Road Trip – Ephesians 4:1-16: The most significant road trip or journey any of us can take is one that leads into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to become part of the family of God. The second most important journey leads us to understand our life calling and purpose within that family.  In Ephesians chapter 4, the apostle Paul invites people to join him and other followers of Christ in these two legs of the journey and to walk worthy of our unique and mutual calling. Join us this weekend and discover some great truths about you and your fellow travelers-we are all alike, we are all different, and we are dependent on the same God and on each other. We are better together!

Road Trip – Ephesians 3:1-20: It's my new favorite mountain in the Canadian Rockies.  I've driven past it, perhaps, hundreds of times.  The problem is that I never noticed until a few years ago despite the fact that it is clearly visible from the TransCanada highway.  It's called "Cathedral Mountain."  Perhaps the reason I've always missed it is that there is a viewpoint about a 100 metres before the mountain becomes visible.  The viewpoint is looking to the right to the amazing Spiral Tunnels while the mountain is to the left.  I'm pretty sure that Cathedral has been there a long time!  I just missed it.  So many good and beautiful things are all around us but we miss them.  Sometimes we miss the wonder of God's presence and grace and love in our lives.  Paul gave us an amazing prayer in Ephesians 3 about discovering the height, width, depth and length of God's love for us.  This weekend we'll unpack the prayer and we'll pray the prayer.  It will be a remarkable encouragement to your soul and a great template to use to pray for those you love.

Road Trip - Ephesians 2:1-10: I often find myself reflecting upon my life and joking that "the older I get, the better I was!"  We all have such selective memories.  Years ago Barbara Streisand hit the top of the charts with a song called, "The Way We Were."  It's good to reflect upon that - but it's better to reflect honestly and openly.  It's because of the "way we were" that we desperately need grace today.    Our road trip this weekend takes us to graceland!  Not the place of Elvis' home in Memphis, but to the land of grace that changes everything about, well, about everything!  No one questions that grace is a remarkable gift ...  but what is it that makes it amazing?  This weekend we get to study one of the most beloved texts of Scripture that reveal to us the truth behind God's grace ... why we need it ... how it comes ... and how it changes us at the core of who we are.  I hope your schedule allows you to be here this weekend as we celebrate what God has done for us and what he wants to  do through us.

Road Trip - Ephesians 1:15-23: I don't know about you, but when I'm on a road trip through the Rockies (and I'm not the driver), I love to spend time leisurely looking out my window.  That's probably why the game I Spy with my Little Eye is such a classic road trip pastime.  Those routes that snake through the mountains always beg me to take in the beauty of my surroundings. I undoubtedly find myself in awe of the majesty and wonder of all that God has created.   It's an overwhelming reminder to me of who God is.  He is the all-powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, Creator God.  He is my Holy Father, and wants me to know Him-I mean really know Him.   Join us this weekend as we welcome guest speaker, Mark Buchanan, author and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology from Ambrose University College.

Road Trip - Ephesians 1:1-14: Road trips! We may not teach them in our citizenship classes, but they're definitely part of being Canadian! This summer most of us will venture out into the wild blue yonder, following the call of the Rockies or the trail of the Prairies, plunging into almost-warm lakes or hiking through timeless mountains. We hope for magnificent scenery, great conversations, fresh experiences, magical memories, and time to reconnect with family and friends in creation.Some basics are essential in any good road trip: a GPS, a vehicle, a destination and a driver top the list! Oh, and maybe some good tunes! This summer at Foothills we'll take an unforgettable road trip through the book of Ephesians - our GPS mapping device. We're riding in community, whether livestream or at church - our vehicle. Our destination for the summer is our Father's home - filled with light and love. And our driver - well this weekend we'll look at Who's Driving? Because if you have all the rest, but don't have the right driver, you could end up in a mess! (I write as one who drove into a bus trap, just because my GPS said to!! Don't put me behind the wheel!)

Not Built in a Day – Romans 16:17-27: We have finally come to the last message in the book of Romans. We hope you'll join us this weekend, as we consider Paul's last words - how he closes off this extraordinary letter we've been studying since Christmas. As we saw last weekend this letter to the Roman Christians was not just a text book of rich theology. At its core it is really a letter of love to the people who are living and serving faithfully.  Paul greets over thirty of them by name-real people who have been radically changed by the gospel-and he thanks them for being helpful, supportive, faithful and obedient.Authentic love does many things, but part of the nature of true love is to warn and protect, to preserve and defend, the very thing that brings us together and unifies us-gospel of Christ. Apart from Christ, few of their paths, few of our paths, would ever meet. It's the one thing we have in common. We are a church saved by grace, living by love, and getting to do it together. It doesn't get any better than this. So let's keep it that way!

Not Built in a Day – Romans 16:1-16: It was a year ago this weekend that the worst floods in a century devastated our city and surrounding communities.  If we learned anything through all that ... we rediscovered the truth we often say here that "we're far better together than we are alone!"  It was remarkable to see how our church and city rallied together to serve so many.  We learned that everybody matters - all of the time.  "Everybody is a Somebody" is not just the theme of our weekend ... it's the passionate belief that we as a leadership community have about our Foothills family.  There's not a day that goes by where I'm not amazed by the wonder of this church and the lives that are daily impacted by our people who've embraced their God-given potential for making a difference in the lives of others.  I'm pretty excited about this weekend ... and not only because it appears to have stopped raining and not even only because we get to come to church.  I'm especially looking forward to serving hot dogs in our backyard to about 80 new Canadians in our Bridges ministry Sunday afternoon!  Joyce and I get to be one of the "stops" on a progressive luncheon for these incredibly dear people and it all serves to remind me of just how beautiful and diverse our church family is becoming!  We are called to do life together.  Come and be encouraged to find the place God has prepared you to serve the body of Christ.  We'll highlight a few of our volunteers and reflect on the fantastic privilege it is to serve.  God is doing amazing things in us and through us - come and let's celebrate ... together!

Not Built in a Day – Romans 15:1-13: Father's Day.  It's another one of those, "I love this weekend" or "I dread this weekend" kinds of experiences that the calendar seems to be filled with.  Many of us struggle with the dysfunctions of a Dad on a weekend like this.  Some of us dearly miss our fathers.  Some rejoice in the gift of a Dad and his influence in your life.  Regardless of our experience or perspective - all of us are aware that when Jesus taught us to relate to God - he chose to use the imagery or language of father in so doing.  Our Creator God is our "Father in heaven."  And whether our Dads excelled or failed ... we all have a pretty good idea of what a good Dad looks like and what our Heavenly Father looks like.  We will celebrate Dads this weekend.  There will be great laughter and probably a few tears along the way ... but we will seek to honor our Dads and worship our Abba Father.  I hope you will be able to join us this weekend as we look into the kinds of Dads (and people) God is seeking to build.  Have a blessed Father's Day weekend!

Not Built in a Day – Matthew 16: Building Projects.  Even as I write this... it sounds like 43 men are working on top of my office as our Green Roof Project is fully underway!  There's just something that's so intriguing about watching something get built (or replaced / restored in the case of our beloved roof!)  Perhaps it was because of his early days as a carpenter that Jesus used the metaphor of building to describe his commitment to the church. "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."  he gave his life to build a church... a people... a called out people to represent his grace and his gospel.  Our building team have hired some pretty capable people to manage the building project because we want to get it right.  All the best resources won't be effective unless they're being used by skilled builders.  The most important thing about Foothills is that we live in submission to the Master Builder - the Lord Jesus - and what is  true for us as a church is true for us in our families and is true for us in our personal lives.  Please join us this weekend as we consider our relationship with the Master Builder and all he longs to do in and through our lives.  It will be a great weekend!

Not Built in a Day – Romans 14: It may not be like this at your house, but over at the Drapers the six of us don't always get along. We may belong to the same family, but that does not exempt us from disagreeing about stuff now and then. It seems the family of God in Rome faced that same challenge and in chapter 14 Paul has something to say about it. No ifs, ands or buts... they are to get along. Paul's call to love each other even when we disagree goes beyond keeping the peace. Peace among ourselves is the way we demonstrate to the world the reality that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. It's not easy, but by his Spirit as we reflect unity amidst diversity we reflect the very nature of our Triune God. Join us as we consider God's call to live as his Kingdom people then gather at the Table to remember the One who makes us one.