The Free Grace Alliance

Dear Friend of the Gospel, As you consider year end giving, would you consider helping the Free Grace Alliance? I'm prayerfully asking God to give us $25,000 or more. Would you help? The FGA turned 10 this year. And the need to "connect, encourage, and equip" is greater than ever! 2014 was a good year. We heard great speakers at the annual conference in October. Dr. Charlie Bing, one of the founding members of the FGA presented a excellent workshop about our history some of the misunderstandings about the Free Grace Movement. You can read his manuscript on our website (http://freegracealliance.com/). We held several regional conferences throughout the year. Many FGA members travelled around the world, helping to connect with, encourage, and equip church leaders who might otherwise not receive much grace-friendly training. As I was typing this appeal, a man who was one of my students in Ghana called me and thanked me (again) for the training we brought. All around the ...

After having great intentions of writing something each month, I find I am behind a month or two. Please forgive my tardiness! I have lots of excuses that I won't bore you with, but some of them are legitimate! I want to briefly address four ideas this month. First, how is the Free Grace message getting spread? I am leaving for Ghana two days after writing this and I know others of you travel to other countries. We'd like to know where you are going! Our mission is to "connect, encourage, and equip," and hearing about what God is doing through your work is a great way to encourage and be encouraged.   I know of trips either "on the books" or recently completed to Ghana, Finland, Burundi, Ukraine, Nepal, Philippines, India, Honduras, and Papua New Guinea. I'm sure there are others. Drop a note on Facebook and/or send a short write-up to our blog master, John Correia (pastorjohn@westgreenway.com), and we'll post it on the blog! Let us know, t...

                                                                                                                                           March, 2011 Dear FGA members and friends, One of the most strategic philosophies of the Free Grace movement over the years has been the tactic of focusing and groundin...

                                                                            “ T each us to number our days that we might present to you a heart of wisdom.” These are the ancient, wise words of Moses to Israel and to all of God’s people in any dispensation. We find ourselves with a new year before us with all the opportunities that the Lord will present to us. Might I suggest that we not only prioritize our schedule, but also and more importantly, schedule our priorities? Whether it is in our own spiritual lives or in the ministries that we serve, we all need a map or a matrix that we use to guide us to our desired go...

Dear FGA Members and Friends, Some feel that “the grace issue” is only a phenomenon of the American church as a result of strong Dortian Calvinism. But the truth be known, it seems that even as far as Africa the church has been infected by what me might call, “pseudo grace theology,” or perhaps “neo legalism.” The African church might not be as sophisticated in their theological articulation, but the error that has plagued the church of Jesus Christ from it very inception continues to infect both the church in America and Africa alike. One of our FGA members, Pastor John Correia, has just returned from Africa where he was teaching pastors about hermeneutics. While there, he had an interesting encounter regarding a works oriented salvation and the answer of grace theology. I would encourage you to read the article about his trip, Free Grace Theology in Africa . Many of you have received a brochure for the 2010 FGA National Conference October 4-6 in Irving, TX. As I see it, this...

Dear FGA friends, For those of you who were able to join us in Dallas for the FGA National Conference you know it was a great time of fellowshipping, listening and learning from one another, as well as worshiping the Lord together. Many people told me and others on the executive council that this was the best conference we have ever had. I think this is because of the tremendous slate of speakers we had this year.  Dr. Dave Anderson taught from the book of Hebrews and lifted our souls to heaven to worship the Cosmic Christ. Dr. Jody Dillow explored the problematic sections of the Sermon on the Mount and its impact on rewards. Our special guest, Dr. Michael Eaton, reminded us of the historical and theological realities of the doctrine of the assurance of salvation. Dr. Larry Moyer and Dr. Charlie Bing challenged us all to do the work of an evangelist and “get the gospel out” both in our “ Jerusalem ” and to the “uttermost parts of the earth”.  Additionally the fifteen worksh...

Dear FGA, I am haunted by the words of a life management guru, Steven Covey, “Anything less than a conscious decision for the important is an unconscious decision for the unimportant.” We who have dedicated our lives to the ministry of serving our Lord Jesus and leading the church must at times stop and ask the hard questions:   Am I living by the clock or the compass? Have I lost my bearings? Am I operating by the tyranny of the urgent and hence missing the important? There are many important issues in life. One of the most important ones for FGA is that we need to make sure we are intentionally discipling or mentoring young men and women in the faith and in grace theology. As I saw at the FGA national conference last month, there are many of us who - shall we say - are showing our age. Fortunately there were some who were of a new generation, of a younger ilk. We must make sure we are spending time and training up younger pastors and lay leaders to make sure they are well ver...

Dear FGA friends, For those of you who were able to join us in Dallas for the FGA National Conference you know it was a great time of fellowshipping, listening and learning from one another, as well as worshiping the Lord together. Many people told me and others on the executive council that this was the best conference we have ever had. I think this is because of the tremendous slate of speakers we had this year.   Dr. Dave Anderson taught from the book of Hebrews and lifted our souls to heaven to worship the Cosmic Christ. Dr. Jody Dillow explored the problematic sections of the Sermon on the Mount and its impact on rewards. Our special guest, Dr. Michael Eaton, reminded us of the historical and theological realities of the doctrine of the assurance of salvation. Dr. Larry Moyer and Dr. Charlie Bing challenged us all to do the work of an evangelist and “get the gospel out” both in our “Jerusalem” and to the “uttermost parts of the earth”.   Additionally the fifteen works...

Dear FGA Members and Friends, Some feel that “the grace issue” is only a phenomenon of the American church as a result of strong Dortian Calvinism. But the truth be known, it seems that even as far as Africa the church has been infected by what me might call, “pseudo grace theology,” or perhaps “neo legalism.” The African church might not be as sophisticated in their theological articulation, but the error that has plagued the church of Jesus Christ from it very inception continues to infect both the church in America and Africa alike. One of our FGA members, Pastor John Correia, has just returned from Africa where he was teaching pastors about hermeneutics. While there, he had an interesting encounter regarding a works oriented salvation and the answer of grace theology. I would encourage you to read the article about his trip, Free Grace Theology in Africa. Many of you have received a brochure for the 2010 FGA National Conference October 4-6 in Irving, TX. As I see it, this is ...

Dear Friends of FGA, The great British statesman Benjamin Disraeli declared "The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example." We of the Free Grace Alliance have been privileged to know some of the heroes of grace and as such we have inherited a great example. But our culture, both secular and sacred, is experiencing a massive change of both chronos and kairos. Therefore, the seminal question that must be asked and answered is: “How are we transferring both the passion and knowledge of Free Grace theology to the next generation?” Having been a pastor and a professor during the past 35 years, I know that truth is both caught and taught. I also know that time is tough to control in the ministry. The urgent often wins over the important. But we must never simply live by the clock at the expense of the compass. So the “compass question” for all of us is this:  How are we doing in our intentional discipling of the next generation of ...