SA Heals fosters relationships with kids – one child at a time August 2016
Recipe for Transformed Lives Serving more than 4,000 families each month, the Christian Hope Resource Center is making a difference in San Antonio’s westside. PG 7
First World Problems How living a life of privilege can cause us to miss an opportunity to become a blessing in the world around us. PG 9
Serving San Antonio and the Surrounding Communities Since 2001
VOL.16 — NO. 8
GRACE POINT CHURCH ‘WON’T BACK DOWN’ AFTER 3-ALARM BLAZE.
Preparing Kids For College In the blink of an eye, our kids will be wearing a cap and gown. It’s never too early to get them ready for the big send-off. PG 14
Peanut Butter Bowl A rebranded football classic brings the community together with a vision to defeat child hunger in San Antonio. PG 19
by AMY MORGAN, Beacon Content Director amy@saBeacon.com
Senior Pastor Jeff Harris received a call Father’s Day evening anyone would dread – Grace Point Church, located at 9650 Huebner Road, which he has led for the past 23 of its 25 years, was on fire. Thankfully, no one was in the building. The subsequent 3-alarm blaze, thought to be caused by an electrical malfunction, rendered the approximately 30,0000 square-foot sanctuary and worship center unusable.
But that did not stop the church. Due in large part to the outpouring of
support from other churches, Harris preached a sermon inspired by Nehemiah 6:3, with a nod to Tom Petty, the very next Sunday in their transformed youth building. “We won’t back down,” Harris said. “What God has called us to do is too important.” His theme included a video clip from Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” as a rallying cry, he said, noting Petty wrote the song in response to his own home burning. “It’s a paraphrase of Nehemiah 6:3 in a modern way, “ Harris added. Long before the fire, Harris had been actively pursuing relationships with churches across San Antonio. “We’ve been working for a decade to build good rapport for unifying churches in
our city,” Harris said. “We just went through the Believe study with 20 churches in the city, which was an initial example of what unification can look like. “We’ve hosted the Global Leadership Summit for 15 years. We’ve been sowing unity and sowing the Church, and I think God honors that – in some way we’ve been reaping what we sow.” “Because of the Christ Together movement we’re starting – in a weird way, the fire has helped out. We’ve been working on unity in the city - sometimes God answers your prayers in really unique ways - if it needs to be through a fire so be it,” he added. continued on page 2