During this Christmas season we are asking our Grace House family to come together around a purpose to bless many orphaned children in the Ukraine by giving to provide them with Christmas presents wrapped with the love of Jesus. 

Let me wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving week this coming week. We will focus on Thanksgiving in our service this coming Sunday in our worship and through the Word. I am so thankful to God for our Grace House family. You are amazing and wonderful people. Your love, prayers, and faithfulness are making a difference in all of our lives and many other lives around the world. The Lord made us to experience family and I am honored to be part of the Grace House family.

Let's Go Shopping! Meet us at Grace House on Saturday, November 23, at 8:15 a.m. for a day of fun and fellowship. We'll stop at Starbucks in Athens for coffee and pastries and then go on to Huntsville to shop. We will go to Bridge Street or Park Place Mall, depending on the weather. If possible, let me know ahead of time that you plan to attend. Feel free to email me at mikkilawrence1@gmail.com or tell me at church.

Brock & Allison Fisher are hosting a Youth Mixer at their home. This will be a great time to hang out with each other, eat food, & play some fun & competitive games!

We invite you to share with us any testimonies or stories of how God is working in your life. These will be used in different ways such as posting them here in my weekly update or sharing them in a Sunday service, Please state as briefly as you can but with enough information to help people understand just what the Lord has done for you. Send your story or testimony to Mikki and me at a new email address we have created just for these testimonies which is connect@gracehouse.info .  We will be blessed and others will too! Be sure to include your name.

Please let Mikki know if you have a baby or child you would like to dedicate to the Lord during a special time of prayer in our worship service on Sunday morning, Dec. 8th. You can email Mikki at mikki@gracehouse.info and let her know you want to participate and give her the full name of your child(children) and their ages so we can prepare your a certificate to remember the event.

Hello Grace House Family,

This past Sunday Pastor Phillip shared with the ARK congregation that they will be signing papers on acquiring a church facility here in the Florence area. An official announcement with many more details will be forthcoming. We have had the privilege of sharing our facility with the ARK and have a deep and meaningful relationship with them. We certainly will miss them but also celebrate with them as they are able to settle into their own place. They have been praying and looking and God has blessed them with a wonderful place.

The time of transition is yet to be determined and not all the details are final, but I wanted you to be aware of the coming changes. Our Eldership will be meeting this week to discuss the adjustments that Grace House will need to make as a result of this and we will keep you informed. Let's pray for a loving and honorable time of transition. I will miss seeing all of our ARK family on a week by week basis but I know great things await them in this next step of faith before them.

God has been so good to us all and I am grateful that you were willing to extend helping hands to our brothers and sisters at the ARK when they had to move out of their former facility with no place to go. When the ARK came to be with us we did not know if it would be for a life time or a season. Well the sharing of the facility is for a season but the friendships are for a lifetime. We look forward to continuing our relationship with them and pray God's very best for them.

Blessings,

Pastor Eddie

P.S. - We will pass on the timeline and how this may affect our service schedule and activities at Grace House as soon as we know.

Elder David Clark recently was stirred by the Lord out of a passage in the book of Judges with the result being that we should consider inviting our congregation to set aside time daily for the 30 days of November to have praise and communion. He shared this in detail this Weds. night before last in the service. I believe this is certainly a positive way for us to come together to experience God's presence and wisdom for this season of our lives. So here is what I ask each of you to consider doing:

As Individuals/Families - Consider having communion together each day at home. 

Just before you partake of communion, spend time just praising and thanking God. Focus on what He has done and what He is doing without asking Him for anything. Just praise and thank Him.

As a Congregation - We will celebrate communion each Sunday throughout the month of November in our Sunday morning service along with times of praise and thanksgiving.

Let's believe together that this special focus will bring greater sweetness and strength to us all.

Bryan and Melissa Gregg who lead our Couples In Christ Life Group are leading a new series each Weds. night at 6:30 pm. This is a very practical series called MARRIAGE ONENESS and is for all couples or those about to be a couple. Our Couples in Christ class have a lot of fun together but also go deeper together by equipping couples in dealing with real life "stuff" by applying God's Word. This class is conversational and interactive and will be a blessing to you. Come and dive in with this incredible group of couples. Here is more info about the group.

Please be praying for the development of our next mission trip. This team will purposely be a very small team due to the travel schedule and arrangements and assignment.