This story from the Book of Acts takes places in Samaria, the area right next door to Israel. It was a place Jesus promised his disciples would reach, but it was also a place of spiritual confusion. In this wilderness of faith, a man named Simon the Sorcerer thought he was a big deal and had the trust of many people. When the power of God showed up in town, though, he realized there was more to the world than he had understood and that he wasn't as powerful as he though. What happens next is a great lesson to us all about God and how his Kingdom works!

Welcome to our new message series for Summer 2019 - "Lights, Camera, Actions!" This series is a journey through the Bible's book of Acts, and it tells the story of what Jesus' followers did by the power of the Spirit after he ascended to heaven and gave them their mission. We will be focussing on the coming of the Spirit and how He changed everything - God's unleashing of the Holy Spirit causes the unleashing of the Christian Church. We need to walk in step with God the Spirit as we do mission, pray and share the gospel with our city!

I hope you had a happy Memorial Day! I trust you celebrated our freedom and remembering those who gave their lives to provide it. The willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of another is so inspiring to all of us because God has built this truth into the human heart: "very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possible dare to die. But god demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5) We praise God or those who have followed his example!

We are so honored to have so many our our missions partners sharing their stories and dreams with us! This is such a special opportunity to catch a tiny glimpse of all God is doing around the world in their sphere of influence. As we prepare to do an increasingly better job reaching our own, learning form others in mission is a critical piece of our strategy. They are living out the same mission, but in different spheres - I stand in awe of how God manages to unite and yet disperse His workers in effective mission around the world.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and mother figures! We are so thankful for the way in which God has used women to nurture, inspire, protect and give life to us, not only biologically, but also spiritually, intellectually, and relationally! May your day be full of blessing, honor, and special memories. This message continues our series on the mission and calling of this congregation by talking about something moms understand well - nourishing. Life requires good nourishment to thrive, and God has a plan to fill us and use us to fill others!

This message starts a series of messages that will dig deeper into our mission statement, break it down into smaller parts, and remind us all this commotion and disruptions have been about! We will refresh our commitment and passion for the thing that gives us a reason to exist - Christ's call to reach the Northeast side by seeking to nurture new faith and obedience in previously unreached households.

Check out this message from His Ability Sunday; a special service when we celebrate the gifts, faith, work, and testimony of our differently-abled members and friends. We are so blessed by our Friendship Ministry team and its leaders - they are doing amazing things in our church and community, and they LOVE Jesus so much! In this message, we will be looking at a passage that shows us God is able to do anything he wants through anyone he wants; the question is never about HIS ability, but about our reliance. Are you relying on God’s abilities, or something/someone else?

This message talks about how Jesus rising from the dead changes everything and makes meaning out of our lives and sufferings. If we believe this good news, everything we know about life, death and purpose takes on new meaning. In Jesus Christ's Resurrection, we see that death has been destroyed and that human bodies can be made new; the only question is where those bodies will reside for eternity and what determines the difference.

Worship is such an important topic in the life of the Church Jesus is building. Sadly, though, we most often mistakenly reduce the meaning of the term to just, “musical taste and comfort.” Worship is meant to be a full-blooded self-giving that increasingly dedicates the whole man or woman to sacred service and holiness. In other words, worship means giving God more and more of our whole selves! This shouldn’t be boring - God delights in making worship NEW; regardless of the format, the spirit of the worshipper must be remade fresh every time! 

There is a lot of buzz around Sunshine right now about our new building and our move into our target neighborhood. God is good and doing SO much here! We are all excited to see the renovation completed and to start using the new space. It is so important for us to keep saying and remembering that the church is NOT a building - it is people and gospel mission! Today's passage in our series is all about how the new temple God is making for himself is not bricks and mortar; it is living, human stones joined together by the gospel and bound by true love!