Sunday School 9:00 am — Morning Service 10:15 am — Evening Service 6:00 pm — Wednesday Evening 7:00 pm
Pastor David Cannon
I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at about the age of 14. Ed Regensburg, my neighbor’s boyfriend, had been involved in the hippie culture prevalent in the early 1970s and his life suddenly seemed to change overnight. On a late summer night while sitting on my neighbor’s front lawn Ed asked me plainly whether or not I knew I would go to heaven if I had died that night. I told him I certainly hoped so, but I could not say for sure. Ed then shared the Gospel with me that night and left a little Gospel tract for me to read. I took that tract up to my bedroom that evening, got down on my knees next to my bed and put my faith in Christ that night.
Pastor Dave Cannon was born in Emmaus, PA. Pastor Cannon received his his B.S. in Secondary Ed. From 1987-1992 he continued post-grad work at Kent State University. After sensing God might be directing him toward the ministry, he returned to school and completed a Master of Divinity program in 1996. He has four extensive units of Biblical counseling training, and will soon be completing his Doctor of Ministry degree.
God had arranged an opportunity for Dave and his wife to be involved in a non-denominational ministry in northeastern Ohio where he oversaw their Ministry of Youth and Children for 5 years. Subsequent to this, God directed them to Grace Church of Parma to pastor this church plant for two and one half years and in 1999 have been called to be part of Grace Church of Mentor's ministry, serving God and His people in Mentor as Assistant/Outreach Pastor. Dave enjoys spending time with his wife, Stephanie and daughter Allison.
Pastor's Purpose Statement
Show me a healthy child, and I think I could tell you something about his life. He probably has a good appetite for nourishing food. What's more, he more than likely grows best as his body uses the nutrients for the purpose they were designed-hard work, maintenance of body growth, and warding off diseases. He will likely face all sorts of ailments if his body no longer uses what it takes in through labor and maintenance of personal health.
You suspect a spiritual parallel here, don't you? Possibly one of the greatest burdens I have for the local church is that its saved members so often struggle in one particularly crucial area which Peter at the conclusion of his second epistle called "growth in grace." They are saved but often joyless and unsettled. They are born again but burdened with sin habits and laboring quietly under a growing load of what some call "depression." They are redeemed but their families are self-destructing. And we are not talking about lost people-this is Christ's own church! Where is the answer?
Ephesians 4:11-16 gives us several keys to spiritual health among believers. First, they are nourished and equipped with the Scriptures through the formal ministry of God's Word (v. 11), not in order to focus upon themselves but so they might honor Christ through building up His people. Paul intentionally calls your new focus the "work of the ministry" (v. 12). What are the delightful results of a well-nourished believer who labors to evangelize and disciple others? Well, one fruit is true Biblical unity. Not the feeble, counterfeit kind, which in an effort to "make peace" with anything that bears the label of "Christian," sells out Biblical truth it considers distasteful or inconvenient. No. The kind of sweet harmony among believers who diligently search the Scriptures to know God's Son and His will (v. 13) and guard it zealously. And look at this believer! How is he? He is becoming settled and stable (Is this a need in the Christian church today?!), his words increasingly filled with God's truth (v. 15) and his life lived for God's glory. Beginning to grow in grace, he finds that God is steadily freeing him from the "me-centered" bent of sin. He is becoming what God intended all along-a "spiritual mirror" brilliantly reflecting attention and glory back to the Christ Who is changing him. God is restoring His purpose to the believer's life and the believer begins to delight in God as never before. That is what we long to see and believe God is doing at Grace Church!
To God be the glory, great things He is doing! Accept our invitation to come and see.
You can email Pastor Cannon at DaveCannon@gracechurchmentor.org.