Audio from today’s superb and challenging message by David Vecchitto, entitled: “Salt & Light – Radical Witnesses” from Matthew 5:11-16, is now available here.
Jun 23
This week we have the privilege of welcoming my friend David Vecchitto to Grace Church to be our guest preacher.
David is the pastor for evangelism at Crossway Community Church, in Bristol (near Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA). Crossway is the church where Mike Bullmore serves as Senior Pastor.
God opened David’s eyes to his need for a Savior through the faithful witness of his boss while working overseas with Texaco, Inc. David worked professionally for thirteen years as a Risk Manager and Certified Public Accountant before God’s call into pastoral ministry.
Born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, David met his wife Mary in college. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Bentley College in Waltham, MA. and his Master’s Degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. David and Mary were married in 1988 and are the parents of four children.
David and I meet when we were classmates together in the Sovereign Grace Pastors College, way back in the day (Class of 2000-2001). He travels every year to the UK, and to the city of Bath, for a board meeting for the Entrust Foundation, where he serves in an advisory role.
David will be preaching a message from Matthew 5 called: “Radical Witnesses – Salt & Light”.
Join us from 10am for complimentary coffee. Service starts at 10:30am.
This is the LAST Sunday we will be meeting at the Vassall Centre.
Jun 20
So far this week we’ve been preparing for our church prayer meeting on Sunday 21st June, by finding out more about the 2 churches we will be praying for in Spain (Part 1 and Part 2) and Australia (Part 1).
Today, we’re going to hear more about the Sovereign Grace Australia Church Plant scheduled for 2010, and being led by my friend Dave Taylor.
I recently asked Dave to fill in some more of the blanks concerning the practicalities and details of what is going on and the plans he is making.
Nathan:
Dave, can you tell us what part of Australia you’re planning on going to and why?
Dave:
Well, after a lot of study, prayer and counsel we’re going to Sydney! This city is absolutely fantastic! In so many ways it feels like home, which is weird because it couldn’t be any further away from home, and yet the people there are so similar to us in the way they do life.
Sydney is on the south-east coast of the country and is Australia’s largest city and functionally, its capital city and so it’s very multicultural, busy and very heavily populated, with over 4 million people residing there. It enjoys excellent weather, 29C in the summer, 19C in the winter! The city is home to the iconic Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and its beaches, like Bondi Beach!
Outside of the USA more Sovereign Grace books and CD’s are sold in Sydney than anywhere else in the world! Through books and CD’s Sovereign Grace Ministries is already influencing the Christian Sydney scene, and yet to be honest Sydney and Australia are far from Christian communities.
In an overall sense the general openness to the Gospel doesn’t seem to be that different to the UK. For most folk church is a ‘weddings and funerals’ exercise, and so evangelistically we have a lot of work to do.
Nathan:
You’re going to be leading the church planting team, tell us a little about whose in Australia already.
Dave:
I’ll be leading the team supported from afar by my good friend Pete Greasley but it’s early days to answer this question really.
So far we have 5 couples and 15 children including Emma and me and my family and Mike & Sarah Pasalich. These guys and those waiting in Australia are great folk and have clearly been assembled by God for this task. Without them I would never have even entertained this venture and yet with them I reckon I’m the most blessed church planter on the planet right now! So, although the team may be small, I am thrilled with the folk that comprise it.
Nathan:
In all that’s going on, what are you particularly grateful to God for?
Dave:
My wife. If it wasn’t for Emma’s faith and joyful desire to pursue the Lord in this way then right now there would be no Australia story. What a very special lady I have married, and what a God who would ordain this for me.
Nathan:
What three things can we specifically pray for at this time regarding this church plant?
Dave:
Firstly, we need our visa to be approved. There is no guarantee with this, so please pray that God works this out for us as Sovereign Grace Australia is set up.
Secondly, please pray for the folks already gathering on the ground in Australia waiting for the church to start. Please pray that God would give them grace and patience as plans are made.
Thirdly, with so many decisions to make, and my brain being so limited, please pray that God would clearly guide my path in the many plans that come with planting a church in a new country.
Nathan:
Thanks Dave, we will be praying for you and Emma and the kiddos, and all the plans and outworkings of this exciting adventure!
We will be praying for the Sovereign Grace Australia Church Plant on Sunday 21st June 2009.
Jun 19
In preparation for our church prayer meeting this coming Sunday evening, we’re focusing on the two churches we are going to be praying for. You can read about Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar here and here.
Now we are turning our attention today and Friday on to the Sovereign Grace Australia Church Plant.
You may not be aware of this news, but Sovereign Grace Ministries is going to be planting a church into Sydney, Australia in 2010, led by my good friend and current pastor at Christchurch, Dave Taylor.
Dave is married to Emma and they have 3 children, Joshua (7), Amy (5) and Lydia (2). He has served on the pastoral team at Christchurch for over 8 years.
He and I attended the Sovereign Grace Pastors College together in 2000-2001, and so for today to give you a bit of background and context, I’ve asked Dave to share his testimony on the story so far of this Australia church plant.
Dave:
Even as a write, I still wonder if this is going to turn out to be some sort of very elaborate April fool that is being played on me. Is this for real? Are we really heading to Australia? Is Sovereign Grace really OK and encouraging about this…seriously?
Well incredibly enough this all seems to be for a real, and even though Emma and I often look at each other and wonder, it really does seem that from early 2010 we are going to be relocating to Australia. For at least 3-5 years we are going to be doing all we can to launch the first Sovereign Grace church plant in this new nation, and to be honest, even as a write I can’t believe we get to do this. But how did we get here you may wonder? Well, let me explain…
At the beginning of July last year I had the privilege of accompanying Pete Greasley on an exploratory trip to Sydney. Over a number of years Sovereign Grace has had an increasing amount of contact from Australia with folks buying up materials and CD’s, and increasing numbers enquiring after a Sovereign Grace church plant.
Mike Pasalich (a Sydney born Australian) was one of the guys leading the line in this, and having just completed a year at the Pastors College he also joined us on this trip, and what a time we had! It was clear that God was calling Sovereign Grace to Australia. We had so many good meetings with people, and God knitted our hearts with so many.
I returned from this trip refreshed and enthused for all that it seemed God was going to be doing in Australia. And that’s where it stayed. I was devoted to helping them in this church plant, and felt privileged to do so, but doing anything beyond helping others to do it hadn’t even come into my mind.
December 2008 then became a very significant month in my life, and the lives of my family. In talking to Mike Pasalich and encouraging him in all that God was doing in his life, it was clear from him and others that he wasn’t going to be ready to take on the proposed church plant into Australia. No one was clearer on this than Mike himself, and yet with great enthusiasm and humility he continued to apply himself and pray for others.
Then Dave Harvey (part of the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team) was over to spend some time with the UK churches, and on the Saturday morning of his weekend we gathered together homegroup leaders so that they could hear Dave preach a message entitled, ‘Ambition’.
The thrust of Dave’s message was actually to do with contentment, posing the question to us all of ‘By now I should have been ….’ – What’s your blank? And I was pleasantly surprised. I had no blank. I love my wife, and have always been amazed that in a moment of insanity she said “yes”. I love my children, even with endless bike-rides, ice-creams, football games, etc, etc… I love it. And I love Christchurch. My life is just one absolute scandal of grace, and so fill in the blank… I don’t have one… happy days! As the message went on I therefore began to slowly congratulate myself, until Dave randomly in a throw away comment quoted William Carey: ‘Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God’.
At these words a bell resounded in my heart. I had arrived to this message on contentment seriously content, and yet now I found myself strangely uneasy… how did that happen? I didn’t know what the Lord was up to at that point and yet I knew something was taking place in my heart, and so I began to chew things over.
On the Monday my wife and I were then enjoying a quality BHS breakfast before the Christmas shop (it’s the only way I can get through it to be honest!), and Emma began to ask lots of questions about the Australia church plant. It was a fun talk, speaking of the passion of the folk over there that we had met, and considering what God may be up to in it all. She then asked me what type of experienced leader would be needed to bring the church plant about. I replied and at the end of my little talk she simply said these words, “I think I know a guy that is like that… you”.
We laughed about the possibility, but it was a nervous laugh, because the truth is that in that moment the Lord put very clear seeds in our hearts, seeds of faith, that this may well be the path that he was leading us on. It was out the blue for both of us, and yet over the next week we began to pray about it and talk some more about it, and by the following week, I needed some counsel.
So I sat with Pete Greasley on the Tuesday morning, and knowing that this was going to be a shock I ensured we were both sitting before I started. Pete was excellent. He listened intently and asked questions. Having been discipled by Pete for over fourteen years he knows me well, and so this was just another rich moment in our history, a moment I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It concluded with one simple answer from Pete, “I don’t think so Dave, but leave it with me and I’ll keep chewing it over”. To be honest, I was really happy with this. I really trust Pete and knew that he would care for Emma and I in this process.
Although we had received a ‘probably not’, an answer that we were content with, our hearts continued to stir for Australia. Even when we tried to put it out of our minds something would take place that put it right back in there again: emails, cards, conversations, it was an interesting time. And so when the conversation continued with Pete some two months later, we were ready for it to do so. We had just decided on the Monday not to go back to Pete and re-spark the conversation. We needed to know for ourselves that God was at work beyond us and so we held off. It was so good then on the Tuesday when Pete came back to me and re-opened the conversation. Pete had been considering things and he too now also felt the Lord was really in this for us, and so after many questions and tears together, the process began.
After several Sovereign Grace assessments and conversations of real care with Dave Harvey and Jeff Purswell, it became official at the start of May that God-willing we would be heading out to Australia in early 2010 to launch the church plant. At one point Dave Harvey thanked Pete and I for all that is taking place and said it seemed to be ‘grievously exciting’. How true that is. It is so exciting to consider that God has revealed a path to us that involves a church plant in Australia – for the furtherance of the Gospel this is so incredibly exciting!
As a family we are so humbled that God would have us do this, and for me, my story of scandalous grace continues… absolutely scandalous. And yet, this move is also grieving. We love this pastoral team and this local church and to move away from you, and from our families is filled with so many emotions for us… tougher than I could have ever thought.
And so at the end of it all I so covet your prayers for me, for my family, and for Sovereign Grace Australia.
Tomorrow we will hear more details from Dave about the church plant and how we can be praying for them during this exciting transition.
Jun 18
Today we’re going to focus our attention on Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar (Evangelical Church of Vilassar de Mar).
You can also read Part 1.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that Peter and June, Clare and I got the chance to meet Steve Phillips and his wife Naime, when they visited Grace Church.
Up to that point, Steve and I had been exchanging emails and phonecalls, getting to know one another a little bit. After some back and forth discussing all manner of church related things, Peter and I invited Steve and Naime to come and visit us, so we could develop our relationship further.
Steve is an American, originally from San Diego, California and has been married for 11 years to Naime, a Mexican lady of Lebanese decent! He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary, in California in 2000 and took the call to pastor a small church in Catalonia shortly afterwards.
They moved to Spain with their oldest son, Sebastian, who was just 3 months old at the time. 3 further children (sadly, the picture of them doesn’t include the youngest addition) Stephen (7), Naime Elisa (5) and Sofia (6 months) we all born in Spain.
Steve pastors Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar along with 2 other gentleman: David Barcelo and Matt Leighton. David is currently overseeing a church plant into Barcelona and much of Matt’s time is spent teaching in a Spanish seminary close by. This means that Steve is the main pastor, responsible for the church in Vilassar.
I asked Steve to give us a bit of insight into the cultural context surrounding their church and also how we can pray effectively for them.
Nathan:
“Can you describe for us the general state of people towards church and towards the gospel in Vilassar?”
Steve:
As is the case in all towns and cities throughout Spain, Vilassar has a Roman Catholic church. I think if you take away attendance for baptisms, weddings, funeral and other cultural events, the Roman Catholic church probably has a core group no bigger than ours.
The town of Vilassar, like much of Catalonia, displays much religious indifference. Most people are either sceptical towards us or hostile towards organized religion in general.
Nathan:
“Can you tell us about a significant area in the life of Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar where you’ve seen God at work, for which we can rejoice in and give thanks for?”
Steve:
As a church, we are currently experiencing a season of unity, and renewed excitement about telling others about Jesus. The Lord is giving many among us great opportunities to share the gospel with people on a regular basis and this breathes life into a local church. We have also seen a number of people recently converted.
Nathan:
“Can you share with us three specific prayer requests for Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar?”
Steve:
Firstly, you can pray for our Alpha Course. This is our first go at it and the response has been excellent. We appreciate prayer in particular for conversions during the course, as well as for more team members to serve for the next course.
Secondly, we are hoping to bring on another man in a full-time position from September who would help us with the Alpha Course, lead worship and help recruit and train new worship team members. This young man’s name is Jesus Gonzalez.
Thirdly, we are in the process of “discovering” the spiritual gifts and how they are to be used in the life of a local church. We need much wisdom here as people are at different places regarding this issue.
We will be praying for Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar this coming Sunday evening, 21st June 2009.
Jun 17
In preparation for our church prayer meeting this coming Sunday evening, we’re going to focus our attention today and tomorrow on Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar (Evangelical Church of Vilassar de Mar).
A bit about Vilassar de Mar
Vilassar de Mar is a small town about 30 minutes northeast of Barcelona, in the Catalonia region of Spain. (Click on the map to enlarge the image.)
This coastal town is both a tourist centre and a dormitory town for those working in the big city of Barcelona, and is well known for its horticulture, particularly its flower industry.
Boasting a population of approximately 20,000 people, it is a peaceful, affluent and religiously indifferent seaside town.
The area enjoys excellent weather, Summers are dry, hot and humid with plenty of sunshine and sea breezes. Temperatures average around 30 °C. But there is enough rain (in the Spring and Autumn) to keep the vegetation green. There are decent beaches, dotted with shacks, vestiges of a bygone era when Vilassar was a fishing village.
A bit about the church.
Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar is the ONLY evangelical Christian church in the entire town!
The church “started up” a little over 10 years ago, when a group of believers in the town had a desire to see a evangelical Christian church established, because there was no gospel witness in the town. After a time the work was “adopted” by a Baptist church from Barcelona, whose pastor began offering significant help by visiting the group and organising guest preachers for their Sunday services.
In October 2000, Steve Phillips received a call to come and be the pastor of the group, and in 2004 the group was officially constituted as an independent local church.
On an average Sunday, the attendance is about 80 people, including 15 or so children.
The congregation is a good spread of both young and older married couples, and some singles.
Tomorrow, we will meet our friend Steve Phillips (the pastor) and his family, find out more about Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar and how we can effectively pray for them.
