GraceWorks-For the glory of God and the good of others

A note of thanks...

2008-05-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

This note was from some friends in Highspire. A Grace Works team had a chance to help them out by painting their trailer...

"Dear Grace Works,
Thank you so very much for selecting my family to receive your help. My house feels like a different home. It is a beautiful trailer. When I come home, I feel uplifted. My trailer was the ugliest on the block. It is far from that now. Just that paint job has made a difference in my everyday life. I can barely explain it. It has renewed my motivation to help others when I can. Also, I feel as I am not alone in the world anymore. This was the first time that strangers helped without expecting anything in return. Thank you forever...."

May God bless this dear single mom! Paul said that we are Christ's letters for all to read, written on the hearts of humans! (2 Cor 3). May it be so with us!

It's over...or not! ;-)

2008-04-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

WOW! Thanks! Wow! Praise God for all that He did and Thanks to all of those who represented Jesus' body so well on April 19th! With over 600 people participating on over 60 projects, I really don't know even half of what went on! Please tell you stories here! Let us know what you saw, what you learned, how God used you and how you will live your differently in light of those things.

From the outset, we've said that GraceWorks is an initiative focused not on one day, but on helping to lift the eyes of God's people to see the hurt and brokenness around us and to step in with Christ's love and message of hope! PLEASE let's not just record this as a great day. Keep looking for projects! Keep recruiting friends and raising awareness of needs and going out to meet them in Jesus name and love!

Almost there!

2008-04-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

April 19th is fast approaching! We've got over 500 people signed up (and more still signing up!) to head out into the community as the hands and feet of Christ.

Come together...

2008-04-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

So our goal is to see the grace that we've experienced in a relationship with God lived out in works that are expressions of thanks and evidence of a changed/changing heart. How are we doing? I'm frankly a little afraid that 'doing' GraceWorks on the 19th of April will be a one and done deal and that folks will wonder when we are going to do something neat like that again. My prayer and passion is that God would use us in His world on a daily basis for His glory and the good of people, through our love for Jesus. I'm envisioning this as a time of spiritual cataract surgery. The lenses of our eyes have clouded over so badly that we simply can't see the world around us as it really is. We can't see (or very poorly see) the hurt and brokenness around us and we continue on with our busy lives.

Wouldn't our Lord want us to be about restoring the shalom/peace of community in our world? We can only do this partially and even that is by HIS power and grace work in us as a community, but we can, as the people of God be used in God's world for good! In fact we must, if we are to be true followers of Jesus Christ, walk as Jesus walked.

Volunteers Needed!!!

2008-03-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

WOW! We asked for projects...and we got projects! We've got about 50 projects that we are trying to find volunteers to fill and we need about 500 volunteers to fill them! Actually, some of the projects are already taken care of and we have some volunteers, but we've got a long way to go!

I want to thank everyone for all of the great project submissions and for those who have signed up to volunteer so far!

Processing....

2008-03-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a flurry of activity the past couple of weeks with projects. We've received a bunch of new projects and are hopeful that these will allow us to touch many lives with the love of God expressed in Christ.

Thanks for all of you who have prayed, submitted projects and those of you committed to work on April 19th and beyond for the glory of God and the good of people!

We are compiling the list of projects this week and hope to have it at least mostly complete by March 9th. Check us out in the sanctuary lobby after the morning services and in the auditorium lobby after the 3rd service at Hershey Free!

Project Time!!!

2008-02-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

Still having projects coming in! Amazing stuff...but our deadline for project submissions is March 2nd. Please let us hear from you by then-even if you don't have all of the details.

There are so many exciting projects coming in that I can't wait to see how God uses them to shape our world and uses us to shape His world!

Dave

3 more weeks for projects

2008-02-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Well, we've got some projects (about 6) but we are still gathering them and need a lot more! So keep your eyes open for projects. If any of you saw the video on Sunday you'll recall that the world can look pretty different depending on what glasses we've got on. So put on your glasses of grace and compassion and have a look about you and see what God might have you do...

d

Projects needed...

2008-01-29T06:35:00.000-08:00

Well, lots of folks have expressed excitement about volunteering on April 19th and also about the spirit behind GraceWorks. There is a real desire to help folks and organizations in and around our community! Great stuff! BUT we need more projects! We need to hear from you all about ways that we can help on th 19th. Drop me some electrons at dhyatt@hersheyfree.com if you've got some thoughts and let's talk!

d

Kick off Sunday!

2008-01-20T18:33:00.000-08:00

Well, we've kicked things off! In all three services at Hershey Free, GraceWorks was introduced today. There was a great response and we are looking forward to a great 4 weeks of gathering projects that we can work on. If you want to listen to the kick-off message check out the podcast below.

http://www.hersheyfree.com/audio/efchpodcast.xml

Dave Hyatt

Bus driver...move that bus!

2008-01-19T15:49:00.000-08:00

I was watching Extreme Makeover last night and when Ty Pennington (not to be confused with Chad Pennington of NY Jets infamy!) said 'bus driver! move that bus!', it made me think of the joy that there will be when the Lord Jesus returns and renews all things. To see the unbridled joy and relief of the family that was in such desperate need just a week before was so moving!

While I was musing I thought that the 'first coming' of the design team and Ty ('Good morning Hyatt family!) is like Christ's first coming. Hope has dawned! The project isn't done yet and there is some fear about how things are going to work out but hope has dawned!

Dave Hyatt

GraceWorks

2007-12-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

The members of the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey are participating in "GraceWorks" on April 19th, 2008. So, what does that mean? Are these "works of grace" or are you saying that grace does works, or are you saying that grace works in the sense that it's effective? Well, yes! All that and more! We are hoping to perform works of grace (not an oxymoron if you think on it awhile) because in experiencing grace we can't help but perform works that are in keeping with that!

Our vision is to get out into the communities that we live in and display God's love in some very tangible ways and to allow God to work in our hearts to expose them to the needs that are all around us...

Dave Hyatt