Throughout our lives we have been so blessed with friendships and ministry opportunities.
This blog is meant to share what God has been doing in, for and through us.
It is also used as a resource page for teaching and preaching Dave has had the opportunity to do.
We do this for the purpose of GLORIFYING GOD and HELPING OTHERS GLORIFY GOD.
This Gospel Saturated prayer is from Gaining by Losing and other Greear books. He wrote about it HERE
The gospel prayer has four parts. The 1st two parts lead us inward, helping us to renew our minds in God’s acceptance of us and the value of that acceptance to us:(1) “In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done, or could do, that would make You love me less.”(2) “Your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.”Part 3 of the prayer has us consider what responding to the grace of the gospel looks like. Understanding God’s generosity toward us should lead us to radical generosity toward others.(3) “As You have been to me, so I will be to others.”Part 4 of the prayer helps us see our world through the lens of the gospel. If the cross really does reveal God’s compassion for sinners and His resurrection His power to save them, then our prayers on their behalf should be audacious and bold:(4) “As I pray, I’ll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power the by the resurrection.”I’ve prayed this prayer every day now for the last few years. You know what? It’s finally starting to sink in. I hope you have some way, if not this, of saturating your mind in the revolutionary, turn-religion-upside-down, fight-the-latent-idolatry-and-works-righteousness-within-you truth of the gospel.
O.K. about a year and a half ago I read a bookGaining by Losing by J.D. Greear. I posted about it a couple of times on our church blog. You can read these posts at www.emmanuelbaptist.com/tag/gaining-by-losing/
This past week Pastor Duke let me know that he wanted to encourage the church to read this book especially because Missions Emphasis Month. The subtitle of the book reflects a great Missions theme Why the Future Belongs to Churches That Send. So over the last two days I have been rereading sections of this book and getting knocked around by the Holy Spirit because of some things Greear wrote in this challenging book.
Here is one specific thing I have been thinking/processing through....
An Honest, Hard Evaluation of EBC's Soul Care Ministry. I want to share some incomplete thoughts with you to help us improve the disciple-making work of Emmanuel
One of the quotes that really challenged my thinking about Soul Care is
"Maybe the worst failure for a church is success in things that aren't producing reproducing disciples." (139)
Here is a specific question Greear asks in relationship to this quote.
"Are our small group ministries raising up new leaders to plant new groups?"
Now here comes the processing part for me. Please read through to the end
In many ways, I feel like Soul Care has been successful.
This year, I believe we have over 225 people in groups.
Over the 5 + years we have been doing Soul Care, attendance has either remained steady or slightly grown. I have spoken with a couple of people who said they thought the small group ministry would lose enthusiasm or die after awhile.
Many people are connecting in a deeper way with others in the church. I have seen this in my own groups. This includes deeper prayer requests and talking about real life personal problems
At the same time, I think of the Greear quote and question above and cannot help but think our Soul Care ministry has not been as fruitful as I would like (Note the use of the word fruitful not successful here).
While it has maintained, it has not grown.
I want to be very clear that I am not saying we need to have hundreds of people in groups. I believe the FIRST and primary mark of a healthy small group is CHRIST-CENTEREDNESS. However, the growth I am talking about is growth in the number of leaders and growth in the ways people engage with others outside of their current group.
We still have about the same number of groups. In years when we have had growth, the average number of people in a group has grown.
This addresses the first growth issue: the number of leaders.
As I think about and evaluate the ministry I am not sure how well we are doing at "producing reproducing disciples."
This addresses the second growth issue: the ways people engage with others outside of their current group.
This is not a "poor Pastor Dave" post, so please know
I don't need encouragement, pats on the back and "You are doing a great job. I wouldn't change anything" statements.
I do need your prayers, just like all of our pastors, and help in equipping disciples to be disciple makers. This help could be in the form of suggestions and even more so in each and every one of us evaluating our own lives in light of the Great Commission.
One of the Plumb lines in the book is "Prayer Doesn't Fuel the Ministry. Prayer is the Ministry." You can read more about this Plumb line at www.jdgreear.com/my_weblog/2016/09/prayer-doesnt-prepare-for-ministry-prayer-is-the-ministry.html I would appreciate your thoughts/responses to this post. You can either comment below for everyone, which would be best, or email me at soulcare@emmanuelbaptist.com.
Transformation is this year's theme for EBC and our Missions Emphasis Month.Are you desiring to be transformed personally?Are we, as a church, desiring to be transformed as a church?J.D. Greear, who is the pastor you watched the first two weeks in the Gospel at Work class, has written a book entitled Gaining By Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches That Send. that will make you think about evangelism, the Great Commission, and the church. Here is the Amazon summary of the book.
When Jesus gave the Great Commission, he revealed that the key for reaching the world with the gospel is found in sending, not gathering. Many churches focus time and energy on attracting people and counting numbers–while the real mission of the church is about training up disciples and then sending them out. It’s about sending capacity, not seating capacity! In Gaining By Losing, J.D. Greear unpacks ten kingdom principles—plumb lines—that you can use to realign your church’s priorities around God’s mission to reach a lost world. To see ministry multiply, we must release the seeds God has placed in our hands. The good news is that you don’t need to choose between gathering or sending. Effective churches can, and must, do both
You can purchase a copy of this purchase at amazon.com or at Lifeway, who will match online prices. Before you purchase the book check out these twenty quotes that will help you understand what the book is about.
Jesus did not say come and grow but come and die. (17)
We live by losing. We gain by giving away. What we achieve by building our personal platform will never be as great as what God achieves through what we give away in faith. (18)
Study after study shows that most Christians have never even shared their faith—most indicating that somewhere 90 percent of evangelicals have never shared their faith with anyone outside of their family. (22)
The church is now Jesus’ vehicle for the completion of his mission. Jesus finished the purchase of our salvation, paying the full price for our sin on the cross and shattering the powers of death in the resurrection, but the mission of salvation is not yet complete. (31)
Blessing the community might certainly include growing a big church, but it would also mean giving away some of our resources. (42)
A “sending” ministry always starts with a heart exam. Sending out people and giving away your resources, you see, will most often compete with your church’s “bottom line,” not benefit it. (44)
Ask yourself, “Are there mission fields in our backyards that could contribute to the global spread of the gospel that we have overlooked because they don’t enhance the bottom line of our church? (46)
The question is no longer if we are called, only where and how. The call to follow him is the call to be sent and to send. (49)
The cross of Christ provided Paul with the motive for sacrifice, a measure for his sacrifice, and a mission in his sacrifice (2 Cor. 5:14–21). Paul wanted to see others reconciled to God as he had been reconciled. (62)
This intensity to do comes only from being soaked in the message of what God has done. (63)
It is neither guilt over what you are not doing nor excitement over how God might bless you that produces true, lifelong generosity. It is deep gratitude for what Christ has already done for you. Remembering the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ does more to compel generosity than a hundred sermons that pummel you with guilt. (66)
Serving Jesus at work is about far more than giving a Christian theme to your business or staging awkward conversations about Jesus. It is about doing your work for the glory of God and the benefit of his creation and leveraging appropriate opportunities to make disciples as you go through life. (81)
Amazement led to attraction; attraction led to observation; observation led to confrontation and worship. (96)
Get this: Of the 40 miracles recorded in Acts, 39 happen outside the church walls. (105)
For those of us in the Western church, I think we are at a crucial decision point. I love seeing big audiences gathered to hear the gospel, but if we want to reach the next generation, we are going to have to equip our people to reach them outside the church. (107)
What Jesus did on earth for his thirty-three years was only what he began to do and teach. The book of Acts is about what he continued to do and teach—no longer through his incarnated body, but through his Spirit in the church. (116)
If you want to be a “sending” church, you have to develop a process for producing leaders. Without a process, it is unlikely you will move the leadership needle much in your church. As the old saying goes, insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. (125)
God calls his leaders, not to a platform to build a great ministry for themselves, but to an altar where they die unto themselves. This means sending out our best with abandon. (131)
Let me be clear: The church’s primary objective is to preach the gospel, not to beautify the city, care for the poor, or renovate the ghettos. That’s because the gospel testifies to what God has done to save the world, not what we can do. The gospel is an announcement about Christ’s finished work. (138)
In the Bible, we find no gap between the call to follow Jesus and the call to engage in mission. (172)
Here are some pictures from our Soul Care group last night! We had 26 people there. Let me explain why we had this many people and moved it to the church.
Our Wednesday group has several families who have middle schoolers. Well, last night the high winds knocked the electricity out at the school and our youth building. So we had to think fast.
We moved our meeting place from our house to the church and planned an evening of brief sermon discussion, prayer, and family interaction. Now here is where it gets fun. Enjoy the following dress up pictures then read the explanation of what we did.
After reading the passage of scripture from this past week's message we played two games that connected with the Soul Care notes. The first was a "put on and put off" game. You saw the pictures above.
Even one of the younger kids
got in on the fun.
The second activity was different mixed groups had to pick which one of six pictures they liked the most and liked the least. After these two games, we discussed the "Put On and Put Off" passage and the Colossians 3:12 - 17 and talked about things we need to "put off" and "put on" especially as it relates to love. We also talked about what we need to love more and love less. Then we prayed. I asked one person to pray for George Collins, GAP (Global Access Partners) and the Akha Baptist Church. I asked another person to pray for our missionary family in general. Then, I closed our prayer time. We started at 6:45 ended around 7:50. People stuck around, talked and played games until about 8:30. It was a great night.
This morning I did staff devotions at Emmanuel Christian School and we started with this quiz.
What is the generation name for the following birth years? (The answers are at the end of this post)
Born 1996 and later.
Born 1977 to 1995.
Born 1965 to 1976.
Born 1946 to 1964.
Born 1925 to 1945
Born 1910 - 1924
For the Bible devotional, I used this week's Fighter Verses
Psalm 103:15 - 17.
As for man, his days are like grasshe flourishes like a flower of the field;for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more.But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear himand his righteousness to children's children,
The reference to man's days being so short is is not merely to remind men how short life is
EVEN MORE SO it meant to remind us of how AWESOME our God is!
You can see this clearer when you read Psalm 103:1-17.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,and all that is within me,bless his holy name!Bless the Lord, O my soul,and forget not all his benefits,who forgives all your iniquitywho heals all your diseases,who redeems your life from the pitwho crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,who satisfies you with goodso that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.The Lord works righteousnessand justice for all who are oppressed.He made known his ways to Moseshis acts to the people of Israel.The Lord is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.He will not always chidennor will he keep his anger forever.He does not deal with us according to our sinsnor repay us according to our iniquities.For as high as the heavens are above the earthso great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;as far as the east is from the west,so far does he remove our transgressions from us.As a father shows compassion to his children,so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.For he knows our framehe remembers that we are dust.As for man, his days are like grasshe flourishes like a flower of the field;for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more.BUT the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear himand his righteousness to children's children,
God, who is to be blesssed,
forgives
heals
redeems
is loving and merciful
satisfies you with good
works righteousness and justice
He does all these things forever, from generation to generation.
God's steadfast is from everlasting to everlasting on every centennial who fears him!
God's steadfast is from everlasting on every millennial who fears him!
God's steadfast is from everlasting on every Baby Boomer who fears him!
God's steadfast is from everlasting on every person in the Silent Generation who fears him!
God's steadfast is from everlasting on every person of is part of the Greatest Generation who fears him!
Answers:
iGen, Gen Z or Centennials: Born 1996 and later.
Millennials or Gen Y: Born 1977 to 1995.
Generation X: Born 1965 to 1976.
Baby Boomers: Born 1946 to 1964.
Traditionalists or Silent Generation: Born 1925 to 1945
Why do you watch the movies and TV shows you watch? Why do you read the books you read? Why do you listen to the music you listen to? Do you realize that entertainment is much more than entertainment?
Writing about “entertainment” choices is tricky because many “entertainment” choices touch our hearts. They make us feel good. “Entertainment” choices also impact our thinking. They educate us. I have used quotation marks with the word entertainment because what we watch or listen to is usually so much more than mere amusement. It is my prayer that each of us would carefully consider our entertainment choices in light of Scripture. “The Shack,” a movie coming out on March 3, is based on William P. Young’s 2007, best-selling (20 million) book. There has been much written about the book and the upcoming movie. Tim Challies wrote a 13-page review that deals with specific doctrinal errors the book contains. I would strongly recommend reading this review. One of the most important sections of the review is on Scripture & Revelation. One of the two biggest problems in the book and thus the movie is the downplaying of Scripture and the overemphasizes of personal experience. Challies writes “When we admit God has not, in the Bible, said all that He needs to say to us, we open the doors for all manner of new revelation much of which may contradict the Bible.” In “The Shack,” Young tells the tragic story of Mack and the subsequent renewal of his faith through an experience at the same shack where his murdered daughter’s clothes were found. At the shack, Mack has a face-to-face encounter with God the Father – a woman, God the Son – a middle-aged man and “God the Holy Spirit” – a woman. This representation of each part of the Trinity in human form is the second major problem with the book and especially the movie. In another post about the movie, Challies writes this “to portray the Spirit is to vastly misrepresent the Spirit; to portray the Spirit is to blaspheme the Spirit.” The same could be said of portraying God the Father.I understand this post may not keep you from watching “The Shack.” I also know that as a pastor of a local church it is my responsibility to equip the church to think and act Biblically. I am writing this post, not as a slam against a movie but rather out of a desire to make much of God and a desire to help others make much of God. At the beginning of this post I tried to explain the challenge of writing about “entertainment.” I know people who have read “The Shack” and said, “It is just a book.” I also know people who have read “The Shack” and said, “It is a great book that gave me a different perspective of God.” Here is a quote to consider...
Last month, Mom's Matter was going to cover the topic of self-esteem
but the meeting was canceled because of bad weather.
This month the moms will receive a copy of the booklet Self Esteem.
I wanted to share a couple of things I was planning to share in January.
Leslie Vernick "Instead of looking to God to tell us who we are, as fallen human beings we seek external sources to tell us who we are. When we do that, instead of feeling secure and loved, we become self-concious, self-focused, self-centered, and self-absorbed." (p. 7)
The booklet goes on to address two big ideas:
The six false voices we allow to define our value and worth
The one way we are truly changed.
As part of my message I was going to share a personal experience in which God used His Word to change my thinking from self-focused to God-focused.
Here are two blog posts where I shared this time.
Now I want to remind parents of an important very practical point.
We need to model this God-focused thinking to our children AND we need to help them think this way.
Here is a quote and some Bible verses to help parents do this and teach this...
"How God thinks of us is not only more important [than how we think of him], but infinitely more important." C.S. Lewis
Psalm 8:3-6
Psalm 139
Romans 5:6-8
Ephesians 1:4-5
Here is the bottom line.
All of us are worshippers.
Who are you worshipping?
Who are you training your children to worship?
Here are some questions and thoughts for you and your small group to think about.
What is the context of the imperatives? Here are some questions to help you think about this.
Who are we and what has God done for us through Jesus?
Is Romans 12:1-8 written to an individual or a group? Why is this important?
New Morning Mercies from July 12.
Life in this fallen world is hard. That’s why you need a community of love.
One of the themes that courses through the New Testament and is a repeated theme of this devotional is that your walk with God is designed by God to be a community project. Anonymous, consumerist, isolated, independent, self-sufficient, “Jesus and me” Christianity is a distant and distorted facsimile of the faith of the New Testament. You and I simply were not created (“ It is not good that the man should be alone”; Gen. 2: 18) or re-created in Jesus Christ (“ For the body does not consist of one member but of many”; 1 Cor. 12: 14) to live all by ourselves. The biblical word pictures of the temple (stones joined together to be a place where God dwells) and body (each member dependent on the function of the other) decimate any idea that healthy Christianity can live outside of this essential community. Yet many, many believers live their lives with a huge separation between their public church personas and the details of their private existence. We are skilled at brief, nonpersonal conversations about the weather, sports, and politics. We are learned at giving either nonanswers or spiritually platitudinous answers to people’s questions. We live in long-term networks of terminally casual relationships. No one really knows us beneath the well-crafted public display, and because they don’t know us, they cannot minister to us, because no one can minister to that which he does not know. Moreover, we think we know ourselves and we think we’re okay, forgetting the blinding power of sin. That’s why
Yet many, many believers live their lives with a huge separation between their public church personas and the details of their private existence. We are skilled at brief, nonpersonal conversations about the weather, sports, and politics. We are learned at giving either nonanswers or spiritually platitudinous answers to people’s questions. We live in long-term networks of terminally casual relationships. No one really knows us beneath the well-crafted public display, and because they don’t know us, they cannot minister to us, because no one can minister to that which he does not know. Moreover, we think we know ourselves and we think we’re okay, forgetting the blinding power of sin. That’s why
Moreover, we think we know ourselves and we think we’re okay, forgetting the blinding power of sin. That’s why church is, for many of us, nothing more than a thing to attend on Sunday. Church is a formal set of activities. Church is a buffet of regularly scheduled, demographically designed religious offerings. Church is a place where music can be enjoyed and sermons can be heard. Church is what connects us to worldwide missions. Church provides wholesome activities for our children. But church isn’t an interdependent, webbed-together community of personally focused love and grace for us all.
But the Bible is clear. When each part is working properly, the body of Christ grows to maturity in Christ (see Ephesians 4). We each need to live in an intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven redemptive community. This community is meant to enlighten and protect. It is meant to motivate and encourage. It is meant to rescue and restore. It is meant to instill hope and courage. It is meant to confront and rebuke. It is meant to guide and protect. It is meant to give vision and sound warnings. It is meant to incarnate the love and grace of Jesus when you feel discouraged and alone. It is meant to be a visible representation of the grace of Jesus that is your hope. It is not a luxury. It is a spiritual necessity. The question is, “Are you webbed in?” For further study and encouragement: Romans 12
Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional (p. 194). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Three Disciplines each and every one of us need to grow in our Bible Memory, Prayer and Bible Reading. There are many different resources that can help you with these disciplines. Below are some helpful, free online resources. If you have some other resources you use, please post them in the comments section.
Yes, I was blessed by not reading a suggested Bible reading. I want you to know that I am not suggesting Regular Neglect as a devotional strategy. Yesterday, I posted about how God spoke to me through the Bible. Click HERE to read that post.
Here is one part of that post...
God spoke to me through His Word.
Through Bible verses I was memorizing while serving the children and families at EBC.
Through Bible verses I found on my youversion app.
Through Bible verses I skipped over in my morning devotions. I will share this encouraging story tomorrow.
Here is how God used Bible verses I didn't read to bless me.
As I mentioned yesterday, I did a search for the word "trouble" in my Bible app (youversion) and many verses showed up. I noticed FOUR verses came from the same chapter, Psalm 107.
I read these verses and the entire chapter and it was a great encouragement.
I noted some things in my journal Bible and texted the picture above to Krista with the following message
Here is some of the stuff I have been doing and reading. Check out Psalm 107. Look for things repeated.
She responded back
Yes! I read this the other day! And give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing Love and wonderful deeds toward men is repeated! I love vs. 43 too!!
What? She read the same Psalm the other day in her devotional time.
She did, and maybe you did, if you are using New Morning Mercies for your devotional time.
We have been reading New Morning Mercies as a family in the morning at breakfast.
The morning of January 10 was a difficult morning.
We were running behind. So I quickly read the devotional but didn't take the time to read the Bible passage, not a proud moment for a pastor of children and family ministry.
Here is the Devotional from January 10, note the "For further study and encouragement"
The DNA of joy is thankfulness.
Have you noticed that entitled, complaining people don’t happen to be very joyful?
I wish I always
carried it with me.
I wished it always
shaped the way
I look at life.
I wish it directed
my desires.
I wish it was
the natural inclination of
my heart.
I wish remembering
your boundless grace
would silence
my grumbling.
I wish
my worship of you,
my trust of you,
my rest in you
would drive away
all complaint.
If my heart is ever
going to be freed of
grumbling
and ruled by gratitude,
I need your grace:
grace to remember,
grace to see,
grace that produces
a heart of humble joy.
For further study and encouragement: Psalm 107
I really needed to hear the truth is Psalm 107. I am thankful for how He used so many different ways to help me get there.
These kind of connections in my Bible reading don't always happen.
But being in the Word of God consistently provides the opportunity for times like this to happen.
Let me explain. God spoke to me today through various Bible verses.
I want to explain how God used His Word to encourage me today.
There is a lot of stuff going on right now in my family.
I received some really hard news this week and have been trying to process it.
So I told Krista I was going to go somewhere for coffee and journalling time.
Here is what I intended to do. Take a piece of paper and list out specific problems/challenges/troubles before my family. I was going to have kind of a pity party on paper.
That didn't happen.
Here is what really happened.
As I was getting ready to write down problems/challenges/troubles, God spoke to me.
God spoke to me through a verse I have been memorizing with the children in our children's ministry.
I was reminded of Isaiah 40:8. The grass withers the flower fades But the Word of God will stand forever.
Did I want to take the time to focus on those problems/challenges/troubles
that will fade away
OR
Did I want to take the time to focus on that which will stand forever?
I want to focus my mind on forever - God and His Word.
Then, I took out my paper and made this.
My attempt at "artistic" Bible study.
Let me explain.
I wrote the words "problem," "trouble" and "challenge" all over that middle section IN PENCIL because many of the things we are facing now will not be problems in a month, a year or ten years.
They will fade.
Then I drew the thick black line with God more than visible through it.
Next, I used my youversion Bible app to look up verses about trouble. Seven verses caught my attention. Four of them because they were from the same chapter.
Psalm 107: 6, 13, 19 and 28 really hit home.
They cried to the LORD in their trouble and
He delivered them from their distress.
This journaling Bible was a gift from Pastor Duke and the church
at my recent ordination service
Throughout this same Psalm the writer repeats the idea of remembering God's steadfast love.
In Isaiah 40 and Psalm 107 I saw and on my piece of paper I wanted to show God's love and power.
From the top to the bottom,
From the beginning to the end,
I need to remember who God is...
HE IS OUR REFUGE
HE IS OUR PEACE
HE IS OUR HELP
HE IS OUR SALVATION
HE IS THE ONE WHO SATISFIES.
God spoke to me through His Word.
Through Bible verses I was memorizing while serving the children and families at EBC.
Through Bible verses I found on my youversion app.
Through Bible verses I skipped over in my morning devotions. To read this story click HERE
And finally God spoke to me through His Word.
Through Bible verses and Biblical truth in songs I have listened to.
"That Where I Am" by Rich Mullins. You can hear a short sample HERE
"Oh How I Need You" by All Sons and Daughters
Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things, let them consider the steadfast love of God
Psalm 107:43
So this is how God used some really challenging circumstance, about 30 minutes of time with a Bible, a notebook, a pen, a pencil and a Bible app to remind me of what a GREAT GOD I am trusting in.
Are the problems/troubles/challenges still there? Yes!
And so is the truth of John 16:33
"In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
I heard about this idea of God speaking to me through the Bible at Desiring God. Click HERE for the post "I Heard God This Morning"
Disclaimer #1: I am the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church's Soul Care ministry, which is our small group ministry. This fact should not disqualify me from sharing how much I enjoy our small groups. Disclaimer #2: I am in no way, shape or form saying that you will have these same small group experiences Over the last several years we have really enjoyed leading small groups in our home. We have been blessed with opportunities to continue learning and growing with a family we have been with for years. We have also been blessed to meet new friends. I want to share five different blessings I have received through Soul Care this past year.
Meeting new members. On several different occasions we have gotten to know individuals even better through Soul Care before they became members of our church.
This pile of shoes has the footwear of old and new members
of our Soul Care group
Hearing from a parent that their child asked when Soul Care starts up again. We do something in our Soul Care groups that might be a little unique. We have everyone, children and adults, meet together for a short devotional usually based on Sunday's lesson. The children then have some time to play together as the parents look at what they are studying that night.
Great meal times. We have had some great conversation and fun (water guns and can jam) over a meal at someone's house.
A trip to North Carolina. Now this one is a little extreme but it was an extreme blessing to me. Former members of one of our groups moved to North Carolina. Recently we had the amazing opportunity to visit them. And while it was great that I had the opportunity to go to a Duke basketball game with Ryan, even more than that it was AWESOME having a relaxing, fun time with the Takenaga family.
Personal Spiritual Growth. Finally, and most importantly, I have really enjoy growing alongside brothers and sisters in Christ. The most recent ONWARD study we did was particularly helpful.
One of the best things I have appreciated over the last several years is getting to know new people through our small groups. We have also been able to maintain some great friendships over the years also.
