by Pastor Curt on April 25, 2013
filed under
fear of God, pastoral ministry, selfishness, worship
I finished my Father’s Day message for this year today. I selected Psalm 112 for my text. The writer commands us to praise God for the extraordinary blessing of a man who fears the Lord. I call that kind of man an awestruck man. The man who fears the Lord lives moment-by-moment in a reverent [...]
by Pastor Curt on April 2, 2012
filed under
annual meeting, change, concerns, Future, progress, state of the church
I delivered this report at our annual meeting on Sunday night. I wanted to make it today’s blog post in the interest of informing those who could not attend. Overall, I praise God that I sense before the Lord that the state of Orlando Grace is better than it ever has been for as long [...]
by Pastor Curt on March 26, 2012
filed under
1 Corinthians, church, God, holiness, love, unity, vision
Pastor Mark Dever has a message from 1 Corinthians up on the audio portion of the 9Marks site. I listened to it last week. He entitled it A Biblical Vision for the Church. Essentially he argues that the church exists for God and that the thing that should constrain us more than anything else in [...]
by Pastor Curt on December 17, 2011
filed under
church, gopspel, spirituality
For an excellent article from 9 Marks reflecting on various issues relating to gospel centrality in our church or any church click here.
by Pastor Curt on December 8, 2011
filed under
church, congregational meeting, deacons, elders, leadership, officers
This Sunday evening at 6 PM at the SDA we will have a very important congregational meeting. Open to members and attendees alike, in this 90 minute gathering we will engage our three officer candidates in Q & A about their nomination for church leadership positions. This is no small thing. Our bylaws require confirmation [...]
by Pastor Curt on November 10, 2011
filed under
church membership, commitment, discipleship, shepherding
That would be how long should someone attend a church before deciding to commit to covenant membership? Good question. And a pertinent one for the twenty or more folks currently working their way through the latest edition of Discover OGC. I came across this post by Brian Croft on his blog Practical Shepherding. He asks [...]
by Pastor Curt on September 30, 2011
filed under
church officers, deacons, elders, examinations, leadership
This Saturday is a big day. A number of our current elders and deacons will meet with our three candidates for office from 8 AM to 3 PM at the church office. Each of the three, two for elder and one for deacon, have completed their written exams. We will meet with them, one at [...]
by Pastor Curt on September 24, 2011
filed under
authority, church membership, commitment, love
A friend of mine in ministry posted a link on Facebook to an article about church membership. I am so grateful for over twenty-five folks in this fall’s edition of Discover OGC! I am looking forward tomorrow to sharing with them about the doctrines of grace. Here is #3 of the reasons in this post: [...]
by Pastor Curt on August 30, 2011
filed under
church, community, division, gospel
That’s easy. Christians. Saints by position in Christ who still act like pagans in sin. No matter how spiritual believers become, while in the flesh, the potential for relapse ever remains a threat. In my role as a pastor, occasionally I take the heat for the local church body by receiving complaints about real and/or [...]
by Pastor Curt on August 24, 2011
filed under
community, love, one another passages, relationships
Someone sent me a link with a thorough list of the one another passages of the New Testament confirming my notion that they all constitute intricacies of the ultimate grace of loving within our relationships in the body of Christ. The author introduces the list with this provocative assertion: A local church is not built [...]