We have all probably felt like the disciples at some point in our faith where Jesus is unbelievably captivating in one moment and at the next impossible to live with.  Here are some of the things Jesus asks us to do that might seem impossible:

• forgive others
• be humble
• love your neighbor
• don’t hate
• don’t lust
• don’t take revenge
• love your enemies

If we have any chance of being able to follow through on these “requests” Jesus makes on us, we are going to have to be well equipped.

As we seek to be a community that experiences and expresses Uncommon Grace, we are going to have to develop tools for this trade.  Fortunately, Jesus is well aware of our need and has plenty of tools to give us to help us express Uncommon Grace.  In this week’s conversation, we will encounter one tool that will serve as an invaluable help to experience and express Uncommon Grace.  Please read Luke 9:12-17 to prepare for our conversation on Sunday.

PARTNER

Get together with a few friends or home group members and pray, fast and serve together

PRAY

Pick up a NLP prayer guide from the missions table in the lobby and pray specifically for the NLP kids by name.

FAST

Commit to fasting one meal each week.

GIVE

We are giving towards Vacation Bible School Scholarships for NLP families. We need 40 more scholarships. Stop by the missions table to donate.

SERVE

Volunteering for VBS is a great way that we can serve NLP families. We still need lots of volunteers for the week of VBS, especially small group leaders. (VBS is June 18-22, 6-8p.m.)

1. How long have you been at AGCC?

I have been at AGCC about 4 years.

2. Tell us how you became involved at North Littleton Promise?

I became involved with NLP when Maureen called AGCC looking for someone who would be interested in coaching a girls’ soccer team.  NLP has always had a boys’ soccer team, which Littleton Youth Soccer sponsors.  Last year was the first year they had a girls’ team.

3. What have you done there?

Besides coaching soccer, I have volunteered at Kid’s Club before, and my MOPS group collected and gave various supplies to the ministry.

4. What have you enjoyed most about your time volunteering?

I love sports, and I love working with youth, so it has been a super fun fit serving as a coach!  The girls are faced with a lot at a young age, so many grow up fast, but on the field…and just in hanging out, I enjoy watching them just be girls.  They have passion; I enjoy seeing them learn life lessons while working hard with a group of peers.

5. Are there any needs that you are aware of in this ministry?

We could always use more coaches; it is hard to work with 18 junior highers without another adult!  I also think the only way these girls will be successful with soccer is if they start playing at a younger age, so another, younger girls’ team would be awesome!

Soccer balls!  Ours are really beat on…I am sure the boys would need that too.

6. Could we come and see one of the games sometime?

Anyone can come and watch, and root us on!

7. Any other thoughts?

We just won our first game!!!

Read what Maureen Walker, director of NLP, says: “Sara is a great combination of compassion and no-nonsense, which you need when you have 18 girls who live for drama! She is loving, encouraging…she just listens to the girls and their troubles. She has been faithful when they are no always so consistent. She remembers that the goal of the team is to build character and not to win games. She gets it.”

 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning…”

                                                               Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV

This verse has been my anchor during these first few weeks of learning the ropes of Family Ministry.  Wow!  There is a lot to learn (including writing a blog!), but I have 2 great teachers in Amanda and Samantha, and a staff that is incredibly encouraging.  I am grateful and blessed to be surrounded by them.

As the weeks progress, I am most excited to meet all the parents and the volunteers connected to Family Ministry.  Those I’ve already met have reinforced my sense that AGCC is filled with a great group of people who love each other well.  I’m equally looking forward to meeting those of you who are not officially connected to  Family Ministry, believing strongly that in God’s eyes, we are all a family and need to be intentional about encouraging, supporting and caring for one another, regardless of our place in life.

If I haven’t met you yet, please don’t hesitate to introduce yourself, as I try to do the same.  I’m excited about what the Lord has in store for all of us as we rely on Him to lead us.

See you Sunday!

Janie Brooksher

Well, Chris Martin has gathered the full worship band together to prepare a time of extended worship for kids and their families.  We’ll be removing the first few rows of chairs for freedom of movement (twirling), and we’ll be singing our favorite AGCC worship songs that we all enjoy on Sunday mornings.

This will be a fun, family-friendly time meant to cultivate and grow our kids’ love of worship, as we create a special time and space meant for them.

As a special bonus, plan to stay after the worship for some yummy desserts and a time to meet and welcome our new Family Ministry Leader, Janie Brooksher.

Here’s all that we’re offering this summer

Beth Moore’s Living Proof Conference

June 29-30th

The conference starts at 6pm on Friday and concludes at 12pm on Saturday at the World Arena in Colorado springs.

The conference is $65 per person with the option to stay at the Marriott for $49.50 (limited to 10 spots). We will need to order the tickets ahead of time so please drop off a check at the front office or give it to Libby Jones by May 27th. This event is non-refundable. For more information on the conference itself please click here: Living Proof Live

Please RSVP by May 27th

Summer Book Club

Let’s feed our minds with various thoughts this summer!

AGCC Women’s Ministry book club will meet on the following Fridays at 7pm at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch

June 1st: Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis (autobiography)

July 6th: Safely Home by Randy Alcorn (fiction)

July 27th: One Thousand Gifts by Ann VosKamp (christian living)

August 24th: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by  Eric Metaxes – We’ll read Part I – To Chapter 15 (biography)

You can join us for all four or just one! You’re choice. We promise, it’ll be enjoyable!

Hike at Lair O’ the Bear

May 26th 11:00am – 3pm

Meet at the church with your picnic lunch, sunscreen, tennis shoes and water!

This is a light hike so don’t worry about being left behind!

Please RSVP by May 25th

Delightful Devotions

Thursdays 9:30-11:00am June 7, 14, 21 & July 12,19, 26 @ AGCC

Do you find delight in your devotional times in God’s Word?  Would you like to learn ways to more deeply understand and apply what you are reading, even when your time is limited?  Each session of this study will focus on a different passage or topic in the Bible, using a variety of study techniques to discover and apply the truths of the passage.  We will complete the study together in class, with no assigned homework (although practicing the study tools we learn will be encouraged).

*If you need childcare, please let us know. We are trying to find people to watch your precious little ones.

Wising Up, Wherever Life Happens

Thursdays 7:00-8:30pm

June 7, 14, 28 & July 12,19, 26 @ AGCC

A journey through Proverbs with Beth Moore

This women’s Bible study on the book of Proverbs is broken up into 12 different DVD sessions & we will be completing the first three: A Call to Wise Up, The Heart of Wisdom, A Wise Friend. This is a video series, so there is no workbook. A handout will be given at each session, with no assigned homework.

*Childcare will not be provided.

The cost for each study is $5

You’re Invited to a Girls Night Out

Come hang out with the women of Aspen Grove CC at the home of Amanda Stage. We will enjoy appetizers & desserts while doing what we do best – chatting. Feel free to bring a game if you’d like. Mark Friday, July 27th at 7 p.m. on your calendar. More info. to follow.

To sign up for any of these events or Bible studies please e-mail us at women@aspengrovechurch.org, sign up in the lobby at church or on Facebook.

1. How long have you been at AGCC? 

6-7 years

2. Tell us how you became involved at NLP?

Maureen had spoken about NLP at church previously and that made me interested in NLP. But, when I heard her speak at the fundraiser in December, I was really moved by her love for people. When she told that the mom, who spoke on the video, was the only parent who spoke English I thought of how hard it must be for all the parents to get a job and how difficult it would be to support a family. Maureen also informed us that some households are single parent with the parent holding 2 jobs. It really showed how strong the need is for NLP.

3. What have you done there?

I am helping them understand QuickBooks and utilize components like QuickBooks payroll so they have all their financial data in one program and can be as streamlined as possible in their accounting procedures.

4. What have you enjoyed most about your time volunteering?

I enjoy knowing that I am able to provide a small bit of help to such a vital ministry that is helping kids to learn about God’s love for them as they see it in the people who are tutoring them, playing soccer with them, and sharing God’s word with them. Helping Maureen to maximize her time so she can use it to run NLP is enjoyable also.

5. Are there any needs that you are aware of in this ministry?

If you are like me, you sometimes think that you are only one person and what can you do that could possibly make a difference in the world. While I believe that NLP can still use more volunteers – (do you like working with kids?) I just became aware of another way that you can have a great impact. Maybe your budget is very lean and you would really like to help NLP but, you say I could only give $10 per month or $25 per month and you think that isn’t enough to do anything. What if you found out that your $10 would become $20 or your $25 would become $50? A generous donor has offered a matching grant for donations for up to 1 year – We can also pray that there will be someone who will step up at the end of the year and provide another matching grant. Or if you can only give a one-time donation, it will be greatly appreciated and God will multiply it also.

6. Any other thoughts?

NLP is a place where God is working in our local community helping kids and families who need encouragement, support, and to hear the gospel. These kids can grow up to be great brothers & sisters in the Lord or without NLP who do they turn to for help and what are their prospects for the future?

It is a delicate balance to maintain our anonymity with God, but one people often find attractive to maintain in their lives.  It is an attractive way to live because people want God’s power, but not necessarily a personal relationship with God.  Jesus blows this way of thinking out of the water.

Jesus is our personal representative of God.  He shows us what God is like, what his purposes are in the world, and what he thinks of us.  It’s this last part that we seem to get hung up on.  Jesus knows that we are dirty rotten sinners, but he also wants a personal relationship with us.  It is sort of like having a personal relationship with your doctor.  It’s fine to go to a doctor to lose all humility as he works to heal your body, but it is another thing to hang out with your doctor over dinner after you have lost all personal privacy in his office.

Yet Jesus doesn’t let us be anonymous.  Uncommon grace isn’t like ordering books from Amazon, and then becoming more enlightened by them in the privacy of our own home.  Uncommon grace is personal.  Therefore, there are no strangers with Jesus.  Palin and simple, if you want grace, you will have to be known by Jesus.  The corollary is true as well.  If you want to extend uncommon grace, you will have to know others personally.

This Sunday, we will be challenged to take on a “no strangers” policy as we learn to experience and express God’s uncommon grace.  Please read Luke 8:40-56 to prepare for our conversation.

and Come Meet Janie!!!

Friday, May 18

6:30 p.m.

Worship starts at 6:30 with a dessert reception right after.

Come sing some of your favorite worship songs together as a family!

 It is going to be an amazing evening!

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.” Mark 12:41-42

Jesus had positioned himself far enough away so people didn’t notice him, but close enough to watch them put their gifts into the offering basket. He observes the wealthy making sizable gifts, while a single – apparently poor – widow comes and gives “all she had to live on” (v.44) We observe from the text that the gifts of the wealthy, though large, were not all they had to live on. Jesus turns to his disciples after seeing this, and tells them that the widow had put in “more” than all the others. More what? Obviously not money…. But the amount given in comparison to the amount kept was much higher with the widow than the rich. It is apparent then, that this woman had far greater faith than the others, giving a much higher level of trust over to God. She looked in her purse and saw nothing – and everything – all at the same time. She incarnates the kind of faith we should all strive for, a faith that resists the temptation to put out trust in wealth and riches, and instead says, often, ‘Lord all that I have is yours, here, you use it for your Glory, and continue to give me only and all you want me to have in order to steward and leverage it for the building of Your Kingdom.’

When God watches our giving, he is not focused on the level of money given, but rather the level of faith exercised. It is a difficult thing to trust God with all that we have, but it is a necessary thing if we are to experience His reign over our lives.

Written by: Nathan Jones