"Discovering OurChurch's Mission: A Story of Faith and Community"

TRANSCRIPT

 So everyone has a story. Every person sitting in this room has a story. And I love that we get together on a Sunday and share and encourage each other, uh, in that story. And many years ago, we formed a, like a, a class, I guess you'd call it, or a course. Some churches would call it a DNA class about who we are.

Yeah, maybe an executive club. And, um, so it was just, It was a one hour where we got together and we would share our story, the story of our church, how we came to be, who we are, uh, how the journey that we've been on, uh, as a church community. Um, I was having a conversation with my kids this week, talking about church again, saying, uh, the church is actually not the building, it's the people.

And that's been a journey we've been on as a church. So today we're going to unpack just some of those distinctives, uh, some things about our story. Uh, but I thought we'd start.

I suddenly realised while we were planning this that, some of you that have been around so long, like from the start, probably never actually been through an hour story, because you were kind of actually, it was being, operating through you, and it was only kind of in later times that it kind of all came together.

And Paul always says it's great, to remind yourself. He said, I teach in repetition. So for those of us been around for a while, some of us will have forgotten some things that are really important. So it'll, it'll be a good journey. Yeah. So we wanted to make sure that you knew today that if you've been part of our church for six months or less.

Today will be really exciting because you'll hear some new things you haven't heard. But if you have been a part of our church for 30 years or more, you might hear some great things today also, that we just say in a succinct way and you go, Oh, that's why we do that. Um, or there might be just some pennies that drop in terms of that.

So I wanted Kev, because Uh, this church has been here in this place 40 years. Am I got that right? 40 years. Yeah. Yeah. And before that was in another part of the building, and some of you were even part, another part of the Gold Coast, and some of you were even here back then, but you came here uh, about 12 years ago.

It's more than that now. I think it's 15. I always say 1215. You just, you just don't want to age, so you keep saying it's 12. Yeah, right. It's 10 years, everyone. 10 years. But, um, I thought, why don't we start with, um, how, tell us about, how did you end up on the Gold Coast here leading our church? So give us the brief version.

Because today, we actually have to So I used Who's laughing? So we prepared what we were going to share for today, Ruth, Kev and I, Ruth's going to join us in a moment. And then I put it into ChatGPT and asked ChatGPT, How long will it take us to present this talk with three people? And it said 90 minutes.

So, we are going to do it in full. We're going to beat it by at least two. No. We've got to, um, do the abbreviated version. Sorry, I'm talking too much. Let's go. How did you end up on the Gold Coast leading our church? Um, well, Anne and I had been pastoring in another church as the Senior Associate Pastors for about 20 years.

And across that 20 year period, I just became more and more unhappy. To the point that I ended up in clinical depression. And it took me like Two years to get out of it. And I had to do a lot of soul searching to find out why I was so unhappy. And I came to the conclusion much to the dismay of other leaders around me that had been serving with us for 20 years, that I felt something about everything felt wrong with the church.

And I said, that's as far as I could get. So that kind of led me to the place where I said, you know what? I can just punch my card in, I'll look after the arts, and then I'll die, whatever. So, I kind of reached that place, I think, I'm just looking for an exit plan. And then, uh, they asked Anna and I if we would come down and take this church.

It was called Christian Community Church at that stage. And, uh, I remember having a distinct conversation with the Lord. And I just said, no. I said, I do not want to keep perpetuating this consistently flawed thing that is going on. And so, it was a very robust conversation. Anyway, he just said, look, he said, would you just trust me?

He said, would you pray about it? And I said, no. And then I had thought about my conversation with the Lord and said that's not a really good answer, so maybe we should pray about it. And anyway, in the end, we apprehensively, very tentatively, agreed to come. And the only thing the Lord whispered to me, He said, I'm going to put some a great bunch of people to love you guys because we were still healing through this and he said, I'm going to teach you how to unhitch from both temple and empire.

And I said, that's great. I have no idea what you're talking about. Uh, and he said, that's okay. I'll reveal it to you over a period of about 30 years. And I said, 30 years, I'm coming down with a five year vision, buddy. And he goes, no, no 30 years. Three lots of ten. I said, will I even live that long? And he said, first ten is going to be about dismantling.

It's going to be about rebuilding. It's going to be about creating a whole new wineskin to handle what I want about to do. So that's kind of where it was. Second ten was going to be about where we're in now, which is about momentum. And he said, don't worry about the third ten. It's beyond you. You'll, you'll figure it out when you get there.

So it was a very clear vision that God laid out to me and we just kept walking faithfully into it. So good. I wonder if you could talk us through what the new wineskin looked like and we've got a slide to support to come up and just, um, because you're gonna rush through it. There's a whole message in every one of these points.

But yeah, tell us about that. Yeah, well, I, I'd come up in a usual place where the senior pastor's at the top. That's very good. It's a nice place to be. Everyone serves you, worships you and gives you everything. That's fantastic. So I came down here and the Lord said, no, no, no, it's, it's not going to be about you.

He said, I need you to build on, not on personal culture. I need you to build on kingdom culture. I need you to build upon the teachings of Jesus as outworked by the apostles. I said, great. Okay. What's that mean? He said, I need you to move away from the Moses and Jethro model of the leadership, which was what all churches run on.

And it's a military model where top down, which is what you got to do when you're developing a. Um, military nation to look after the time pre BC days, he said, I want you to move to the fivefold ministry of Jesus Ephesians chapter four, but as not as offices going this way, but as ministry functions to release and empower the body to actually do the work of the ministry.

So I want you to get rid of the clergy mindset and it's about the priesthood of all believers. We all are involved. Move away from command and control and lead from a servanthood. Pick up a towel, equip the saint's position and then finally And these are all big steps, believe it or not, what I'm sharing here, um, was I need you to unhitch from the building.

I'm so sick and tired of seeing, hearing people say they are going to church. You are not going to church. You either are the church or you're not the church. So that started a whole revelation on what we did with the building. Yeah. So good. That's a lot in one sentence. And there were 10 words God gave you.

Has, uh, if you've been on the journey here at our church, um, and lots of other churches do this as well. Uh, God gives you a word for the year. Everyone sort of focuses on that word. Some people do it personally, but God gave you a word for each year over 10 years. So can you run us through those words and we'll.

see on the screen. Uh, and it's very interesting how it all, all of that unpacks that to us. So the very first word that God gave me was freedom. And that's the Galatians chapter five. It says it is for freedom that Christ has set you, set you free. Do not be burdened again to the yoke of slavery. Now, yoke of slavery is code for the law, law of Moses.

So what had happened in this Galatian church is that. These Jews had come across and received Jesus, but the old guard would not let go of Moses. So therefore they came in behind. In fact, this this is this is interesting. The first missionaries actually went round to undo what Paul was teaching because they felt he was theologically not correct by taking Moses out of the equation.

So What was happening, this was going on. And so Paul is getting stuck into him and say, listen, it's for freedom that Christ has set you free. Do not get yoked again. And then he goes on and he is aggressive through the, in fact, he spent his whole life fighting to stop the old, uh, old Judaism laws from mixing in.

And unfortunately, after he died, well, where we are, we are where we are after that. So, um, the, the first world was freedom. So you have to fight for this freedom. You have to fight to get it, and you have to fight to maintain it. So then the next year was just simple. You have to go deeper into this freedom.

That was about us learning to understand that we're all in. It was the call all in for everybody. Everybody plays. We all give. We all serve. We all love. We all care. We all do mission. So that pushed us further down. And our first partner we had in there was Peaks Gazero, uh, around emotionally healthy spirituality.

Um, then God said the reason you need to go deeper into the freedom is because you have to become an irresistible church. And second, uh, partner was Pastor Wayne Kidero, and we did a book called, uh, Irresistible. But it was about the 12 character traits of an irresistible church. Uh, not irresistible to man.

but irresistible to God. So that was kind of where we started. And then it was God went after the men, the fourth year, be courageous, was a resolute for men. We need to stand up and lead as servant leaders in our homes, authentic manner, come on board. So that was about being courageous. And then I think the final word in there was being intentional.

So over that five years, and but it kept going like you need to intentionally be courageous to go deeper into the freedom you have in Christ so you become an irresistible church. That was the journey and that was the fight. Did you catch that? That was fast. That's okay. Intentionally be courageous to go deeper into the freedom that Christ has brought to us so we become irresistible.

And then the next, the next word shifted and I didn't really know why but he said The next word's gonna be multiply. I said, really? Okay. He said, yeah, because if you're intentional about being courageous to go deeper, you know, the freedom, you become irresistible. Growth is a byproduct. So then you start to multiply.

And then after multiply, God started to nail us and said, hey, listen, you need to choose to multiply. There's some things you need to choose that you're not choosing. So that was like pushing us down the track a bit. Then the following word after that was, you have to resolve some things, because we'd chosen some good things to add in, but we hadn't let go of some things of the past.

We were still trailing some of those old things in that was hindering us. And he said, if you'll resolve some things, and you'll choose some things, uh, intention to go deeper, to create, just become deeper, into freedom, irresistible, you'll multiply. The words were kind of like moving in and out of each other.

It was like, I like, and I'm just not this smart, you know, like it was just really amazing to watch and they said if you do that, then you'll end up orbiting around me. You'll end up orbiting around the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and you will unhitch from the temple and you'll unhitch from the empire and that was the second book.

So we've got two irresistible books. Don't confuse them. First one is a church, 12 traits irresistible to God. Second one is understanding the premise of this theological shift that he said you have to unhitch from temple and empire. That's Andy Stanley. And then the final word in the ten was momentum. So we Laed it, it came right through that process of those words and unhitched us and linked us directly into the new covenant, trying to just fight to not let this stuff come through.

And then we thought, momentum, this is fantastic momentum. And then Covid hit and uh, I looked back at Covid now, and you know what we. did so much momentum in COVID. I mean, you couldn't be in the building, but man, we were changing stuff and moving stuff and experimenting with all sorts of things and figuring how to, how to empower you to love the people in your homes.

And love this city. And love this city, we were doing amazing things. There was a lot of momentum going on. So when COVID kind of like, left us, I know some would debate whether it actually found us, but anyway, left us anyway, when COVID left. Then the next word that came on was God asking us to risk. He said you need to risk.

You need to start risking. And not risk, not risk to get more out of this world, but you need to risk everything in this world to see me operate in and through you to reach the world, what's on his heart. And so that gets, comes to this year. This is a really fast strip through. It is. This year. You're doing well.

Now someone says, what's your word for the year? I said, you know what? I didn't really feel like the Lord just dropped one, but to me, He just kept going. saying to me, you have to sing this song, you have to sing this song, and I know Sam loves this song. The creative team. So I think the word for our year, this year, is yes.

You'll start saying yes to Jesus a lot more, because if you start saying yes to Jesus, living from the tree of life and not from your self governance, you'll risk, and then I could probably work your way all the way back through all those words, because they all are still intertwined together. I love how God writes a story for us, a piece at a time, and those words have formed part of our story, uh, here at our church.

It's amazing how it keeps, he keeps going back around it, keeps moving back through. The things that we thought about those words when we were trying to unhitch. from now how he wants us to think about him in regard to taking risk. Yeah. But, and the third 10 years, I don't know what it'll be like. He always just says it's going to be more, better than what you could imagine.

So, and I can imagine a lot. So, it's pretty good. You do have that visionary streak. Um, we've got a video that we created many years ago. Guides all that we do, and it's called the church that I see. So we're going to take a look at that and then Ruth, Kevin, I'll come back and just unpack a little more for you.

So have a look at the church that I see.

Imagine a church not limited by buildings and facilities. A church with a structure that allows God to expand His kingdom organically under the Holy Spirit's direction. A community in which everyone has the potential to learn and grow, no matter where they live or their circumstances of life. In this church, every person is committed to live and serve together and acknowledge the vital role they play in fulfilling the Father's plan and purpose.

Every person is treated with honor and respect, regardless of age, race, or gender, as they engage with courage and conviction in mission and discipleship. This church is spirit led, spreading like a bushfire from suburb to suburb, city to city, carrying the timeless message of Christ's love, forgiveness, and redemption.

The Kingdom of God is contagiously advancing into families, education, sports, politics. media, business and the arts through people with hearts of love and generosity sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Through this church, the culture shaping agents of society will once again be captured and redeemed for our heavenly father's plan and purpose.

A church like this will be a powerful force for good, helping people connect with their creator. This church displays to the world. A life filled with fun as each member carries the joy of the Lord deep down within their souls. It will be counterculture and propelled by love for God and love for people.

Imagine a church where every home, every workplace, shopping center, and place of business becomes a potential venue for mission and discipleship. This church will once again become a movement of exponential growth. Through this church, led by the Holy Spirit, the Gospel is advancing everywhere. Friends, this is where our God is taking our church.

We're guided by servant hearted leaders and propelled along by the Holy Spirit. We're sustained through life giving systems and structures that ensure the continuation of organic growth. We are a people committed to be Spirit led and Kingdom value driven. Our church wakes every day. to do our Heavenly Father's business.

For we are saved and we are commissioned to go into all the world and share the gospel. Our church exists to fulfill our Heavenly Father's plan and purpose of becoming one church in multiple locations with multiple expressions. Our church will remain mobile and flexible continuing to adapt in order to reach all people.

Can you imagine a church like that? I can. I can see it. I can feel it. The Father is shaping us and molding us into that church. His church. Always remember, friends, He is our God and we are His people. And His church, His church is our church.

It is old, but it still carries the heart of who we are. So we wanted to show you that this morning. Um, the elders actually asked Pastor Kev to go away and dream up a vision to go away, to spend time away. They're still asking me to go away. Yep. Um, and dream up a vision of what our church could look like.

And, uh, in about 20 minutes, he wrote that. They're getting onto that light in our eyes. Thank you. Um, in about 20 minutes, he wrote that, uh, the church that I see. Amazing. And it just came out. And, um, he wrote it down, and it's actually on our website if you'd like to go back through and, and re read that. He actually renamed us, because prior to that, if you were hanging around, we were actually called CCClive.

tv. It was a mouthful. It was, because we partnered with Pastor Wayne Kedirra. I do, I am too. I know, because I put my people, are you C. C. Clive? No. But it was, it was amazing, because at the end of that, I, I just. Wrote it down and got to the end of it and the Lord said, that's your new identity. To which I was not very happy.

I said I'd rather have like a, like a funky name, like a revolution or glow or Come on, gimme a name. You go, no, you're gonna have that name because you'll never be able to, you interest church. Interestingly, when you say our church, don't they? Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. Do a st study on the word our, but, 'cause that's when I first had a spit with the Lord about that.

He said, you wanna do a study on the word our, and you'll discover that particularly in the West, we've made faith. Very me-centric. And it's not me centric. It's actually our faith. He's our God. He's our King. It's more collective. So after that, I just said, okay, let's roll with it. Turns out he was really smart.

He is. Tends to be. It's good. I want to pause for a moment because I didn't do it earlier to let you know there's It's a QR code and Sam and Pauline did say it at the beginning, but if you were out getting your coffee and you missed it, on the back of your chair, uh, there's a QR code and we've put a little link in there that you can ask any questions, uh, that you want to ask today.

So normally when we run an hour. story in a small group setting. We will just stop and answer questions as they come in. In this large group, we still want to have opportunity that you can ask anything you need and if we don't cover it today or if we can't, uh, we will get back to you during the week. But it's actually live.

Megan's watching the form. So you put the question in, she's going to send it to Ruth. We're going to be very. And we're going to get it here and try and answer your question on the fly this morning. But before I ask these guys to share a little more, I wanted to do a little bit of housekeeping stuff for those that are interested in this and it is on our website.

But sometimes people ask, and I even got asked Uh, in the junction this week about what denomination does our church belong to. So if you are new to faith and coming in here is brand new to you, you're thinking, what is a denomination? And that's okay. But for the people that. know what that is and want to know, we're actually part of cross linked Christian network is the denomination that we are affiliated with.

And we are also part of the irresistible churches network. This is not a denomination, but a network of pastors for relational purposes that get together to encourage each other for accountability. And a lot of our awesome. resources we utilize in our children's ministry and youth ministry come through our relationship with the Irresistible Church Network.

So if you have further questions on that, we'd love to answer those for you, but I'll leave that there. We also have I could just say, um, if you're wondering about denominations from God's perspective Let's just say they weren't his idea. Okay, we'll leave it at that. Let's not get Kev started on that topic because we'll be here for another a whole session on that.

If you want to talk to him about that, come and chat with him during the week. We also have a structure whereby we have a board. We have accountability for our finance. We also have a spiritual oversight, which is our elders, deacons, our leadership team. Uh, there is quite a large group of those as well.

And they are the custodians or the overseers of our mission, strategy, values, and vision. So let's jump into that, Kev. Tell us about the mission, what the mission of our church is, and we've got a slide also to support. I thought there was a question. Was there a question you wanted to do first? No, I You've been watching the time, Kev.

I think we should start. Do the mission. Okay, well our mission is to partner with the Holy Spirit to teach people to love God, love others, make disciples and make disciples. So, the very first thing about our mission is the fact is, who's driving it? The Holy Spirit. We're a Spirit led people, so we rely on Him to lead us.

He's the one that guides. You can't make a disciple without the Holy Spirit. That's not, you can't save people. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. So our emphasis is definitely on being Spirit led the whole time. Which is why you'll even hear some things today that, um, that have shifted even across the Christmas period because we continue to respond to whatever the Holy Spirit leads us to.

It's good. And our strategy to achieve that mission, uh, is to be a multi generational church of intentional small groups with a focus on family and healthy relationships. So we do that through multi generational, which you see when you come in, uh, to our family gatherings on Sunday, we really value the generations together.

So the energy and the enthusiasm of the young with the wisdom of the older generation. together because we can learn from each other. Uh, we have intentional small groups. We talk about soap devotions groups and villagers that meet throughout the week. We also have groups like our sowers who are connecting around a project that they are doing for Love This City, uh, and community care and living mission and then with a focus on family.

So this focus is hard for. some people who come from maybe a family, uh, background in the natural that is not healthy. But our focus is on our spiritual family, the strengths that we have together of being a spiritual family, having, uh, grandmas and grandpas in the faith and here in the room that can impact and input into, uh, young people as well.

So that's really close to my heart. the focus on spiritual family. Go. You want to say something? I can tell you. look at me when you say grandpa? Oh, cause you are. Okay. And healthy relationships. And that ties in our EHS emotionally healthy spirituality. And focusing on that being emotionally healthy. It's not sin that destroys God's church, but it's unresolved sin when we let that fester in our lives and it comes out in, um, practices and behaviors.

So that's one reason why people might choose not to be here for that reason, because we are incredibly, um, committed to, none of these are just words, but we're committed to it. And if you don't desire to grow and you don't desire to deal with your stuff. It won't be long before someone is in your face saying you need to EHS that.

Which means what they're saying is that there's something going on down inside you that's really unhealthy. So, if you don't want to deal with that, we, you may not stay long term, but most people here, they do want to deal with it. They just don't know how to deal with it, and it's not as hard as you think it is.

Our family values is the next thing we want to run through. So, our family, every family has values. Um, you have them, whether you name them or don't name them. How you spend your time is an indication of what you value, uh, in your own personal life. And, uh, here at our church we I still remember vividly the meetings where we spent hours in the room upstairs.

I think Brian Marsh was trying to lead that discussion with a whole team of us. There was a lot and we spent hours coming up with what are the values we're going to land on. So these are our church family values. That our kingdom culture focused and we encourage you to have them in your homes and use them in your families as well.

We actually have posters for you today. Yes, we've got a bunch over there. So if you don't have them up, because we always say that our values are more than words on a page or more than words on a wall. We actually live them out. And it was cool. Even this week, I met with someone that wants to hire one of our rooms upstairs.

And so one of the first things I did was say, well, come down here. And I took her to the family values. that are up on the wall outside. And I said like, Hey, well this is how we choose to operate. And when we accept venue hire long term, like in a partnership sort of thing, then we would ask, you know, would you be willing to You know, consider these values and we show each other honor and respect and we do all of these things and so yeah, they're a really great starting place, but they have to be more than just words that are on a wall.

They have to be chosen to be lived out. And we've had that question from other churches about our venue and how we choose to hire out other spaces to outside organizations and it is always bringing them back. to the values. This is the basis of how we operate. Um, yeah. So, Kev, you have a little saying about the values that you often call it.

What do you call it? Do you remember? The video. The video ref. So we use it at home as the video referee. So like if, if something happens with the kids or with us as adults, we go, hang on, let's just pause. Let's go to the video ref. Let's go back and have a look at that there. And just say now How's that violating values?

Was that very honouring and respecting? Dexter, the way you treated India, that wasn't very nice, was it? It wasn't very honouring, respecting, it wasn't very loving and generous. And then he just goes, no, it wasn't. Well, you better go and put that right. So you do it with kids, but we also do it with each other.

I mean, I'm having to pull the girls up all the time. Terrible, terrible, terrible. But we do hold each other, can't we? Because we're so busy and we run, like, so hard and people come and we love it, but suddenly you just, you know, you bump into someone that you've had a bad day and you're just kind of, like, a bit charged and you're gonna unload and then someone will come up and go Hey, that wasn't very, that wasn't very loving the way, I heard the way you talked to them.

I said, really? Yeah, you should, you should go put that right. So we hold them, we hold ourselves accountable to them because if they're just words on the wall and you don't live them out, they become very destructive. They actually destroy what you're trying to build. So, I won't spend time unpacking each of them, but just to read them out, you can see them on the screens there, uh, Spirit Led is our number one, lead, leads the way, um, being Spirit Led.

Love and generosity, learn and grow, protect and serve, honor and respect, fun and wow, courage and conviction. Counterculture. Fun and wow. Let's just talk about that for a second. Um, we used to have This is your second favorite one after Spirit Led, isn't it? I'm, I love them all. Um, wow. Yeah. The We used to have excellence.

Excellence, we value excellence around here, but when you put excellence up as a value, it morphs into perfection, the ugly cousin, really fast. And then people get worried about things that don't work and go, right, and then it just gets really nasty. So we just say, Hey, we're here to have fun and we'd like to bring some wow.

So we might get some excellence in there, but if it doesn't, we're going to have fun anyway. So it keeps it healthy. I've seen that pursuit of excellence ruin so many churches. I think the line dance. thing that happens here during the week as venue hire is a little bit of fun and wow. Um, yeah, so I'm, we actually have, we can unpack each of those values in more detail, but we over the coming season, you guys could shoot a video every week out for, well, we would like to hear from you.

That's a good idea. Actually, we could, but we'll share your stories. So. Maybe you can email or text us and let you let us know a real life example of where you've lived out one of those values. Especially, yeah, if you've travelled with us a long time, I would love to create a video, one to two minutes short, uh, that we can put up on our website for when new people join us, just, uh, real life examples of how we live out those values.

If you don't mind getting in front of a camera and sharing a story, we would love, I already have a list of people I was going to hit up, but even better if I hear from you that you actually want to do it. That would be great. Um, so we, uh, sorry, I'm interfering, counterculture. It's the last one and I'm going to ask you to tell us about our vision because there's Slightly different and why does vision come last in the list of things when you list things off Kev will always say Mission first and then strategy and then values and vision comes last which is not the usual way of looking at it if you drive If you drive from vision, you're in action, and you're trying to make things happen.

You're trying to build the church. If you lead from mission, by your strategy, underpinned by your values, and you faithfully live out those things, Jesus actually builds his church. Growth is a byproduct. You're not trying to make it grow into the future. You're allowing Jesus to actually build his church, which is what he said he'd do.

He never told us to go and build the church. He said, I will build the church. So if we're faithful in the mission, the strategy, the values, everything that's healthy grows. So therefore the vision comes on the back end. So on the back end of everything else is our vision, which was one church, multiple locations with multiple expressions.

That was how it was up until Christmas. And then the Lord just, because I thought naturally we're working to expand everything here. How do we maximize this building to add value to families, to reach people for Christ, to nudge people closer to a relationship with Jesus. And I'm thinking, well, that's what this one's going to look and feel like.

So when we get the next one, well, then we'll know that's, that's a different expression. And then the Lord said, no, no, no. I want you to now figure out. Multiple expressions of church in the one location, and then that will spill out into your multiple locations. So that's kind of the shift, but, but we're not driving it if I was driving that.

As a leader, I would be terrible, seriously terrible, because I get worked up about making things happen and meeting deadlines and things like that would just feel awful. But if it's on the back end, you're just saying, okay, Jesus, how you build in the church, you just roll with whatever, which is why being spirit led is so important.

Because we look and see where God's moving. If he's not moving, we're not going to move. Make it work. Like you saw the church, I see, Mark would be ridiculous if he's out there trying to make the wave that he's going to ride. He's not going to ride anything. He's got to pick the right one and then ride it.

So that's what we do. And we're okay. So people go, well, you started this thing and it didn't happen. Well, we, we started it and for some unknown reason, the wave didn't go. So it's just sitting there. We'll wait until something happens. So that's kind of how it is. That's good. And, um, one of the, you said about the separation of the building from the church.

So our building is called the Junction, the home of our church and love this city. We had no less than five people walk in during the week saying what? Is this place and they walk into the foyer and it's so cool to get to have those conversations. Um, they're coming to collect a parcel. They're coming to get a coffee.

Um, yeah, Ruth, tell us about, um, why the junction exists. So we So we decided, or the Lord reminded us that He's given us something that's in our hand and at that time we didn't feel like we were stewarding it very well. We had this incredible facility and it was getting used on a Friday night for youth and on a Sunday morning.

And we, we really felt that, um, the church is not a building. But how could we create a third space where people in their daily rhythms and routines could meet and gather? And so the junction was born out of a desire. For people to connect with one another. themselves, but ultimately with God. And so everything that we choose to do in the junction, we're constantly thinking, how can we nudge people just a little bit closer to Jesus through this interaction or through this event or through this gathering?

And, um, it's been incredible to see that play out over the last. sort of five or six years, um, where we've been really intentional about creating that space. And so people will come in constantly and they talk about feeling and experiencing something that just feels different. There's a peace and there's, um, something very welcoming and they feel like they've come home.

And we believe that that is the presence. of Jesus, um, who dwells within all of us. And so every interaction that's happening is a chance for that person to just be nudged a little bit closer to Jesus. And those conversations are happening through the week. Um, we tell them that what Ruth just said, when they say, what is this place?

Why is it different? Well, we have like, we, Follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit in us and we get to have these amazing, yeah. Conversations we have now, like a whole community that are unchurched, but who this church exists for. Yeah. Which I think is, is pretty incredible. There's a few of them, ca coin the phrase for us.

You guys are kinda like a church for the unchurched. And I said, what do you mean by that? And they go, well, it's, you're kind of a place where we can belong while we work out what we believe. And if we don't believe what you believe, it looks like you'll love us just the same. I said, perfect, I'll take that.

Because that, that's exactly what Jesus started. When Jesus started a new movement, you know, the old ones, a lot of them didn't want to come in. But then the folks outside, they loved him. So it's like, okay, that's fine. It's a bit of an evidence that Jesus is building something. So Ruthie, um, as a church, we have a number of mission initiatives, local and international.

Can you unpack those for us, um, and tell us about them? So I think historically this has always been a missions focused church, but for many years, um, that looked a little bit like, um, maybe, making a donation and knowing that that was going to affect change in another nation, which is awesome. But we also realized that mission and discipleship cannot be separated.

Like you can't be coming a disciple of Jesus without being missional. They like, they don't exist without each other. And so our, um, goal, I guess, and one of the things we've really wanted Our community to understand over the last years is that we live on mission. Like all of life is mission. There is no divide between the sacred and secular.

It's all, it's all intermixed. And I talked to a bunch of our business guys who really understand this, like their life is mission. And so you are a full time. missionary, you're a full time minister of God, wherever he has placed you, because you are bringing life and pointing people to Jesus, wherever that, wherever that may be.

And so a big focus is understanding then, and, and being, uh, confident to share your story. What has God done in your life? So that you can then find a point of reference with that person and share God's. story. And so we call that whole thing a living mission. And we want to be a people who live that mission every single day, wherever God has placed us.

And a big part of that is understanding that we are for our city. So we will tell people all the time, and you would as well, that so loved the world, you know, that includes them. And so if God loves them, then we love them. So we want to be for our community. We want to be for our families, for our businesses, for a whole, like Kev's wearing it.

Yeah. Always branding. But that all comes back to that understanding that because God loves us, because God is for us. We are for the people of our community. And so then that expresses in a whole bunch of different ways locally through Lovely City. We have, um, a bunch of different volunteers, probably a hundred volunteers on our books for Lovely City that are serving in all different ways across each and every week.

And if you want to be a part of any one of those things, please let us know. Yesterday we had a beautiful group of women go and, uh, help. Clean and sort somebody's house out. We've got men that do backyard blitzes. We've got women that do sewing. We've got, um, people that serve at local special schools. And we're about to launch some new exciting things through Love This City as well.

Um, Which will be really practical and grassroots and just give opportunity for each and every one of us to make a difference in our city. We also do a bunch of stuff internationally. We do, but before you do, I just want to share a quick story. I could just camp here all morning because I love this place.

There's a lot to talk about with love this city, there really is. One cool story about the rhythms and routines of life, I was so excited last Sunday, well we all were, after the service, I said to Kev, it's so exciting when you feel like you've talked about something for like 10 years, we've been talking about living mission, but then there's stories of people in our community, you guys, who are doing it.

You're sharing faith. So in church last week, there was three different groups or three different families that came because someone on their rhythm and routine, uh, invited them. One was at the beach. One was, they had a conversation at the beach and, um, the lady that she met. Figured out she went to church and said, I need to go to church and came here last Sunday to experience community Because someone on their rhythm and routine at the beach down at Talibudra Shared that they went to church and knew Jesus and then one was in a workplace.

Um Yeah, just in an environment with kids and were just happened to say, the person said, Oh, I need to find a church to go to. And they said, come to ours, come to our church, and come along. And I was just so excited that. Um, it's not about the invitation to come here, but it's about sharing our faith out there on the rhythms and routines of our life.

And if we all do that, imagine the growth of the church and people who know Jesus, uh, in the Gold Coast and beyond. That's so cool. We don't want to invite people to church. Go share Jesus. Once they get a relationship with Jesus, he got 300 different churches around he can send them to. Some will be right here.

Some will go to other places. We don't care. We don't care, but we need to be able to go make disciples that make disciples. It's interesting. Never said to plant a church. You won't find that in scripture. He said, go make disciples. Once again. Church planting is a by product of a whole bunch of disciples.

There's a big push on church planting again now. The church seems to go through these trends and fads on things, it's like, but you've got to stay at the main thing. Jesus said, go and make disciples. People teach them how to Follow me, not pray prayers, follow me, be conformed to the image of Christ and then it might evolve into a church or maybe just a intentional missional village, maybe, who knows?

So Ruthie, tell us about International Vote. Can I have one more story? Oh, do another story. Stories are good. I was thinking like, you know how we talk about what have we got in our hand and we did that as a, church family, but also I think the call and as we're part, you know, as we are being discipled, it's about discovering what we have in our hands that we can bless others with.

And, um, I sat in a meeting this week with these guys and about, uh, 15 of the staff members from the Department of Child Safety in Mermaid Beach. And as you know, we've got from Palm Beach as well, because I've met a bunch in Palm Beach. They were from a few, a few of the offices. Right. But we sat and we said, What is your number one need as a department?

And they said, We need people that have a vacant room to be willing to offer that room. And I thought, the answer is already here. Like the answer to so many of our, um, Social issues. Social issues across our city is sitting in this room. But we have to be willing to be a people who would Risk, risk everything that we have in the natural for something bigger and, um.

How many children? That's, because they shared that because a thousand. A thousand kids on the Gold Coast that are currently in foster care. And there are kids that are not yet even eight years old that have, have to be placed in a group home because there's no room in foster care. In family scenarios for them, but I wasn't going to say that I was going to, what I wanted to say was it just takes all of us to, and you might not have a room and that's okay.

And you might not be in a position to open your room. But if every single one of us approached every day with an ear attuned to the Holy Spirit going, what do I have to offer? What does that look like? In every interaction that I have, and just this morning, one of our people, I was sitting in the cafe and I said, how are you going?

And she was like, Oh, good, but I didn't have the world's best sleep. And then we started chatting and she has, she's just done that this week in her own way of living mission. She connected with somebody on a face group page that needed a tent because she was sleeping rough. And she said, well, hey, Come home.

And I just like, this is what we exist for, to, to follow the prompts of the Holy Spirit, to do what we can with the people that He puts on our path, because we never ever want to be a group of people that walk over or walk around someone. We want to lean in and show the same compassion that Jesus has shown us.

And that's what it means to be for the Gold Coast. And that's why every mission initiative that we do is grounded in that ability to be Spirit led. And to lean into, be moved by compassion. So, um. So cool. Yeah. And that's, I'm sorry. No, no. That's, the Jesus follows in the first century, long before there was of the Bible.

We don't lie and we don't cheat and we don't steal because the Bible tells us so. That was happening hundreds of years before there was of the Bible. The Jesus Followers, they took people in. Like, there was no welfare system. They had nothing. Food was short. Diseases were rampant. The Romans and that had a, there was a practice there, infanticide, that you could, if you didn't want your child, just leave it out in the streets.

If it happens to live, well, great. If it doesn't, well, it's not your fault. That was a practice. It wasn't even illegal. That was the practice. But the Christians The Jesus followers would go down and pick these babies up and take them home and love them. They didn't have to wait for the Bible to come 300 years later.

Which is why we're a Spirit led church, because you can't preach enough sermons on this. But if you have the Spirit, Holy Spirit operating within you, you will always know the right answer. Because He'll prompt you. And that's why one of our key things is always In any circumstance, when you don't know what to do and what's going on, just say, What does love require?

And you'll always know the right thing to do. And that prompts as well, it's that same heart that prompts what we do internationally and I'll be very quick, but we have some incredible work over in Ghana, where we built a medical centre that is now run by The government there, but that we continue to support.

And then of course, the Philippines, uh, where we have a bunch of students that are going through Bible college, who will then go out and plant churches in unreached villages throughout the island of Mindanao, uh, in a radio ministry. But we also have two incredible organizations that, um, call our church home in terms of, you know, their hearts and being here.

And one of those is effective aid who, uh, doing. Well, both of these are in the education space, actually. Where is Chris? Chris is in the room somewhere. Over in that corner. Yeah, so make sure you chat to Chris or Tim to find out more about the amazing work that those guys are facilitating over in Thailand and Myanmar.

And then Terry King is here as well. Terry King over here, Mission Educate. He runs Mission Educate, which again is an education based, um, doing an incredible work over in Mozambique, one of the poorest nations in the world. And so we, as a church, we love the heart of these men and we love what they are doing.

And it's really grounded in the same thing. What does love require and how can we partner with the Holy Spirit to reach people's groups that are really in need of help. So we wanted to publicly just affirm again, that we love what these guys are doing. Please be praying for them and figure out ways that you can connect with them.

The details are on our website. If you get stuck in trying to find their info, I'm interrupting. I know that, uh, I, I just want to go back to the local again, because part of our, the church, I say I was, I was watching it and thinking about the words that I wrote was that. A church that would once again affect the culture shaping agents of society, like, which is the local council.

So you talked about the, um, Yeah. We talked about the child safe ones. Yeah. But then there's also the disaster relief. for that reminder. Yeah, so, um, we are a part of a group of churches on the Gold Coast that really was launched out of when Lismore was flooded several years ago. And as church communities, everyone wanted to do something.

Um, but it was kind of hard to do something with, with arms linked because there was like, not a lot of structure around that. And so there's a group of churches that have really, um, and Tom, give us a wave. Tom this year is actually leading that, um, group of churches through figuring out a way where.

through the direction of Gold Coast City Council, um, the church has a unified way to respond to disasters. So we had a fantastic meeting just on Thursday, uh, where we saw there was about 20 people there representing different faith communities. Um, there was about five members of city council there and a representative from federal government as well to figure out, um, because the resource of the church is incredible when it comes to volunteers and a willingness to serve.

But how can we, um, respond not just as a bunch of individual churches, but there is power in doing something together. You can achieve way more together than you can apart. And so this has been a beautiful expression that's been growing over the last year. And I'm super excited to see what will continue to happen this year as these organizations and faith based communities link arms and serve our city.

It's very cool. It's very cool when you start having the local councillors and that ringing you. Well, you want our advice? You want our thoughts? Asking us for help? That is, that is very cool. That's, that's actually changing their perception of Christ followers. Because remember when we sat, I'm not going to get in trouble, we sat with the local police that day, and we were sitting around a table and we had all of these different members of society, and it was an, it was an area that was particularly, And I suddenly realized we're the only church here.

And I said, oh, this is awkward, isn't it? So I said, where, where is, where are the other churches? We're only a small one. Where's everyone else? And they were really antagonistic about the fact, they said, because every time I invite you guys in, all you guys want to do is get ahold of people and get their money.

I said, well, that's not our heart. I said, that's not we're here for, we're here, we're here to serve, what do you need us to do? And then, so we talked a little bit more and I thought, oh, I've just got to get the elephant out of the room here. It's, so I said, here's the deal. I said, you've got a really bad area and you want to see a change of behavior in that area.

And they went, yes. I said, well, there's no change of behavior without a change of heart. Would you agree? Yes. The only person I know that can change a heart is Jesus. So we're happy to come in and we're happy to be involved and pick up a towel and serve, but we can't have our arms tied to say that we cannot share the gospel of Jesus because the behavior change you want is tied to a heart change.

All around the table, every one of them said, We're all good with that. So they're not opposed to the faith component that people need, they're opposed to when that's the only thing that you'll do and you won't do anything else. So, and I think Love This City and Being For The Gold Coast has really earned a lot of respect in that area and that's due to Ruthie's leadership and that, so you've done a great job.

So good, so good. So we are going to skip through this because you've got something important to share at the end. Um, I'm just going, well I had More content for each of these sections, but we always finish talking about what makes us different. What are our key distinctives? And when we prepared during the week, we had about ten of them and we've cut them down to four.

So, there is about ten things that are different, but that's okay. You can, we can give more in future days. One of the main things is that makes us different. So you might, some people will look around and, and you should look around at different faith communities and see where do you connect? Where can your heart be planted?

Uh, where will you, uh, end up landing and be planted to learn and grow with your family? And probably maybe what makes us a little different to some of the other churches on the Gold Coast is God spoke to us clearly years ago about Simplify. So when you come in here. You won't see, uh, 20 different ministries.

Um, we've simplified it down to, we encourage people to do four things. So regularly read your soap devotions. Uh, connect with soap. Um, regularly read the Bible for yourself. Uh, join or start a small group or a village for accountability. The third thing is prioritise gathering together, family gatherings.

And the fourth thing is be living mission. Just what Ruth has talked about there. If we can, as Jesus followers, do those four things. People are time poor. It is hard to make the gathering a priority and to, um, meet in accountability groups with people, it's difficult. So once you add in a men's ministry or women's ministry or something outside of that, usually we find one of the four things drops off because you've got to focus somewhere else.

So, um, you might have capacity to do more, but what we are saying is, yeah, those four things to simplify. The second distinctive would be servant leadership and you see it here. We pick up a towel and we serve. All of our leadership does that. We teach our kids to do that. How are we serving each other? We, people don't care what you, know until they know how much you actually care and that happens through all of our love this city initiatives We are the priesthood of all believers, which is basically people doing the work of the ministry So, um, I could go into a lot more detail of that but ephesians 4 really highlights Bible talks about everyone plays.

So we're training up the saints to do the work of the ministry on the rhythm and routine and path that you are on that God's called you to. Um, the third thing would be that we highlight kingdom and not personal culture. Kev talked about that right at the start, uh, with the slides on the big screen, but base everything on Jesus and the apostles teaching.

Um, we don't So it's not about my culture or a personality. We have a huge variety of teachers from our platform. Kev shares this space with 10. We have a team of 10 teaching team, um, here at our church. So you're getting lots of variety of life experience and, um, all of that different ages, the multigenerational.

So, so that we're not building ministry based on a. One person a personal culture. It's about kingdom culture and sharing that and the last distinctive I just wanted to share was giving we don't make giving a huge focus, uh here Uh, we talk about it in the bunker in the morning and we'll say thanks to those who give sometimes sometimes we forget We do really value and appreciate your regular intentional giving but giving is between you and god You talk to god about what is it that you?

need to give, to bring. Um, Jesus does, or they, in the Bible, God talks more about money than any other thing because where our, where our treasure is there, our heart will be. If we are giving to something we are, our heart will follow that. Um, but yeah, we are stewards of all, everything. We believe everything belongs to God.

How am I stewarding? Um, I giving my finances, my time, my talents in giving back to what God wants to do. And just in acts, um, if you were traveling through our soap devotions recently, it talks about just being extravagantly generous on all occasions. Um, and. There's a great story in there about they just kept giving and they had to say, stop, we've got enough.

Um, yeah. So, you know, that's, that's the sort of principle we are like, stop, we've got enough. Stop bringing it. But also just being generous in that seeing the need, like Ruth talks about seeing the physical need, not stepping over someone or around someone, but just being able to share what you have. Um, and scripture talks about that too, like if you have a shirt, if you have two shirts, share one, give one away.

So that sort of heart of love and generosity, it's one of our values. so it ties into giving. Um, yeah, so on the surface, our church may look the same as any other church on the Gold Coast and maybe some elements are, but underneath the hood, there are a few key differences. Uh, we would love you to ask your questions.

There has been one question. I don't think we have time to answer. Um, that makes the sent through, but we will get back to you this week with that. And the good part about us going long. Yeah. Yeah. It's the poor worship leaders get to save their voices. Except they love to worship. They've prepared. Oh, sorry.

They came during the week and practiced. So we want to sing. Um, before you share though, or should I? Can you show the photo of, um, a recent, well it's not a recent photo. This is not a recent. So this is Talia and Bethany. Many of you will know Beth. Beth might be in here today. Talia's moved out to Quilpy, but this is them with their water baptism certificates in 2019.

Now I found this photo during the week and it reminded me of Talia's story. And Talia was the first person when we opened the junction, uh, as a cafe space. She would come in, uh, every day for nearly six weeks and she sat in the same chair in the corner of the cafe. Her story, she just came out of a really hard place.

And Bethany was the barista. She was our first full time barista in the cafe at the time. Back when we only served about 10 coffees a day and now we're super busy and we think back on that season a lot but, um, I tell this story to say it really just captures the heart of what the junction space is about because Talia found, um, peace here and she found a connection with community.

She had already known Wendy and the Markham family prior and she came in here as a safe place to share her hurts and, and Bethany connected with her daily. And they, um, started just sharing their soap devotion. And at one point Kev, you came out, you kept your distance cause she was, um, really emotional and upset a lot of the time but then one day you came out and you were talking about soap devotions and you can finish the story and then we're gonna watch her baptism video.

How's the story go? What did you say to her that day when you came out to the cafe table?

 Yes, I came out, she was just sitting there and just crying and anyway, she just finally looked and she said, you know what, um, I think I'm ready to come to church and I said, bad news. You've been in it for the last six weeks. And she went, what? I said, yeah, church is not just the building and some week on a Sunday, church is people, loving people, and you've been interacting with the church for the last six weeks.

I said, do you understand the gospel? She said, no. I said, come in. So I came in here and I drew her the three circles. I said, where are you? I'm over here. Where would you like to be over there? Any reason why you wouldn't receive Jesus? No. So I just led her in a prayer straight around the three circles there.

She went straight back out. I think you were the first one she ran to, wasn't she? Tell the decisions you've made. And I thought that's what the Junction's all about. It's helping people to have conversations and to, and to help, and to learn. Because in their minds, we have so ingrained in our minds that I go to church.

And if you keep that thinking, you'll end up trying to separate your life between sacred and secular. Well, while I'm in here on Sunday, I'll just worship like this. Let me get the angle right and the light. But Monday, you could be living like the devil. Seriously, and there are some people that did do that in the beginning and like say, you know, well I can't come and then they discover they're in here and they go, I can't come to church, that bossy's a mongrel.

They go, well tell us about it, so we have a conversation. And then the business guy gets, oh, so God actually cares about the way I treat my employees. Yes, yes he does. And everything changes because they learn the fact that You're either part of the church, or you're not part of the church. And if you are, the Holy Spirit's with you always, and it's a daily faith.

And everything begins to change, so she was the catalyst, and that was cool. Let's have a look at her story, and then you're going to wrap it up for us. Oh, incredible. Yeah, her video. I know that Jesus has been with me the whole time, but I know I never had a relationship with him. So he wasn't wholly with me like he he was I wasn't living with him walking with him having the spirit in me I wasn't doing that and I just wish I did this so much sooner.

I guess I've had a really hard few years Hard 23 of them. I guess like everybody but slowly and surely God placed people perfectly in my life. At the moments that I needed them to show me that, Hey, I'm here. Hey, look this way. Hey, it's okay. Like, slowly I just realized I was like, Lots of them are standing here on this beach today.

I saw their love they have for God and their joy in life, and I thought, why would I want anything else? I've been to the darkest places that I've been, and just being brought out of that is just the most overwhelming feeling that, I was just like, I can't do it anymore alone. I can't do it anymore without you.

Like, take me, like, let, let, I want to let God do it from now on and I'm even scared to say that because I know I'm gonna have to do it each day, every day. But I can't do it. I can't do it without God. I can't like, and my last, like, my voice is gone because I've been singing to God and I can't do it without him.

So I surrender. I, I've done it, I did it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna have to keep reminding myself. That's where I'm at. Yeah.

Home, home, like. Coming into our church, like walking into the junction, seeing everybody, reading even the Word, and connecting with other people that are Christ followers, and even now my connection with people that aren't Christ followers. It's, it's home. There's something in you. Well, not something, it's, it's God living.

I can feel it, you know.

It's just, it's home. It's just, it's something that's safe and I know that I don't have to do it alone anymore. And I can do it with God, for God, through God, with everyone around me. Like, you know, I have an, uh, an army and I want to be a part of that army for other people too. And I'm excited. Like, I'm really excited.

So now you get to figure out. How does it all work? How do you get all in around here? Well, number one, we do not have a formal written membership. We don't have one because there is only one church. Lots of expressions around the Gold Coast, but it's only one church. So you come in at a relationship, you come in at a relationship.

And, um, as far as I'm concerned, it's like. A handshake, look in the eye and a handshake and says man, I'm all in, I'm around here, you can count on me, that's it, that's as far as it goes. And then I also say to people, if you, if you decide that, you know, feel like God's leading you on, that's cool, Jesus owns the sheep, he can take the sheep wherever he wants to, it's his business.

But then, don't just disappear. Come in under relation, you came in through relationship, go out through relationship, so everything's clear. So, our call is, is for people to love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, that's what it is. And that, we're going to teach you how to do that now, that place of health, you can now love your neighbor, which starts with your spouse, and then your kids, and it's that ripple effect that just keeps going out.

So what we normally do around this point in time, which we won't show now, um, but we normally, um, I just talk through or show a clip out of a movie called First Night. It's with Sean Connery and, uh, I forget his name, Richard Gere I think it is. Anyway, it picks up the story where Lancelot, which is Richard Gere, has just gone through this gauntlet of knives and spears.

things and it's like, it's horrible. He's just done the stupidest thing. Anyway, he comes through this whole thing and King Arthur, which is um, Sean Connery, he gets up and says to him, he says, Well, I don't believe I've seen such a display of courage, tenacity, and stupidity. Basically, it gives him a bit of a surf.

And he says to him, he says, if you gotta die, Lancelot, die serving something bigger than yourself. But then he takes him into the round table and he says, But better still, live and serve others. There's one place around the table that's left vacant, and it's yours if you want it. And it finishes with Lancelot looking around the table and he goes, In serving each other, we become free.

It's for freedom that Christ has set us free. Now, it's actually quite a poignant scene because at the end of it, he says to, to, to Lancelot, go through this night in prayer and in the morning you will be born again into a life of service. So when it comes to our story in our church, what we offer you is no life of privilege.

We offer you the ability to pick up a towel and serve. And love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and risk everything that He might use you in a way to affect what He's doing in the world around you. And the scene finishes with them all committing to each other, and they put their hands on each other's.

Shoulders and say, brother to brother, yours in life and in death. In our case it could be brother to sister, sister to sister, sister to brother, yours in life and in death. It was a commitment to say, this cause is bigger. This cause is worth surrendering our life for. And so, if you're calling yourself all in around here, that's our invitation to pick up a towel and serve.

So I want us to finish with the song, uh, that we've been singing for a while now leading into this, a song called Yes Again. Because it really is all about The human heart being willing to surrender and say yes to God in every area. Like even your salvation, it's a process. You don't pray one prayer.

There's nothing in the script say you pray one prayer and that's it. No, no, no. You pray, the Holy Spirit comes into your life. You're referred to as a temple. I got news for you. You got a lot of rooms inside this place. And Jesus may not be in them all yet. And you've got to learn to say yes to Jesus in all of the rooms.

And you'll tap on the door and say, Hey, how about I get involved with your business? How about I get involved with your sexuality? How about I, how about I straighten you out and a few other things? It takes time to be conformed to the image of Christ. So it's about moving from unbelief to belief in Jesus in every area.

So let me pray for you and for those of you that have been exploring for a while You now have all the clarity to make your decision and for those of us been around a long time you go, man I've forgotten so much of that stuff and we've crammed a lot in but I think I hope we got the heart of Our story across so let's pray father.

I just thank you that uh, our fight is for freedom It was for freedom as you took us through as galatians chapter 5 To not be encumbered by both temple temple and empire and our fight is still continuing To stop it from creeping back in And lord, we just want to once again just sing and just commit ourselves To say, we're willing to risk everything.

You risked everything for us. You gave everything. It's the least that we could do to position ourselves to allow you to work through us. To help other people that don't know you yet. So we're willing to say yes. We want to be a people of the way. The way of eternal life. We're committed to the mission. To partner with you to see people come to know Christ.

So Father, I pray for those that are maybe making their decision right now that, uh, they've got all the information that they need. And Lord, if it is, that they'll just have the courage to find someone. They don't have to talk to me. Shake someone's hand and just say, you know what? I'm all in. This is something that I'm willing to die for.

Start now and head towards eternity.