“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” — Psalm 118:24

Today is a gift—but in the busyness of life, it’s easy to miss the goodness already surrounding us. In this guided gratitude meditation, Katie Purdy invites us to slow down, breathe deeply, and become present to the ordinary gifts of this day.

Through Scripture, reflection, and prayer, we’ll practice noticing what we often overlook: the gift of breath, our bodies, the people we love, simple everyday moments, and even unexpected grace within difficult circumstances. Gratitude doesn’t ask us to pretend that everything is good; it teaches us to recognize that God is present and goodness can still be found.

As you enter this practice, come without anything to accomplish. Simply receive, notice, and give thanks. May gratitude open your eyes to God’s goodness and transform the gratitude you receive into generosity toward others.

Narrator: Katie Purdy

Take your next step at communitychristian.org.

As we move toward the IGNITE Gathering, find more resources, gathering times, and ways to engage here.

“Search me, God, and know my heart… and lead me in the way everlasting.” — Psalm 139:23–24

Life moves quickly, and it’s easy to move from one moment to the next without noticing what is happening within us—or where God may be present. In this guided Prayer of Examen, Jon Hughes invites us to slow down, look back over the last 24 hours, and pay attention with curiosity rather than judgment.

Through Scripture, reflection, and prayer, we’ll notice where we experienced love, gratitude, struggle, and grace. We’ll consider where we loved well, where we struggled to love, and what God might be inviting us to see differently.

The Examen reminds us that God is present in every part of our lives—the beautiful, the difficult, and the ordinary. As you enter this practice, come with an open heart and discover that God has been present all along.
Narrator: Jon Hughes

Take your next step at communitychristian.org.

As we move toward the IGNITE Gathering, find more resources, gathering times, and ways to engage here.

“We love because he first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19

We begin this five-day journey with the truth that grounds everything else: you are loved by God. In this guided breath prayer, Sharie Behnke invites us to slow down, release our striving, and simply receive the love God has already given.

Using the rhythm of our breath and the words “I am loved. By you, God,” we’ll create space to become aware of God’s presence and bring our worries, disappointments, insecurities, and unfinished places into that love. There is nothing to earn, accomplish, or prove.

As the prayer unfolds, we’ll move from receiving love to offering it: “I am loved. And I can love.” May this simple truth shape the way you see yourself and everyone you encounter today. God’s love comes first. We receive it—and from that place, we are free to give it away.

Narrator: Sharie Behnke

Take your next step at communitychristian.org.

As we move toward the IGNITE Gathering, find more resources, gathering times, and ways to engage here.

For two weeks, we've been asking what it looks like to truly put God first. This week, Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris brings that question to a single moment: everyone receives a key, a physical reminder of the locked room each of us carries — the thing we've quietly decided is off-limits to God, not because it's shameful, but because it's precious to us.

Rooted in Matthew 6:33, this short Hearts on Fire Sunday homily is an invitation, not a demand. Jesus doesn't negotiate the terms of what comes first, but he also doesn't force the door open — he simply loves, and waits. Listen in as Ted walks through what it means to finally hand over the key.

Scripture: Matthew 6:33

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There's always a room. A part of us we've quietly decided is off-limits — not because it holds something shameful, but because it holds something we love. Something we've built our whole identity around.

In Week 2 of FIRST, Teaching Pastor Tammy Melchien opens Mark 10:17–22, the story of a sincere, devout man who ran to Jesus with the right question — and walked away sad when Jesus named the one room he wasn't willing to hand over. Tammy also looks at three moments in Luke 9 where Jesus names three different locked rooms, and asks the question at the center of it all: what's the room you've kept locked, and are you ready to give Jesus the key?

Scripture: Mark 10:17–22; Mark 10:23–27; Luke 9:57–62; Matthew 6:21

Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao has achieved everything — and admits she's still too afraid to truly live. Her honest search for a center that holds opens our new series, FIRST, with Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris.

Jesus said, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33). It's one of his most familiar commands — and one of the hardest to actually live out. This week, Ted walks through the "therefore" that connects Jesus' words about worry to what we truly treasure, and asks a simple but searching question: what's on your 3am list, and what does it reveal about what's really first in your life?

Ted also introduces the Growth Track, a new path launching this fall to help every person grow as a follower of Jesus.

Scripture: Matthew 6:25–33; Matthew 6:19–24; Luke 12:31; Proverbs 3:5–6

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The Israelites left Egypt physically free, but Egypt still had to be driven out of them spiritually — because the slavery of production imprisons the soul, not just the schedule. In this series finale, Pastor Chris Nichols traces three moments in Moses' leadership — daily manna, Jethro's confrontation about an unsustainable pace, and the command to remember the Sabbath — to show that rest is an act of trust, an act of surrender, and an act of resistance, not a retreat from leadership. Chris introduces this week's Soul Practice, Sabbath, with a practical four-part rhythm for building rest into a leader's life. 

Scripture: Exodus 16; 18; 20:8-11. 

Week 4 (finale) of Soul-Strengthened Leadership.

Trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army, the Israelites face a situation with no human way out. Pastor Tammy Melchien walks through Moses' response to this impossible moment, showing that soul-strengthened leaders don't hold steady because they have more answers — they hold steady because they've learned to trust a God who makes a way where there is no way. Tammy traces how that trust in Moses was formed long before the crisis hit, and introduces this week's Soul Practice, the Breath Prayer, a simple tool for drawing on trust in the middle of both ordinary and crisis moments. Scripture: Exodus 13:17-14:31. Week 3 of Soul-Strengthened Leadership.

The average person can hold focus for about 47 seconds before switching tasks — and takes 23 minutes to recover from every interruption. If that's true of us, would God even be able to get our attention this week? In this message, Ted Coniaris walks through Exodus 3 and the burning bush, showing that the real miracle wasn't the fire — it was that Moses noticed. We follow Moses through noticing God's presence, stopping to listen, and obeying God in the middle of real fear and doubt, discovering that soul-strengthened leadership isn't built on self-confidence but on the promise "I will be with you." Includes a guided Lectio Divina practice on Exodus 33:12-14. Scripture: Exodus 3:1-4:17. Week 2 of Soul-Strengthened Leadership.

Freddie Mercury was born to sing. Peyton Manning was born to play football. And Moses had every marker of a born leader — royal upbringing, elite education, position, power, and a real passion for justice. Then he killed a man, hid the body, and lost everything within a day. In this episode, Pastor Aaron Loy walks through Exodus 2 to show why competence and calling aren't enough without a formed soul underneath them. Then Ted Coniaris talks with Ruth Haley Barton — author of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership — about what it looks like when leaders lose their souls, and how God does his deepest work in the very moments self-made leadership collapses. Includes an introduction to this week's Soul Practice: the Prayer of Examen. Scripture: Exodus 2:11-25. Week 1 of Soul-Strengthened Leadership.