 10/25, immediately following the 10:30 service at the Shrewsbury Campus and immediately following the 11:15 service at the Timonium Campus.

Believing that God has led us to the decisions outlined in the attached document, we are eager with anticipation for what God will do. It is an honor to serve with you in advancing His purposes.

With profound respect,

Danny O’Brien, Senior Pastor
Grace Fellowship Church