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texas

A Grace Welcome by Lela Maxey Wallis

  To be honest, for me it feels like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to get our family to church on a Sunday morn. So I don’t take it for granted when we are here with you. I am thankful for this space, for the people who fill the pews with us and getting to sit next […]

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A Grace Welcome: At the River Clarion

 Image Via here Today the Gospel reading gives us the account of Jesus’ baptism at the River Jordan. Around the same time that I was re-reading this story, I came across this poem by Mary Oliver, and even though it’s not necessarily a poem about it, I instantly had this image of baptism. Maybe not […]

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A Grace Welcome: Look Deeper

I was recently in Oregon with a friend of mine, and we spent our first full day hiking around a state park that had a number of natural waterfalls. Before we began on our trek, we sat at a picnic table and thought about what we hoped to get out of the day. We decided […]

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A Eucharist Reflection on the Good, Better, and Best

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In […]

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A Grace Welcome: Playing Hide and Seek with God

Good morning and welcome to Grace. Here at Grace we follow what’s called the “church year,” or “liturgical year” or “liturgical calendar.” Just as some organizations have a fiscal year that’s different from the calendar year, we have a spiritual year that’s different from the calendar year. The American calendar year has its seasons: New […]

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Faithfulness over Success

Halfway through our first year as a church, a little bit of pressure started to mount: Should our membership be increasing at a quicker rate? How will we pay the bills? What will I say to people who think we haven’t reached as many people as they think we should? I went to a CBF […]

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A Grace Welcome: Nicknames

This week I found myself thinking about nicknames. I’ve had many nicknames over the years, but the nickname that has stuck with me longest with my oldest friends and family is simply “Rae”. When I started playing t-ball, the other little kids had trouble pronouncing my name, so my dad told the coach they could […]

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A Grace Welcome: For Memorial Day

There are these people. A certain segment of our population. Looking at the statistics, you can’t help but think these are significantly disadvantaged and greatly underserved people. Within this population 22 people commit suicide every day. This means a person takes his or her own life every 65 minutes. On any given night, there are almost […]

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A Grace Welcome on Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day.  This is a time we celebrate motherhood.  If there’s any one thing that all people have in common, it’s that we all have a mother. Today is a good day for some—eating with family, remembering the good of a mother, and the love she gave and/or continues to give. But today […]

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Five things church starters need

People often ask me as a church starter: What do you need? Here is a list of my honest answers: 1)      Relational Support We church planters can get lonely. Scheduling varies from day to day with no set office hours. Take time to take a church planter to lunch, ask her or him about family life, […]

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