Welcome to the first episode of the Grace Episcopal Outreach Mission Spotlight, a new series on the Glimpses of Grace podcast highlighting community partners supported by the Grace Episcopal Outreach Ministry in Gainesville and Hall County, Georgia. Each episode features local organizations making a measurable impact through service, advocacy, and compassionate support.

Featured Organization: Bloom Enterprises (Gainesville, GA)

In this episode, we spotlight Bloom Enterprises, a Hall County nonprofit dedicated to empowering adults with different abilities. Their mission is rooted in inclusion, dignity, and faith-based community support. Bloom Enterprises works to ensure that adults with different abilities can participate fully in community life and experience meaningful opportunities for growth, contribution, and connection.

Mission Statement: “To support, encourage and empower adults with different abilities to participate as contributing members of their community and to enrich their quality of life. Our faith-based organization aims to celebrate each person’s value while shining a light on inclusion in all that we do.”

Guest Interview

Our guest is Cathy Drerup, Chairperson of Bloom Enterprises. Cathy shares the organization’s vision, the motivation behind their work, and the values that sustain their mission of inclusion in the Gainesville–Hall County community.

Learn More & Get Involved

Discover Bloom Enterprises’ programs, volunteer opportunities, and ways to support their mission at bloomga.org.

Learn more about Grace Episcopal Outreach Mission at https://www.gracechurchgainesville.org/grace-church-outreach-ministry-spotlight-on-funding-recipients/.

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin

We may feel we know the story of the shepherd, the sheep, and the gate very well, but in this Gospel reading, Jesus offers a powerful teaching that invites us to use our imagination in a new way. How can we use our spiritual muscles and explore the profound insights that rise within us as we examine our faith? We remember once more that, in the end, it is not we who read these stories but the stories that read us.

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Readings

• Acts 2:42-47
• Peter 2:19-25
• John 10:1-10

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed.D.

This sermon invites listeners into the Emmaus story not as observers, but as companions on the road. Inspired by the Ignatian Examen, it explores how Christ meets us not in certainty but in brokenness and quiet recognition. In the breaking of bread and turning back toward life, we discover that even in what we had hoped would be different, God is still drawing near.

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Reading:

Luke 24:13-35

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin

Christ has risen, Alleluia! Now comes the hard part. The disciples are left in confusion. When Jesus returns the disciples struggle to recognize him. Christ has been raised from the dead, but we do not receive a quick fix to our daily struggles. How do we take Christ's message and see the world through different eyes? How do we navigate life now?

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Reading:

John 20:19-31

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin

The resurrection of Christ marks a time of celebration and joy, a welcome rebirth, but overly relying on familiar customs lets us bypass the deep soul work that the resurrection of Christ calls for. How can we, as Fr. Brandon said during the Great Vigil, "set the world aglow?" When our life is our practice, how do we fan the flames and become the resurrection of Christ? How do we become all fire?

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed.D.

"Returning to the Fire" invites us into the mystery at the heart of the Easter Vigil, where light emerges not by avoiding darkness but by entering it. Tracing the journey through soil, water, and breath, this sermon centers on the fire that has always marked God’s presence—guiding, refining, and rekindling life where hope feels lost. In a world of uncertainty, it calls us to become participants in that living flame, carrying resurrection not just as belief, but as practice.

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, DMin

So much in our modern world is obsessed with personal desires and power, and a spirit of greed and ambition saturates all aspects of our lives. Good Friday challenges us to become aware of the deep power of Jesus Christ: that in self-emptying and compassion, we are healed together and brought into wholeness.

For episode transcripts and more about Grace Episcopal Church, visit online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gracechurchgainesville.org⁠/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Reading:
John 18:1-19:42

Musical Reflection:
Were you there?
James Marshall, bass
Spiritual, arr. Harry T. Burleigh

Music by permission under www.OneLicense.net (license number A-701954)

Rev. Brandon Nonnemaker, Ed.D.

This sermon reflects on the disorienting tenderness of Jesus’ final night with his disciples, where love takes the unexpected shape of kneeling to wash feet. In a moment that confuses and unsettles, Jesus invites his followers—not to understand everything—but to trust and receive a love that feels both intimate and undeserved. “Love to the End” calls us to be transformed by that love, so that we might embody it for one another, even when we do not yet fully understand it.

Reading
John 13:1-17, 31b-35