Grace Community Church

Today we worshiped at Grace Community Church, 216 Mystic Pine Trail, Cranberry Twp., PA 16066, 724.779.7997, www.graceincranberry.org.


Bob’s thoughts:

There is an old Pittsburgh saying that “you can’t get there from here,” and this church fulfills that saying. On Freedom Crider Road is a sign that “This is the church you have been looking for.” It cries out for a second sign, “Now try to get here.” You could park on the berm and wade across a stream, but don’t look for signage to direct you in.

If you make it to the church, there are people to direct you to parking and outstanding signage inside. The seating is very comfortable and acoustics are satisfactory. It is a large enough church that we weren’t recognized as visitors but were welcomed by a few people. There was no order of worship and the offering was taken before the Word. Actually it was so early it felt like “get it in case you leave.” My main concern was the lack of a cross in the Sanctuary. There was a female trio who sounded very good together and seemed well-rehearsed.

The pastor delivered a sound message on fatherhood with regard to Father God. There were a few film clips that I thought added little but a great personal story that had to be hard to deliver. With the loss of our son, Father’s Day will always be difficult and the personal story really helped. The sermon wrap-up was a little long and seemed to lose some of the edge.

Saw some very good missional numbers on a budget sheet but did not see much on outward mission other than the current Kenya trip.

Jan’s thoughts:

Today we needed to find an early worship service nearby, so we settled on this contemporary church in Cranberry. We were there once before (before starting our blog), otherwise we never would have found it in time for the service. The sign on the marquee boasts that Grace is “The church you’ve been looking for” and whenever we drive past that sign we chide that whoever that’s directed to is probably still looking for it. The point is, they could use some directional signs from Freedom Crider Road to the church. Once inside, however, signage is plentiful.

There are many thoughtful touches, such as people to open the doors as you approach the building, a café-type area immediately inside. The ladies room is clean, roomy, and stocked with extras (hair spray, hand lotion, and other necessities).

The bulletin was one very colorful, very busy 8 ½” x 14” sheet with a ton of information – everything except an order of worship. Nicely presented, though.

Like most other contemporary churches at which we’ve worshiped, there is a stage, in this case three screens, and padded, very comfortable chairs. By now we know enough to sit as far in the back as possible due to the inevitable volume of the music, and this was no exception.

I enjoy and see great value in both traditional and contemporary worship styles and music, and today I appreciated the opportunity to sing some of the more contemporary songs that I love, especially “Blessed Be Your Name.” The theology expressed in the lyrics is important, and this song has spoken to my heart loud and clear since before Dan’s death but even more so since.

The special music presented by a trio of young women was extremely well done. I appreciated hearing each of the ladies sing solo but their voices blended so well also. It was a treat.

Through some deductive reasoning (since it was not in the bulletin), I determined that the sermon was offered by Bob Zonts, and of course it focused on fathers and fatherhood. It included a cute taped skit called “iDad” containing some really catchy music that I would’ve been singing the rest of the day except for the second half of the sermon. The preaching was Biblically sound, aimed at fathers, and acknowledged those with great difficulty and pain surrounding Father’s Day. It was good, and then it became great. He (in his own words) “took off the mask” and spoke about a painful – gut-wrenching – episode with his then 3-year-old daughter in which he said something extremely hurtful to her and witnessed the pain and heartbreak on her face. He immediately apologized to her and to God, but never forgot the wound his remark caused. Even through the tears in my own eyes (for both him and his daughter), I could see every eye there was on him and you could have heard a pin drop. It took a great deal of courage to confess this event to a large Sanctuary full of people, but it was real, honest, and vulnerable. My feeling is that if you can’t find honesty in a church, it’s hard to find a reason to go there.