Hi my name is Russ Worrad, and I can't tell you how glad I am that you are here. In the course of my life I have come into contact with all kinds of different perspectives on what a relationship with God can and should look like, and what role the church plays in that relationship.

For some church is just something they do. It's something that they need to get out of the way either because they are trying to please someone else, or just get them off their back. Maybe they even wanted to get God off their back. As a result their experience was reluctant participation and their take was that it is all quite dull.

Others I have known have gone to church not begrudgingly, but because they desperately wanted to please a God who quite frankly didn't seem as though He was willing to be pleased. They tried over and over to do the right things including church, but quite frankly their experience seemed quite dry, and even desperate.

I have become convinced however, that church is something completely different. It isn't dull, difficult or desperate. It is the opportunity to celebrate a relationship with a God who loves you more that you could ever imagine, and to do so with others who have experienced the same. It isn't religion, but relationship that is celebrated in community and experienced in joy, purpose and love.

That is what we aspire to here! We are not trying to be more religious than each other, we just want to discover and experience that God together. As a result then we also get all of that joy, purpose and love that he wants to bless each of us with. I sure hope you'll join with us in that discovery and journey.

Russ Worrad, B.A. M.Div.
Senior Pastor
Grace Church