We are excited to announce that we have hired Jerris Duncan to be the new Lead Pastor at Grace Community Church. Jerris is expected to start working at Grace on July 1, 2008. Jerris, his wife Lisa, daughter Marybeth, and son Trey seem like a natural fit at Grace and a direct answer to our prayers over the past 4 months.

Jerris has been a visionary leader and pastor at The Gathering, a service for young adults at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, TX. He brings about 20 years of church leadership experience, including serving as a Youth Pastor, College Pastor, and Team Teacher. His main strengths are in leadership development, authentic relationship, and focused ministry. Besides his passion for God and the local church, Jerris also enjoys bass fishing, golf, and any sport involving a ball.

We heard overwhelming excitement from people at Grace about the Duncans during their visit this past weekend. If you weren’t able to join us in person this past Sunday, video of Jerris’ message is available online:

Jerris and Lisa are excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to be here at Grace. Please join us in praying that their house in Texas sells quickly so that their move is not delayed.

Here’s a quick note from Jerris:

Hey Grace family,
Thank you so much for your overwhelming response this past Sunday. Lisa, Marybeth, Trey and I felt so at home! I can’t wait to get back to Champaign to get started. Several years ago I told some of my close friends that I would love to pastor a church but didn’t feel that preaching 50 plus sermons a year was very appealing — they thought I was crazy. Praise God for a Church that is willing to allow it’s pastor to focus on relationships and leadership without the pressure of weekly sermon prep. I’m am truly excited to join Grace as we continue to develop a relationship with LifeChurch.tv and discover all that God has for us in the coming days.

See you in a few weeks,
Jerris

We are really excited as God has so clearly and quickly directed this hiring process. We can’t wait to see how God continues to move at Grace through the Duncans and each of us serving at Grace Community. God has big desires for us in the months and years to come!

Mike, Bunney, Bill, & Becky
the Grace board

As you may already know, our founding pastor resigned this spring. His last Sunday working at Grace Community was March 27. We’ve been working with a consultant to help us find the right pastor to lead Grace forward in the years to come so that many more people in our community will be able to find and experience God. If you know of someone who might be a good candidate, or if you’re just curious, here’s a link to the position description and application process for this new pastor:

We appreciate your prayers and encouragement for Grace Community during this time of transition.

Two key announcements were made by the Grace Community Board yesterday morning at our Sunday service. We want to make sure everyone at Grace is aware of both of these updates. This post details this information in 3 parts:

1. Interim Plan for Family Ministry
2. Announcement from Dave
3. Comments from Board

While this posting details what was communicated yesterday, we have also published an audio recording of yesterday’s update from the board:

• http://findinggrace.com/mp3/BoardUpdate-080106.mp3

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Grace Board Meeting Highlights

September 19, 2006

The Grace Community Board includes Becky McNaught, Bill Glick, Judy Dalton and Dave Hensleigh.  Everyone was present and we had an energizing discussion about several topics:

-         KidStuf was excellent and looks to provide both support for Grace families and a wide open door to the community.  It cost us a lot to develop this and lots of people are involved.  The investment seems well worth it.

-         The “Small Group Strategy” and Dave’s recent messages were discussed.  We affirmed that we want to see this develop.

-         The Arts at Grace was discussed.  We have gotten overtures from Bright Lights Theater Company regarding use of our facilities and collaboration.  We wholeheartedly affirmed our interest in being a church that is a home for the arts in our community.

-         Dave gave an update on the development of a membership system.

-         We discussed our next meeting, agenda building and working over suggestions and ideas from Dave’s annual review.

-         Dave also reported that there is a developing financial problem

The next board meeting will be Tuesday, October 17, 6-8pm.