The Bible is all about God’s redemptive plan to bring all people back to Himself. Yet, in the spending of our time and giving of our resources, it seems we buy segregation. We make conscious and unconscious decisions every day that keep us within the bounds of our comfort zones, around the people who are most like us, leaving no room to engage with people who are different than we are. God’s praises will be lifted up by all people, and we must live in a way that reflects this transcultural community of worshippers.

This week, Pastor Ethan preaches a hard message about our selfishness and proclivity to our natural preferences. For the believer and non-believer, our only remedy is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to have our hearts continually changed by it. For the believer, and those of us who call Renovation Church our home, Pastor E gives us five practical ways that we can begin to faithfully be a part of God’s redemptive plan to gather all people back to Himself.

The whole narrative of the Bible is about God’s redemptive plan to bring all people back to Himself. Transculturalism embodies the truth that we are all made in the image of God and are to be celebrated in our differences because we are all a part of the beautiful tapestry of God’s people. Creating a transcultural community and a genuine love for all people is not an addendum to the Gospel, but an implication of the Gospel. Although it’s easier to build deep relationships with people who are like us, vital to our identity and deeply embedded throughout Scripture is the truth that we are all one in Christ and agents of God’s redemptive plan to have a family of people from all nations, tribes, and tongues.

As we continue this series on how the Gospel informs who we are, Pastor Leonce challenges us to move outside of our comfort zones and begin to not just tolerate people who are nothing like us, but to love them. We are to reflect God’s plan to redeem people of every nation and be a part of His transcultural family now. Pastor Leonce ends with three questions that convict and challenge us to see where our hearts are, and live in light of these truths.

How amazing would it be if the people of God gave freely to the mission of God? Specifically for Renovation Church, how incredibly could we impact the city of Atlanta and the world through a gospel movement if we as a family took our God given gifts and used them for the specific thing God has called us to do for His Kingdom? God has gifted and designed each of us in a specific way, and then through His Spirit empowers us to serve excellently with that gifting. At the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is our service. As we continue in the series that brings us back to who we are as a local church, Pastor Doug reminds us what our service to Christ should look like and how to serve with excellence.

“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old...” Last week we saw God’s plan and promise to raise up, renew, restore, and rebuild what has been broken. In part two of Cultural Renewal, Pastor Leonce explains what our parts are in the renewing work of Christ in our city and in the world. We are reminded and encouraged that we have a part to play in ushering in this new Kingdom, right now. He shows us what we must believe and things we must do if we are going to faithfully influence culture and impact the globe

Can you imagine a world that is perfect, overflowing in abundance with every good thing, and as it was intended to be in the beginning? In our brokenness, it is hard to visualize a world where humans flourish and nothing made is misused as an idol or a distraction from the glory of God. It’s hard for our minds to conceive it, yet every human longs for a day without the infection and disease of sin and evil. In the passage for this week, we see God’s plan and promise to raise up, renew, restore, and rebuild what has been broken. It’s a beautiful illustration of the tangible earth God’s people will get to partake in.

Continuing this series on the identity of Renovation Church, Pastor Leonce shares that as Disciples of Christ, it is our responsibility to take our biblical worldview into every area of our lives, as we join in the renewing and transformative work of God in our city and in the world. Pastor Leonce speaks very vividly on what God will do and on the lavishness the people of God can expect when Christ returns.

Shortly before Jesus ascended into Heaven, he commanded all of His disciples and those that would become disciples to go make disciples. By His power and authority, He commissioned us to bring to Him those that are not yet His. As Pastor Leonce continues to share with us what shapes our identity as a local church, he reminds us that everything we do is centered on making disciples for the glory of Jesus. He challenges us to believe that Jesus’ commission is commanded to every Christian. This week, Pastor Leonce teaches what it means to make disciples, how we are to make disciples, and leaves us with three practical suggestions on how we can be faithful to the command to go and make disciples, as well as be faithful to the identity and purpose of Renovation Church.

It’s been said “nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” From shoes, homes, cars and money, to our families and friendships, we place some kind of value on absolutely everything. We ascribe something its value by the price tag placed on it, instead of its true worth.


As a follower of Jesus, we must ask ourselves how much is Jesus worth, and what value have we given to Him. Is He worth everything? Do our lives bear the fruit of a faith that’s worth our whole existence? What would it look like to give up everything in worship and adoration of Christ because of His worth, and what causes that kind of worship and abandonment? Are we like Mary, who knew His worth and was devoted, even foolishly in worship? Or are we like Judas, rebuking those in high adoration of Christ


This week Pastor Leonce narrates the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet as a beautiful display of worship. He challenges us not to be like Judas, ignorant of the value of Christ and unknowing of His worth, but to be like Mary, knowing full well His worth and to be okay looking foolish in our worship because of it.

How do we see Jesus? Are we like the crowd that came to see Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem? Only desiring to see Him because we’ve heard He’s done signs? Do we long for Jesus because we long to be delivered from our problems? Have we shown up at His feet out of our selfish desires for what He can do for us? Jesus came to Jerusalem for one reason; to proclaim who He was. He came to proclaim that He is the Messiah, the Savior, and the King. The people who met Him there came for other reasons, and a lot of us have also desired to see Jesus for reasons other than the ones He came to the world for.

This week, Pastor Leonce helps us do the hard work in recognizing how we’ve treated Jesus. He leads us in a confession to Christ and repentance to turn from viewing Jesus as a celebrity and service provider, to seeing Jesus for who He is... Our Savior, and our King.

Throughout our country and around the globe, injustices have been brought to light, and chaos has rung loudly through our nation leaving many of us divided on the issues of race and forming allegiances not inspired by the Bible. We’ve taken these problems and instead of viewing them rightly through a gospel lens, many Believers have chosen to see them through a cultural lens. This is detrimental not only to the way that unbelievers view us, but because of the apathetic and dispassionate spirit that consumes us. As Christians, how should we respond to the turmoil, chaos, and complex crisis in our lives, this nation, and around the globe?

In a passionate plea against the selfish and irresponsible way we’ve handled what’s going on in this country right now, Pastor Leonce urges us to have more compassion and walk worthy of the Lord. He gives us a framework of how to respond to crisis through the way Jesus responded to complex crises in His own life and walks us through how we should feel, how we should pray, and what we should do. Simply, there is a way we respond to crisis and it is to emulate Christ.

In an act of obedience and complete surrender to the Father, Jesus gave His life for us at the cross so we could also be heirs of the Father and heirs with Christ. The only way sinners could be reconciled back to a holy, righteous, and just God, was if Christ paid the sin debt that we owed, and bore the wrath that was due for us. In His life leading up to His death on the cross, and in His willingness to actually die for us on the cross, we see in perfection what it means to die to self, in order that life may be produced in others.

Throughout history we see faithful men and women who have been obedient to the call on their lives and have also given up their comforts, their entitlements, and their lives, even to the point of death, for the sake of others and the sake of the Gospel. In the face of injustice and in places where the Gospel is not known, if we’re saved, we must act.

We cannot say that we follow Christ and cling tighter to our lives in this world than we do to Him, and according to the Word, we will not see eternal life if we choose not to lose it. We must die to ourselves or Christ’s death for us is vain. This week, Pastor Leonce challenges us to really look at our lives and to question if we’re serving our own self-interest, or His. He shares what it looks like tangibly to give our lives so that we may be fruitful and produce life in others, and reminds us of the promise that if we lose our lives for Christ, God will honor us.