As we explore the vision and teachings of Jesus over the course of this 5 week sermon series, we invite you to spend time reading through the Gospel of Luke using the following plan. Maybe you’ve never read a Gospel all the way through before. Or, maybe you have but it’s been a long time. No matter your background, we believe there is opportunity for fresh perspective on Jesus when we take time to...  Read More

Opening Prayer:God, Your mercies and grace renew daily. We ask that the same be true for our perspective this season. Give us a freshness, that we may experience this fellowship differently. We pray that the presence of your Holy Spirit will overflow and saturate our discussions. Thank you for creating us in your likeness. Our prayer is that this divine imprint will help us to love you with all ou...  Read More

I read a proverb recently that said, “a forest cannot be cut with a broken axe”. I took it to be about the importance of tending to ourselves. Resting. It is easy to get consumed in the work that must be done, the appointments we need to keep, the deadlines to meet, or the tasks to check off the list. We focus so much on what needs doing that we neglect the one doing it. As my own life gets busier...  Read More

The first meeting of any CoreGroup is a wonderful mix of excitement, nervousness, and potentially awkward pauses. Don’t worry, all of those things are normal.  Read More

Today someone asked me, “Matt, how are you doing?”. It is a routine question, I know. But, I froze. The person stared at me as I stumbled over what to say. We both laughed as I explained that I was feeling a little bit of emotional whiplash. He asked why? And I just shared all that had happened just in the past 24 hours: I was exhilarated from a meeting with leaders in our church, grieving with a ...  Read More

Last year I came upon the work of Priya Parker. She is trained in conflict resolution, works as a facilitator helping groups create meaningful gatherings, and she wrote the book The Art of Gathering. She argues that there are so many good reasons for gathering together that often we don't know exactly why we are gathering. The lack of clearly stated purpose for our gathering leads us to fall back ...  Read More