I t i s m or e b l e ss ed t o giv e t han t o r ecei ve .

~ J es u s , Act s 2 0 :35

Merry Christmas to all the friends, supporters, and encouragers of Grace Church of Dunedin! Christmas is always a fun (and busy!) time of the year - family, friends, Christmas songs, claymation, Rudolph, stockings, eggnog, shopping, Adam Sandler's Hanukkah songs, mistletoe, Christmas lights, sparkling grape juice, etc. In addition to all those jolly activities, the times of corporate worship during Advent Season are always some of my most favorite. A lot of Christians talk about keeping Christ in Christmas and come up with great ways to remember the advent of our Lord; but have you ever considered how Christmas and church planting go together? Yes, as Christians, Christmas is a special/sacred time to remember the gift of Christ; but it should also be a time of remembering why he came! What is the reason for the season? According to Isaiah 9:6-7, Christ came in order to bring the Kingdom of God to earth; and with that Kingdom comes peace, redemption, and life as it should be. Verse 7 concludes with stamp of God's zealous promise to do it. In the New Testament we learn that God's plan to "do it" is the through the expansion of the church, i.e., church planting (Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:7-8; 15:41; 16:5; Matthew 16:18)! So, this Christmas season, may I encourage you to consider giving the gift of church planting. There is still much Kingdom work to do; and the Gospel transforms lives and communities primarily through local churches. As one leading missiologist, C. Peter Wagner writes, Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven." Of course, you can give to Grace Church! We have a lot of preparations still to complete that can only get done through additional income. Every dollar helps, no gift is too small to make a difference in building the Kingdom! You can mail your donation to: Grace Church PO Box # 421 1350 County Road 1 Dunedin, FL 34698

You can also donate online here. But, if not Grace Church, consider giving the gift of church planting elsewhere. Here are some worthy church planting recipients, laboring intently to see lives redeemed and communities renewed: The Experience Church - a brand new church in downtown Clearwater. (FYI, all the churches left downtown Clearwater a few years back. To our enemy's dismay, these guys are headed back! This is very exciting and worthy of our support!) SOS Ministries - an international church planting mission organization. (Where our very own, Paul Wonderly, serves!) Vision360 - an organization working hard and across denominational lines to see cities changed by more and more churches being planted! (Hmm...sounds a lot like Grace Church!) On behalf of the other Grace Church elders, James Gleichowski and Steve Lee, we wish you and your family a most blessed Christmas! We also hope and pray that your partnership in building the Kingdom through church planting will mirror the redemptive love of our Savior who went to where the people were, cared for them with compassion, and spoke to them the good news of the kingdom. Please Pray: We are dreaming big and praying big, believing God can use Grace Church in mighty ways. Prayer is the number one means to any movement of God's Spirit. PLEASE be praying for Grace Church, our leaders, and our mission. Thank you for praying for Grace Church! If you have any questions about Grace Church or how you can help us with this church plant project, please do not hesitate to contact me. grace and peace,

heath watson

TheHEATHBlog.com twitter.com/HeathWatson facebook.com/PastorHeath

G r a c e C h u r c h i s a c o m m u n i t y o f c h a n ge d p e o p l e w h o a r e c o m m i t te d t o s e r vi n g a n d r e n e w i n g t h e gr e a t e r D u n e d i n a r e a th r o u gh a m o ve m e n t o f th e Go s p e l o f J e s u s C h r i s t .

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