This week we move from “near” to “hard.”

In Acts 8, the gospel moves into Samaria—a place of centuries-old hostility—and then into the desert, where Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch: powerful, devout, and very different from him.

The Spirit pushes the early church beyond comfort, beyond tribe, beyond assumptions.

What if our biggest barrier to witness isn’t fear… but contempt?
What if the Spirit is already at work in the very places we find hardest?

Language. Standards. Mercy.
They reveal more than we think.

And chances are… you’re somebody’s hard.

Witness doesn’t stop where you are. It moves.

In Acts 9, Peter travels to nearby towns—not just to convert strangers or non-believers, but to strengthen disciples and restore community. He heals Aeneas. He raises Tabitha. He shows up.

And as he does, many come to believe.

Because witness isn’t only about what we say. It’s also about how God works in us and through us.

Witness—both our words and our deeds—moves near with willingness.

Witnessing involves proximity.
Witness involves formation.

Jesus doesn’t say, “You should try to be my witnesses.”
He says, “You will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

In this first week of our new series, You Will Be: Here • Near • Hard • Far, we begin where the disciples begin—waiting, wondering, and asking the wrong questions.

What does it actually mean to be a witness?

Before we apply it, we step into the world of Acts and learn how the people who first heard that word would have understood it. In the Jewish world of the first century, a witness wasn’t an expert or a debater. A witness was someone with proximity—someone who had seen something and was willing to tell the truth about it.

Witness carried responsibility—but not control.
Credibility—but not perfection.
Calling—but not performance.

And it started right where they were: Jerusalem. Here.

This message invites us to become more aware of what God is already doing around us—and to recognize that witness begins not with going far, but with being present.

What does it really mean to rest—and why does it matter so much?

In the final week of Add to Cart, we look at rest not as a rule to follow, but as a way of life rooted in creation, shaped by liberation, and fulfilled in Christ. From Genesis to Jesus, we explore how rest helps untangle our worth from productivity, forms trust in God as our source of security, and invites us into a rhythm that leads toward contentment. This message closes the series by reframing rest as one of the most countercultural ways we practice trusting God with our time, our relationships, and our lives.

What happens when success doesn’t deliver the security it promises? In this message, we look at Saul’s story and Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 to explore how easily our worth becomes tied to achievement, approval, and performance. Together, we’re invited to rediscover a deeper truth: our value is not earned but given, and while purpose can bring meaning to life, it does not determine our worth—prayer helps reorient us back to who God says we are.

oney shapes us—whether we realize it or not.

This week in Add to Cart, we talked about how money is like lemons, how it trains our hearts, and how generosity isn’t about being told what to give—but learning to trust God as our source.

Generosity doesn’t just help others.

-It protects us (think content vs. corrosive)

-It serves as a bridge (think community not isolation)

-It retrains what we value (think character and cohesion).

This message invites us to move from fear and scarcity toward freedom, trust, and faith, freeing us to be generous.

We live in a world that trains us to believe more will finally settle us. More money. More stuff. More control. And without even noticing, those messages start to shape what we trust and how we live.

In the first message of Add to the Cart, we look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 and Paul’s reflections on contentment in Philippians 4. We talk about how the things we reach for can quietly become our source of stability—and why they never quite deliver.

This message invites us to notice what’s shaping us and begin learning what it means to trust God as our source of “enough.”

Herod responded to the birth of Jesus with fear, control, and violence. But the light still came—and it kept shining. In this final message of our Cranky Christmas series, we reflect on what it means to face the darkness without being consumed by it.

As we begin a new year, we're invited to respond not like Herod, but like the others in the Christmas story—people who trusted, followed, waited, and worshiped even when life didn’t go as planned. The light keeps shining.  Hold to the light - that's our story- even in the darkest moments the light is still leading us forward.

Zechariah and Elizabeth aren’t usually featured in nativity sets, but Luke opens the entire Christmas story with their story—a story of waiting, disappointment, and unexpected good news.

In this message, we explore what to do when life doesn’t go as planned—even when the news is good. Sometimes the promise comes with silence. Sometimes the answer doesn’t look the way we expected. But God is still at work, still faithful, and still unfolding a plan worth hoping in.

One minute the shepherds were doing their job in the dark. The next, heaven was breaking in. They didn’t understand everything—but they had something. In this episode, we explore how hope doesn’t always explain itself. Sometimes it just invites us to go and see for ourselves.

When life leaves you confused or afraid, you don’t need to have it all figured out. You can trust what you've experienced, take a step, share the good news, and rest in the truth that God still uses small, ordinary people to carry His extraordinary message.