For week three of our Love Local teaching and engagement series, our hearts will continue to focus on the vulnerable of our community, and in particular, the children of our community. Our guest teacher, Courtney Berry, will challenge us from God’s word and bring light to the foster care crisis in our community. As the East Bay Area Director of Advocate for Foster the City, Courtney is not only an advocate for foster care but a foster parent herself. Furthermore, Family Pastor, Ashley Pansoy, and volunteer point leader, Marta Jones, will highlight Awakening’s partnership with Foster the City and the various ways we can all be a part of the solution in caring for vulnerable children.

For week two of our Local Local teaching and engagement series, we will hear from City Team’s Hermie Smit, the director of CityTeam in the Neighborhood and Church Engagement. Hermie grew up in South Africa, moved to the US in Nov. 1999, and started working for Cityteam in 2001. Hermie has dedicated his life to developing, equipping and replicating teams and partnerships to serve the poor with the loving compassion of Christ and create on-ramps to empower holistic transformation. Alongside Hermi’s teaching from scripture, we will also hear from Local Outreach Director, Brian Warren, and Food Pantry Team Leader, Tomás Carradero, on ways that we can activate our service with our biweekly food pantry ministry and a one-time serve opportunity with local partner, Maintenance for Moms. A special offering will also be offered the following day to grow in our awareness of God’s heart towards the immigrant, with expert Matthew Soerens, as a School of Faith offering.

Join us for the launch of our Love Local teaching and engagement series as we hear from local pastor and homeless advocate, Fred Mok. As the lead pastor of Quicksilver Church and a second-generation Chinese American who grew up in San Jose, Fred and his family have had an active role in seeking care, advocacy, and love for the unhoused community of San Jose. In addition to Fred’s biblical challenge from God’s Word, Local Outreach Director Brian Warren and ministry point leader Joeli Pence will provide practical next steps on how we can mobilize our time towards Be a Friend, a ministry to the unhoused, as well as a real-time care package assembly and distribution challenge.

Your story may be marked by hurt, detours, and things you never would have chosen. Joseph looked back on betrayal, injustice, and years of pain and declared, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Those two words — But God — can rewrite your past and reshape your future. Nothing and no one can stop God’s purposes for your life. The worst parts of your story can become the very things He uses to bring hope, healing, and purpose.

You were made for more than comfort and success. Joseph’s dream wasn’t just about his rise to power — it was about saving lives, restoring relationships, and bringing hope. God’s vision for your life is bigger, better, and more satisfying than anything you could build alone. The dream was never meant to stop with you; it was meant to flow through you to others.

We’ve all wondered if it’s worth it? The long days, the unseen faithfulness, doing the right thing when no one’s watching. You start to think, Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s a waste. But what if every hidden moment is actually God preparing you for something you can’t see yet? In a moment, Joseph went from the prison to the palace. What felt like wasted years were actually God’s training ground. Your moment is coming, and how you live today is what will make you ready when opportunity knocks.

Waiting tests your patience, your trust, and sometimes even your faith. Joseph spent years in a prison he didn’t deserve, wondering if his life had stalled out for good. Yet in that waiting, God was positioning him for influence and impact he couldn’t yet see. What you call wasted time, God calls preparation. The waiting is part of the dream.

You’ve been faithful, but it feels like nothing is changing. You wonder if God even sees you anymore. Joseph’s lowest season, falsely accused and forgotten, became the place where God shaped his character most deeply. Sometimes the shadows are where God does His most important work. He hasn’t abandoned you; He’s preparing you.

You thought you knew where life was headed…and then it all fell apart. The heartbreak is real, the questions are raw: Why, God? Where are You? Joseph’s dream was torn away by betrayal and loss, yet God never abandoned him. What feels like an ending may actually be God planting the seeds for a greater beginning.

Somewhere between the deadlines, the disappointments, and the “maybe next year” promises, your dreams got smaller. Maybe you’ve stopped dreaming altogether because it feels safer not to hope. But God still has a bigger, bolder vision for your life — one worth believing in again. Like Joseph, He wants to plant something in you that seems impossible, but will change everything. It’s time to wake up and dare to dream again.