And this is my prayer

Philippians 1

"Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

Philippians 1:1-11 was part of my devotional on Monday morning and I thought it was so neat because it is all about intercessory prayer!

Here are a couple of things that I took away from the passage:

1) The sense of intimacy that Paul and Timothy feel towards the church at Philippi. The people are in the apostles’ hearts, Paul and Timothy long for the church with Christ-like affection. They remember the people of the church often, praying for growth in love, discernment, and righteousness, for the glory of God.

2) The common ground or unified purpose and vision that Paul and Timothy share with the church. Together, they are partners in Christ, following Christ’s leading daily as He continues to work towards completing His purposes in their lives.

Ways you can be praying:

- Pray continually for details regarding the construction project including décor decisions, coordination and work of the construction company, permit process, sign installation, etc.

- Pray for collaborative work between Grace Chapel Staff, Wilmington volunteers, and our pastors. May we make unified choices as one church, multiple campuses.

- Pray for volunteers to respond to God’s prompting to serve at the new campus.

- Pray for our leaders, that they may remain rooted in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit to discern God’s will and love one another.

Praying with you,
Kirsten McLaughlin

p.s. If you are interested in being a member of the prayer team for the New Campus, please contact Kirsten McLaughlin, jdashkmclaughlin@gmail.com to learn about upcoming prayer meetings and ways that you can serve.

Second Chance to Meet the Youth Director

Parents,
We had a great dessert night on Monday night at Bret and Corri Ogburn's home. I was great to meet other parents and youth workers who will be at the new campus. If you missed the opportunity on Monday, we will be meeting tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 20th at:

Kurt and Sharon Drescher
33 Woodland Street
Reading, MA 01867
7:00-900pm

Please let me know if you will be attending.

-Isaac Milton
imilton@grace.org

Prayer Team Update

Matthew 6:10-14 "This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Today I am struck by the theme of “forgiveness” within this prayer, as it is used 6 times throughout the passage. Forgiveness seems to be reiterated over and over as if to emphasize its central importance in shaping our behavior and character as followers of Christ. As sinful people, we have the tendency to offend, act selfishly, and become irritated by the actions of others. Honestly, this is likely to happen in the months ahead as Satan attempts to bring temptation upon us as a congregation. Let us hold strongly to this scripture, forgiving one another in all circumstances, with the mind of Christ.

May God be glorified and honored as we communicate with Him about the desires of our heart and may our vision become so influenced by Him that we move forward in His wisdom and with His eternal perspective.

The following are some relevant ways in which you can begin to pray:

• That God would touch each person who is working on this project (town officials, architect, construction company, workers, etc)

• Pray that God gives us wisdom as to how to prioritize our limited building budget and that He multiplies the funds

• Pray for work to be accomplished in our tight time frame so that we can open Easter ‘11

• Pray for the Building Team as they research give input to the design and outfitting of the building

• Pray for the coordination and gift of workers donated time/expertise and “sweat equity”

• Pray for the ongoing interview process and identification of ministry leaders for the new campus

• Pray for the youth that will be joining the new campus, leaving a solid core group in Lexington to step out in leadership at a very vulnerable time in their lives. May they be empowered by the Holy Spirit to unite as a group and share a passion to actively participate and shape the new youth ministry.

• Pray that the Lord will shape a mission-minded congregation with an outward focus to serve others in our local communities.

• Pray for our neighbors in Wilmington and the surrounding towns – that God would be actively at work in their lives and that their hearts would be receptive and open to Him.

• Pray for humility, open hands, and surrendering of ideas to the will of God. May our visions and plans not distract us from what God finds most important-reaching others for His Kingdom.

Thank you for your prayers!

Kirsten

p.s. If you are interested in being a member of the prayer team for the New Campus, please contact Kirsten McLaughlin, jdashkmclaughlin@gmail.com to learn about upcoming prayer meetings and ways that you can serve.

Meet the New Campus Youth Director

Dear, New Campus Parents,

This is Isaac Milton, the Director of Youth Ministry for Grace Chapel's Wilmington campus. If you are a parent of a junior or senior higher, or you are about to be a parent of one, I would love to meet you. What better way to get to know someone, than over dessert? Bret and Corri Ogburn, and Kurt and Sharon Drescher have graciously opened up their homes to be used for such an event. There will be two separate nights so that you can pick the one that works best for your schedule.

The two opportunities are:

Monday Jan. 17th
7:00 - 9:00pm
Bret and Corri Ogburn's home
20 Mineral St
Reading, MA 01867

Thursday Jan. 20th
7:00 - 9:00pm
Kurt and Sharon Drescher's home
33 Woodland Street
Reading, MA 01867

There will be three goals for the night:
1. For both of us to get to know each other better. Youth ministry is a partnership between parents and leaders. It starts here!
2. For you to get to know other parents who are planning or considering going to the new campus.
3. For me to hear from you, and what your hopes are for youth ministry in the new campus.

If you are interested, please let me know which night you are attending.

imilton@grace.org OR 781-862-6499 ext. 137

-Isaac

Grace Chapel in the News!

Our campus was just written up in the Wilmington Town Crier:

"Grace Chapel, a non-denominational Evangelical church in Lexington, will adapt the facility into a second campus. Campus pastor Tom Van Antwerp will conduct the services in Wilmington with a sermon by Pastor Bryan Wilkerson simulcast from the Lexington chapel."

You can read the whole article here. It's exciting to see how God is going to use this very well known landmark for His Glory.

-Isaac Milton
Director of Youth Ministry

Share our story in the new year!

Want to make a New Year resolution? How about sharing the vision of the new campus with one or several friends? We've created brief video for you to do just that! Click the video to watch and click "share" to pass it along!