4 Thoughts on Movement

Camp always leaves a trail of movement behind it

It was exciting to hear from both students and leaders how God moved in them at camp! Hearing the challenges God presented of sharing the gospel through your story, making space for people who are seeking gospel community, believing you're forgiven, and even letting go of control was inspiring!

The crew on stage did a great job of sharing what God did and what he's calling them to!

Even more than that, it was exciting to hear about Kenny helping several other students and their families begin to process faith decisions, callings, and wrestling with the growth happening in their spiritual lives.

God moved at camp! But there's a trail of movement following behind it as well..

Sending moves us to learn, learning moves us to send

What an honor for our church family to be sending out Sherry to her medical mission trip in Uganda! I don't want us to ever take for granted all that God has done and entrusted us with when we get to send people and teams out. What an opportunity! Not only to share the gospel, but to learn!

One of the greatest opportunities of sending is to learn how to be the church from the global church. That's a game changer!

One of the things I consistently hear from missionaries around the world is that we have to get back to educating young people about the value of going to the nations. We have to tell them the stories of those who went and invite them to go!

Did you know you can read the stories of those we're sending at imb.org?

I happened to look one up from Uganda where we're sending Sherry. This one details a missionary couples first year there while trying to help achieve the goal of not just reaching Ugandans, but also sending them as missionaries! Check it out!

Sending moves us to learn. And as we learn, it moves us to send.

You never know how quickly the clouds will move on

Juniper Hills is always a fun summer outing for our church! Last night we were watching the radar and it looked like everything was going to clear out ahead of time. But as I pulled into the park, water drops hit my windshield and the sky was dark despite the radar showing nothing!

When I got out of the car, you could tell that the wind was carrying the clouds out quickly. Minutes later, the sun was shining!

As I reflected on it today, it made me think about grief and sadness. It often lingers longer than we want it to. We expect it to clear out sooner than it often does. Sometimes we fear it's going to ruin our plans. But you never know how quickly the clouds will move on. And suddenly, the Lord has ushered you into a season of light and warmth. Praise God for the Spirit's work in us!

Gospel movement always starts beneath the surface

This week I heard about several bible studies and personal outreach efforts that several of our CCC members are making that I knew nothing about. It's nothing new that I'm not in the know, but it was a great reminder to me that gospel movement and the transformation of people's lives always starts beneath the surface. It's those small invites and planted seeds in everyday conversations that spark movement that's only realized much later on.

So do something small today. 

Give God a few minutes to start something in you.

Take a small chance and invite someone into your life.

Embrace that outsiders life.

Get outside your comfort zone. 

And join Jesus in whatever he calls you to next.