epic date fail.

this was something i didn't have time to finish a couple months ago (7/29/09) that i figured i'd get done tonight. i hope you enjoy it.

so...let me tell you about my ridiculous date with addie today. we had planned to go to the coast to get out of the heat, and the weather said it'd be 85 and sunny in pacific city. we left this afternoon. just a little before reaching lincoln city, we hit lots of traffic and so i decided to try a different route to pacific city that i was pretty sure would work. i became more and more doubtful as we continued to go but not see any signs for pacific city...only tillamook and astoria. addie and i were contemplating going to tillamook when we did find a sign for pacific city...but since the weather looked a little sketchy and we thought it might be warmer up north, we went to tillamook.

once we got to tillamook, we realized there was no beach there...neither of us had ever been to tillamook before, and we just assumed that it would be easy to find somewhere to hang out on the beach. well, we were wrong. so, we just decided to head back to pacific city.

after 3+ hours of sitting in the car, we finally reached pacific city. when we got there, it was crowded, cold, and cloudy. because it took til dinnertime to get there, we went to a restaurant...it was packed. we ordered some fish and chips to go since the wait would have been a little ridiculous. a few minutes after placing our order, the waitress came to us and told us that they were out of fries...just our luck. we opted for "fish and salad" instead.

after receiving our fish and salad, we climbed to the top of the dune at pacific city. it would have been pretty cool except that we could hardly see the ocean because of how foggy it was. also, it was crowded...and addie was getting goosebumps because of the cool breeze. after sitting up there for a while (our plan was to watch the sunset, but it never cleared up enough), we decided it was time to head back. it was earlier than we expected to be back, so we figured we'd get a simple dessert - frosties from wendy's. well...wouldn't you know that their chocolate frosty machine was broken. addie and i decided we'd give the vanilla frosties a shot, and after a few bites we threw them away...

still, the night was young, and there might have been a chance to redeem it if we did something fun. so, addie and i went to mckinley and stargazed in the middle of the field. it was going well...a good, clear, warm night in salem...until....the sprinklers came on. addie and i scurried out of the way onto the path and were admiring the series of unfortunate circumstances that plagued us during the day, watching the sprinklers do their thing. well...wouldn't you know that the sprinklers didn't stop at the path - they just kept going....so, to conclude our night, we got soaked by the sprinklers. perfect ending to a perfect day;)

i would consider this the most epic date failure i've ever heard about. i mean, it was a good attempt, right? but, just about everything that possibly could have gone wrong...did. i'm laughing as i think about it....how could that have possibly gone so wrong!? haha...ah man.

in light of all the mishaps of the day, addie and i spent much of the day laughing and smiling. that's one of the reasons that i like her a whole bunch. we're able to aimlessly sit in the car for several hours, arrive at an undesirable beach situation, eat fish and salad, shiver on top of a crowded dune, try terrible vanilla frosties, and get sprayed by the sprinklers in the middle of stargazing....and still laugh through it all. there's a phrase that i heard from one of my teachers a lot in high school. she said, "it's not about the destination; it's about the journey." that almost had to be true for addie and i today...i'm very thankful for her and her patience. it's a huge blessing to get to walk through life with her...and laugh along the way at what life throws at us.

back to corban and frustrating christian culture

well, i've completed my first several days back at Corban, and it has been quite the experience. honestly, it has been very difficult. i had an amazing summer getting to live things out with my closest friends and enjoying Jesus together...it is hard to go back to school and see things change so dramatically.

the way that i think about life, about God, and about ministry has been transformed. God has been so gracious and loving to me by teaching me more about himself and what it means to follow him this summer. therefore, coming back to Corban has been a bit of a shock. i honestly was dreading it...

here's a few of the things that i've noticed/several experiences that i've had. as you read them please remember that God has been graciously teaching me these things...what i will describe about Corban is what i was just a few short years ago. praise God that he has been teaching me his gospel these past years.

first, Corban is such a bubble. the predominant view of church is that it is a refuge from the ills of society and culture. even though the mission statement says that Corban is trying to educate Christians to make a difference in the world for Jesus, it isn't practiced on a daily basis. that time of making a difference nearly always seems to be off in the future and not right now. therefore, we are content to do what we want during these four years of our lives rather than being obedient to God's call.

secondly, Corban is information and knowledge centered. this isn't wrong, especially since it is a school. the problem is that it is incomplete. like i said, Corban's mission statement is to educate Christians to make a difference in the world for Jesus. if this is purely cognitive education and information transfer, is this possible? is that even the way that Jesus taught his disciples?
let me give an example to illustrate this. in my class on world religions, the professor said that he hoped that we would use the information we gather about religions to someday teach a seminar or a sunday school class. now, wait a minute. i was under the impression that we would learn about other religions in order to more adequately share the gospel with others...yet, one of the goals of the class was to continue the information transfer to other christians instead of bringing the gospel to the lost.
i am not saying that seminars and learning are bad - just incomplete. many times it is a word of information, a sermon, or a book that creates change - but the goal behind teaching and eduaction must be life change and action. without action, learning dies. its sphere is limited to the brain and it never has the chance to demonstrate itself in changed hearts and lives and cities. action must accompany knowledge...and teaching must not be limited merely to knowledge transfer. it must be expanded to experience - that's why i appreciated Apologetics class with Anderson last year. we learned it, but we were actually required to practice it by interacting with unbelievers a few times over the semester. we need more of that at Corban. more experience. more action...

third, i've seen this individualistic, self-better ment sort of Christianity prominent in Corban's thinking. this, in fact, is all over evangelicalism, but i feel like i see this better in contrast to what we had the privilege of doing this summer. the attitude that i am speaking of goes like this: i am a Christian; therefore, in order to be a better Christian and be more joyful, i read my bible more, pray, go to chapel, serve in some way, etc. now, this looks harmless on the surface, but this is such a self-centered view of what it means to be a Christ follower. so much of what we do in Christian culture is all about ourselves! bible studies, spiritualized self-help books, experience oriented worship services, and even some mission trips are all about ourselves! how can i become a better Christian, be happier, feel less guilt...etc.

this attitude is deep within all of us. the past summer i came to a much deeper realization of how self-centered i really was. planting the church, i started out by using Jesse, my partner in the plant, to serve me and help me accomplish my goals for the church. i can't count how many times God exposed the ugliness of my selfishness in my interactions with him, especially that first month or two. God impressed upon me that a leader has to be the greatest servant of all by reminding me of his interactions with his disciples - and that means just giving and giving and giving....its not easy, but God has given us everything in the entire world - can't we give some of that away?!

this attitude is contrary to the gospel. if we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must learn to humbly, selflessly give all that we have. this goes against our flesh - even Christian culture. Jesus was the greatest, most selfless giver of all. he gave his life for his enemies - us! the gospel is inherently outward focused. it is good news that must be preached to those who need it. the gospel always goes out, just like Jesus stepped out of heaven and off of his throne in order to die our death for us on a cross. now, if we are going to follow Jesus and be his disciples, then we must do the same. we must step out of where is comfortable for us and go into the darkness. we must give of ourselves to the point that it hurts. that's what Jesus means when he says that we must lose our lives for his sake....and the beauty of that is that we actually find life when we lose our own.

so, Corban, we need a change. forget the way that we've always done things and what we're used to. much of it doesn't really look like Jesus. yet he loves us so much that he continues to pursue us dispite our idolatry and self-centeredness. he wants to change us. he desires to use our little city on a hill in order to transform Salem...not sometime in the future after we have our education, but right now. God is calling us to be a part of his glorious and life-giving plan right now. will we accept the invitation?

always an adventure...

i've said it many times, but this summer i have learned so much through reconciliation and living out the call of the gospel together with others. one of the things that has been on my mind a lot lately is this idea of losing my life for the sake of Christ. i've wanted this and heard it talked about for a while, but now i'm actually seeing this happen in my life and in so many people around me. i'm seeing my friends and family actually give up things (time, money, school, approval of parents, etc.) in order to be obedient to God's calling in their lives....its ridiculous, but so exciting.

i read a blog yesterday titled "adventures in church planting." here's a quote from it:

The church that I've been privileged to help plant, Grace, is approaching the two year mark in September. It's been a journey of ups and downs, despair and joy, setbacks and progress. I've learned more about myself and my strengths and weaknesses than any Keirsey report could ever show. My idolatries of being successful or important are constantly exposed by the tossing waves of weekly attendance or offerings. Yet in the midst of this cauldron of insecurities and challenges, I feel more alive than ever.

Church planting is epic. By that I mean that church planting is a series of adventurous and heroic acts over a long period of time. It's not like a two-hour movie where everything is resolved conveniently in time for dinner. This is an epic marked with miraculous provision, lives being transformed before your very eyes, and twists and turns that you could never have imagined. In short, it's the adventure of a lifetime.

i can attest to the fact that this summer has been quite the adventure...ups, downs, setbacks, breakthroughs, changes, and transformations. i have been blessed to be a part of it. i feel like God is just beginning to take me on this grand adventure that he has in store for me as i lose my life for the sake of the gospel.

take last night for example. i met with several church leaders from some new church plants in salem. we shared the stories of how God has worked to create these communities of Christ-followers that he's letting us lead. as i was listening, i saw lives that had given up better jobs, careers, comfortability, time, and preference all for the sake of Christ. one lady that just helped start a church for the homeless said, "my life is crazy right now. i can't believe i'm actually living this." others had given up jobs, chosen to move somewhere they didn't really want to be, or put themselves in a position of financial uncertainty...because of Jesus.

man, nothing makes you more bold than seeing others actually live out what the pages of the Bible say. that's how transformation happens so often...seeing someone just lose himself for Christ and experience the deep joy that comes from that. at the end of our time last night, one person read habakkuk 1:5 - "look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." at first, i heard that and was a bit skeptical...like, "oh, that's a cool verse to read...quaint and inspiring but not really true." then, i began to think about my life these past several months...couple years...and think about if someone told me this is where i'd be at right now a few years ago, i would have definitely have told them, "yeah right..."

God is moving. he always is. he's always beckoning us to himself and inviting us to join in his glorious plan for the redemption of humanity. its a privilege, not a gulit-ridden duty, to be a part of this. i'm excited (and slightly scared) about the adventure that he's taking me on...

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glor in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
ephesians 3:20-21

reflections on summer so far

this summer has been one of the best summers of my life.

at the beginning of may, six of us moved into this house on 15th street with a vision to live out community and reach out to the neighborhood around us. shortly thereafter, 10 people came together to launch a house church - reconciliation. the vision for this quickly expanded beyond what i ever could have imagined.

i can't explain the incredible feeling of living with purpose alongside brothers and sisters. yes, there have been many difficult things this summer...including conflict, discouragement, depression, apathy, and exhaustion. but, wow, its been so worth it.

you wouldn't think that using your free time to do yardwork for your neighbors on a weekly basis or hang out with people that you wouldn't normally hang out with would be the most fun...but i have found that it really is. i can't explain it, but when you do things selflessly and forget about what you'd like to do, you find that it is the most satisfying thing in the world.

the reason this summer has been so great isn't because we've done all these incredible things or anything....it is because of the relationships that have such depth to them. for example, we've been doing yardwork at cindy newman's house all summer, and i value the relationships with her and savannah so much. we're family, and we look out for each other, laugh with each other, and get to experience Jesus together. or take relationships in the church - the depth of my relationships with carter, jesse, brad, brent, randy, elliot, my dad, ian, dan, david, addie, sam, juli, maig, marianne, sarah, brianna....ah. there's nothing like it. seriously. it is so cool to be able to come together with people around a common vision and see God work to accomplish it. these are my brothers and sisters, and i'm blessed so much by them.

obviously we've got a long ways to go. we don't know how to really live in community or reach out together. we all need more boldness. we're not sure how to show the gospel to a community....but, God is moving. things are happening. i look back upon this summer so far and see the many ways that God has moved to mature us and make us more like him.

so, i just am sitting here this morning after going on a walk amazed at God's faithfulness this summer. i want more of him. i want for him to take all of us...he's so great!

the idol of ministry

this summer is flying by...so fast that i've hardly had many chances to write anything. i have been consumed with things at the house and with the church. i have been pouring my energy into preparing sermons and dreaming of what things could be.

tonight is a sabbath rest of sorts. i have been doing my best to take time away from doing things and trying to simply be in God's presence and rest in the knowledge that his work will go on even if i am not busying myself to the point of exhaustion. however, i am still not very good at this...i feel like i have rested a good amount, and yet i know that tonight i am in need of more rest. this weekend was pretty chaotic - birthday celebrations with family and friends, as well as more hours than usual at work. and, in the midst of going through life, somehow my attention was turned away from the gospel (yet again...i'm sensing a pattern) and inward toward myself. an overwhelming wave of depression of discouragement overtook me and i began to see all the trees in my life that are not bearing fruit, conveniently overlooking every evidence of the grace of God in my life. i felt justified in my discouragement and frustration, and, while hanging out with addie today, i finally lost it. praise God for her and the truth that she was able to speak to me, reminding me that the weight of the world actually is not on my shoulders. what God is doing in this city is God's work and not mine...i need to rest in that.

so often i make ministry into an idol, something that actually obstructs my view of the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. at the church planting conference i went to, one of the speakers said, "ministry is the only acceptable idol in the church." how true this is. if someone is "doing ministry," often they are actually encouraged to sacrifice relationships with their family, ignore the broken world around them, and even forsake time with the Lord. i have definitely encouraged someone in their pursuit of this idol before...

the gospel becomes distorted like this when i replace Jesus with the idol of ministry: instead of being justified by Christ's work on the cross and resting in his finished work, walking in good works in view of God's grace, i forget Christ and try and justify myself through ministry. i try to contribute to my salvation. i forget God's grace and work for it rather than working out of it.

i can't name how many times i have made ministry into an idol and felt justified because of the great work that i was doing, meanwhile looking down on those that weren't quite as "committed" as i was. how stupid am i?! how sinful is this flesh! and yet i continue to return to the idol of ministry...even this weekend.

its a tough balance for me to try to find out how to walk in good works without making ministry an idol. on the other hand, its hard to rest in God's work without being lazy and unfocused. we're all trying to find that balance, and by God's grace with the help of the Spirit, we can walk in the grace of Jesus Christ.

that's what i'm praying for tonight.

pray - a letter to the church.

Brothers and Sisters,

i don't know about you, but so much of my personal relationship with Jesus has been interwoven with all of you and this whole church thing that we're trying this summer. every time i come to God, i can't help but pray for all of you and ask God not only what he wants me to do, but also what he is calling all of us to do as well.

this morning i have been spending time with God in prayer, and i've been very frustrated. honestly, i feel like we're losing the vision that God has given us. i feel like we've been attacked with the small beginnings of disunity. i feel like i have no clue how to live out what God has called us to. i look at what we are doing right now, and i see some cool stuff. yet when i look at the word of God and the kind of life that it calls us to be living, i see so much more. i have spent the morning searching my heart and realizing how many areas i have fallen short in leading all of you as well as just in my personal relationship with Jesus.

already, although we've only been doing this for a month and a half, there have been numerous times where thoughts have come into my head of giving up. at times i have felt attacked, burdened, and alone - and i've told God that this is too much to handle. yet every time these questions come into my mind of quitting this, God seems to quickly answer.

i'm convinced that, although things aren't ideal at this point, God is behind what we're doing. if it weren't for him in the first place, we'd be done for by now. i see many evidences of his grace in our meetings and in things surrounding what we're doing. yet i know there's more. there's got to be so much more that God's calling us to. i read this verse as i was on the plane flying back from chicago: "For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe." 1 Cor. 1:21 as i read this, the idea of worldly wisdom stuck out to me as so stupid. we cannot know God through our own wisdom, and i feel like God is also telling me that we cannot know God's will for this church through our own wisdom either.

this morning, as i've been praying, i have been asking God for his wisdom for what we're doing. i flat out asked him, "what do you want us to do?" because i'm kinda clueless at this point honestly. i felt impressed upon my heart one word: pray.

honestly, i don't want to pray. i'd rather start doing stuff and seeing people come to know Jesus. i feel like for years the church as i know it has used prayer as an excuse for inaction. and yet, i feel like God is calling us to pray - because its not by our wisdom or effort that anything will be accomplished in this city. it's not our strength. it's god's. God's power for God's work. and i feel like if we set aside what we think we should be doing and begin to fast and pray for God to move in our hearts and in this city, this would be the best way of giving God the glory. i trust him when he says that whatever we ask for in his name he will give to us. and when we ask for things to be shaken in the city of salem, i believe that God will hear us.

therefore, pray. when you find yourselves with one another, take a moment to pray for the church in salem and for God to bring people out of darkness and into light. pray for each other. pray for God's spirit to move. sit and wait in God's presence. listen to him. we can't do this with our own strength. it's got to be him.

this week, i will be at the house of prayer every night from 10pm to 11pm praying for all of you and for this city. if you can, please come and join me. let us pray in the belief that God can and will do something great within this city.

blessings,

collin

my journey to where i'm at right now

since school has been out, things have been pretty crazy. i’ve been out of town a lot, and i moved into a house with five other guys. but the thing that has been the craziest is this church that we started. let me tell you a little bit of the story…

i have known for a while that i wanted to be a pastor, but just over the past year, god has been giving me more direction with that. especially over the break, i began to feel more and more of a call toward church planting. so, by God's blessing i was able to go up to seattle in march for the Acts 29 Bootcamp (church planting conference). being up there gave me more of an affirmation on my call toward this, and talking with other church planters was one of the coolest things to do. in my mind i was thinking that planting a church would be a long way down the road. during a Q and A session with some of the planters, one person asked, "what is your advice for a person who wants to plant a church, but doesn't think they will be planting for a few years?" that was me, and i listened intently as they advised me to get plugged into a healthy church and intern there for a bit. so, once i got back, i began attending an Acts29 church in monmouth (which has been awesome). my plan was just to get involved and learn from the pastor over the coure of a couple years...

after the conference, i just continued to try and follow Jesus and reach out to the people at Corban and in Salem. i remember many a conversation that i would have with one of my brothers in the dorm, jesse, that ended with him saying, "man, we should just start a church..." i continued to think that we couldn't do this for a few years.

then, through addie i heard that some people that went to college outside of salem but would be coming back for the summer were frustrated with the fact that they only had about three months to try and get plugged into a church in town...and by that time, they would have to leave. so, i just heard little whispers from sam, addie, and juli about starting something this summer.

the more i thought of this, the more i realized that i would try and do this in the summer even if we didn't call it "church." i have been wrestling with the question of what makes a church a church for some time now, and one of the things that i am convinced of is that church is full of people who have this purposeful relationship. what sets apart a church service from chapel at corban? or a prayer night? there are several things, but i think one of the biggest ones is the relational factor.

thinking about this as well as reading in the bible about how the church really did live in community convinced me that even if we weren't going to call it a church or whatever, i would still be trying to do something similar.

after talking with God, some pastors, and many friends i decided that we should just give it a try - try living out this deep community on mission to salem this summer. my conviction from the beginning was that i wanted for us to do something - not to just sit and talk about Jesus, but to really be Jesus to salem...meeting needs, seeing people's lives transformed by the gospel, and living by faith. so, one day i was sitting there thinking about some stuff and i wrote a date down on the calendar, invited some friends, and began to think about the vision for this thing.

as i thought and prayed about the vision for our church, the words just came to me. literally i was praying for a bit, and then i picked up my pen and wrote this out:

Reconciliation is a missional community sharing, showing and living out the gospel.


i feel like this vision was given to me from God. and the further we get into this thing, the more i see the evidence of the grace of God and his work in creating this.

last thursday night, we kicked things off with an amazing group of 13 people sitting in our living room. as i was in the act of explaining the vision and answering people's questions, the weight of everything began to hit me. we are actually starting a church...what am i doing? i'm 19 years old. this is not how they said to do it at the conference. and now we are almost a week and a half into it. already so much has happened. 

i don't feel at all equipped to lead this. i don't know what i'm doing. i wake up in the morning and just know that i need to pray and read my bible...i need God's wisdom to lead this. i don't feel old enough. i don't feel experienced enough. we don't have any money. we don't have a building. we don't have a church backing us. not very many people even know about this...

but we're going for it. 

we're trying to live this thing out. see, for too long i have been too timid to challenge the norm. i haven't been willing to question things, and instead i have decided to comfortably sit and do things as everyone says they should be done. yet, when i look at the bible, i see church as so much different than we seem to do it...they loved each other so deeply that people couldn't help but want to join in. their lives were transformed by the gospel, and they gave everything they had for it. service, evangelism, giving, etc. wasn't an obligation that the pastor's guilted people into - it was something that they wanted to do because they were so overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. people didn't go to church - they were the church...and they gathered together for celebration and encouragement on a weekly basis. and...people were coming to know Jesus all the time. 

this is some of what i see in the bible, and i want that. i want to live in a community that sacrificially serves each other and that reaches out to the lost together. i want to be surrounded by people that are head over heels in love with Jesus and excited to obey him- not just apathetic. i want to really live in the freedom and joy that is inherent in the gospel.

so, our church (Reconciliation - taken from 2 Corinthians 5:18-21) is going to try to take God at his word and give this thing a try. i realize that we're not doing this right according to the world's standards or according to the christian community's standards - but i think that that is just the reason why God might use us to bring change to this city. the verse that has been playing over and over again in my mind is, "God uses the weak things of this world to shame the strong." our weakness is his strength. i believe that God can use some young, clumsy, bold lovers of Christ to magnify his name in the city of Salem. again, his strength perfected in our weakness.

so, we'll see what God does. its his story, and it is a privilege to be a part of what he's doing. 

vision for summer church

here's the mission statement for "Reconciliation"

Reconciliation is a missional community sharing, showing, and living out the gospel.

and an explanation...

Missional Community – Two elements to this thing. We are a community of redeemed people, which means so much. Community has been insightfully defined as the place where the person you least want to live always lives. Yancy says, “Anyone can form a club; it takes grace, shared vision, and hard work to form a community.” As the community of Christ, we love and serve one another sacrificially. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples” (Jn. 13:34). This is the love that the people of God are called to – loving like Christ loved. This means that we lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters in the church – literally loving them as if they were our own family. This will be difficult, but I believe that by the Holy Spirit’s power, God can form a deep, loving, and authentic community of people in Reconciliation.
The second aspect of this – missional – is inherent both in the nature of the God and the nature of community. To be missional means that we view our context (where we live, play, work, etc.) from a missionary standpoint, embracing the Great Commission of Jesus and obeying his command to be sent into the world (Jn. 20:21). “God is a missionary God, and God’s primary missionary method is his covenant people,” writes Tim Chester. We see God reaching out as a missionary to humanity first through Israel – a community. Now, we see God reaching out through the church. And this is what Jesus said, as mentioned above – “By this [your love for one another, i.e. community] all men will know that you are my disciples.” The community God creates in the church is a missional community – it must be. Therefore, we don’t have community for community’s sake. We must share this community with others, and our focus has to be on carrying to message and love of God to all the places that we go.

Sharing – We share the gospel through proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to those we come in contact with. This goes hand in hand with showing the gospel, but it is more important. If we really love those like Jesus did, we will be concerned with both their physical needs and their spiritual needs. Since spiritual needs are more important and last forever, sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus is of utmost importance. Sharing the gospel means making disciples, not just converts. It is in obedience to the Great Commission Jesus gave just before he ascended to heaven – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt. 28:18-20).

Showing – We show the gospel through our actions – how we serve and reach out to those in need. Not only does Jesus die for our sins, he also heals the sick and reaches out to the poor, providing for physical needs as well as spiritual. Over and over again God commands us in his Word to care for the poor, orphaned, widowed, needy, and helpless. Showing the gospel means bringing physical and tangible healing into places of brokenness. Reconciliation Church will seek to show the gospel to the city of Salem, making it so that the city and the neighborhood are improved because of the work we do.

Living out – We live out the gospel by growing in holiness – walking in our identity as redeemed children of God. Christ has died for us so that we might live for him and become conformed to his image. Therefore, the Reconciliation community will grow in obedience and live out a life marked by the gospel of Jesus. Instead of having to obey God out of compulsion because of religion, we get to obey God out of joy because of grace. We grow up in our spiritual walk to become conformed to the image of Christ, taking on the perfect characteristics of the Jesus that we follow.

The Gospel – Simply put, the gospel is Jesus Christ. Gospel literally means “good news,” and this is the entire theme of the Bible. At its most basic level, the gospel message is that though we as humans are enemies with God, God sent Jesus to die on our behalf. In Jesus’ death, he took upon himself all of our sin and he gave us his righteousness. We gave him our sin and failure; he gave us his righteousness and perfection. This is unmerited grace. Through Jesus, the way was opened for us to come to Jesus by grace through faith, and just as Jesus was resurrected, so we also have the hope that we will one day be resurrected to find ourselves united with Christ. This gospel, Jesus, is the motivation for why we live, the message we proclaim, and the means by which we can actually live out God’s commandments.