danielgriswold

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Jesus Heals Us Of Un-Godly Expectations

Jesus Heals Us of Un-Godly Expectations

by Pastor Dan Griswold Last Sunday I visited two churches (Church on the Bend and Duncan Chapel) and preached the text of the liturgy: Luke 6:17-26. Jesus is surrounded by people who desire healing and from the greater context of these events, the people came from all walks of life and there were myriads of purposes as folks sought their needs and desires from Jesus. It was clear he had become a…

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God is Planting a New Thing to Grow in 2025 - Our Hope in Jesus Christ

God is giving us hope for 2025! Let's see what God can do as we continue to listen to His Spirit in this New Year. A message from Pastor Dan as we head forward.

Reflections on our first months of work “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24 by Pastor Dan Griswold Imagine that God would place a calling on the lives of several people to step out into the wilderness to do something new. Ok – this isn’t a new concept; in fact, this is the core of the…

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Lowcountry Church Plant First Goals: Finding a Home, God's Workers, and Seeking an Office

Mark your Calendar: Lowcountry Church Plant Small Group Worship Gathering You’re invited to our next Worship Time together in Hanahan with our first Cell Group of families joining together to discern God’s will and encourage one another in discipleship. Our next time together is on Saturday September 7th at 4:30 pm. Send Pastor Dan a message (dgriswold@gmcofsc.org) or send a text message to…

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Beyond Outrage: A Christian Response to the 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony Controversy

Beyond Outrage: A Christian Response to the 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony Controversy

I feel sorry for athletes who have spent their entire lives readying themselves for a moment of global competition only to be upstaged by an edgy art display. It has been done so many times, I may be jaded, but sacrilegious artwork has been thoroughly normalized during my lifetime. I’m hoping we can simply discard the spectacle that was meant to cause controversy, dispense with rage, and double…

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First Steps: Pastor Dan Griswold on Officially Launching "The Lowcountry Church Plant"

A lot of folks have been wondering about my next steps as a Church Planter and after deep prayer we've set out a pattern for what Amanda and I think God is doing. Read this blog and consider joining me on this journey as we step into our next adventure.

“And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.’” -Luke 14:23 Some Background and Heart for Church Planting in the Lowcountry of SC Only 8 years ago I was sent to serve as pastor to three rural churches in Ridgeville, SC. A leader of Mount Tabor, Wallace Muckenfuss, drove me through pine forests and told me that…

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Personal Remarks and Action on the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, 2024

I committed to becoming a United Methodist at Saint Andrew By-The-Sea UMC on Hilton Head Island, SC in the year 2010 after having been a member for a year and realizing I was called to ministry as an Elder in the general church. Having been reared in the Assemblies of God, I had Wesleyan DNA but had never read John Wesley’s sermons, writings, or notes; so I began to read and realized I am a…

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Seeking Our Home (to Old Finlandia)

In my quiet time today I asked God if I should write a song about what I was feeling as I prayed for the peoples across the globe (migrants) and it came to me that I might be able to rewrite "Be Still My Soul" to "Seeking Our Home".

Due to wars decimating infrastructure, environmental instability, tribal conflicts, community violence, and a myriad of other reasons – people are on the move globally. In my current class on Non-Governmental Organizations and Mission, we considered how many people are on the move and considered the Biblical Mandate to welcome the stranger among us. Of course, we also have to consider that we…

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A Psalm of Revival - A Personal Song of Pain, Salvation, and Hope

Background: In a moment of spiritual burden, I find myself talking with God and in the conversation the Spirit leaves impressions and movements that lead me in new paths of peace. Today I was feeling a heavy spiritual burden and desired to write something down that maybe one day can be reformulated to guitar and become something to share. Those who read the Psalms may recognize that the language…

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Struggles in Christian Hierarchies: Napoleon in the Church

Struggles in Christian Hierarchies: Napoleon in the Church

My personal news feed is stacked with articles from business research organizations that give thoughts on how to make one’s organization more effective in its missions and purposes. I stumbled across this article on the Graduate School of Stanford Business webpage titled “How Power Struggles Escalate”. It rang a bell in my soul because (1) My denomination The United Methodist Church is in the…

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A Pastoral Message for Pentecost

Dear Friends, “In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to me, ‘Flee like a bird to the mountains, for look, the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’” Psalm 11:1-3 I write this letter to you during a somber mood. Our last Sunday morning worship reflected on…

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A Pastoral Letter to North Charleston United Methodist Church

The Cross on North Charleston United Methodist’s Steeple Some of our congregation may have noticed that our church was mentioned in a newspaper article intended to be about the current trend of clergy members facing burnout and leaving the ministry. At first I was a bit mad because it didn’t portray our church in the light I have seen for the last nine months. I keep thinking to myself: “a page…

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Your Politics Are Religious Whether You Realize It Or Not

If everyone is religious in some way, and all people have a part in creating the political environment, there needs to be some way for us to re-…Your Politics Are Religious Whether You Realize It Or Not

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Being a Pastor Post Covid-19

Personal thoughts on being a Pastor Post Covid-19. A lament but with hope for revival.

What is it like being a pastor of three congregations right now in the midst of such an unusual crisis? What is it like being a rural pastor, where people can tell you more in a hug or a handshake than in an hour of conversation? How has ministry continued in the midst of a complete shutdown of physical attendance in our sanctuaries, and visitation in our homes as we “social distance” from one…

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Why I Support Women In Ordained Ministry Biblically

I’ve been asked why I support the Biblical case that women should be ordained into the ministry, I realize that this is something that is hard to consider when the tradition we have grown from doesn’t accept this case. At one time I wondered but I don’t after much study into the scriptures (including the few parts that seem at first to exclude women from teaching men) which is the ruler to teach…

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What Is A Wesleyan? Dr. Vic Reasoner Dr. Vic Reasoner answers the question in this talk “What is a Wesleyan”. For the folks in our churches with some hunger for a bit of meat, spend an hour taking notes on this podcast.

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A Great Speech: “Men Have Forgotten God” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

A Great Speech: “Men Have Forgotten God” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“Men Have Forgotten God” – The Templeton Address by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 

More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.

Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our…

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My Personal Thoughts on Division in the United Methodist Church

God called me into the United Methodist Church only 10 years ago. I was reading a lot of John Wesley and had read a bit of the discipline. I had observed the polity and practical theology, and seeing that the movement was geared towards getting people into mission for Christ through a great network called Connectionalism, I joined the family. Being a history guy, I became fascinated by the…