"What is something of such great value that you cannot even think of the lengths you'd go to to possess it?" It may seem like a simple or easily answerable question, until you're actually faced with the prospect.

It’s human instinct to seek after and sacrifice for what we think is valuable or will add value to our lives. There is not a realm of life that is absent from this instinct. All of life is a seeking after value. And if we find something that we consider valuable, we’ll do dang near anything to possess it; experience it; engage it; participate in it.

Jesus believes that God’s Kingdom—and participation in it—is the most valuable possession we could ever have. And He makes His case for that in two interwoven stories, first told to His first followers, now told to us.

Parables | The Treasure & The Pearl | Matthew 13:44-46

Throughout history, you have these moments in time, where God uses a people to place his character and glory on display in dramatic fashion. And as Dr. King put it, it was the ground crew and pilot of this flight of freedom that we all find ourselves passengers on, that displayed this to us. That took the superior position of great glory for our sake.

But here is the problem we are forced to face when listening to this poetic inspiration of Dr. King… we don’t believe him. We believe that being served is where the Glory is found. We believe that the position of honor are those at the head of the table. In this metaphor, first class. That glory, honor is found when our lives are seated above others.

But what we have in the words of Jesus is something so profoundly opposite, that it demands our attention. Jesus seems to propose, that glory is not found in taking the position of authority, but in taking the position of servant.

Stand Alone Sermons | Glory | Mark 10:35-45

Bible tells us that there will be more death, pain, suffering for the sake of the Gospel before God returns to rescue us. Scripture makes it clear that suffering is the common uniform that all Christians wear. All Christians. But especially so for those who leave their own homes and take the Gospel to the nations that sit in darkness. Overseas Christian workers. The world will only be reached through our suffering. The souls of men come at the cost of messengers' lives, health, prestige, family, comfort, prosperity. To reach the world, we must choose to suffer.

Glocal | Choosing to Suffer |

There is a story In Greek mythology that most of us will not be familiar with, yet the nature of it will seem common to every single person here. As the mythology goes, Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He was renowned for his trickery, deceitfulness, cleverness and cunning. He used these traits to manipulate family members and “gods.” He used them even in his rise to the throne. But one day he went too far, and offended Zeus with his treachery.

As a punishment for his trickery, King Sisyphus was made to endlessly roll a huge boulder up a steep hill. The maddening nature of the punishment was reserved for King Sisyphus due to his hubristic belief that his cleverness surpassed that of Zeus himself.

This consigned Sisyphus to an eternity of useless efforts and unending frustration. Thus—through the classical influence on modern culture—it came to pass that apparent continually tedious or interminable activities are sometimes described as Sisyphean. Now how, you may be wondering, is this common to us? I’m sure most of us haven't offended any mythological greek “gods” recently.

But would it be a stretch to say that there are many days where in we look at our lives and we feel such monotonous tedium —such mundane, uninspiring, uninteresting, wearisome, frustrating, irksome, repetitiveness— that we may as well be rolling a boulder up a hill... just to have it roll back down again?
Wake up. Get ready. Go to work or school. Fight the traffic. Do the thing. Come home. See the kid... or spouse... or roommate... or pet... or just the house. Watch TV or Workout. Dinner. More TV. Go to bed. Start over... and we look down the barrel of the repetition and sometimes wish we were anywhere but here. And being a Christian... doing Christian things, is just one more layer added to the continual monotony.

Now maybe... for a few of us... this sounds a little extreme. But I would wager if given the opportunity to sit down across from any one of you and chop it up, that it’d quickly come to the surface that to some degree, great or small , we are all experiencing the same thing. We choose to live mundane lives; yet God has granted us more.

Vision&Values | Spirit-Led | Acts 2:1-4; 4:1-31

It is easy for us to move Jesus to the margins of our lives. And when we do, the door is opened for us to become enthralled with so many other things, every trapping that this age has to offer— Knowledge, Fame, Power, Prosperity. A Jesus Centered Life—founded on God’s Wisdom and Power—boasts only in the Lord. The gospel is foolishness to much of our world, but the wisdom and power of God to the believer. Join us, as Pastor Léonce unpacks our value of being Jesus-Centered.

Vision&Values | Jesus-Centered | 1 Corinthians 1:18-20;26-3

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” - John Ehrlichman, Nixon Advisor (Quote taken from the documentary, 13th)

Why use this quote? Because it reveals what happens when the powerful shape the narrative and others do little... but rather move through their lives unconcerned with human flourishing.

But most unfortunately, they each reveal the vacuum created by the myopic gospel to which SO MANY Christians subscribe; one extraordinarily concerned with personal piety, and solo-salvation, but disconnected from the suffering and struggle of others. Many Christians have long treated the gospel as a personal message, free of social implications. And it is in this way that Christians bear a great deal of responsibility for how the most vulnerable in the U.S.... in the world even, remain that way

Vision&Values | Socially Conscious | James 1:27

We believe that every human being is endued with the Imago Dei, the image of God, captured in unique cultural and ethnic expressions, which embody the full breadth of God's creative genius, not to be subverted to the ethnic/cultural identity and preferences of another, but celebrated in creating a fuller expression of our humanity; a woven tapestry of color, culture, and “class” as God forms a people for Himself from all people. This is THE definition of Transcultural, and it is how we will be defined as a community.

Vision & Values | Transculturalism | James 2:1-4

Over the next 21 Days we as a church will be going through a collective fast. Pastor Léonce guides us through a few of the ways fasting is a beneficial and necessary part of the Christian walk.

Our Corporate Fast