we are Grace volunteers

We have served since the church began. We also just began serving this week. We are seasoned Grace members. We are brand new to the church, and not just Grace.

We have hundreds of collective gifts, talents, and abilities that we bring to Grace every week, every Sunday. We are carpenters, musicians, teachers, cooks, caregivers, greeters, chaperones, chauffeurs, shoulders to cry on, ears to listen, hands to hold, and arms outstretched.

We sacrifice a Sunday morning of sleeping in. We get to the church at 5:30 in the morning and leave sometime around 2pm, maybe later. We get sweaty. Sometimes, we get minor injuries. We have responsibilities. We have others who are counting on us.

We have met countless friends who make us laugh as we serve alongside each other. We have met future spouses serving alongside each other. We have found lifelong friends and partners in the journey, people who have deepened our faith and stretched us beyond our comfort zone to become more of the people God intended us to be. We have found ourselves intending to be of service to others and found that we were the ones being served in love.

We have successfully handled crises. We have repaired faulty equipment. We have eaten a LOT of pizza, BBQ, and donuts. We have spent the wee hours of the morning doing activities we thought we last did in kindergarten. We have made last-minute runs to Krispy Kreme and prayed for a "Hot Donuts Now" sign. We have rehearsed every chord many times over, and spent much of our week getting a certain "lick" just right. We have been on our knees in prayer in preparation for a few hours on Sunday morning.

We have sometimes felt unsuccessful, unworthy, unprepared for the challenge ahead of us. We have made mistakes. We have felt overwhelmed. We have wondered what we were thinking when we signed up. We have watched the power go out, a chord progression go horribly wrong, a box of cookies smash to the ground, a piece of vital equipment malfunction, a computer refuse to cooperate, and watched as our circumstances did not go as we had hoped or planned. We have felt small. We have sometimes wondered if what we did each and every week made any sort of difference.

And every week, we have watched the amazing, transformative power and love of God work wonders through each and every one of us. We have watched God not only be unlimited by our circumstances, but watched Him creatively and beautifully make situations into miracles. We have watched countless lives come to Christ. We have seen marriages saved, families brought together, friendships strengthened, faith restored. We have fed the hungry and clothed the naked. We have welcomed the lost, the broken, the scared, the sick, the needy. We have been the lost, the broken, the scared, the sick, the needy.

And whether we place Bibles on chairs, unwrap and plug in cords, spend hours editing video, hand out donuts, offer a warm smile, wipe baby bottoms, crunch the church budget numbers, spend hours on our knees in prayer, rehearse a skit for GraceKids, practice the worship music, or pick up the trash left behind, everything - EVERYTHING - we do makes a difference. Everything we do is part of being the hands and feet of God, of being the light in a very dark, scary world, of being a place where someone who has turned their heart off to God so long ago considers that maybe, just maybe, this could be a safe place to open their heart up again. Everything we do helps someone take their next step toward Christ. Everything we do is an act of worship for our Savior and God.

Come worship with us. Be a part of Grace volunteers.