Ditching Perfection

We live in a culture where trying hard, climbing the corporate ladder, working, checking off boxes, and abiding by the rules are celebrated and rewarded. Is it overachieving really that harmful? To us? To the people around us?

Often the very hands that God invites us to raise in joyful, peaceful, surrender, end up being the instruments for our striving.

But the good news is that we don’t have to chase sufficiency. Instead of trying to be good enough, Paul’s words in Galatians 2 will remind us to trust in the sufficient grace of Jesus.

This sermon was preached at Nampa College Church in the summer of 2023.

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram @carlycommunicates. If you'd like to learn more about my speaking ministry or access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com

Whether we like to admit it or not, we often judge a book by its cover right? From these preconceived ideas, we decide if we can risk trusting someone.

But what if God is inviting us to uproot those deep, preconceived ideas and see the fingerprints of God in everyone around us? What if we were to call out the goodness in others so that they can see it in themselves?

Today we are unpacking the story of “The Good Samaritan.” As we dive in today, I believe that Jesus’ words are inviting us to see not only the Samaritan as good, but another unlikely character as good. In the process, I believe that Jesus is inviting us to 1) shatter our stereotypes, 2) take risks to trust, and 3) to shuffle along with unlikely, misfit world changers in our midst.

The world is waiting for wildly generous compassion!

This sermon was originally preached at Nampa College Church in the summer of 2022.

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram @carlycommunicates. If you'd like to learn more about my speaking ministry or access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com

We all wear labels. Some of the labels we are proud of, and others bring us a lot of shame. Because of the labels we try to hide, we are quick to put labels on other people.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the father invites both brothers—the rebellious younger child and the performance-driven child to see themselves as beloved.

Jesus invites us to see ourselves as beloved too. When we understand how loved we are, we are able to walk through the doors of grace and forgiveness… and then extend that grace and forgiveness to others.

This sermon was originally preached at MidAmerica Nazarene University in the fall of 2023 as part of their series on the Lord’s Prayer.

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram Carlycommunicates. If you'd like to learn more about my speaking ministry or access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com

Hearing confirms what we think. Seeing challenges us to think differently. 👀

What we hear is all filtered through our past experiences, perceptions, ideas, fears, beliefs, and expectations. Hearing keeps us comfortably at an arm’s length, but seeing causes us to be up close and personal…. As we will learn from Revelation 7 today, seeing moves us to link arms with people who are different than us and calls us away from a life of power and prestige, and often into a life of suffering and sacrifice. God is inviting us to get close and see, even though it will cause us to leave our comfortable zones.

This sermon was originally preached at Nampa College Church in the fall of 2021.

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram @carlycommunicates. If you'd like to learn more about my speaking ministry or access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com

Our family is preparing for a trip of a lifetime. We are going to explore the different places with no agenda except a plan to rest, enjoy each other's company, and learn from people in cultures different than ours. In this episode, Mike and I share a glimpse of our travel plans, how we packed for ten weeks in one carry-on each (truly miraculous), and what we believe that God is going to teach during our time away.

Also, we want to give a special shout out to our dear friends and family who are caring for our house and our dog, Shirley, while we are away!

If you're interested in following along on our travels, connect with me on instagram @carlycommunicates. I will be sharing updates there!

Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels, but not necessarily moving forward? What if rest is actually the answer?

In today’s episode, my friend and colleague, Pastor Ryan Gage, is here to reflect with us about his recent sabbatical and what God taught him through his season of rest. He will share with us:

💡the importance of untethering yourself from your schedule,

💡how oftentimes maintaining things actually gets in the way of us co-creating with God, and

💡how you don’t have to go on an extravaganttcruise to find rest… you can find rest right where you are.

Ryan serves as the Worship Arts Pastor at Nampa College Church of the Nazarene, and is involved in various local non-profit organizations that advocate for the foster care community and mentorship efforts. Ryan is married to Ashley, and they have four children. The Gages love singing together, decorating, designing, laughing, and enjoying good food!

To connect with Ryan and learn more about his sabbatical, music ministry, etc. you can find him on instagram @ryangage79.

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram @carlycommunicates. If you’d like to learn more about my speaking ministry and access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com

Do have dreams or a vision to make a difference in the world, but you feel like your perfectionism and fear of failure is holding you back? If so, this episode is for you!

My friend, Liza Chitwood, is here to share with us:

✨how a “performance fast” helped her ditch perfectionism,

✨how understanding her identity as beloved by God freed her to adventure with God, and

✨how that freedom led her to spend three years in Lebanon, where she watched God heal Syrian refugees through art workshops that she led alongside Lebanese and Syrian friends.

Liza founded a social enterprise, called the Art of Hoping, that provides economic empowerment and emotional healing for refugee women. You can check out the amazing stories and handmade textiles from the Art of Hoping by visiting https://artofhoping.com/ or connecting with Liza on instagram @artofhoping.

Liza Chitwood hales from the Midwest, lives in Idaho with her husband Matt where they enjoy fry sauce on their potatoes and hot springs on the weekends.

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram @carlycommunicates. If you’d like to learn more about my speaking ministry and access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com

What do you love about your faith community, and how can you make that experience something others can stumble upon?

In part 2 of our conversation with Danny Atkins, he will remind us that missional living looks like taking the rhythms of what we already do in our faith communities and making them public. Relocating, rather than re-strategizing, will bring us into friendship with others who can experience the hope of the Jesus through our lives together.

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Danny Atkins currently serves as an executive pastor at Nampa College Church and as a part-time professor at Northwest Nazarene University. He is currently working on a PhD at Nazarene Theological College, studying Paul’s theology of mission.

Prior to his current ministry context in Nampa, he served for five years in Germany as a missionary with the Church of the Nazarene. That experience helped shape his calling to help the church be a missionary in its own context.

Danny loves to spend time with his wife and daughter, and together they love to be outdoors and travel to new places.

If you’d like to talk with Danny about living on mission, feel free to reach out to him at [email protected]

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I’d love to connect with you throughout the week on instagram @carlycommunicates. If you’d like to learn more about my speaking ministry and access my Bible study resources, visit carlycommunicates.com