**Glimpses of Grace – May 2021**
One of the things I believe God would have us grow in as a church is to better recognize some of the ways He is at work in our midst. While I have many hopes for us as we seek to do this, three of them are primary. First, I pray that we would rejoice over His grace to us. One of our core values is “joyful worship”. Recognizing some of the ways God is working in our midst will help us to more joyfully worship Him with our lips and our lives through every season and circumstance. Secondly, I want us to be encouraged. I don’t know a person or a church body who is too encouraged. My prayer is that as we recognize some of God’s grace toward us as a church, we will be encouraged in Christ and in the worthy work He has sent us to. Third, I pray recognizing His handiwork would make us hungry for more and more of Him and His work in our midst. The truth is, God is always working in powerful and profound ways, both in the ordinary and extraordinary. Often, we don’t see it, recognize it, or acknowledge it. So, in an effort for us to recognize His gracious work more regularly, I’ll be sending out a monthly post highlighting a few ways He has been at work in our midst.
As you read these glimpses of grace every month, I would ask three things of you. First, let’s praise God and be encouraged together because of God’s work in our midst. Second, I want to encourage you to be on the lookout for God’s work in your life and share it with those around you. Third, I’d love to hear from you if you have a glimpse of God’s grace to share. Please email me at david@sentcharlotte.org.
Here are three glimpses of God’s grace from the month of May:
We commissioned Josh Blavatt to serve as one of the pastors of Sent Church. On May 2nd, Josh was officially commissioned as one of our pastors. Josh, along with his wonderful wife Ashley, have labored and served faithfully as a part of our church for the last several years. After expressing a desire to aspire to serve as an elder at Sent, Josh walked through the elder training process for around 18 months before the church voted him in to serve us in this way. I could not be more thrilled to get to serve our King Jesus alongside my brother Josh as one of your pastors. He is a faithful gospel man. He loves Jesus, his wife, his children, the church, and those who do not yet know our Savior deeply. Josh is someone that is saying with his life like the apostle Paul said of his, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1, Philippians 3:17). These are the kind of men all our elders are striving to be. We are men who are seeking to constantly say to Sent Church, “follow us as we follow Jesus”. Please pray for Josh, Ashley, and their kids as Josh serves us in this role. And please pray for God to continue to raise up more faithful leaders like Josh to serve His people in the days ahead. If you didn’t get to hear Josh’s latest sermon on prayer, please check it out here. You will be blessed by it.
We got to dedicate three new baby girls to the Lord on Mothers Day. On May 9th, we got the privilege of seeing three new babies dedicated to the Lord. Emma Ledford, Riley Rodgers, and Brookelyn Keen were all dedicated to the Lord by their parents and Sent Church family. We know that children are an absolute gift and blessing from God. We love and celebrate all of the many children that we have at Sent Church. Please pray for the Ledfords, Rodgers, and Keens as we all seek to raise these beautiful baby girls in the Lord. Please pray that God would draw their hearts to Him and save them all at a young age and that they would serve Him faithfully throughout their time on earth.
We honored pastor Joe Helton for his 6 years of faithfully serving King Jesus and us as one of our pastors. Joe has labored faithfully for 6 years as one of our lay pastors. Starting in June, he is taking a one year sabbatical from serving in this role. Joe and his amazing wife Lauren have served our body faithfully since the church started. In fact, our first church meetings started in their house. I have said it before and I will continue to do so, but the bottom line is this – I would not be here today if it were not for Joe and Lauren Helton. In fact, I am not sure that I would still be serving our Father in ministry if it were not for the love, grace, and genuine Christlikeness they have both shown me (and so many others). I am confident that neither Exodus nor Sent would have been started were it not for their continued faithfulness to trust and obey Christ in all He called them to. As they take this sabbatical from serving in pastoral ministry over the next year, please pray for them to find great rest and renewed joy in Christ. And if you did not get a chance to hear the sermon Joe preached in May, do yourself a favor and go check it out here. You will be incredibly blessed by it.
I pray these glimpses of God’s grace would bring us to more joyfully worship our great God and be encouraged in Him and the work He has sent us to. What a mighty, gracious, and active God we serve!
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