ENCOUNTER

Summary:

Embracing Jesus means making room for guests in my life.

Detail:

I’ll never forget that moment our family first arrived in Ventura six years ago. We had just left everyone we knew back in Texas and drove the 1,300 miles to this new foreign place God had clearly led us.

When we arrived that Saturday morning, we knew we were in the right place but it didn’t feel like home. It felt like a pleasant town full of strangers. We didn’t have a house to live in yet or know where the grocery stores were located. Honestly, we felt a little lost.

And then, out of nowhere, we received a magical text. DING! Ginger looked down at her phone and read the text, “Hey Riggins family, I heard you arrived in Ventura today. If you don’t have lunch plans, would you come over to our house and have lunch with our family?” It was from another family at ENCOUNTER.

Just like that. Ventura felt a little less foreign. Our hearts felt the breeze of “home” that we longed for.

This week we conclude our Embracing the Stranger series. We will revisit one of the most ancient spiritual practices of our Christian faith, which may now be one of the most neglected. Could we revive it again?

I’m grateful to be part of the ENCOUNTER family with you. See you this weekend!

P.S. Last weekend you brought 166 pair of shoes for the migrant workers! Wow! We are still receiving more adult-sized new, athletic shoes this weekend (Oct 14/15).

Church family, I must apologize. Last weekend I underestimated your generosity. After the service, I invited you to go to the back of the Auditorium and pick up a card with a shoe size to buy a new pair of shoes for local migrant workers.

We laid out the shoe sizes for 180 pairs of adult-size athletic shoes. There was a long line waiting to get to the table after the first service on Sunday when all 180 cards had already been taken. So everyone who was remaining in that line and the entire second service did not get a card. Praise the Lord for your generosity!

As a result, here’s what we’re going to do. We want to continue to unleash your generosity. This specific community of migrant workers has around 250 adults living in the trailer park. What if we are able to put shoes on every single migrant worker in that park? For those who didn’t have an opportunity last weekend to pick up a card, this is your chance. This weekend, we’ll have the rest of the cards with shoes sizes on the table for you to pick up.

We will continue our series, Embracing the Stranger, and hear the story of a couple in our church that will encourage you.

Bring the shoes you’ve purchased with you this weekend, and I look forward to seeing you at ENCOUNTER.

Church family, I must apologize. Last weekend I underestimated your generosity. After the service, I invited you to go to the back of the Auditorium and pick up a card with a shoe size to buy a new pair of shoes for local migrant workers.

We laid out the shoe sizes for 180 pairs of adult-size athletic shoes. There was a long line waiting to get to the table after the first service on Sunday when all 180 cards had already been taken. So everyone who was remaining in that line and the entire second service did not get a card. Praise the Lord for your generosity!

As a result, here’s what we’re going to do. We want to continue to unleash your generosity. This specific community of migrant workers has around 250 adults living in the trailer park. What if we are able to put shoes on every single migrant worker in that park? For those who didn’t have an opportunity last weekend to pick up a card, this is your chance. This weekend, we’ll have the rest of the cards with shoes sizes on the table for you to pick up.

We will continue our series, Embracing the Stranger, and hear the story of a couple in our church that will encourage you.

Bring the shoes you’ve purchased with you this weekend, and I look forward to seeing you at ENCOUNTER.

Summary:

If I embrace Jesus, I must embrace people who look differently than me.

Detail:

If you’ve ever been around young kids, you’ve probably seen those books where each page lists four pictures/shapes and then you’re supposed to identify the one thing that doesn’t belong. Remember those? One page might have three circles and one square. The next page might have three vegetables and one cupcake followed by the question, “Which one of these doesn’t belong?” For the record, I say the cupcake ALWAYS belongs!

The tragedy is when a person feels like they don’t belong. Like everyone else is a circle and they are the one square that doesn’t fit in.

As a dad, when I hear that one of my children were made to feel like they didn’t belong, I vacillate between the two extremes of deep sadness and fiery anger. Can you relate?

That must be how Jesus feels because He insists that His followers treat strangers a specific way. He takes it seriously when we overlook the strangers.

But, who are these strangers? Where are these strangers? What does the Bible say? Let’s learn together.

This weekend we will begin a brand new series, “Embracing the Stranger.”

I’m looking forward to seeing you at ENCOUNTER.

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