Skip to main content
All Posts By

Ron Edmondson

3 Values of Teamwork

By Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Team Leadership

Recently I was asked a question regarding how we handle set-up on Sunday mornings. Grace Community Church meets in a school and so every Sunday morning staff and volunteers start arriving about 5:30 AM to prepare for the day. The specific question was whether we have one person who oversees all the set-up. The answer is no. We actually have a team of people responsible; with different people in each area of ministry.

Answering the question reminded me of the value of teamwork. I personally believe that the way we are doing this is best. I’m not opposed to one central leader, and in some situations that may be better, but with this task, I think the team approach is more efficient than one individual being in charge.

Here are 3 reasons I personally prefer a team approach for this function of our church:

Read More

Common Struggles

By Culture, Encouragement, Uncategorized

The first sermon of the new year was a difficult one, because I encouraged our people to let go of some of the burdens they had been carrying in 2010. We wanted to start 2011 with a clean slate and make it a better year. I challenged people to write the one issue they wanted to leave behind on an index card. We captured those, and though they didn’t have names on them, we recorded the general issue to see what people in our church were dealing with this year. For me personally this is helping to shape the way I preach.

Here is a graph of the over 1,000 cards we collected:

Read More

The Art of Loyalty (Loving an Old Pair of Shoes)

By Culture, Encouragement

I’ve had these shoes for 20 plus years.

I’ve stitched up the sides a couple times.
I’ve replaced the soles…

I’ve worn these shoes on construction sites when I was in business…
I’ve preached in these shoes…

These shoes are falling apart now…
I’m about to make some hard decisions about whether to replace them…

I have to admit:
When it rains my feet get wet…
When it’s cold my feet freeze…

But I’ve been loyal to my old shoes a long, long time…

Maybe I should retire them but they’ve been good shoes many years…

Whenever I wear my shoes, I’m reminded of a culture change I’ve noticed…

Read More

Scripture Memorization, Week 4

By Encouragement

Each week this year, we are learning another verse from the Bible together. So far we’ve learned (or attempted to learn) three verses.

How are you doing?

I won’t share them all each week, but at this point you could easily catch up with us, so here are the first few verses:

Week one: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Week two: In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Week three: You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3

This week is a continuation of last week’s thought process. This week’s memory verse is:

Read More

Friday Discussion: Why People Don’t Attend Church

By Church, Culture

Let’s discuss church attendance today.

I specifically want to know why some people choose not to attend church.

I want to hear about your experiences, but I also want to hear your opinions.

One of my passions is the local church. I grew up in church and there’s never been a time in my life when I didn’t want to go to church.

Recently I was interviewed for a local online newspaper about the launching of our second campus. (You can read the article HERE.) In the article I stated a statistic that 86% of people in our county do not go to church. That’s what the latest numbers I’m hearing indicate. I didn’t make the number up, but I didn’t do the research either. Regardless of the accuracy of the number, no one who believes in church doubts that it is higher than we would like it to be.

So, today, I’m wonder why people don’t go to church.

Read More