This past week’s commissioning service held at Gracepoint Berkeley for our 48 church plant team members went by so quickly, I wanted to recap a bit so that we can all be blessed again through all that we experienced together. I wanted to encourage everyone to just watch that “Holes” video again (a description of why we call it that below). It’s here at Gracepoint Video.
- The praise band – thank you for choosing such appropriate inspiring songs for us to sing! The songs will be posted soon by the way, on our Gracepoint Worship blog site. But to remind you of the words to one of the songs:
Carry to the broken-hearted
Mercy you have shown
Send me out to the world
To make You known
To the ones in need of rescue
Lead me, I will go
- The band then sang “Until the Whole World Hears” set to a slideshow of a bunch of universities and colleges throughout the world, and then we prayed through the names of the colleges on the cards we received on our chairs. That was a moving experience for me as I saw how many colleges there are out there, and there we were, praying for an Acts 2 church in every college town. I realized that of course, on our own, we will never realize that vision, but we can pray! Collectively pray, for ourselves and for other Christians throughout the world, for an Acts 2 community to spring up near those colleges, as well as do our part in fulfilling that prayer. (This video is also posted to Gracepoint Video.)
- Then there was the “Holes” video, called such because if you didn’t notice, as each person’s picture came out of the larger Gracepoint Berkeley / Gracepoint Davis pictures, they left a hole as that person then populated one of the three church plant team pictures, leaving behind 48 holes for us here to fill! That was just one aspect of that amazing video, with all the “before Christ” and “after Christ” words that captured each person’s testimony, and then their personal sharing of a vintage moment that captured for them a picture of what they want to replicate or how they personally caught the vision to build an Acts 2 community in every college town and of course the cute and oft-times funny pictures of when they were freshmen or even in 5th grade!
- And then as they sang the song, “Send Me,” with the slideshow pictures of the three campuses, I was just amazed at the sacrifice and hard work that is entailed to plant a church, and that we as a church have the pure privilege of experiencing God together, as He opens doors before us and leads us each step of the way. I was moved to tears seeing Eunice and Karen and Michael and Richard and John and Caroline and Jessica and Judy and Michelle, and all these people that I had ministered to during their undergrad years or whom I had seen coming to our church as freshmen, then becoming Christian, now taking this bold step of being sent out to replicate what they have received here. And one of my own best friends (taking her daughter who is my daughter’s best friend), uprooting and leaving behind all that is familiar to go to a very cold land, for the sake of the call.
- And then Pastor Ed gave a message on one of my favorite passages, Romans 16. I can hear this message over and over again and never tire of hearing about Tryphena and Tryphosa (Dainty and Delicate), and how they worked so hard and Persis and Mary who worked very hard in the Lord, and Rufus’ mom who was also a mother to THE Apostle Paul, not letting him leave for his mission expeditions until he had breakfast
Not to mention Priscilla and Aquila who risked their lives and others who were in prison with Apostle Paul. And yet the whole passage has such a joyous tone, and it was because they shared the joy of suffering together, working hard together for a common purpose. Such a loving close-knit community they shared and no wonder the Roman Empire was transformed. I committed again to working very hard at the things I do here, to support my brothers and sisters as they go and work even harder to build up the church in their respective communities.
We ended with prayer for the team of course, and we all wept as we prayed for them, and Pastor Manny closed the service with a prayer skyped in from Gracepoint Austin, a special touch to end the service. Minneapolis, Riverside, San Diego – here we come! And those cities will never be the same again, they won’t know what hit them!
It’s amazing that we get to be part of something like this… What a privilege!
Thanks for summarizing the whole service! There was so much there that it was so easy to miss a lot of the little details that are so precious. As I was reading, there was a lot of “Oh yeah! we did that!” kind of moments.
I am thankful for this kind of fellowship that isnt merely based on similarity or food or even shared history, but common bond based on actual shared joy of suffering together and working hard together for a common purpose. This is true fellowship and the very reason why our relationships can deepen and get so close.
Let’s continue to pray for all the people who are going on church plants but also for ourselves as we need to fill in the gaps of those leaving.
I was really blessed by the Gracepoint Berkeley service as I got to see all my brothers and sisters from Gracepoint Davis as well as see Pastor Timothy, Alice and Lem up there. I am reminded that just about 12 years ago Pastor Timothy and Alice came to Davis for bratty freshmen like me and because of that I am so grateful. I really want to commit to praying for our church plants and to really do my best to support our church here in Berkeley as well.
I was really blessed by the service this past Sunday, especially the video with all the team members sharing about how they caught the vision and about a snapshot of the church that they want to replicate
Though Pastor Ed shared that it was a last minute thought, I was really thankful to have the small sheet on our chairs with the names of 2 universities to pray over during the service and again at prayer meeting last night. As much as I am in awe of the responsibility God has given our church to create an Acts2 church in 3 new locations, I am reminded of the work ahead and the glorious God-sized vision to carry the gospel to every college town and the need to pray for like-minded churches throughout the world to rise up to the need. It brought tears to my eyes just imagining the beauty of having an Act2 church in EVERY college town!
What a truly amazing service. I count it as a privilege to be involved in a church that God is actively moving in. During the message, Pastor Ed remarked how each person’s life could be summed up in one sentence. I think it’s fitting that our key verse this year is 1 Cor 2:2, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” For Apostle Paul, this verse is such a fitting epitaph for his life. As these 48 brothers and sisters take this step of faith, I pray we would all move toward taking on more ownership of our respective ministries wherever we wind up!
Wow, feels like that was yesterday, but it’s already been 4 months! And now our church plants are gearing up for NSWN… wow!