This week (and next), we had the privilege of hosting Simon Cunningham, Pastor of Roots Church on Capital Hill in Seattle. In his casual, story-telling way, Simon took us on a journey into the life of David and the one they called, "son of David". Simon asked the question, "Why don't young people go to church?" Part of the answer may lie in the fact that oftentimes the church does not tell the whole story about life and therefore, comes off as dishonest and incomplete. No one's life, even the most successful, is without grief and pain, so it is important that we invite people to encounter Jesus no matter where they are in life.

Dale shares the journey he has been on for many years, but especially since his heart attack last summer. As you would expect, the past 12 months have brought a lot of self-evaluation and thought, part of which helped Daled to evaluate the place of the Bible in his life and thinking.

Spiritual warfare is really only understood within the context of the macro story of the Bible and the primary purposes for which Jesus came. This backdrop becomes the catalyst for our prayer life and engaging in the cosmic battle for control of this world. Sometimes defensive, sometimes offensive, the prayer of a believer is powerful in shaping our perspective and keeping us in a place of submission to God.

There is a bit of a pause at the beginning of this recording. Fast forward to about 4 minutes.This week we decided to take on the topic of spiritual warfare. No matter where you stand on the matter, personally, the Bible is filled with the reality of spiritual battle from beginning to end.We began the conversation by taking a look at this macro reality and talked about God's intent for us to encounter His shalom as well as be agents of shalom. Of course, this is resisted! Sometimes directly and sometimes more indirectly. In the coming weeks, we'll talk about the place of prayer in this spiritual reality and what it means to "overcome".

We were thrilled to have Amy Brandt share with us this past Sunday. She rocked the message and gave us a beautiful picture of God as Mother! Thank you soooo much!!

One of the challenges we face when it comes to prayer, is our deep longing to be in control and come up with a "recipe" for seeing prayers answered and connecting with God in a significant way. Although well intentioned, this desire to systemize our interaction with God and find the "right way" to pray, can also cause us to miss the opportunty to walk with God into a place of relinquishing the needs of our lives to God. This was the journey Jesus took in the garden of Gethsemene. It was a journey he invited his friends to join him on 2000 years ago, and a journey he invites his friends into today.

Prayer is one of those things that is engaged in by almost every religion on the face of the earth. Christianity is no different. Prayer is not only an intgegral part of our history, but also modeled for us in the life of Jesus. All of this does not alleviate the struggles many of us face with the challenge of unaswered prayers or at least, many requests where nothing has seemingly changed. One of the most difficult challenges for me as a person and as a pastor, is the reality that many people are deeply disappointed with their understanding of God. Our purpose in this discussion, is not to try and explain all the things that are impossible for us to explain, but rather, to explore together, how we move forward as Christ-followers.We will openly discuss the challenges we face with prayer and how what we believe about God greatly impacts our understanding of how to pray and what the purpose of prayer is.

I would not say this about just anything, but this could be one of the top 3 Easter messages I have ever heard, and that includes my own!Aaron Walters of The Table, simply brought home the great news about the resurrection. It could have just been where I was at, but it was like a prophetic word to my soul!

There are not too many areas of life where we use the term "covenant". It may be present if you are part of an HOA, or are in a neighborhood where there are "covenants", but other than that, the term shows up most in weddings.We are a contract generation. We are careful to protect against risk and want to mitigate liability or lawsuits at all costs. We draw up documents, get legal opinions, dot our "i's" and cross our "t's". We protect ourselves!A covenant is not that way. In a covenant, we make an agreement with another. Sometimes, there is articulation of what both parties are to do, and other times, it only stipulates what one party will do. In the New Covenant, made possible through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God declares his covenant with humanity. This is what the Passion Week is all about!