COMMUNITY

Grace Explorations is a space where people with names create real community and conversation based on a common purpose. We are not a place where programs with numbers create religious consumers and commentators based on a colorful personality. Community cares. Consumers critique.

REDEMPTION

We are a redemptive community. We are not a religious culture. Relationships heal. Religion hurts.

NOBILITY

We pursue original glory and heal with honor. We do not police original sin or help with hiding. Pilgrims journey. Performers judge. Ditch the treadmill. Dare the trail.

STORY

We promote stories. We do not preach sermons. Stories touch. Sermons tell.

HEALING

We perform soul surgery on patients. We do not pronounce sentences on prisoners. Guilt convicts. Shame condemns.

REAL

We care more about acceptance and becoming right. We care less about agreeing and being right. Real persuades. Right politics.

AUTHENTICITY

We welcome returning prodigals. We wound religious Pharisees. Authenticity attracts. Hypocrisy alienates.

CONVERSATION

We dialogue. We do not debate. We don’t hide & hurt behind religious curriculum. We hear & heal before real community in conversation. Grace humbles. Pride humiliates.

GRACE

We end arguments with awe. We do not begin arguments that end awfully. Grace awes. Mercy accepts. Justice argues.

SIGNIFICANCE

We fail forward. We do not succeed backward. Failure impacts. Success impresses.

CREATIVITY

We are catalytic leaders. We are not micro-managers. Leaders create. Managers control.

EXPLORATION

We explore. We do not settle. Pioneers do. Settlers dream. Explorers take the arrows, name the land & bring back the map.

BROTHERHOOD

We are a Band of Brothers with names and faces. We are not a building of bodies with numbers and places. Brothers bond. Buildings break.

TRANSCENDENCE

We climb mountains to change our character. We do not curse mountains to change our circumstances. Climbers conquer. Complainers crumble.

HEART

We are a fellowship of the heart. We are not a federation of minds. Hearts feel. Heads formulate.

LINEAGE

We are beloved sons. We are not betrayed slaves. Sons belong. Slaves behave.

HONOR

We are a league of extraordinary gentlemen. We are not emasculated males. Males commit crime. Men change countries. Males are born. Men are made. We initiate males into men.

KINGDOM

We complement the church. We do not compete with the church. Missional models multiply. Doctrinal distinctive’s divide.

TRUTH

We are a safe space for people to process a dangerous message. We are not a dangerous place for programs to promote a safe message. Truth frees. Legalism fears.

CHRIST

We are followers of Christ. We are not fans of Christ. Followers change. Fans clap.

OUR DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE

From the ends of the earth to the edge of eternity, Grace Explorations will climb every mountain, march every field, and sail every sea in the relentless pursuit of our original glory created in the image of Christ.

We will embark on a heroic quest whose only guarantee is a changed life upon an uncertain return, as God’s great secrets are revealed when a man returns from his great search.

We will walk ancient paths into pain, power, and purpose where the future is past to find timeless truth and arrive where we were first meant to be.

We will drown in destiny to discover the journey is the destination to every point unknown except to God to make Him known.

We will go where few dare to go to live our deepest and truest life as a waking dream where the weight of eternity thins time into a “thin place.”

We will touch the undiscovered country within to reach the naked soul of man and read what a sword of words bled from a painful pen writes as a text of tears.

We will adventure into awe further than sight can see where weapons of wonder hurt to heal and help us find home on the far side of a strange sea this side of heaven’s shore.

Grace Explorations will never stop exploring God’s Amazing Grace from the furthest shore to the final frontier. Where “there be dragons,” there is also grace even unto the ends of the earth and ourselves to find a new beginning in God that never ends.

AMEN.