If you still have not noticed, we are a team that LOVES TO CELEBRATE! Yeah!

And so, this Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at exactly 7 pm, we're going to devour some real food at Max's SM Makati (2nd floor, I believe) in celebration of what God did last Sunday as we launched "30 Days to Live". There will be 2 exciting announcements, too!

So, if you are a GracePlacer or has started attending this church in Makati called Grace Place, you are invited.


See you all!

GRACEPLACERS!!!

I know you are excited for this weekend. Because this weekend is a chance to bring your friends to Grace Place. We'll start our brand new series called "30 Days to Live".

The staff have been crazy busy preparing for this weekend:

* We launched 30daystolive.ph  last week to create a buzz and to help people think about what's important in life. We've been receiving positive responses so far.

* This Thursday, our newspaper ad goes out! We're spending literally the remaining savings of Grace Place for this. Why? Because we want as many people as possible to know Jesus Christ. So, grab a copy of Libre along MRT and LRT on Thursday.

Here's how you can join in this crusade to get the word out.

* Around Wednesday and Thursday, do a text blast. Text your friends in your phonebook and invite them to Grace Place this Sunday.

* If you took several invitation cards last Sunday, make sure that you're giving them all out to your family and friends this week. Then follow up.

* On Wednesday, I'm sending a mass email. Forward them to as many email friends in your email list as possible. Let them know about the event this Sunday. Copy paste the contents of the email and send them to everyone in your Friendster and Multiply contacts.

* Lastly, and certainly not the least, pray. Pray. Pray. After all has been said and done, it is still the Holy Spirit that convicts the hearts of men. Pray that he will prepare the hearts of our friends as we approach and invite them this week. And on Sunday, pray that the Holy Spirit moves them so they can start a relationship with Jesus.

THIS IS EXCITING!!!  Jump in and join this exciting ride!

-Arnold

As part of our preparation for our big series this February called "30 Days to Live", we launched a new site - 30daystolive.ph.

GracePlacers, we'll be needing your help to create a buzz.

1. Go to the website and answer the question yourself. "You have 30 days to live. What ONE thing would you do?"

2. Send emails to your friends asking them to share their input. Point them to the website.

3. Send messages through your friendster accounts. Point them to the website and let them answer the same question.

4. In your Yahoo IM status, place "If you have 30 days to live, what ONE thing would you do? http://30daystolive.ph"

5. If you're using Twitter, send twitter messages using the text I provided.

Let's pray that people will start asking questions and be aware. We're doing everything to reach people that needs Jesus. Let's bind together to accomplish what God has commissioned us to do. We're a growing church with a HUGE vision -- be part of the vision!

-Arnold

by Arnold Gamboa

As promised last Sunday, here's the supplement for the message last week entitled "In-love", part of our current series "Mission:Possible".

Falling In-love,
part 1
part 2, time together
part 3, listen
part 4, talk

Hi GracePlacers!

Starting this Saturday, we will meet and pray as a church in early morning of Saturdays. Our regular schedule for Dawn Watch is twice a month, but we're going to specially gather together every Saturday this month to prepare our hearts for our big event come February. So, see you all this Saturday morning at 6 am, Glorietta 4 park.

by Arnold Gamboa

Continuing from my last post, here are what to expect this year. We believe that God has in store a great year for us as a team.

1. Mission:Possible - we're starting off this year with a new series that will give us a reason to believe that our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus is indeed possible. This is going to be exciting and revealing. Make sure that you don't miss each Sunday of January as you will see how you fit in fulfilling God's mission for Grace Place.

2. Evangelistic series - February will be huge for us.  We're going to have an evangelistic series called "30 Days to Live". (You'll know during the Mission:Possible series what it's all about). We're going to promote this series big time. We will publish an ad in one daily newspaper, we will hand out fliers, text blasts, email blasts, whichever works just so we can let everyone know about this life changing message series. This will be the perfect time to bring your  friends and relatives whom you know needs to have a relationship with Jesus.

3. Vintage Jesus - we all need to learn more about Jesus. If we have to fall in love with a person, we need to know more about him/her. Same is true with our love relationship with Jesus. And so this year, we're going to have a 6-week series entitled "Vintage Jesus". In this series, we'll learn more about the life, the work and the person of Jesus Christ -- in a more in-depth way.

4. More public confessions of faith through baptism.

5. How about moving to a new location? How about in a school auditorium. Or in a bar? Is that possible? hmm...

6. More improvements on our worship experience. Improvements are coming our way -- new sound equipments, new audio visual equipments, new lighting effects. All these, not only for our own benefit but for us to have all the reasons to bring our friends to the church. We want Grace Place to become a "church that doesn't look like a church" from the perspective of your friends. We want to break any barrier that may be present for them to easily receive the love of Jesus.

7. Improved website. Ah, yes, we need this. And it's coming this year. We'll finally have our podcast up and running, we can send e-vites through the website and a lot more.

8. Last and certainly, definitely not the least, this is the year where Kuya Prudy maybe crossing the line of faith -- he will go full time and leave his job. It's not yet certain, on the other hand, as he announced last Dec. 23. He certainly needs our prayers and support -- moral and financial. If he goes full time, the "choking" that we're experiencing will be eased out. He will have more time to train leaders and disciple more people who can disciple others too (see 2 Tim. 2:2) Let's pray for courage and let him know that we support him with this decision.

2008, here we come!

by Arnold Gamboa

Heyaall, Grace Placers! It's a new year. But before we proceed, we need to look back. By looking back, we'll know how to proceed. Got it? :D

God has been so good to us this past 2007. We need to realize that. There as been challenges, but there are truimphs. So let me share with you the top 7 for 2007.

1. Life changing message series. My favorites include "The Sickness Within" and "4giveness". We received tremendous response on these message series.

2. Baptism. We had 13 baptisms last year. Praise God!

3. Successful 1 year anniversary. Last Sept 2, we had about 101 attendees. Obviously, not everyone came back the next Sunday. But because of that experience, we realized several things: 1) we need to tighten up our welcoming, 2) we need to prepare to receive more people and 3) to do this, one of the requirements is to have a bigger room.

4. Improving praise and worship team. Don't you love how our praise team matured? Aren't you rocked by how they rock for God every Sunday. This year, we started using an electric guitar and everyone is responding like crazy. Remember that time when we used to use k-hon? What we have right now is a million times improvement from where we are a couple of years ago. And we do this so that God will be glorified and that people will be lead to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

5. More grace groups. This year, we ended with about 5 grace groups. Last 2006, we only have 2. That's 150% increase!

6. Leader's training. On the back ground, not most of you know, leaders are being trained. We are all potential leaders. Every follower of Jesus is!

7. And last, but not the least, we ended the year with a rockin' Christmas party at Kassel and a Christmas Sunday celebration. We invited a choir and the band rocked with their version of "Hark The Herald Angel Sing!" Didn't you love that?

Next post, "8 things to expect in 2008"

by Joyce Gamboa

"I'm sincere in my faith. I don't hurt others. I will be saved." Does it sound familiar? Some people thought that being sincere answers all uncertainty as far as faith is concerned, but sincerity is not always the key. It's not our passport to heaven . Although being sincere is good, still, it won't ensure our salvation. The problem with sincerity is, it diverts the focus from the real source of salvation to ourselves, when in fact, "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." , Ephesians 2:8

This sincerity myth has 3 variations: There's the "Christian family myth", where we do things as what have been passed on to us by our families, thus we worship out of guilt. But isn't salvation personal? That when the time comes, we will face God alone, not with our family or anybody else.Thus, we alone are responsible for all our actions and no amount of family rituals will save us; Another is the "We worship the same God myth", wherein we adore a "generic" God, because we know Him same way as our neighbors do. But didn't Jesus urged us to have a personal relationship with His Father so we can get to know Him deeper?; And of course the formidable, "All religions are the same myth", here our relationship with God is motivated by our religious affiliation. These religions has always been telling us what to do in order to be saved, on the contrary, God's grace tells us that everything was already DONE.

This sincerity issue is focused on doing things to be saved, when the key is, to have a relationship with Jesus, and the fruit shall be Salvation. So what shall we do to start a relationship with Him? First, Admit that you're a sinner. Confess. Agree with the Lord that you have done wrong, and He doesn't want you to do those bad things in the past again, because it's not gonna do you good. God loves those who owns up to their mistakes, because they are humble enough to acknowledge that no one is righteous but Jesus. Then, Accept His forgiveness. Let us not be too hard on ourselves. God wouldn't be God if not for His unmeasurable grace. The bible says,"But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." 1 John 1:9. Change your life's direction. 2 Corinthians 9;13, "Because of the service by which you have  proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." The key word here is Repentance. Some of the most miserable people are those who tried to have a relationship with Jesus, yet did not change their ways in life. What good is there in confessing our sins if we won't repent? As we obey God in leading our own lives, we will learn how to Grow in Jesus. Just like a child who needs to eat in order to grow healthy, we as christians need to join  a church and belong to a small group, where we will feed ourselves with the Word, together with the other believers. Let God's words be our guide and source of hope everyday. Also, exercise is as important, this part is where we give our service to God, using His gifts to us. Our time, talents, resources, let's give it to Him, anyway He owns it all.

(This one's adopted from Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church in Charlote, SC. Pretty much applied to us!)

The modern church is obsessed with customer service.  And we should be.
Helpful parking lot attendants, cheerful greeters, excellent programming…
You know that I entirely embrace (and applaud and promote and insist on) all of these elements of the modern worship experience.
The customer service in the Church of the Living God should rival Disney, Ritz-Carlton, and Nordstrom.

But why?  Put another way: who is the customer that we’re so obsessed with serving? 
The Christian who has known Christ for decades and needs more Churchianity activity variety on the menu?
Naw, they ought to be showing up to serve, not to be served .

Is the person who is far from God our customer?  Everything we do at Elevation is designed to provide an experience for these people to encounter Christ. 
No doubt, people far from God are our mission.  But not our customer.
The customer I have in mind is much bigger than that.

The customer service in our church must be the best in the world because our ultimate Customer, Shareholder, CEO and Board of Directors, all rolled into one,  is Jesus Christ Himself.
God is our customer. 
Our service is to Him, through Him, and for Him.  Period.
That’s why it has to be-has to be (!)- the best.

Psalm 48:1 sums it up:
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.

We serve a great God, so we should serve Him in a great way.
And as we make His glory and His satisfaction the aim of everything we do, those who know Christ will be strengthened, and people far from God will be drawn to Him.

by Arnold Gamboa

Starting this Sunday, we're going to have a new series entitled "Changed". This series revolves around the study on the little book in the New Testament called "The Letter to Philemon".

Quick overview of this book to keep you wanting for more. :D

The Letter to Philemon was written by Apostle Paul from Rome at the same time as the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians, and was sent also by Onesimus. It was addressed to Philemon and the members of his family.

It was written for the purpose of interceding for Onesimus (q.v.), who had deserted his master Philemon and been "unprofitable" to him. Paul had found Onesimus at Rome, and had there been instrumental in his conversion, and now he sends him back to his master with this letter.

This epistle has the character of a strictly private letter, and is the only one of such epistles preserved to us. "It exhibits the apostle in a new light. He throws off as far as possible his apostolic dignity and his fatherly authority over his converts. He speaks simply as Christian to Christian.

Our Urban Legends series has been a blessing so far. And this week, we're going to wrap this series up with a hard hitting topic that will both shake as well as challenge us.

Have you ever told yourself the following:

* I'm not really a bad person
* All sins are the same
* I'm sinning now, I might as well continue

These are popular statements that somehow govern our thoughts. The question is, are these statements true? How can believing these statements affect my life?

This Sunday, We're going to talk about "Sin Legends". Bring your friends with you. I'm sure they'll benefit from this Sunday's experience at Grace Place.

-Prudy

by Arnold Gamboa

Recently, I chatted with a good friend, a Grace Place attender. Our discussion saddened as well as enlightened me. Saddened because I realized that we somehow failed to communicate our vision as a church even more clearer and at the same time enlightened me of what we need to do to accomplish this.

This is what my friend said and will be the platform of this message that I'm writing -- "Grace Place is targeting non-Christians. I've been a long time Christian, my needs are not being met that's why I'm not growing here". Another variation of this comment is "We're too focused on reaching non-Christians that we forget to take care of those that are with us already.

I failed to explain to my friend what I'm about to do now for lack of good timing. So let me do it for my friend's sake and for the sake of some of us who are in one way or the other confused of Grace Place's strategy because, frankly, I've been hearing comments along that line, in different variations, in the past.

Let me say this very clearly: Grace Place targets non-Christians BUT we are also FOR Christians.

Grace Place targets non-Christians. From the start, we have been telling you this. Our purpose is to bring somebody who does not know Jesus into a loving, vibrant personal relationship with Him. It is never our purpose to snatch away other Christians from other folds. That means, if you are a Christian attending Victory Christian Fellowship or Christ Commission Fellowship or any other Christian churches for that matter, we will NOT ask you to check us out, because we know you are being taken cared for in your church. These churches are not competitors, they are team mates. We are of the same kingdom, therefore, it is no use to have one migrate to the same kingdom. In fact, our volunteers who came from other Christian churches, when we started Grace Place last year,  we have to tell them to ask their pastors to allow them to volunteer at Grace Place for a period of time. Most did that, some even ended their volunteering stint already and went back to their churches.

On the other hand, if we know that someone is far from God who, in our evaluation doesn't have a relationship with Jesus, all of our resources and passion are for him. We need to bring them to Jesus at all cost. We need to let them know how Jesus loves them and that He died for them. So, in summary, Grace Place does NOT target Christians. Our eyes are dead set on non-believers.

BUT...

Grace Place is also FOR Christians. Even if our target are non-Christians, that doesn't mean that we don't care about Christians because obviously, after a non-Christian becomes a believer, he automatically becomes a Christian. And by that, we start caring for his spiritual growth. This is what we call discipleship.

Young as we are (we just celebrated our 1st year anniversary last September), the process for your spiritual growth is already in place, even how imperfect it is. But unlike other Christian churches (and I hate it when we compare, but I have to because I'm talking with personal knowledge of this from other churches), our growth process does not involve educating you about Calvinism or Arminianism or premillenial, ammelinial, post millinial and those theological jargon. We believe that Christian maturity cannot be measured by how long you have been a Christian or how much knowledge you have. Maturity is measured by the way you live your Christian life. Frankly, we have been fed too much of Christian knowledge that we can't even go pass applying "Love your neighbors as you love yourself".

You grow in your relationship with God THEN you grow in your relationship with your fellowmen. That's our discipleship process in a nutshell. The system is simple, it's the personal application that is hard to accomplish. Our mission is "To lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ". To become a DEVOTED follower of Jesus is hard enough, but we want to go further by trying to lead you to become a FULLY devoted follower of Jesus. That's our commitment.

How does a Grace Place discipleship system works? Here's a summary:

YOU GOT INVITED BY A FRIEND FROM GRACE PLACE -->  YOU ATTEND CELEBRATION SUNDAY --> RECEIVED JESUS IN YOUR LIFE AT CELEBRATION SUNDAY --> JOINS A GRACE GROUP --> BE TAKEN CARED FOR EMOTIONALLY AND SPIRITUALLY FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AT GRACE GROUP --> LEARNS HOW TO HAVE A DAILY QUIET TIME (READS THE BIBLE AND PRAY ON A DAILY BASIS) --> LEARNS HOW TO GIVE GENEROUSLY --> SERVES IN CHURCH --> SHARES JESUS TO OTHERS BY INVITING TO CHURCH --> THE INVITEE ATTENDS AND RECEIVES JESUS (THE CYCLE CONTINUES)

(Btw, we will also offer classes for learning. This one is still not in place yet. While we are going to  do this, we don't believe that this is necessary for a Christian to grow spiritually)

You don't have to think about growing because a healthy Christian grows naturally as much as a healthy child grows without him making a problem about his growth. The process is simple. But as I said, the personal implementation is the hardest.

So, as a summary, how does a Christian grow spiritually based on this simple Grace Place process?

1. Attend Celebration Sunday regularly. In here, you'll receive practical Bible teachings that you can apply for your daily life.
2. Join a grace group and attend regularly. In here, you'll be able to process your Sunday learnings and learn how to apply it. You can also be accountable with one another. You don't need Kuya Prudy or me when you have a personal problem. It's not our church model. Your pastor does not take care of each one's problem, because humanly speaking, he can't. It's you in your small groups should take care of each other. Our part is to train you and the leaders how to take care of your grace group members.
3. Read your Bible daily. Have a quiet time regularly. This is a vital component of your spiritual growth.
4. Give generously. Spiritual growth is also measured by the kind of faith you have for God. And one of the best test of faith is how you deal with money. We'll learn more about that in one of our message series.
5. Serve in church. You need to exercise. And serving is one of the best way to do it. And I don't mean be a praise a worship leader. The worship leader or the pastor's message ARE NOT the most important parts of the Sunday service. The welcomers, the ushers, the build-up-tear-down team, the children's team, they are as much important as those you see in front.
6. Lastly, have passion for the lost. Invite them to church. They need Jesus the way you needed Him when you yourself was lost.

These make one a healthy Christian. Do these things and I'm sure you'll grow spiritually.

As you can see, we are also dedicated to implementing a method for you to grow in your Christian walk. Therefore, it is not correct to say that we are not concerned about the members -- old or new Christians alike. It may be our fault for not allowing you to see it from the bird's eye view. We were so passionate in letting you go through the process and experience it for yourself and failed to discuss this with you academically. In any case, we will try to improve in communicating these and others. Come January, we're going to have a series entitled "Mission: Possible" where we will try to discuss this too in part.

I hope to write more, but I may just go against my "Less is more" personal policy. If you have questions, let me know by replying to me in an email (arnold.gamboa @ graceplace.ph).

God bless.

Last night, Kuya Prudy and I, together with a bunch of others, went ghost hunting at Balete drive.  We wanted to know if the popular tale is for real -- or not. 

So, did we see a white lady? You'll find out this weekend at Grace Place as we kick off our series "Urban Legends". :-D Don't forget to bring a friend this Sunday. It's going to be an exciting and spritually enlighting day.

-Arnold

We're coming up with a very exciting series starting this weekend at Grace Place entitled "Urban Legends".

Urban legends are popular stories passed on to us for generations, some are new. Most of these stories are weird. Some are really interesting. But the real question is, even how popular, are these stories true?

We have spiritual urban legends. These are statements that sounds true and accepted by our society, but can we really trust that they are correct? Statements such as:

• There are many ways to God
• God wants me happy
• I'm going to heaven as long as I'm sincere
• It's my life, I will do anything with it

Interesting statements, aren't these? We're going to discuss these four spiritual urban legends  staring this Sunday.

Grace Placers, I want to encourage you to do these 2 things: INVITE YOUR FRIENDS and INVITE YOUR FRIENDS. Yep, you heard it right. Don't be a spiritual consumer only. While these messages will definitely bless us, don't horde the blessings. Your friends that are far from God, or even those that thought they are near but actually aren't, they need these messages for them to have a relationship with Jesus.

So, this week, here's a challenge for you:

APPROACH 2 OF YOUR FRIENDS, treat them to lunch and invite them to church on Sunday. Bring at least 1 of them (both would be great, if it's possible) to Grace Place and rest assured that you and your friend will be blessed.

See you all this Sunday!

-Prudy

Guys, need your input.

What's your favorite Pinoy urban legend?

This is in preparation for our up coming message series next month. This will be exciting so post away your fav pinoy urban legend!

- Arnold

In our desire to improve the service that we are doing in the church as a music team, we do a lot of testing to see what works best for everyone. From the kind of music played, choice of songs etc…we experiment and learn even in a hard way how to make good music.

This coming month, the team will be moving the practice schedule from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. Yes! It’s Sunday morning…just before the service starts. What does it mean to all that are involved? Simply, it means being in the church extra early to rehearse. For the pit stop ministry, to them it means getting off from Antipolo before sunrise. To the P&W team, DARN! this is a challenging thing for all of us, hehehe. If we were not able to consistently come @9:30am before, you think we can hit 8:30 this time?

We sacrifice but we will gain something from this. Aside from the hundreds we can save in the studio rental, Sunday is a good time to vocalize, just before the service proper starts. On top of the benefits mentioned, I guess it’s a test of everyone’s discipline. Ultimately, it’s not just about good music, it is about developing character.

- Josh

In connection with our new series “Prayer Can Change Your Life“, we would like to encourage you to take the 4-week challenge of writing down your prayer objects and consistently pray about it. Then post your answered prayers here. We want to see how God will bless you. At the end of our series, we want to interview some to be featured in our November 4 Celebration Sunday.So, keep praying. We’ll wait for your answered prayers here.

- Prudy