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 four glimpses of God’s grace from the month of April:

On April 4th, we got to gather together in person to celebrate our risen Savior. Sadly, last year we were unable to gather in person to worship our risen Savior on Easter Sunday. However, by God’s grace, we were able to worship our resurrected King together this year. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating and worshipping together. On Good Friday we gathered to worship and remember that before Christ got up out of the grave, He had to first willingly lay down His life for us. He died so that we might be forgiven, redeemed, and reconciled. On Saturday, we were able to host a wonderful event for our kids and families to be a part of. And then on Sunday, we gathered to worship our risen King Jesus and it was a glorious time together. He got up out of the grave forever defeating death, sin, and Hell! And while we celebrate our resurrected Savior every day of every year, it really was particularly sweet to be together this year for Easter after not being able to worship in person last year. All glory be to Christ our risen King! 

We commissioned 9 new people (5 adults and 4 kids) as covenant members of Sent Church. On April 18th, after they walked through the membership process, it was an absolute joy to get to commission these new members to be a part Sent Church. One of the things we are constantly praying for is new laborers to join us and live sent in the harvest fields (Matthew 9:37-38). God continues to answer our prayers every time we get to commission new members at Sent. One of the things we do when we commission new members is to give them a Bible to give to someone in their life that needs one. Please pray for each of these new members to have a chance to give this Bible to someone in their life soon and for that person to trust Christ Jesus to be the Lord of their life and get plugged into a local church body.

We commissioned Jon and Stacey Metty as deacons over our audio and video team. On April 25th, we got the privilege of having the Mettys officially be commissioned as the newest deacons of Sent Church. Although they have been serving faithfully in this role for some time, it was wonderful to get to publicly pray over and honor them as they continue serving as deacons over all things audio and video at Sent. Everyone has a role to play within the local church body in order for her to be most effective at all God has called her to. And Jon and Stacey are faithfully and sacrificially playing their role well as a part of our local church body. Specifically, because of their faithfulness to serve King Jesus in these roles, more people are able to hear and see the gospel of Jesus proclaimed both in our worship gatherings and on our website. We praise God for continuing to provide our church family with all that we need as we are sent like Christ to make disciples of Christ. He is so faithful.

Lastly, pastor JayWill and the team at City of Refuge Church started having weekly worship gatherings. On Sunday April 11th, they gathered for their first weekly worship gathering in the Eau Claire neighborhood in Columbia, SC and it was a great success. Pastor JayWIll and City of Refuge Church are one of the church plants we get the privilege of partnering with to see the gospel proclaimed and the Kingdom of God advanced through. Their vision is to see a neighborhood Church of Refuge that is calling all people to Jesus, connecting them to His people, and commissioning them as ambassadors of Jesus to our neighborhood, our city, and our world. Let’s continue to pray for them while we praise God for the work He is doing in and through City of Refuge Church (http://colacityrefuge.org/).

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!