Bible Verse of the Day

ACTS 26:16 - "Now get up and stand to your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you."

Bible Verse of the day

Parenting Preschoolers

Come and join us at the office 4749 Wyandotte E Monday November 17 and 24 at 7 pm to learn how to parent preschoolers. We all know that some days are more difficult than others and wouldn't it be nice to know that you are not alone. Come and share and learn some new and fresh ideas, that just might work! Hope to see you there!

PARENTS

"...Like every parent, they are being refinded by the parenting process, developing as individuals and ultimately, as children of God." - by Terrence Rolston, in the November issue of Focus on the Family

Speaking to One Another

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."
- Saint Francis de Sales

To all of you with a Family

" The Promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call." - Acts 2:39

Steve's Back

Dear Friends,

I have returned back to Windsor early, arriving Saturday afternoon due to a serious illness setback and have gone to the Doctor here for a chest xray and bloodwork , as my flu-like symptoms persist.

I sincerely thank you all for your financial, moral and prayer support and I truly believe that I made a small difference to a lot of people while making this trip in faith. We plant seeds and allow the Holy Spirit to water & nourish them.

PLEASE continue to pray for a miracle healing for the 30 yr old son of my overseer Bishop Joseph Mugo whose name is Joshua.

Again, I thank each of you, your support meant everything to me on my journey.

In HIS Service,

Steve Beecroft (Njamba)

Plan and Enjoy

Christmas is coming, are we ready? Start planning so you won't be stuck shopping the week before christmas and can acctually have friends over and enjoy the holiday. Make a list of who you are going to buy for and set a budget. Now this is the tricky part. You have to stick to it. You can find something for everyone at any price. You may need to look around a little but you can do it. Remember, Christmas is not about getting someone a bigger and better gift than someone else or even last year. It is about celebrating Jesus and all he has done. It is about spreading his joy and his love.
So plan ahead and enjoy this Christmas for the first time!

Men's Breakfast

Good Day,
May the Father of Lights shine His face upon you! Today we come together for our monthly Men's Breakfast. The Men from our church praish and local community meet at 4749 Wyandotte St. E at 9am.
Look Forward to seeing you there!
Please note our next Breakfast is scheduled: Nov 15th.

From Wisdom to Wonder

I've been looking at the wisdom of Solomon for the past week, I've shown how many people honored and gave solomon great gifts for his wisdom. I've explored the queen of Sheba and I will continue to search out the mysteries surrounding her participation in the bible. I've shown how the queen had poured out lavish gifts for the wisdom that she received from Solomon. Then I showed how Jesus answered the pharisees regarding queen Sheba and as He demonstrated His wisdom was made self evident.

The question that I received today is; what is more powerful then wisdom? And it leads me to this verse in Isaiah

Isaiah 29:14 (New International Version)

14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

I believe the church needs to desperately act in the realm of wisdom, there have been so many times where we've seen glimpses of wisdom but we want to see it in it's fullness. But beyond wisdom we need to see the Wonder. Not just the signs and wonders but the wonderment of mankind. Have we reduced God to a fluffy imaginary stuffed animal that we can hug when we need comforting. Or do we worship the Lord who is more mighty then a lion and yet gentle as a lamb. Do we see God in wonder?

I posted a picture of a cathedral in quebec that exemplifies the artistry in man to try to depict the vastness of God. Just walking into these old cathedrals brings a sense of wonder and awe. How do we in our plain box shaped, bad acoustic building resonate the awesomeness of God. Where is the majestic royal songs and artistry that cries out past all wisdom and understanding that the Lord of hosts is in this place?

The answer is in the building that God is preparing, You. Christ in me the hope of Glory!

Colossians 1:27 (New International Version)

27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Awesome God, have your heavenly way with me today. Fogive me for all my sins and release me to do Your will. Keep my mouth from speaking evil and keep my eyes on Jesus. All for Your glory forever and ever.

A message from Jeff Deyo

I sang a song from Jeff Deyo "Surreneder" about 3 weeks ago. I was so impressed with the song I sent him an email thanking him for such an awesome song. He just sent me back an email that I would like to share with everyone.

Graham-

Hey man, thanks so much for your message! I never get tired of hearing about people leading our songs in churches around the world. I am so glad too that you tied it in so well with a "message" behind the song. It seems like a lot of worship leaders don't do that much, but I think that is the key to helping people get beyond loving their favorite songs to loving the God of the songs!

Thanks also for what you wrote on your blog. There isn't much said about surrender in church these days. We seem to be afraid that asking people to surrender will keep them from giving as much in the offering. I'm glad you dove right in!!!

I too hope we can meet sometime and that we might worship together. You may or may not know about our newest CD Unveil. There are a couple songs on there I'm sure will like. Check it out at www.jeffdeyo.com. And make sure you know about my podcast at www.youtube.com/jeffdeyopodcast. I share a new video about every 3-4 weeks about worship and such...

Thanks again for writing!

Blessings to you as you continue to serve the Kingdom!

Jeff Deyo

Sunday School Meeting

Just a reminder that we have an important meeting coming up Nov. 3 at 7:30pm. This meeting will be longer than normal and is important that all show up. If however you can not please contact me to make arrangements to get the information.

Your Worth It, Jesus Is Worth It

Reminding everyone to just get off the couch and show up to a cell, bible study or sunday service. It's a step you need to take to grow in the Lord. We need to remember that friend that co worker beside us, we need the confidence to share the love of God, we will need answers for the questions. It is worth that step of showing up but it is worth it. You deserve it. Your friends and family deserve it and Jesus deserves it.

Recent News From Africa

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

There has been a change of plans and I am back in Nairobi with Pastor Josphat Kamau and Bishop Mugo is here. Mugo's son Joshua is in Nairobi National Hospital (where I was last week) and he has a tumour in his groin. Mugo is now here with us and this matter is more important that me going to Meru. I am trying to listen carefully to God's will in this situation .

It was sooo good to go back to Matumaini to see all the children and the staff. They are extremely grateful for the medical supplies that I brought and for the financial help that was sent with me which totalled over $800. Many of the staff have 4-8 kids of their own to feed and they sometimes go months without pay so please know that these funds came at the right time. Many of the staff have also had relatives killed in the clashes or they died of HIV and left THOSE kids orphaned and homeless so these parents have no choice but to add kids to their own families.
Ruth and I were like 2 kids at Summer Camp for several days in a row without hydro, eating by candlelight and listening to the rain pounding down off and on for 4 days. She is such a delightful woman of God and she has sacrificed her needs for years so a little thing like eating 3 or 4 different kinds of cookies that I bought was a delightful treat for her. She says she is ' allergic to the camera' so she shies away from having her picture taken. I hope that I can have as much Godly stamina as she has when I reach 71.

I was fortunate enough, with some camera wrangling to take some videos of Liz Hodgins, a missionary who is manager of the hostel and Pastor David Sagwa, who is the Director and one of the children at the hostel singing songs so I plan to put something together once I return back to Canada.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the need here is so great and the Lord is working miracles ever day to make funds go so very far. The present vehicle used at the Center is a 92 Toyota truck with a large cap on the back which is starting to rust on the seams. It has lots of mileage and while it is a diesel it is in dire need of replacement I am going to talk to some dealers back home using my vast people skills and dazzling personality( SMILE )and try to secure a new or newer truck for them here. It will be tempting for dealers to know that I can probably get them an income tax receipt through I-Teams Canada. I am fully confident that the Lord will provide for these great kids and dedicated staff here.

The taxi ride on the highway to and from Nakuru is a far different experience than it was 2 yrs ago. It is a brand NEW road and the trip only takes around 2 and a quarter hours. Smooth road is very different than hard clay with huge potholes SMILE.

More news to follow soon. Please continue to pray for all of My overseers and our safe travel and favour. The traffic in downtown Nairobi is absolutely beyond belief until you have actually expereinced it.

LOVE to all ---- In HIS Service,

Steve

Steve's Trip

From: matumaini church [mailto:matumainipefamolo@yahoo.com]
Sent: October-08-08 3:17 PM
To: charleswillner@yahoo.com
Cc: missediegrainger@gmail.com; dbd74000@yahoo.com; jwillard@cogeco.ca
Subject: Re: Thank you letter from Ruth

Dear. Friends

Greetings from Matumaini in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Thank you for your kind gifts of cash and medical supplies. We are very grateful to receive them.

This will be a great help to buy more maize and beans for the children as we still have displaced children at the centre. This has caused the need to be greater. Owing to the tribal clashes, we are still assisting children that had their house burned and lost everything.

These particular children will be very happy to receive a tooth brush and toothpaste. The medical supplies are very useful and just what is needed. We do thank Steve Beecraft for bringing them.

May God richly bless you for your kindness our children.

We thank you for your continuing pray difficult situation

Sincerely yours

Ruth Scott Kellie

Message From Steve

Dear Friends,

IT has been 4 days of rain every day and power was out for 2 days so travel has been limited.
It has been a great adventure and a humbling one. Pastor Samuel at the PEFA church on the property asked me to speak and I spoke on the very last chapter of Matthew when Jesus spoke for the very last time to the 11 and gave them the Commission. I also spoke on forgiveness. I asked them if it was okay and I covered both my hands with olive oil and all the children and most of the adults came forward for anointing, healing and prayer. It was powerful as all of them knelt in the front of the Church and listened while I prayed.
Tears come easily and quickly. It is a great joy to see some of the kids that I met 2 years ago but there are MORE kids and so much more need. Most of the kids are fascinated by the big MZUNGU smile
This country has been mortally wounded by all the tribal violence that occurred at the beginning of this year. Many people had their homes burned to the ground and lost everything. Over 1500 people were brutally murdered because of their tribe.

I encouraged them that the Lord will restore Kenya. There is SO much poverty here but yet there is STILL some hope and much faith. The rest of the world needs to know and understand the great need here. While I understand that the need is in many places, this is the only personal account that I can give because I have seen it.

My plans have been altered slightly and I will be going back to Nairobi tomorrow instead of to Meru. Pastor Mugo was going to host me but needs to travel to see his son at the hospital where I was last week.

I await the Lords direction and purpose and I ask you all to please continue to pray for my protection and travelling mercies and favour of those that are hosting me and MOST important for my precious kids.

More news to follow from Nairobi in the next few days.

In HIS Service

Steve Beecroft

Testimony from Youth Rally

Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:27:12 -0400
From: maribeth.boshart@gmail.com
To: pastorjoerock@hotmail.com
Subject: many thanks!!!!

Hey Joe! we "finally" got home and our van was buzzing for 3.5 hours on the way home with excitement about what God is up to and what our youth are looking for in their faith journey and our church. In fact they decided that they are going to meet at our church at 8 a.m. to pray and intercede for our congregation. So, thanks for putting together a great day that spurred our kids into a deeper walk with their Heavenly Dad! We really appreciated all your hard work and the guys in the van that took the pizza really liked the snack on the way home.
Maribeth
AKA "Momma Bosh"

Grace Ministries Scholarships

I am very proud to announce that three GM scholarhips were awarded this past Sunday; they were given to Joel Wuerch, Jordan renaud, and Lindsey kiss. I would also like to mention that we had strong applicants and found it hard to determine which applicant would be eligible for the awards. The scholarship committee, which was made up of Marc Holmes, Jan Lewis and myself, were all pleased to see the applicants put a lot of thought and effort into their applications. We, here at GM, want to encourage this generation to use their giftings and aspirations to futher the kingdom of God in their respective fields of studies. Congratulations to all of you, and this is just the beginning of what we hope will become annual scholarship awards. Citius, Altius, Fortius!

Alejandra Ward

NOTES FROM A CLASSICAL WORK :

"Imitation of Christ," by Thomas A. Kempis

The Disciple: "How often, Lord, shall I resign myself? And in what shall I forsake myself?

The Voice of Christ: "Always, at every hour, in small matters as well as great, I expect nothing. In all things I wish you to be stripped of self. How otherwise can you be mine or I yours unless you be despoiled of your own will both inwardly and outwardly? The sooner you do this the better it will be for you, and the more fully and sincerely youdo it the more you will please Me and the greater gain you will merit. -------- Bk. 3, Chapter 37

New Ushers

On September 3, 2008 the usher's ministry team had a meeting and are pleased to announce the addition of 3 new ushers to the ministry:
A very warm welcome to Joan Whittle, Steve Ouellette, and Dale Jones.
In addition, I would like to express a big THANK YOU to the existing Ushers for their time and commitment to serving at Grace Ministries as this is a ministry that continues to change to meet the continuing needs of the congregation.

In His Service,

Elder Marc

Richard Wuerch speaks on the anointing

Richard Wuerch speaks on the annointing

Sermons

Why would you want Jesus to turn his back on you

We recently had the pleasure of hearing Roy Ralph and His wife speak on thursday. Roy spoke about having a stronger vision of what Jesus has done for everyone. He was describing when Moses asked to see God's glory, God showed him His back. In this day and age many people are crying out for God to show us His glory then we're wondering why he turns His back to us. What it means to me is that we are reaching out for a really delightful experience of God, but he is doing so much more. He wants to change us by showing us the stripes on his back. He wants us to know that it is for His glory that he paid for our sins. It was the darkest times for our saviour but it was His most glorious moments on this planet. God will never turn His back on us in the negative way we use that saying, but He is showing us His back as we are asking to see His glory.

Getting Better

Website is slowly getting better this is just another test to see how the blogger works.

Serious Web issues

Wow this is so hard to figure out. Hopefully people will appreciate the site when it's finished

New Blog Hosting

While importing George's blog today I pretty much lost all the formatting for my current blog so I had to come up with a new solution. After lots of reading we should be up and going so that multiple people can blog about grace ministries without even having to send me any files

George switzers blog

My "religious" blog on Blogit.com is called "REFUGE." 

 

I quite often post a simple quote that hopefully gives people a lift, or food for thought in one way or another.

 

Here are a couple I've posted this week:

 

HOW INTENSE IS YOUR PRAYING?

Intensity is a law of prayer.

God is found by those who seek Him

with all their heart.

Wrestling prayer prevails

(Gen. 32: 24 - 29).

The fervent, effectual prayer of the righteous

is of great force

(James 5:16).

- Samuel Chadwick

___________________________________________________________________________________________

ARE YOU BENDING THE WORD?

We must quit bending the Word to suit our situation.

It is we who must be bent to that Word,

Our necks that must bow under the yoke.

- Elisabeth Elliot



(

Obedience: to hear the Word and keep it.)




________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes I post a small study, either my own or someone's I know and trust.

Feel free to use the quotes above if this is the sort of thing you're looking for, and let me know if you'd like more.

I could forward my Blogit "REFUGE" post pretty close to on a daily basis if you'd like, in an email to your attention.

Hopefully this is what you're looking for.

George

Thursday Victory Run

This Thursday at Cafe bible study God visited us with power. One of our members George after prayer and worship he felt the need to go for a run. George has been fighting breathing problems for the past number of years and always ran out of breath. After running two blocks and back he felt GREAT and no breathing problems. Praise The Lord!!!!
Pastor Larry

St christophers

Pastor Larry,
One morning as I was praying to the Lord about the  St. Christopher's church.  He showed me the church with a ribbon rapped around it. I understood this as Father saying He was going to give this church to us as a gift from HIM. Since then Richard has had a word and vision about the church.

Site moved

Hey there,

Reading this means that you have found the new website, I hope you enjoy what you see. There are so many facets to the church and we would love to have input from as many people as possible of what should be included in our website.

Thanks again,
Keep Active

Joe Graham

Wonders in worship

Last sunday, I just saw an wonderful act of worship from one of our youngest members. Young Nathan who is receiving an amazing healing, moved his foot in a little dance from his wheelchair. His little movement brought our pastor into tears, because of the joy to see 1st hand the awesome power of God. This is the grace of God working through such an innocent soul who's desire is just to get out of the wheel chair and dance. As a worship leader I'm inspired to see how the wonders of God do not fall void to assure us of His enduring love, and it's our honour to respond to our Heavenly Father with all our heart, mind and soul. So this blog is for you Nathan for inspiring us to keep trusting in God, our hope of glory.

Joe Graham
Music Director