Every year our students go to Fine Arts Festival. We have a variety show called, "Fine Arts Showcase" every year to give them an opportunity to perform before the festival. The students perform and raise money for Speed the Light. Enjoy!

As we near the end of our journey with Caleb. We have learned that Caleb operated with internal convictions that aligned with God’s reality. These convictions guided him internally and resulted in the taking of external territory. Taking territory in a New Testament sense ultimately means the human heart. External territory points to those who are living apart from God. God calls us to go into all the world and proclaim his truth in love to all people. It’s easy to withdraw from that role in today’s social environment, but through serving others in love and wisdom we will have access to the hearts of those who desperately need the Savior.

This weekend Pastor Nate shared with us the importance of quieting the voices in our lives so that we can hear God’s voice more clearly. A great way to block a lot of the noise that consumes our lives is to eliminate secular media for a time. As we begin the media fast, please consider joining us as we silence the voices in our lives February 18-25 for our Media Fast.

This weekend we continued our series on the life of Caleb we looked into his passion for taking territory. Even into his old age, he continued to take mountains for God and those around him. What does it mean to take territory for God in the New Testament era? God's kingdom advances in the hearts and minds of people as we fight a spiritual battle. This weekend we focused on our internal world and how God wants to liberate our souls and free our minds to think and do great things for him

This weekend we continued our journey with our hero in focus Caleb. We first met him as one of the spies Moses picked to give a report about the land God was giving them. He and Joshua reported back positively, the other ten we don’t remember, brought a negative report. This divided the nation at a critical moment. Caleb rose to the occasion to give an impassioned speech in which it declared, “the Lord is with us.” We took a deeper look at the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as even today, God is with us.

This weekend we welcomed our guest Jeff Hlavin and his wife Karen. Jeff has served in ministry for over 30 years. He has spent the last season of his life leading the Michigan District of the Assemblies of God. He loves to share of the power of Christ to change lives.

Yesterday we launched our fast by looking at the life of Caleb and his contemporaries to learn lessons that we can apply today. Caleb was one of the young leaders that Moses brought out of Egypt and into the wilderness. When we first meet him we find him a leader among his peers, leading the tribe of Judah in the book of Numbers. Numbers is a book of wanderings. It shows us a lot about human nature, group dynamics, leadership, desperation, and patience. It is at the very beginning of what we could call the conquest narratives. God desired to bring forth the nation out of which would come the Savior of the world. What does God dream for you?

As we launch into the new year we look to set ourselves apart for God's purposes. At the beginning of each new year, people are fond of launching new personal initiatives to change their external world. God would have us change the world. It is not as he would have it be. He gave us the role of stewards and gave us the authority to make a difference. However, to change the external world, we must change our internal world. To change our internal world, we must connect it to the right eternal world. We explored these themes this weekend.

Atrophy is the default setting for humanity. The often-quoted Proverb tells us that “Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint.” Vision for proactive growth focuses our time, talent and energy. However, without intentional focus, we can continue to be busy without producing growth. Growth is important for at least two reasons. First, sanctification is a growth process. Becoming more like Christ requires change and growth. Second, we cannot lead where we don’t go further. Leadership is like a train. The engine leads the way, but in order to drop off the passengers at the depot, it must go past the drop off point. If we want those we lead within our families and organizations to get to a place of maturity and fruitfulness (the depot) we must go further. That requires proactive growth. This weekend, we explored the growth process as we launched into the new year.

If you were honest about your life what would you write in your, "Dear Me" letter from your older self? As we look into a new year let's focus on the wise words of King Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes. These words will help shape our perspective and focus on what's truly important for 2019. Also, Cameron Moyer rapped his song, "Dear Me" which is the song that inspired this message.