Church guide

I serve as Pastor to the most amazing Church. They have been through a lot these past 12 months and they remain faithful, joyful, and hopeful. They have loved Annette and I like we have never been loved before. They have given financially and sacrificially. They have demonstrated to me their love for Christ through a trial. They have shown me how much they love the Word of God. I have seen such enthusiasm which is rarely seen. I have listened to worship teams week after week which are amazing. It is rare through my almost 34 years of ministry the Church doing better than I. They are pushing me forward in a good way. I want everyone in the Church to know how delighted I am with you and how encouraging you are to me. One thing I have been reminded of this past year is this one thing, God has a plan and we must trust in it at all times or else we begin to be drawn into confusion and despair. His plan is for his glory and our good. The 15 or so new people in our Church are enthusiastic about the love and Biblical truth in this Church. Let us move ahead with hope and trust in God's plan. We are predestined for glory and God is always moving us in that direction.

We continue our study in James this Sunday from James 4:13-17. James is concerned about so called Christians who make decisions and make plans with no concern for God's will. Jesus said there would be many like this in Matthew 7:21-23. Our attitude about God's will and our desire to receive his will as the guide of our life is the evidence that we have been born again and that Jesus is truly Lord of our lives. James seems to repeat this topic several times so it must be something important. I think he is also teaching us who are true followers of Christ how to make plans and how to deal with the future. Really good practical advice because if we fail to heed some teaching then it is likely that worry, anxiety, and perhaps disappointment will be in our future's and Jame's wants God's best for us. Lots of great help for living is to be found in these verses. Looking forward to helping the sheep this week as the two most problematic issues of life is how we deal with the past and how we deal with the future.

What a wonderful Easter with the Church family. Best part of Easter is the knowledge that all believers are more than conquerers through him who loved us. Through his death, burial, and resurrection everything against us is conquered. We can live our lives from a victorious standpoint. No wonder Paul said I can call all things through Christ who strengthens me. We had 126 in Church today and the highlight of the day was baptizing Jonathan today. What a great symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. April has been a great month for the Church. Let us keep our focus upon Jesus not just on Easter but every day of our lives.

Looking forward to this weekend, Good Friday service at Church, family coming in on Saturday and Easter Sunday services. I have a super passage of Scripture to preach from Sunday which will uplift believers and minister to those who need Christ as Savior. We have a baptism to highlight the day, what better than to picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Yesterday was one of the most enjoyable days at Church for me personally, I am so happy with the Church and am happy to be it's Pastor. We had our largest attendance in over a year with 90% of the Church in attendance and double digit visitors again. Our visitor number slightly declined because a family of seven joined last week. We will baptize one of them this coming Easter Sunday. Our Adult Bible Study led by Rick on Sunday morning is the largest it has been in many years. The afternoon Adult Bible study is also enjoying increased attendance. There is a real hunger and desire for the Scriptures and it shows everywhere in the Church. Our teens are running between 15 and 17 consistently now and this is quite a bit better since this time last year. I expect we will top 20 again by the fall. Becki has organized activities every month for the year. Our offerings are also showing an increased commitment to the Church as in recent weeks we are receiving well above our budgeted needs. What amazes me is how well the Church has put what was behind them behind them and are now pushing forward. I actually think they are a little ahead of me but I am steadily moving forward. I am really enjoying watching God work in the hearts of this Church right now. The indicators of maturity in a Church is the measure of faith, hope, and love. They are strong in all three areas, strongest I have seen in all my years here. The glory obviously goes to the Lord for it is the Word of God and the Spirit of God that do all of these things. Thanks Lord.

This week's Bible reading: 4/15: Deuteronomy 23-25 I Thessalonians 5 4/16: Deuteronomy 26-27 II Thessalonians 1 4/17: Deuteronomy 28-29 II Thessalonians 2-3 4/18: Deuteronomy 30-31 Acts 18 4/19: Deuteronomy 32-34 I Corinthians 1 4/20: Joshua 1-3 I Corinthians 2

This week's Bible reading: 4/8: Deuteronomy 6-8 Galatians 6 4/9: Deuteronomy 9-10 Acts 17 4/10: Deuteronomy 11-13 I Thessalonians 1 4/11: Deuteronomy 14-16 I Thessalonians 2 4/12: Deuteronomy 17-19 I Thessalonians 3 4/13: Deuteronomy 20-22 I Thessalonians 4

What a joy this morning as we added a family of seven to our church family. We welcome the Giuliani's to our Church. One of them will be baptized on Easter Sunday. We had 14 visitors this morning and continue to have quite a few every week. Best crowd of the year as each side of the sanctuary seemed about even. The Adult Bible study on Sunday morning apparently has outgrown the room they meet in and that is a great problem. We are thankful for Rick and the leadership and teaching he provides for that Bible study. We look forward to what God has in store this year. I am excited that this year in June we will celebrate 135 years of ministry to Laporte with the birthday of the Church. There have been 35 pastors in those years and I still have another year to go before I tie the longest tenure. If it is God's will we hope to make it to that point. May God's grace be poured out upon Grace Baptist Church.

Grace History: In our 135 year history, we have had 35 different pastors. Mr. Axel Lindgren, a layman, was pastor four different times for a total of nine years. Rev. Hjalmar Carlson was pastor two different times for a total of four years. Rev. Lawrence Nydegger has the longest tenure from 1948-1961. Be sure to check out the table in the Narthex. On it is a display of different pictures and items throughout our history.

This week's Bible reading: 4/1: Numbers 27-29 Acts 14 4/2: Numbers 30-31 Acts 15-16 4/3: Numbers 32-34 Galatians 1 4/4: Numbers 35-36 Galatians 2-3 4/5: Deuteronomy 1-2 Galatians 4 4/6: Deuteronomy 3-5 Galatians 5

With spring break underway we thought attendance would suffer quite a bit but I was pleased to see such a good crowd today. This coming Sunday we will presenting some new members to the Church. We were informed by a family that they would be joining the Church. This family was looking for a Church that taught and preached the Bible and who would love them. We were also informed about other recent visitors who expressed their delight in the sermons and in how they have been welcome by the Church. Sunday morning Bible study seems to have almost outgrown the room they are in and will be needing to seek to make more room. Rick is doing a fantastic job teaching that class. Next Sunday we begin our new youth program during the time we have AWANA. You can sense a vitality in the Church I have not seen at anytime I have been here, people hang around for quite awhile after Church time morning and the afternoon session to talk with each other. One sure sign of a pending revival is when people are inviting and encouraging people to visit the Church and we are seeing numerous visitors every Sunday. We hope before too long they won't be visitors anymore. We will probably be baptizing on Easter Sunday and will confirm that shortly. Keep praying and looking to the Lord to build his house.

This week's Bible reading: 3/25: Numbers 13-14 Acts 9-10 3/26: Numbers 15-16 Acts 11-12 3/27: Numbers 17-19 James 1 3/28: Numbers 20-21 James 2-3 3/29: Numbers 22-23 James 4-5 3/30: Numbers 24-26 Acts 13

Had the best attendance day of the entire year with 17 visitors this morning. We are seeing many visitors the past few weeks and God is clearly moving in the Church. We seem to be entering a new era and I am personally encouraged and excited about it. There are more adults and teens attending Bible studies both at 9:00 am and at 4:00 PM Bible studies. We are just two weeks ago from launching our new youth program on Sunday afternoon. We will have details coming up next week. This Wednesday is the final Wednesday night youth meeting with our shift to Sunday. We are focused ahead and not behind. There was an energy this morning that was clearly felt and it is great to see how friendly the Church is to our visitors. Everyone needs Jesus and we want to make everyone welcome and care about. See you next Sunday.

Grace History: On March 18, 1935, a special meeting was called to consider changing the name of the church from The Swedish Baptist Church to The Baptist Tabernacle. The picture below is a copy of the resolution.

Grace History: Our church began with seven Swedish Baptists on January 5, 1884. They were Christina Haglund, Christina Johnson, Gustava Johnson, A. P. Kull, John Peterson, Anna G. Runn, and John Swanson. They called their first pastor, Rev. Henry Nelson, in January 1885.

Grace History: The picture below is the first page of the minutes of The Swedish Baptist Church of La Porte, Indiana. All the minutes were written in Swedish until the yearly business meeting held on December 31, 1931. According to the minutes, "It was decided that the Secretary write his minutes in English."

Grace History: This year, 2019, Grace Baptist Church celebrates 135 years. The following excerpt from the book Swedish Settlements on the South Shore of Lake Michigan by Kenneth J. Schoon, p. 26, explains why the Swedish Baptists came to the United States. "The founder of the Baptist Church in Sweden was a sailor named F.O. Nilson, who, under the sponsorship of the Seamen's Friend Society of New York, had served as a missionary to sailors. Nilson, had come to believe that only adult baptism by immersion was biblical. And so, because baptism by immersion was illegal in Sweden, Nilson went to Hamburg, Germany, to be baptized. The next year Nilson's wife and four others were baptized by immersion near Gothenburg and the six of them then organized the first Baptist Church in Sweden. Nilson, then preached to those who would listen and when he converted folks, he baptized them. As a result of his zeal and work, he was deported and found refuge in Denmark. Two years later, tired of opposition, most of the little Baptist congregation emigrated to the United States. Those who remained were subjected to fines, charge of not having their children baptized, and imprisonment. Nevertheless, the movement grew. In 1858, there were still 69 still-illegal Baptist churches in Sweden and nearly 3500 members. Two years later the Dissenter Law made the new denomination legal. Grace Baptist Church was started by Swedish Immigrants."

Really excited about the next text in James, this subject is near and dear to the heart of God, it is also something we need to see more of in Church, every Christian is afflicted with at times a terrible thing which afflicts our heart and God has just what we need for it. I really needed to see and study this passage this week for my own heart and we are sure it will help yours. See you Sunday. We are also working on what youth will look like Sunday afternoon as we will be having Awana, Adult Bible Study, and youth in the same afternoon beginning April 7th. Let's work at getting more people to Church as we continue to see our crowd growing. Easter is also around the corner and we encourage you to bring as many people as possible. We want them to hear the gospel message and if they are Christians to have their hearts strengthened and touched by the Lord. Thank the Lord for His awesome Word.

This week's Bible reading: 3/18: Leviticus 26-27 Luke 23-24 3/19: Numbers 1-3 Acts 1 3/20: Numbers 4-5 Acts 2-3 3/21: Numbers 6-7 Acts 4-5 3/22: Numbers 8-9 Acts 6-7 3/23: Numbers 10-12 Acts 8

Great day at Church with 11 visitors this morning, we also had a meeting to discuss changes to the youth program, we will be having youth on Sunday afternoon beginning April 7th instead of Wednesday evening as it has been for many years. This will allow several teens to be able to attend youth regularly. We expect that we will have 16 to 18 teens. This afternoon's Bible Study had the largest attendance I have seen in several years now and my heart was much encouraged with our growth in recent weeks. God has moved us past the difficult times of the previous year. We are thankful that unity is strong and enthusiasm growing for the ministry. We thank the Lord for his strength and guidance. We are believing God for some souls saved, baptized converts, and new church members in the coming weeks. The Worship music program is the best I have seen in the Church in all of my eleven plus years here, we thank the Lord for the fine work Lisa Pinkstaff does for Christ in coordinating the music and choosing music appropriate for the sermon of the day. Thankful for the youth parents and leaders who enthusiastically supported the changes to the youth program.