Dream Team Weekend • Message Discussion Guide

Strength to Make a Difference

Adam Dawson • May 31, 2026

On Dream Team Weekend, Adam celebrated all that God is doing in and through the volunteers of Grace Church and gave us an invitation. Not just to do more, but to receive the strength God supplies to make a difference. Drawing from 1 Peter 4:10-11, he walked us through three kinds of strength God gives us. Strength to initiate, strength to overcome, and strength to grow. Serving isn't a transaction, it's a transfer. We don't serve to get something. We serve because God has already given us everything. The big idea is this: making a difference is not a someday calling. It's a right-here, right-now invitation to receive God's strength and join in with what He is already doing.

Icebreaker

What's a time someone served you in a small way that ended up meaning way more than they probably realized?

Key Bible Passages

  • 1 Peter 4:10-11 – Use your gifts to serve with the strength God supplies.
  • John 5:17 – My Father is always working, and so am I.
  • Matthew 20:28 – Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.
  • 1 Corinthians 10:31 – Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
  • Galatians 6:9 – Let us not grow weary in doing good.
  • Philippians 1:6 – He who began a good work will carry it on.

Next Steps

Strength to initiate:

  • You don't have to feel strong to start. God supplies strength as you take the next step.

Strength to overcome:

  • Serving will stretch you. God doesn't just give strength to start, He gives strength to keep going.

Strength to grow:

  • When you serve, God builds humility, joy, compassion, and purpose in you. Serving is part of God's health plan for your life.

Take a next step:

If you're not on the Dream Team yet, fill out an interest card or talk to someone this week. There's a place for you.

Discussion Questions

1. Adam said serving is a transfer, not a transaction. Where in your life have you been tempted to serve to get something (approval, recognition, identity) instead of to give something?

2. He talked about the "enemies of serving," fear of being used, fear of no return, growing weary, transactional serving. Which of these has been the loudest voice in your life, and how is God meeting you in it?

3. Adam said "we are most fulfilled when the arrows of our lives point outward rather than inward." What does that look like in your everyday rhythms, work, family, friendships, neighborhood, not just at church?

4. God gives strength to initiate, overcome, and grow. Which one do you need from Him most this week, and what's one step of faith you can take to receive it?

Prayer

God, thank You for the gifts You have given each of us, and thank You that You invite us to be part of what You are already doing.

Give us strength to initiate where we have been hesitant, strength to overcome where we have grown weary, and strength to keep growing into who You are calling us to be.

Keep our arrows pointed outward. Help us serve from the abundance of what You have already given us, not from a place of trying to earn anything.

Make a difference in us so that You can make a difference through us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

40 Years of Grace • Message Discussion Guide

40th Anniversary

Pastor Kendrick Vinar • May 21 & 24, 2026

This weekend we celebrated 40 years of Grace Church. Pastor Kendrick walked us through the story of God's faithfulness, from Jerry and Nan Daley starting a church in Chapel Hill in 1986 without knowing a single person, to Janelle Wall praying faithfully for this church for 40 years, to the stories of God moving through Christmas for All Nations, Grace Mart, glow sticks at Kenan Stadium, and the largest offering in our history going to support Yuriy's building. Through every win and every fail, God has been faithful. And the best is yet to come. The big idea is this: we didn't come this far to be keepers of the memorials. We're just getting started.

Icebreaker

What is your favorite Grace Church memory, whether you have been here 40 years or 40 days?

Key Bible Passages

  • Joshua 4:6-7 – Rocks of remembrance for the next generation.
  • Psalm 145:4 – One generation will commend Your works to another.
  • Philippians 1:6 – He who began a good work will carry it on.
  • Lamentations 3:22-23 – His mercies are new every morning.
  • Hebrews 12:1-2 – Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
  • Matthew 28:18-20 – Go and make disciples of all nations.

Next Steps

Keep loving people who walk through our doors:

  • Serve them. Love them. Point them to Jesus.

Keep opening our doors to every tongue, tribe, and nation:

  • Reach the broadest spectrum of our community as possible.

Go to the ends of the earth:

  • Serve the poor and needy. Advance the Kingdom. Give resources away.

Stay generous, prayerful, and rooted:

Raise up the next generation, stay true to the Word of God, and keep inviting the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and empower us.

Discussion Questions

1. Pastor Kendrick said God encourages us to retell stories to build faith. What's a "rock of remembrance" in your own life, a moment you can point to where you know God showed up?

2. Janelle Wall has prayed faithfully for Grace Church for over 40 years. Who is someone in your life that has prayed for you, mentored you, or believed in you in a way that shaped who you are today?

3. Pastor Kendrick said "we didn't come this far to be keepers of the memorials." What does it look like for you personally to keep moving forward in your faith instead of just looking back?

4. Looking at the "We will" list (love every person, reach every nation, serve the poor, stay generous, pray, raise up the next generation), which one is God stirring in your heart right now, and what's one step you can take this week to be part of it?

Prayer

God, thank You for 40 years of faithfulness to Grace Church.

Thank You for the men and women who went before us, who prayed, gave, served, and believed when this church was just an idea and a calling.

Keep us hungry. Keep us humble. Don't let us settle for being keepers of the memorials.

Lead us into the next chapter. Help us reach more people, build more lives, and carry Your name further than we ever have before.

In Jesus' name, amen.