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Reflection

Looking Back Over The Year 2013

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What a year it has been for Heart of Grace Ministries this year. We have all went through so many new experiences, with some of them good and a few of them difficult. Through all of the trials and temptations we have found God with us in it all. We are truly blessed and could never honor God enough for the things we have gotten to share together!

We have lost some very dear people this year. Some of them were pillars of the churches we have attended and visited over the years. For the dozens of families that shared the honor of allowing us to honor their loved ones in song: we thank you for the opportunity to obey God and be of help to you. We pray as you enter a new year that you will find the comfort of God’s spirit through the difficult times. I hope that you will (through the grieving process) begin to find life with joy once again. We offer an extended acknowledgement to the families of Effie Miller, Albert White, and Laura Sharp. Your loved ones have had an impact to all of us and it was a privilege to have known them. The impact that all of these lives have had upon us will never forgotten.

We have also went through a lot as a family. From near-death accidents to critical surgeries we have experienced the emotional roller coasters and unexpected situations that life will be guaranteed to deliver. Through the grace of God and His blessings those around us came through their experiences and now have a greater testimony as a result. I can definitely say that these things have brought us closer together and has helped us to realize in a greater way what is most important: having a relationship Jesus Christ. Without Jesus with us we would have surely found many times to be without hope and nothing to help our troubled hearts.

Through all of the circumstances we have walked through we have still pushed to obey God in our ministry. The nursing home ministry has never been better and we love the privilege to be with our special friends every month. They love Rebekah’s children and light up at the sight of new life that comes to visit. It is wonderful to hear them sing songs and teach us a thing or two about being a good soldier. The radio broadcast is going strong and is reaching more than ever. We appreciate all who spread the word about our broadcast and encourage you to continue and do so. It is another avenue that may reach those who will not go inside of a church. The cd and internet ministry is growing faster than we can meet the demand. Thank you for passing on your discs to others and sharing posts through texts/social media. We are so thankful to be a part of spreading the word of God no matter where it may be played. Every time we hear a testimony of how it has helped you it gives us strength and motivation to keep on doing the work of sending out what God speaks in our ministry to the hedges and highways. Our book ministry has finally broken ground and is beginning to grow. Continue to pray that we will follow through with the vision God gave us in this calling!

In closing I want to personally thank every single church that has welcomed us to obey God in their sanctuary. We realize that your church is your home and we love the chance to share the pleasure of worshipping God and fellowshipping with all of you. We hope to continue and receive the invitations to return! A special thanks to all the singers and musicians we have sung and played with over this year. It was always fun to jump in and jam together! I want to also thank my home church (13th Street Church of God) for the chance to operate in the gift of delivering the word of God and the love and support that comes with it. Even as God begins to shift our ministry to a new home base in the future I pray that God will move us all forward in our callings and that we will continue to have a great fellowship through the legacies that we are paving for the upcoming generations to come.

We hope to be at your church in the upcoming year and to hear about the wonderful things that God is working for your good. We wish you a blessed New Year and a favored season in your life.

~ Jared M.

Singing At Jellico Highway Church Of God

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We had a great time, and especially enjoyed going somewhere local and close by! It was great getting most of the whole family to be there for it; for sometimes you never know when you will have another opportunity to get together to enjoy church together!

We had a variety of denominations in the crowd, but it did not matter for the service whatsoever. I have found (and can testify to) that no matter where we are scheduled to go that as long as everyone has the love of God in their hearts that everyone is usually fixed upon the true purpose of a church, which to me is the reaching out to those that need the relationship with Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life.

You know it seems silly, but there have been more times than not that people will want to know your specific doctrines before they will ever even give you the time of day. When we get in that place in our lives we cannot enjoy our own worship let alone the offerings of others. Irregardless of how you practice religion, you should always stand for Jesus Christ everywhere! And I can speak on behalf of our ministry and say that whether we get inside, outside or somewhere in between, it will always be about bringing out the message of the love of God and salvation of Jesus Christ!

On another note, I’m so proud of everyone working in the ministry directly and indirectly. It’s great to see how far that God is bringing everyone that is involved and how quick it is transpiring! There is no telling where we will be soon from now! We look forward to another opportunity to get back over to Jellico Highway COG! Thanks for the freedom and liberty!

Singing At Calvary Worship Center

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We had a great time coming and singing at the revival at Calvary Worship Center!

I had been there at least once before when they were in a smaller facility and it was so great to see how far that they have come with the new place that they have now. This was our first time coming to sing there as a group and we were definitely welcomed and made to be as free as we wanted. I say that (as always) because I’m getting to a point. When you are being a host to people, always make sure to make them feel welcome! It’s not always safe to assume they do!

It was wonderful to receive the encouragement that we did from the pastor and the great support we did from all that came. It’s always great to be able to go from church to church and come together no matter where you are. We enjoyed the speaker for the night and will definitely be back soon and look forward to another opportunity. Check back on the calendar for any new dates coming up!

Singing and Speaking At Heaven’s View Worship Center

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First of all, I want to thank each and every one that came out to help support us at Heaven’s view. It was a true blessing to us (and to me personally). I have to give a shout out to Jamie and J.R. (they attend our home church and we work in the praise band together) for coming and blessing us in song! They did such a wonderful job and it is exciting to see what God is doing in their lives!

Rebekah wasn’t able to be there, but her girls came up and sang and picked up the slack in her honor. They are so sweet and such a blessing. It does make me feel old though to already see them singing and growing up so fast! Mona, Kay and Regina sang for us (and didn’t sing enough) but did a great job too! We’re gonna keep getting onto them until they start doing at least 2-3 songs!

With that said, I was amazed with how God adjusted the direction of the message that we preached. I’m sorry to say that we were not able to catch any audio, but I will be sure to post the notes in the Small Thoughts category and put as much as I can remember! As someone said after the service, it felt like such a strong power was there at first but then a sweet presence was there for anyone that was in need of coming up for prayer. Those are my favorite kind of church services: seeing a group of people willing to get in when God bids to tear down the strongholds of our flesh so that God can work through us to reach those who need a move in a great way!

We hope to be back soon, and we will work on figuring out a way to capture audio for now on! We have been getting so much lately that it’s been hard to get all of it posted the past couple weeks! We hope to have something new on by Sunday! If you would like to be notified, be sure to get on our sermons list by clicking the Email Subscription link in the top right hand corner!

Singing And Speaking At Oneida Church Of God

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What a great night! It is always worth making the trip to be over with Oneida COG! There is always great love and fellowship and most importantly the freedom to be able to be who God has called you to be! I cannot always say that it is everywhere you go that you get that vibe! I hope they continue to make that something that people are able to grab a hold of and enjoy. That’s what I was thinking about as people were coming up and speaking with me and the family: how wonderful to reach out to those even if you think they already “should know” that they are loved. Sometimes the continual pursuit for encouragement of those around you is the very thing that keeps the foundation of a church super-strong!

We preached a message about prayer and where it stands in our lives. We hope to get it on the site in the near future, so be sure to check that one out! There were people that came to the altar for prayer but in my heart I always know there is more that are in true need of a touch from God. Please, please, please do not ever forsake the value of your altar service! We lingered for quite a while and it was more than enough of an ample opportunity for people to consider coming up for help. Sometimes we miss that because we don’t want to keep people too late, etc. My advice is…don’t worry about it! If people are still there, they want to be, and if they need to go for a reason and circumstance then simply be understanding to it! Then, when you have done all that you can do you don’t walk away from a service wondering if you reached out all that you could, for it is better to reach out with all your might than to not reach out at all!

The church blessed us greatly, and we hope to see them again sometime soon!

Singing At West Robbins Missionary Baptist Church

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What an experience for Heart of Grace at West Robbins! It was quite the haul to find it, but luckily we did safely and with no detours (inside joke).

We always love to go to homecomings, for it is a wonderful opportunity to see a church making a good attempt at coming together to try and reach out in as many ways as a church can. It was great to be able to come in and to be of help to those who were there. Each and every time that we go forth now, we go with a little more excitement. I realize that it might seem a little overwhelming to some, with questions that may linger about where the excitement comes from. I guess you could say there is a continual motivation as we all (as a ministry) constantly keep each other spiritually encouraged and leave no room for any downtime.

If I could say any encouraging words today (and as I did to that church on that day), it would be to never let too much downtime happen in your joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Continually stir up the joy in your life. Think yourself happy! Enter into the gates with thanksgiving! Surprise somebody with that overwhelming joy that the love of God in you encourage them! I picture the church as a body that is as God, with open arms and ready to receive all that would come in need. Let’s never forget that love is refreshed by how we keep it each and every day! Don’t forget the things God does for you!

We hope to be back in the future, and love each and every one that we came into contact and fellowship with. God bless you and your church!

Singing And Speaking At Jake’s Branch United Baptist Church

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It was truly a pleasure to get to go back over to Jake’s Branch once again. Some of my family attends this church that live in that area, and I love them dearly. The church has always made me and my family so welcome throughout the years and has always encouraged us to continue in the ministry that we work in. It’s not everywhere that you go that you always receive that encouragement and fellowship, so it is definitely appreciated when you receive it each and every time you are there! We love each and every one, and it was great to see so many familiar faces.

It was so easy to preach, and is always easy to when the freedom of the spirit is present in the midst of willing vessels for God. We’ll hopefully have the message about Jehoshaphat on here pretty soon, so stay tuned for that! Lately we have felt strongly led to get out and to go send the word of encouragement and instruction where we have been lately, and it is truly a blessing to hear the countless confirmations come back to us through the spoken words and through the actions of people being bold to come back to God and most importantly being saved! It is so wonderful to see people have their desire rekindled, and we hope that as we continue that it rubs off and others start on the same mission that we all be of help to one another that we love our neighbors as ourselves and put into practice that true love of Christ!

Remember us as we keep going forward!

Singing And Speaking At Ivydell Church Of God

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It was a pleasure getting to go to Ivydell. I loved getting to hear my family as well as some of my church family too! I really did enjoy the experience greatly. I know you must be thinking “you say that every time” but let me explain why.

As the service began, everyone began to pray and praise the Lord together right from the start. From that point on, everything that anyone did in obedience to God was so easy and so wonderful simply because everyone came together. You see, there are so many times when we miss that moment when we assemble together at church. People sometimes come just because they feel like they have to, or even for a social gathering of some magnitude. However, I know that when people are truly in need that being social is not going to help or save anyone. It’s that part of us that has Jesus Christ in our lives that when we allow it to shine can truly bring people together and draw others to Him!

I was very excited about the message that we were able to bring. We were not able to capture the audio, but I will make sure and post the scriptures as a small thought of some sort so you can enjoy what God had encouraged me and helped me in my own life with. My only regret is that having to preach means that I do not get to hear Ray Woods! If you have not heard him, you need to. He preaches with a great love, and that sets a great example for all ministers today.

Remember that no matter where you are or where that you go that as long as we learn to come together for Jesus Christ, people can be changed!

Speaking At Braden’s Chapel Baptist Church VBS

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Where can I begin? First of all, I want to thank Nick Goins for giving me an opportunity to come and be a part of their outreach to their youth. I’m always very honored to get to come and be a part of anything that we can do to send the word of Christ to the youth of today.

I’m not exactly sure if any of the people that are members of the church will be reading this anytime soon, but I feel like writing this for anyone that is needing some encouragement in the fight for youth outreach.

When I was speaking and sharing the testimony that God has done for me, I’m sure there might have been some at the time that could have cared less about what I was trying to say. I’m sure that we have been standing for God many times and felt like that we were not making a difference. As I continued, I could begin to see how the spirit was beginning to work on those around me. I began to see the conviction working on their faces, even in their eyes. It was such a sweet sight to see how God was working in the youth there. If I could say anything, I would say to that church (and any church) that kids are “right there”, ready for Jesus Christ to be a part of their life!

We always have to remember that we have to keep going forward as the leaders that surround them. We have to be willing to hear a million “nos” so we can get to that one “yes” for Christ! To make a long story short, one (a youth) came on this night and asked Christ into their life to be saved! An adult came to simply pray for help in their life. It just goes to show that if you keep working for God, that he will perform the work in their lives!

It was a wonderful experience, and we hope to come back and be with the church sometime soon!

Singing And Speaking At New Salem Baptist Church

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First of all, I just want to say that we had another wonderful experience at New Salem. The church there is growing in a great way, and it is wonderful to see what they are working for come to pass each time that we come and visit them. Their love and fellowship is always great and makes a person feel so welcome to come there. If you are in their area, and are looking for a church to go, go check them out! I can guarantee Pastor Kenny Rogers will make sure to make you feel right at home!

The homecoming to me was a great success. It was great to see the church work together to step out and do all that you can to provide a platform for anyone that needs help to be able to get it. When you get in that spiritual place with God, that is when you can really begin to get the work done that you need completed! We enjoyed singing there so much, and even got to debut Reagan and Emmy this time! They were champs!

There were many that came and prayed for many different reasons, and many that came to us afterward to leave prayer requests with us as we go. It was truly uplifting to see people make that statement and step out to enhance their life in a greater way! I just want to state for the record that we will be remembering all of these things that were spoken to us!

Hopefully we’ll be receiving a recording of that service in the near future, and when we do, we will get it on here as soon as possible! And for all those that mentioned it, don’t worry we’ll be back soon!