GracePoint Church

In John 18, after trying to figure out who Jesus was, Pontius Pilate famously asked, "What is truth?" People have been seeking the answer to that question since the beginning of time. People desire to know the truth until it treads upon their truth (translation: comfort). Our tendency or preference is to "shape truth"... or adjust it to fit the way I am living. So, we create phrases like "your tru...

I was born in Canada. So, I grew up playing hockey. Isn't that what all Canadians do? (insert smiley face emoji here). The teams that did poorly in the standings all had one thing in common--they didn't play together. Many of those teams had really great players, but they all tried to be the hero. The result: they would fall into and over each other and end up losing most of their games.   Convers...

"Watch this!" "Can I show you something?" "Dad, look at me!" I still remember the first time I rode my bike on only two wheels. I ran inside and made my parents come out and watch me. The first time I swam without sinking...I begged my parents to watch me. Oh how my parents must've been exhausted each time one of their kids pleaded to be seen, approved, and loved. I still long to be seen and to be...

I've always battled insecurity. I don't know if it was my bright red hair, my freckles or my short stature, but I've struggled my whole life to matter, to be seen.  I'll never forget a day in second grade when I talked my friend Steven into pretending to speak a different language with me. For an entire recess we just talked gibberish to one another and acted like we were having a completely norma...

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." - Matthew 13:44 As I think about my relationship to God I sometimes wonder if I grasp just how valuable it is? There is nothing that we could possibly think of that comes close to the value of being adopted into God's family.  Now that...

My first day "on the job" as a Pastor was exciting. I couldn't wait to link arms with the people of God and be a light in our community. Then I experienced my first church business meeting. Rather than talk about how we can love our neighbors and serve the less fortunate in our community, we argued. We argued about service times, paint colors, what the Pastor wore on the platform, what hung on the...

Think about something that gives you the warm and fuzzies... for me, it'd be the warm hearth of a roaring fireplace on a chilly day. If we've talked over the last month and a half, there's a good chance that I've mentioned firewood and all of the joy it brings me. We're a little like a fire; together we burn bright, and alone, we smolder. These past few weeks, we've been learning about the practic...

Prayer is so much more than a religious thing we do to be a good Christian. It's a fundamental way in which we grow in our intimacy with the Triune God. In prayer we listen to God, not simply talking to God. We've spent the last few weeks focusing on the practice of PRAYER. I hope you are coming to see that prayer is a powerful discipline when it comes to walking with Jesus. It was Jesus' go-to al...

Our week began with the inauguration of our 47th President and the observation of Martin Luther King Day. Both events are of vital importance to us in America. It is fitting that we are in a series exploring the power of prayer in our relationship to the Father. I hope we pray for our President. I hope that we pray for unity in our country amongst all people. Prayer is powerful. There continues to...

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately. Of course, part of that is because we are in a series about prayer. As I "practice" the discipline of pausing, focusing and directing my thoughts and words to God I wonder... Do my prayers make a difference? If God doesn't answer my prayer in the way I desire, what went wrong? Does He even hear when I pray for the fires to subside in California, or for...

My 5 year old son was with me one moment and the next he was gone. We were in a mall and I immediately panicked. I ran up to a security guard and bellowed, "YOU HAVE TO LOCK THE MALL DOWN!" My eyes darted in every direction...and I prayed. Do you pray? What motivates you to pray? Most of us pray when some sort of trouble comes into our lives. We rightly ask God to help us in those moments. Do you...

I want more of God. I long for the peace described in the pages of scripture. I desire to live a life that has so much less stress. Why does it seem so out of reach?  I'd like to suggest it's because of what we are investing in. You become what you feed yourself. I don't need to remind any of you of that. But, why is it so hard? I'd like to offer another suggestion--maybe because we want it now or...

Christmas is a season rich with traditions—stockings hung on mantels, twinkling lights on trees, and nativity scenes carefully arranged. But have you ever stopped to consider where these traditions began or what deeper truths they point to? This Sunday, we’ll take a step back in time to explore Christmas from a passage many wouldn't consider part of the Christmas story... I won't tell you which ex...

Winter is here. Thanksgiving swooped in this past week and ushered in the Christmas season.  The wonder of Christmas is upon us. The calendar date is not the "actual birth date" of Christmas, but it's the idea of creating a "space" to pause and celebrate what our faith, as Christians, is all about--the birth of Jesus. Which is Great News. But, there is even greater news. Though the birth of Jesus...

Most of us found ourselves in the dark a month or so ago as the storm of the century ripped through Western North Carolina. At first, being in the dark was an inconvenience. But, as time passed and light never came, the struggles began. Add to that the inability to communicate and not have water--we realized how vulnerable we really are.   BUT...then the lights came back on. Most of us had a new a...

Well...it's over. The election. Most of us likely gave it more attention than was needed. It can be quite a distraction from what God tells us is important. We come by it honestly, because our leaders tend to have a lot of say on the day to day experience of our lives.  The same thing was happening when God spoke through His prophet Malachi. His people were forgetting what was important. They bega...

Do you remember your first job? How about the day you got married? What about that first house you moved into? My guess is that those were some pretty amazing days. I'd also guess that...after a while...the joy faded. Like a fire that is not tended will go out, so many things in life fade if we don't work on them. A couple needs to remember to keep dating. A house needs upkeep.   This weekend, we...

I get fascinated with how time works. Do you ever think about it? One of the latest things I've been pondering personally is the time span between our family's move to Asheville, and Helene being almost the amount of time as Helene was to now–it simply blows my mind! How is that possible?! When I think of longer spans and how it works also with matters of faith, I have similar conniptions. How is...

How are you doing this week? With all that has been happening in our community, how is your soul? How is your walk with Jesus? Trials like the one we have been sharing this month bring out our best and our worst.   God uses adversity to shine a spotlight on our heart...encouraging us where we are walking "with" Him and revealing those areas of our lives where we are holding on to "control" and not...