Happy Friday friends (or…whatever day you’re reading this on)! Today it is November 1, otherwise known as “All Saints Day”. “Saint” can be a bit of a confusing word depending on your background, but in the New Testament, it is often a translation of a word that we could more precisely translate as “holy ones”. This day in the church calendar is an opportunity to remember and celebrate the life and witness of all those holy ones who have come before us and marked us in any way. While some traditions have officially canonized “saints”, this term can just as easily be applied to otherwise ordinary and normal Christians who lived and died in relative obscurity. As the Apostle’s Creed states, “We believe…in the communion of saints”. So today, take a moment and give thanks for those saints in your life who have shaped and influenced you!
A Few Updates:
- About 5 years ago while on a trail run at a local park, I (quite literally) ran into an old friend named Caleb. We’ve kept in touch since then sharing coffee or lunch or just long walks. When we first reconnected, he was on a spiritual journey that had taken him through a variety of different philosophies and places, from San Francisco to India. By his own admission, he was not following Jesus. But he was in the search for truth. I made it a point to add him to a list of folks that, I pray regularly, will come to know Jesus. Over the last 18 months (or so), Caleb’s come to know Jesus in a special way and begin to live as his disciple. When we met this last week, he shared with me that he’s getting baptized this Sunday! Not only was this wonderful news for me, but it was a reminder from the Lord of his faithfulness and power to do what’s beyond our ability to make happen. Prayer is something that’s easy for us to overlook, but we can’t forget that it is powerful and it works…not through any virtue of it’s own but because Jesus is powerful and he works!
- We were blessed to see the start of two new fellowship bands in the last week! A fellowship band is a group of 3-5 brothers or sisters in Christ who meet regularly for spiritual friendship, conversation, guidance, and accountability. If you’re interested in joining a band or re-purposing an existing small group utilizing the method of band, feel free to reach out and I’ll help you get going in that direction! Or, if you’re more of the “read first” type, you can check out any of the resources on Fellowship Band over at the Inspire Movement Bookstore.
Please join us in praying for…
- Gratitude for the great communion of saints who have shown us an example to follow and have gone before us in deeper union with Jesus.
- Caleb and his family as they seek to follow Jesus even more closely in the years to come.
- The new fellowship bands that are starting and those that have yet to be birthed.
- Students in our region as they enter the home stretch of this semester.
- The continued hurricane recovery efforts in our region.
- Our country and our local communities, that the fullness of Jesus’ joy and the reality of the Kingdom would be made visible in the weeks to come
Stephen and Wendy are planting Inspire missional communities called ‘Houses of Healing’ in TN, USA’. Read more from the Hopkins here. Listen to the podcast here. Support Stephen and Wendy here.
