A Letter from Pastor Josh

IMG_3132.jpg

Dear GracePointe family,

What a year 2019 has been for our community! As we wind down another year, and look forward to what’s next, I wanted to begin with my gratitude for the way you have embraced our family. The transition into the Lead Pastor role has been smooth and I’ve felt so wonderfully supported. That comes as no surprise, because that is just who GP is–a place of welcome, love, and inclusion. May these things always be present in our relationship to one another!

Looking back on 2019, we have much for which to be grateful. Some of those amazing highlights include:

  • In the past eight months, our community has more than doubled in size! To accommodate this new growth we added another service time, and have seen more growth since we began this new two-service schedule.  

  • We currently have 17 Care Groups with more than 200 people participating

  • This Fall, we added a group for young adults (20-35ish) called “YAM” (Young Adult Meet-up) that regularly has more than 30 participants.  

  • Finally, just this week we celebrated Christmas Eve together in a jam-packed room at Clementine, in what was one of the most meaningful moments for me in my short tenure here.

Our hope is that, together, we can build on the momentum and growth 2019 brought our way. Some of the opportunities ahead of us include getting a livestream of our gatherings up and going, bringing on an additional staff member to serve our youth (6th-12th grade), and committing ourselves to the good work being done in the world, both locally and globally, by allocating a percentage of our giving to be invested in organizations like Open Table, Room at the Inn, Blood:Water, and other good causes that arise.

GracePointe stands as a beacon of hope for so many, even beyond those of us who participate locally in the Nashville area. We regularly hear from people all over the world, from the West Coast of the US to Australia, who depend on the content we create because they don’t have access to a Progressive Christian community in their own context. It is both an honor and a responsibility that we take seriously. All of these hopes and dreams we carry for the future of GracePointe are dependent on our commitment to engagement and participation. Specifically, we are all invited to serve our community by using our gifts to love, encourage, and support one another. We have forty-plus volunteers that make GracePointe Kids happen each week–you can connect with Lisa at lisa@gracepointe.net. We also have set-up and tear-down crews that make our beautiful space ready for our gatherings. If you’d like to connect in that way, please contact Nathanial at nathanial@gracepointe.net.

The other essential component is our committed and consistent financial support of this work. I mentioned in a teaching back in November that in 2019 our community has more than doubled in size, but our giving has not kept that pace. Since then, we’ve seen improvement, but we aren’t quite there yet. We are so grateful for those who regularly support our community financially. We literally couldn’t do this without you! If you haven’t yet begun to participate in this way, I would ask you to consider the role GracePointe plays in your life and spiritual growth, and commit to supporting in whatever ways you can.

Our hope is to begin 2020 on strong financial footing, so as you make your final 2019 tax-deductible contribution, please consider setting up a recurring payment via PushPay. It is the easiest way to consistently provide support to the GracePointe community, and it also assists us in budgeting throughout the year. We are grateful for each of you and look forward to connecting more deeply with you in 2020!

Gratefully,

Josh Scott
GracePointe’s Lead Pastor on behalf of the Leadership Council and Staff