Note From Matt

The year just past has been a whirlwind of emotions, and several key words come to mind …

GRIEF. A year ago, we were praying hard for our friend and executive minister, Steve Poston. God ultimately answered our prayers by giving Steve a new, eternal, cancer-free home in Heaven. Steve was a dear friend and a gifted ministry strategist, and we still feel his absence.

HOPE. Jesus promises us victory and eternal life that overshadow the sting of death. Even as Steve’s body weakened, his faith grew, as did his determination to use every day to point others to Jesus. So as we say good-bye to brothers and sisters in Christ, we grieve with hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13) and renew our commitment to share the hope of Jesus with the ONE.

PROVIDENCE. Even as we navigated loss, God brought us Craig Howie as our discipleship minister and raised up Adrienne Leech, already a member of our team, as our executive minister. They both bring skill, compassion, and insight to their roles.

REFINEMENT. New faces bring valuable questions and ideas that help us in our ongoing pursuit of missional impact. Examples of this include our updated Next Steps classes and growing array of digital communications tools. We want to continually strive for greater effectiveness.

GRATITUDE. Last summer, Alison and I received the unwelcome news of her breast cancer diagnosis. That was a scary season, but our God and our GCC family supported us through that journey with incredible love, prayer, and generosity. Alison still has another surgery to come, but she is now cancer-free, and we’re deeply grateful for your love and encouragement.

GENEROSITY. We continue to grow in the spiritual discipline of giving. Dozens of people began a new habit of giving to our church in 2025, and we saw a helpful surge of giving to our general fund in the final quarter. Above and beyond our regular donations, we gave over $145,000 last year to Operation Care (which allowed us to assist over 2800 people with basic needs like rent and utility bills), and Operation Christmas provided gifts for 100 families (including 271 children). We set out to raise an extra $66,000 to build a medical clinic in Ghana, West Africa, and we shattered that goal by giving over $100,000, so we’ll now also ship a container of medical equipment and provide the clinic a solar backup system. God uses our giving in powerful ways, so please join Alison and me in continuing to give as generously as we’re able.

As we look ahead at 2026, the word I want to put in front of all of us is ENGAGE. God is at work in our church, and the victories we’re currently celebrating are only a glimmer of what God will do as we all engage more fully in serving, praying, giving, and inviting others. As we give more of ourselves to God, He will do more in us and through us than we can even imagine. He is worthy of every gift we can offer Him, so let’s continue to LOVE God through a life of worship, GROW together as disciples of Jesus, and INSPIRE others to follow Jesus!

Yours and His,