How can the church live faithfully, even evangelistically, in our unique cultural moment? This coming Monday, we will host a special lecture on how we can not only respond to the culture, but meet the questions and spiritual hunger of our neighbors with the life giving bread of life (register here!). Our speaker will be British theologian and missiologist, Daniel Strange.

Dan has written numerous books on this subject, and will focus his talk on his most recent, Making Faith Magnetic: Five Hidden Themes Our Culture Can't Stop Talking About... And How to Connect Them to Christ. In addition to speaking Monday, Dan will also preach to us on Sunday.

The cultural revolution we’re living through is destabilizing and unnerving for everyone, no doubt. But Christians are a people of hope, a people whose imagination is shaped by the kingdom to come. That’s a theological way to simply say: Christians have perspective. Discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction, as Eugene Peterson reminded us. The arc of history is long, but bent toward justice, as Martin Luther King Jr. observed.

“The pulpit is ever this earth’s foremost part,” we read in Moby-Dick, “all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world.” Melville gets it: Christians call the world to react, not the other way around. The present culture gives us feedback, which we should consider, but the future gives us fuel. It’s easy to get that backward. It’s easy to allow present crises to give us our marching orders, while we grow frustrated that the word of vindication we’ll hear one day remains unspoken today.

Of course, we want to be like the sons of Issachar who “understood the signs of the time” (1 Chron. 12:32). To serve our neighbors well, we must listen to their questions and truly understand their needs. We don’t need to wear blinders in this age. Yet we also want to be like John the Baptist, who lived a life unintelligible to his peers but made perfect sense after future events unfolded. When Jesus announced that he was reversing the curse, even the Baptist’s diet began to make sense in hindsight: as he prepared the way for Christ, he ate up and cleared out locusts, the signs of judgment.

How do we live lives shaped by the Kingdom that's both here and coming? How can our witness to the world reflect both God's infinite holiness and His expansive love? If these are questions you've asked, I hope to see you Sunday and Monday!

Guy+ and Charissa Lopez discuss our upcoming Advent Vespers service. The holiday season can bring great joy and happiness but can also evoke a sense of isolating sadness and mixed emotions. Advent invites us to reflect on the meaning of waiting and anticipation. While the Nativity of our Lord brings hope and joy, we may also experience challenging circumstances. Join us for an evening of prayer, reflection, and testimony, where we can discover peace through the active work of our Savior in our lives and the testimonies of others.

If there are no available parking spots in our lot, please use the parking lot across Cadiz. Our primary parking area experiences its highest occupancy between the transition from our 9:30 to 11 am service.