Aug 10, 2008 by Pastor Terry
On the heels of another outstanding "Red Letter Summer Weekend" Judith and I entered one amazing week. I don't have the time to chronicle everything the past seven days have held for us but here are a few highlights:
We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the Team Church Conference at Champions Centre in Tacoma, WA. This amazing conference is hosted by our dear friends Kevin and Sheila Gerald. Judith and I have been blessed to participate in the Team Church Conference for the past few ...
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Aug 5, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Here are a few images of the Third Day concert at City of Grace last ...
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Aug 2, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Watch this interview to learn more about our new Executive Pastor, Tom ...
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Aug 1, 2008 by Pastor Terry
I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon at the Cardinals training camp in Flagstaff hanging with Kurt Warner and and a few other NFL warriors and coaches who love God and City of Grace. Our new executive pastor, Tom Moffett, was along for the ride and we had a blast! Tom did a brief stint in the NFL in the early 1980's before entering into ministry, but the passion for the pigskin is never far from the surface of his life. Standing in the cool pines of Flagstaff, listening to ...
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Jul 30, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Third Day flew in late last night following their appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to appear on the K-Love Morning Show which was broadcast from our Mesa Campus auditorium. The timing of their appearance in the lion's den, excuse me, The Tonight Show coincided with the release of their new album "Revelation." And by the way, Third Day rocked the show and represented us all very well.
I really enjoyed the few minutes that I had with the band this morning. In addition to their ...
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Jul 29, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Looking around the jam packed auditorium at 11:30 in Scottsdale this past weekend I struggled to control the lump in my throat and the tears on my cheeks. It was an amazing thing to catch another glimpse of all that God is doing in this extraordinary family called City of Grace. Here are just a few examples of what God is doing....
Since the beginning of the year we have seen approximately 500 people accept Christ in our weekend services.
This past weekend dozens experienced the ...
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Jul 4, 2008 by Pastor Terry
On days like this my thoughts and prayers turn toward the heavy price paid for freedom in our nation and how grateful I am to those who were willing to pay it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."
Over several generations my own family has shouldered the responsibility to ...
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Jul 3, 2008 by Pastor Terry
I'm really excited about the new sermon series we kicked off this past weekend. It's called "Red Letter Summer." Over the next two months we are going to study key passages from the teachings of Jesus...found in the "red letters" of the Gospels.
Our graphic arts department has done a great job at designing the theme for this series. Check out the sermon intro below...
If you missed this past weekend, be sure to take some time to watch/listen to the teaching posted under the "Media" ...
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Jun 25, 2008 by Pastor Terry
As you check out the City of Grace 2008 "ink'd" youth camp trailer (play below) you may want to bear in mind that teenagers often express their humor a little (or a lot) differently than you or I may. But apart from a little awkward moment, I think the rest is pretty funny and incredibly clever! We are expecting to have around 400 students registered for an amazing week of extreme worship, tribal wars, passionate preaching, and total life transformation! It's gonna be off the chain! ...
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Jun 20, 2008 by Pastor Terry
The events of this past week have confirmed my suspicions that we are living in one of the most divisive periods in recent history. Strangely enough, it seems to coincide with this election cycle which began earlier than any I can ever remember! The impact of our local, national, and global divisions has been felt in our congregation this past week.
It all began this past Monday when Dr. Gary Kinnaman, former pastor of Word of Grace, and twenty-two other local ministers held a press ...
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Jun 5, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Last night was our first combined campus event for our "Radial" youth ministries and it rocked my socks off! (That expression alone proves that I was too old to be there!) In the words of this generation, it was "sick!" which literally means, (for all of my readers over 30) it was great!
I was there just to greet the students and open with prayer, but the environment was so compelling that I hung out at the rear of the auditorium with George Chadwick (Scottsdale, Worship Pastor who ...
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May 29, 2008 by Pastor Terry
For those who didn't see our brief appearance in the New Times Newspaper, here it is...
Virtual Jesus
If you can't have the real thing, go Hollywood
By Clay McNear
We dodge religion like vampires shrink from garlic toast, and it'd take a Supreme Being-size miracle to lure us back.
Jesus Christ, here's one now!
The Son of God Himself is scheduled to appear at 8 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 25, at Scottsdale's City of Grace, 9610 East Cactus Road. (He'll be at the church's Mesa campus, 655 ...
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May 26, 2008 by Pastor Terry
We had a stellar weekend with Jim Caveziel and his family. In spite of the fact that it was Memorial Day and scores of our City of Grace'rs were out of town enjoying the weather, we had five thousand people attend our services with sixty people coming to faith in Christ! And that makes everything worth it. Thank you for praying and serving!
In addition, Jim thoroughly enjoyed his time with us and was touched deeply in the 11:30 service in Scottsdale. In fact, at one point in that final ...
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May 22, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Judith and I spent six hours yesterday learning from one of the world’s leading business consultants, Laurie Beth Jones, and I can’t begin to describe the energy that is flowing through my brain this morning! It’s an amazing experience to see life through a new framework of understanding...and I think it's going to have a significant impact on our teambuilding skills on every level at City of Grace.
In addition to being a bestselling author (Jesus, CEO; Jesus, Life Coach; ...
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May 20, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Jesus is coming this weekend!
Yeah. I know. The funny has left this joke long before I've tired of using it. But there's just enough of a little boy in me to keep trying to get the classroom to laugh.
With that said, I am very excited about Jim Caviezel's visit to City of Grace this weekend. We're going to talk about faith, family, and his experiences in the filming The Passion of the Christ. But more importantly, he's going to give us a glimpse into what God is currently doing in his ...
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Apr 30, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Last night we had Snow in Phoenix...Tony Snow that is.
Gotcha! ;-)
Judith and I had a wonderful time eating dinner with former White House Press Secretary and FOX News Broadcaster, Tony Snow. Of all the unique qualities that make him the remarkable person that he is, I was most impressed with his sense of unbridled optimism. And that optimism has been tested in the worst of ways over the past few years as he has stared down the Whitehouse Press Corp during President Bush's falling approval ...
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Apr 12, 2008 by Pastor Terry
This past week I wrote an article for the East Valley Tribune, at the invitation of the Spiritual Life editor, and it was published in today's edition. For those who do not subscribe to our local newspaper, I thought I would post the article here....
Unity Brings the Walls Down
I've spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of "unity" lately.
Maybe it's because we're in an election year and the reports of our national divisions are being capitalized ...
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Apr 10, 2008 by Pastor Terry
For those who wanted to see a repeat performance of the skydive we featured last weekend as a part of our "Go Big or Go Home" sermon series, here goes...
&n...
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Apr 8, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Vanessa Whitwell, 34, beloved by her family and endeared to all, fell peacefully into the loving embrace of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, April 6, 2008 due to a brain hemorrhage.
Our prayers and condolences go out to Andy Whitwell and our dear friends, Pastors Ed and Lisa Young, on the passing of a remarkable life fully lived to the glory of God. Vanessa touched us all in so many ways and will deeply missed.
For more information on Vanessa's life and legacy, click ...
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Mar 24, 2008 by Pastor Terry
It's Monday morning and my brain is on fire! I'm still trying to process all of the sights, sounds, and stories that surrounded our seven weekend worship services-nine if you count our Good Friday services! I'm in one of those strange states where I'm completely exhausted and yet radically energized. Our final service ended twelve hours ago and I can still feel the blood pounding in my veins.
If you haven't guessed by now the weekend was amazing!
The journey began for us on Good ...
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Mar 21, 2008 by Pastor Terry
Those early disciples standing at the foot of the cross would not have considered this a "Good Friday." It was anything but good.
It was horrifying.
It was unimaginable.
It was inexplicable.
And then time offered them the gift of perspective.
The full realization of exactly what had happened that fateful Friday on the hill called Golgotha didn't even dawn on most of them Sunday morning as we have often heard in sermons about the glory of the ...
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Mar 20, 2008 by Pastor Terry
On behalf of City of Grace I want to welcome our new children's pastor Scott and Joyce Freeman and their beautiful children A.J. and Amanda. Scott has a great track record of building and pastoring a thriving children's ministry in St. Joseph, MO and we are honored to have him as a part of our destiny in the desert! Scott will serve both campuses following the same schedule as I do each weekend. Our mission is to build a world class children's ministry by integrating fun, ...
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Mar 14, 2008 by Pastor Terry
I spent yesterday morning doing something out of the ordinary…at least for me. I jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet over Eloy, Arizona. Yep, that’s right, the verdict is in and my wife is convinced that I’m certifiable. And best of all, since I am a charismatic, I blamed it on God!
Actually, it was all in a day’s work.
We’re preparing a new sermon series entitled “Go Big or Go Home” and the skydive was about me staring down my ...
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Mar 12, 2008 by Pastor Terry
After a couple of months of absence from the blog world, I'm back. (Thanks for sending out the St. Bernard with the cask to find me!) My absence has been based on a couple of things:
First, the past few months have involved 70+ hour work weeks with very little time for personal musing. In fact, it's been a bit of a struggle just to maintain my devotional life. The good news is that we have conquered some of the early challenges associated with the transition and life has taken on some ...
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