Grace Evangelical Free Church

Grace Evangelical Free Church Indianola, IA

Page 1 June/July 2014

Big Events

Baby Shower

The women of Grace Church enjoyed the morning

of March 29th attending a baby shower for Luke

Gray. Luke dozed and ate while the ladies oohed

and aahed over all the cute baby gifts given to

celebrate the arrival of this fast growing little one.

Easter Services

On Good Friday, Grace Church held a solemn

service to commemorate Christ’s sacrifice on the

cross. To make the sacrifice very personal, each

one attending was invited to come to pound a nail

representing his or her own sin into a large wooden

cross in the front of the sanctuary.

Easter Sunday service was held to celebrate the

triumph over death of our risen Lord Jesus. The

sanctuary was full of individuals and families to

give honor and praise to God for our salvation.

Prior to the worship service, an Easter morning

fellowship breakfast was served.

Grace Food Pantry

The Grace Food Pantry has been undergoing

exciting changes. The Pantry has moved to a new

room at the church and now will be providing

expanded services. Hours for registration and pick

up are from 5:30-7:00pm on the second Monday

and Tuesday of the month. Volunteers are always

welcome in this important ministry.

Upcoming VBS July 7-11 6:30 – 8:30pm

Be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend

and/or help out with this summer’s Vacation Bible

School.

Parent’s Night Out June 28th

Parents of Grace church and their friends will have

an opportunity for free childcare at the church

while they enjoy a night out for some recreation.

108 N. Jefferson Way, Indianola, IA 50125 – (515) 962-9099

www.graceindianola.org

Big Events (pg. 1)

Words from Pastor Mark (pg. 2)

Upcoming Events (pg. 3)

Birthday & Anniversaries (pg. 3)

Getting to know… (pg. 4)

Book Review (pg. 5)

Words from Pastor Mark

Faith is Active!

Faith in Jesus is highly practical. To be clear,

deeds do not earn salvation. But faith—genuine

faith—produces good deeds.

James strongly emphasizes this in his letter.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has

faith but does not have works” (2:14)? The implied

answer is: it’s no good. A few verses later he bluntly

states that “faith apart from works is useless” (2:20).

Then, to make his point as strong as he can, he finally

writes, “faith apart from works is dead” (2:26). And

the illustration James uses shows how absurd it is. To

have faith without works is like telling someone to be

warm or be filled but not giving them a blanket or any

food.

Jesus, in Matthew 10:42, makes ministry as

simple as giving a cup of cold water to a little one. A

simple act of providing for the needs of a child, yet it

earns the applause of Christ.

In Matthew 25:40, according to Jesus, people

of faith feed the hungry, refresh the thirsty, clothe the

naked, and visit the imprisoned.

In other words, faith generates actions that

help people. Authentic faith reaches out in tangible,

practical ways. People with a vital, vibrant walk with

God move toward the needy and discouraged and

unfortunate and disabled . . . just like Jesus did!

Let me encourage you to consider an avenue

for practical faith. Find at least one area where you

regularly help others by serving or teaching or

ministering in some way. In this expression of faith,

you will help others but you will also discover the joy

of serving!

Keep your faith robust and active!

For God’s glory and your joy,

Pastor Mark


We are part of the Evangelical Free

Church of America, which is an

association of nearly 1,500 autonomous

churches and church plants in a

growing ministry that currently extends

to some 75 countries of the world.

www.EFCA.org

and place photo here.

‘And when did we see you sick or in

prison and visit you?’ And the King

will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you,

as you did it to one of the least of these

my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:39-ESV

Upcoming Events

Monday, June 2 at 7pm

First Prayer

Monday, June 9

Grace Food Pantry 5:30pm

Tuesday, June 10

Children’s Ministry Meeting 6:30pm

Monday, July 7

First Prayer 7:00pm

Monday-Friday, July 7-11

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Monday, July 14


Tuesday, July 15


Monday, July 21

Children’s Ministry Meeting 6:30pm

Thursday, July 24

Table of Plenty 5:30pm

June/July

Birthdays & Anniversaries

June 9 Jana Krempasky

June 10 Jon & Gwen Roen

June 21 Helen Leach

June 25 Orlea Kester

June 26 Roger & Kathy Kester

June 30 Steve Sargent

July 1 Matt & Helen Leach

July 12 John Ringle

July 17 Bob & Virginia Gray

July 18 Doug Hutcheson

July 19 Vicki White

July 20 Greg & Becky Abbott

July 21 Dave Christopherson

July 24 Bill & Jeanette Campbell

Brandon Starr

July 25 Lori Freeman

July 26 Kedron & Rachel Bardwell

July 30 Jeannie Hamilton


Weekly Events Wednesdays

Bobcats

Greg Abbott’s Home - 10:00 am

Worship Team Practice

Church Building - 6:30pm

Hebrews Bible Study

Church Building - 7:00pm

Getting to know…

Jon and Gwen Roen

Making joyful music has been part of

Jon’s and Gwen’s lives for nearly 38 years!

They met when Jon was Gwen’s vocal music

teacher and the rest is history. They will be

celebrating their 36th

anniversary on June 10th

!

Congratulations!

Gwen grew up on a farm in Menlo, Iowa,

with one brother. Jon grew up in Rockford,

Illinois. They met in Menlo where Jon was

teaching school. Indianola has been their home

for 20 years. They currently have two children,

Allen and Allison. Allen and his wife, Anne, live

in Ankeny. Allison and her, husband, Grant, live

in Kansas City with their adorable and busy 9

month old twins, Madeline and Abram. Because

of the parents and grandparents that influenced

Jon and Gwen as they grew up, they wish to

share this heritage and love with their own

children and grandchildren.

Jon has been in the insurance business for

34 years in Indianola. Gwen works from her

home quilting quilt tops. She finishes 120 quilts a

year and enjoys helping her customers create

treasured heirlooms.

Jon and Gwen share a love for hiking,

bike riding, reading and spending time with

family. Jon reports that he is very competitive at

table games. He also adds that he enjoys duties

as assigned by Gwen!

Gwen enjoys books by Lisa Wingate,

Charles Stanley, Max Lucado and John Ortberg.

Books about hiking the Appalachian Trails or

PCT Trail are favorites of Jon. The Last Season

by Eric Blehm and Hiking Through by Zane

Grey are adventure favorites of his. He especially

enjoys reading books by the Christian author Dee

Henderson.


Jon and Gwen stated that they were

tremendously honored to be a part of the

original group that helped plant Grace

Evangelical Free Church in Indianola. From

the beginning they have served in the

Worship Team ministry that we all enjoy.

Gwen prays that the congregation is drawn

deeper into Christ’s presence through the

music each Sunday morning. Jon also serves

an Elder at Grace. You will also find them

serving in many behind the scene ways as the

needs arise.

Fun Fact:

Jon’s grandfather stood in line to get a ticket on the Titanic only to find they had run out of seats!

Sometimes when we feel we have “missed the boat”, it was truly God watching over us- in this case even

before Jon was born!

Favorite Scriptures:

John 14:27

1 Peter 3:18

Jon’s birthday- January 29, 1952

Gwen’s birthday- April 26

Anniversary- June 10, 1978

Book Reviews

By Greg Abbott

Greg thanks Bill Krempasky for

recommending these intriguing books to him.

The first book is I, Saul by Jerry B. Jenkins and

James MacDonald. Becky and I read this book

on our trip to Arizona earlier this spring. It is a

“fast paced” novel of parallel stories woven

together in a skillful way. The ancient part of the

story is about Paul wanting to get his parchments

(based on II Timothy) and what exactly was in

those documents. The modern part of the novel

was the discovery of those ancient writings and

why people were being killed in the competition

to acquire them.

The second book was written by Todd Wilson, a

speaker that Bill and I heard at a men’s retreat at

Hidden Acres this past winter. The name of the

book is, Sentenced to Care, a Father’s Story. It

is an engaging story of a couple who had a baby,

but the father wanted none of the responsibility

of marriage or fatherhood. He went to extreme

means to avoid his responsibility and was going

to be sent to prison for his actions. What

happened afterwards might be too farfetched for

some, but Todd weaves an engaging story if you

can get passed a certain premise.

So, don’t just take my word about these two

stories- ask Bill. After all, he hasn’t steered me

wrong yet!


Need some good summer reading? Be sure to “check out” the growing

Grace library! So That’s Why! Bible from Nelson Bibles

Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller

Two Nations Under God by Tom Doyle

Faith Works by John F. MacArthur Jr.

Song of Alaska book series by Tracie Peterson

About Grace EFC Glorifying God. Loving People. Teaching God’s Word

Our Misson: To glorify God through the power of the Holy Spirit by honoring Christ’s name, teaching

His Word, loving His people and expanding His kingdom.

Who We Are: We are part of the Evangelical Free Church of America. We are people from diverse

backgrounds united by our love for God, for each other, and for the world.

Our worship blends time-honored hymns in a modern style along with contemporary hymns and worship

songs that honor and glorify Jesus Christ. Messages at Grace feature clear, systematic teaching of the

Bible with timeless truths that apply to our lives today.

108 N. Jefferson Way

Indianola, IA 50125

Sunday morning worship: 9:00 AM

Sunday School for all ages at 10:30 AM.

Shipping Address Here

555 Street Address

City, State 55555


Documents

Grace Evangelical Free Church