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April 16, 2026 • 10 Minute Read
Blog Post
Nobody has a perfect family. We know that. But there's a difference between knowing it and feeling it, especially on holidays designed to celebrate what yours was supposed to look like. You scroll through social media and see curated perfection. You sit at the dinner table and feel the weight of everything that was never said. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a question lingers: What do you do when your family is broken and the culture keeps pretending perfection is the goal? Here's the truth that changes everything: God is not looking for perfect families. He's looking for purpose-filled families. And the distance between those two realities is where healing begins. The Family Was Always the Plan From the very beginning, God designed the family as the primary environment for growth, identity, and belonging. Genesis 1:28 records that after creating humanity, God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth." Family was not an afterthought. It was the mechanism. And this isn't just a theological claim. Neuroscience and psychology continue to confirm what Scripture has always taught. People who grow up in healthy family environments are less likely to struggle with substance abuse, have lower incarceration rates, experience greater relational satisfaction, and demonstrate stronger emotional resilience. If that feels discouraging because your family wasn't healthy, stay with this. The same Bible that affirms the power of family also tells the unfiltered truth about how messy families really are. Four Generations of Dysfunction Genesis chapters 30 through 40 trace four generations of one family: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And if you read their stories, you'll find yourself thinking, "This is really messed up." It is. The Bible doesn't sugarcoat it. It doesn't put its heroes in stained glass. It exposes the brokenness we all recognize. Adam blames Eve. Cain kills Abel. Abraham sleeps with his wife's servant. Isaac favors one son over the other, breeding rivalry and competition. Jacob, whose very name means "deceiver," lives up to it. And Joseph, at the end of the family line, is sold into slavery by his own brothers. Through these four generations, the patterns repeat: favoritism, deception, rivalry, manipulation, passive-aggressive behavior, distorted intimacy. Sin doesn't just separate humanity from God; it fractures families, turning intimacy into blame, siblings into rivals, and homes into battlegrounds. The cycle doesn't break until Joseph. And what Joseph did to reverse the curse his family passed down is the blueprint for every one of us still carrying the weight of what was handed to us.Subscribe To These Posts When Your Family Has Failed You, God Has Not Abandoned You The most remarkable thread running through Genesis is this: God's love is not dependent on your family's dysfunction. God made a promise, and no amount of generational brokenness could nullify it. Abraham failed. God was still with him. Jacob was a deceiver. God was still with him. Hagar was cast into the desert by the very people who used her. God showed up and said, "I am with you." Joseph was betrayed, enslaved, falsely accused, and thrown into prison. God showed up and said, "I'm still with you." Your family background may explain who you are, but it does not have to define who you become. When you read the genealogies in Genesis, name upon name, generation upon generation, God's faithful, loving covenant remains. When God makes a promise, not even your family's dysfunction can rob you of it if you lean into it. God even changed the names of these patriarchs to reflect His transforming work. Abram, meaning "father," became Abraham, "the father of many nations." Jacob, "the deceiver," became Israel, "one who wrestles with God." When you let God do His work, He transforms what looks broken into something beautiful. The Soil of Your Heart Think of it like gardening. If the soil of your life has been deeply compacted by the weight of what happened to you, if it's been stripped of nutrients because no one ever told you "I love you" or "you matter," if toxins have been poured in through words that poisoned your heart, then no wonder nothing grows. Maybe you've been trying to grow really good things. You want to be a good parent, a good provider. You want to show up when it matters. But the soil has been hardened by circumstances you didn't choose. The good news is that God is the great Gardener. If you let Him, He'll begin to till the soil again, softening it so that air and nutrients can be poured in, so that light can penetrate the dark places, and good fruit can grow. The Crucible That Refines You Joseph's story reads like a crucible. A crucible is a container that withstands intense heat. You place raw ore inside it, ore covered in debris, dirt, and impurities. As the heat rises, everything melts. The pure metal sinks to the bottom while the impurities rise to the surface. A skilled refiner scrapes away everything that doesn't belong until only the pure design remains. You and I were created in the image of God. The circumstances of life may feel like they've buried that image. But God uses the crucible of experience not to destroy you, but to refine you. The heat turns up not to break you, but to reveal who you were always created to be. If you skip the process, you get a weakened version. It might look like gold on the surface, but under pressure, it crumbles. Joseph grew up in an environment of survival of the fittest. But he chose generosity. He grew up surrounded by rivalry and pain. But he chose forgiveness. When he stood before the brothers who had sold him into slavery, now the second most powerful man in Egypt, he had the opportunity to continue the family curse or break it. And he looked at them and said, "What you intended for harm, God intended for good." Healing Must Interrupt What Dysfunction Repeats The patterns in Genesis are unmistakable. A father favors one son. Rivalry erupts. Deception follows. Manipulation takes root. And then the next generation inherits it all. The question every generation faces is the same: Will I repeat the pattern that was passed on to me, or will I, with God's help, break it? No matter your family background, there are things that happened to you that should have never happened. But if you let God heal you, He can transform it. That's the story of Joseph, and it can be yours, too. As you look at your own family experience, consider: What did your family teach you about conflict? About love? About generosity? These things may explain who you are, but they don't have to define you. And the harder question, especially for parents and grandparents: What patterns am I carrying forward, and where might God be inviting healing? When my wife and I were first married, we had to work through a lot of crucible experiences. We dealt with conflict in completely different ways. My way of dealing with conflict is to say it straight up. You're not going to have to guess what I'm feeling or thinking. Hers was the opposite. She saw conflict as something negative to be avoided. You can imagine how well that went until we made a decision: How are we going to define, as a family, how we deal with confrontation? How are we going to handle generosity and parenting? We had very different ideas, and we had to work through them with God's help to create a new way forward. How to Build a Healthy Family Today If you recognize these patterns and you want something different, here's what I've learned practically in my own life about becoming the parent and family member God has called me to be. Choose Presence Over Perfection Your kids don't need you to be perfect. They need you to be present. It's in being present that the beautiful transformation takes place. You can't script it or plan it. You're just there. When my kids started playing sports, I made a commitment to coach them. Not to be overbearing, but so we could experience everything together. Dance recitals, awards, birthdays. Sometimes it was around a dinner table where we chose to be present, no phones, looking at each other, talking about things we maybe didn't want to talk about. Sometimes it was at bedtime when we would just pray, not out of religious obligation, but out of inviting the presence of God into that moment. "Train up a child in the way that they should go" (Proverbs 22:6). It's embedded into what family is. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be there. Speak Blessing Instead of Cursing Many of you know the pain of words that were spoken over you. You're dumb. You're ugly. You'll never amount to anything. You're worthless. When those words are spoken into a child's life, they plant seeds that harden the soil. It is never justified to curse your children. Never. Instead, learn to speak blessing. Maybe you'll be the first one in your family line who actually expresses "I love you" on a regular basis, not because someone earned it, but just because. Maybe you'll be the first to speak truth that isn't visible yet: "I see something in you that you don't see in yourself. You are worthy. You are loved. You matter." If you don't know what to say, read the promises of God over them. You are a child of the living God. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. God has a plan and a purpose for your life. When you begin to speak life instead of death, it will break a curse. Practice Repentance and Forgiveness Some of you might need to stand in front of a mirror and say the words: "I was wrong." That is not weakness. That is breaking a curse. I do this now as a grandfather. My grandkids call me Papa. And sometimes I'll say, "Papa shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry." You're modeling something. You're breaking something. You're building something. Invite God Into Everyday Life It doesn't have to be weird. Just begin to talk about what God is doing in you and how you're trying. That was maybe the greatest gift my family gave me growing up. They invited God into most everything we did. And inviting God into everyday life begins to shape and form the people around you. You Don't Have to Come From a Healthy Family to Create One You don't control what happened to you, but you do choose how you see it. And that choice shapes everything that follows. In a world that's increasingly lonely, where abandonment and rejection are common experiences, we need to fight for each other. We need to create spaces of belonging, not spaces where you have to think a certain way or behave a certain way before you're welcomed in. You belong because you were created in the image of God. Jesus said, "They will know you are my disciples by how you love one another" (John 13:35). No one has ever been won over by a slick argument. But people have been transformed because someone chose to love them. Today could be the day of transformation. The day you decide, with God's help, to believe that He is present with you and that you will be present with your family. You can't fix what's broken on your own. Only God can do that. But you can keep showing up, keep loving, keep speaking blessing, and keep inviting God into that space. You are loved. You belong. Your family story, however broken or beautiful, is not beyond God's redemptive grace. And with His help, you can create a different kind of family, one marked by presence and blessing, repentance and forgiveness, belonging and hope.
August 3, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Contentment Before the Ring
Focus Verse: Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." There is a quiet anxiety that settles into a single person's life when the world keeps asking, "So when are you getting married?" Maybe you have felt it — the low hum of pressure that makes you wonder if your life is somehow on hold until another person arrives. The Apostle Paul saw this same tendency in the Corinthians, and his counsel was simple and countercultural: cultivate contentment right where you are. Contentment is not resignation. It is not pretending that longing does not exist. It is the decision to stop putting your spiritual life on pause while waiting for circumstances to change. Paul observed something remarkable — that many people who stopped making a mate their consuming pursuit and instead poured themselves into knowing God and serving his kingdom found that God had a way of ordering everything else in their lives. Seek the kingdom first. That is not a spiritual platitude; it is a sequence with a promise attached to it. Today's Challenge: Write down one way you have been waiting for a different season of life before fully investing in your relationship with God, and then take one concrete step today to invest now instead. Prayer: Father, I confess that I sometimes treat contentment as something I will feel once my circumstances change. Teach me to seek your kingdom as my first priority today, not someday. I trust that you hold everything else in your hands.
August 3, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Guarding Against Worldly Distraction
Focus Verse: 1 Corinthians 7:31 "And those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away." Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 7 are not only addressed to single people. He is speaking to everyone about the danger of letting temporal concerns crowd out eternal ones. He describes people who weep, rejoice, buy, and use the things of the world — and his point is not that those activities are wrong, but that none of them should be allowed to consume you, because this world in its current form is passing away. Think about how much of your mental and emotional energy is occupied each day by things that will not last. A news cycle, a financial worry, a social comparison, a scroll through a screen that leaves you more anxious than when you started. Paul is not asking you to disengage from life. He is asking you to hold the things of this world loosely, with open hands, while keeping your grip firm on what is eternal. Whether you are single and tempted to let loneliness drive you toward distraction, or married and tempted to let the busyness of family life quietly push God to the margins, the call is the same. Refocus on what endures. Your devotion to the Lord is not a category of your life — it is the center from which every other category draws its meaning. Today's Challenge: Identify one habit of consuming news, social media, or entertainment that has been feeding anxiety rather than faith, and replace thirty minutes of that habit today with prayer, Scripture, or worship music. Prayer: Father, I acknowledge that I have let the worries of this world take up more space than they deserve. Reorder my attention today. Help me hold temporal things loosely and invest my energy in what will last forever.
August 3, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Singleness Is a Gift, Not a Gap
Focus Verse: 1 Corinthians 7:32 "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord." It is possible to sit in a church service and feel invisible. If you are single, you may have experienced exactly that — the assumption that your real life begins at the altar, that you are simply in a waiting room until marriage makes you complete. Paul dismantles that assumption entirely. He does not describe singleness as an incomplete state. He describes it as a season with a particular kind of freedom and focus. When you do not have a spouse or children depending on you, you carry fewer of the divided interests that come with family life. That is not a consolation prize. It is a genuine gift. The freedom you have right now to give your full attention to the things of the Lord — to serve without negotiating a family calendar, to respond to a need without asking how it affects a household — is something a married person may actually envy. Paul is not putting marriage down. He is lifting singleness up to its proper dignity. You are not less whole because you are single. You are not a smaller part of the body of Christ. You are someone with a unique capacity for undivided devotion, and that capacity matters deeply to God and to his church. Today's Challenge: Identify one ministry opportunity, community need, or act of service that your current season of life actually makes easier to pursue, and take a step toward it this week. Prayer: Father, I receive my current season as a gift from your hand, even when it does not feel like one. Show me the specific ways you want to use my time and freedom for your kingdom right now. I want to live fully today, not just wait for tomorrow.
August 3, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Marriage Calls for Selfless Focus
Focus Verse: 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 "But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband." Paul makes a statement in this passage that is easy to miss because it is tucked inside a larger argument about singleness and marriage. He says the married man's concern should be how to please his wife, and the married woman's concern should be how to please her husband. That is not a throwaway line. In a culture that tells everyone to put their own needs first, this is a revolutionary instruction. Marriage in God's design is not primarily about having your needs met. It is about becoming the kind of person who is genuinely occupied with meeting someone else's needs. When both people in a marriage are oriented this way — each one asking what the other needs rather than cataloguing what they themselves are not receiving — something remarkable happens. Resentment loses its foothold. Bitterness does not get the room it needs to grow. This principle applies whether you are newly married or have been married for decades. The question is not whether your spouse is meeting your needs. The question Paul presses you toward is this: are you genuinely concerned about theirs? Today's Challenge: If you are married, spend five minutes today thinking carefully and specifically about one practical way you can please or serve your spouse, and then do it without announcing that you are doing it. Prayer: Father, forgive me for the moments when I have entered my marriage focused on what I am receiving rather than what I am giving. Soften my heart toward my spouse today. Make me someone who is genuinely concerned with their flourishing.
August 3, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Belonging Wholeheartedly to the Lord
Focus Verse: 1 Corinthians 7:35 "I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." Every instruction Paul has given throughout this chapter points toward a single destination: undivided devotion to the Lord. That phrase is the summary of everything. Whether you are single or married, young or old, in a season of contentment or a season of longing, the goal of your life is belonging wholeheartedly to Jesus. Not belonging to a relationship status. Not belonging to a version of your life that has not arrived yet. Belonging to him, now, completely. Christian freedom — which is what Paul says he is protecting throughout this passage — is not freedom from commitment. It is freedom for full commitment to the One who made you and redeemed you. Trusting him with your relationships means submitting those decisions to his will rather than reacting to social pressure or unchecked impulse. Enjoying his fellowship means filling the quiet spaces of your life — especially the lonely ones — with his presence rather than with noise. And finding yourself useful, in whatever state you are in, means believing that God has something for you to do today, in this season, with the specific time and gifts and freedom that are yours right now. You are not waiting to become someone God can use. You already are. Today's Challenge: Write out this phrase somewhere you will see it today: "I belong wholeheartedly to the Lord, in this season, right now." Let that declaration shape one decision you make before the day ends. Prayer: Father, I want to belong to you without reservation. I release my grip on the version of life I have been planning and I open my hands to whatever you have for me today. Make me useful for your kingdom in this exact season of my life.
July 31, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
A Testimony Worth Telling
Focus Verse: Ephesians 5:31-32 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." Paul calls it a profound mystery, and it is. The idea that two fully formed, deeply different human beings can be knit together into something that functions as one is not a human achievement. It is a divine one. And when it actually happens, when a husband loves sacrificially and a wife honors faithfully and the two genuinely move toward each other rather than away, it becomes a testimony that the watching world cannot easily explain away. Your marriage is not a private arrangement. It is a public picture of something eternal. Every time you choose forgiveness when you have every right to be bitter, every time you serve your spouse when you feel empty, every time you stay when everything in you wants to withdraw, you are painting a portrait of Christ and the church for anyone close enough to see it. That is not pressure; it is purpose. God did not put you together simply so that you would be happy, though he does want that for you. He put you together so that your union would declare his glory. A marriage built on covenant, on leaving and cleaving, on self-sacrifice and mutual honor, is one of the most powerful sermons your community will ever witness. Ask God today to make your marriage that kind of testimony. Today's Challenge: Write down one specific way your marriage, right now in its current season, is reflecting the love of Christ to the people around you, and pray over that testimony with gratitude. Prayer: Father, I want my marriage to be more than a personal comfort. I want it to be a picture of your love for your church. Remove every barrier, heal every wound, and make us one in a way that only you can accomplish, so that others see you in us.
July 30, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Celebrating Differences, Choosing Unity
Focus Verse: Romans 15:5 "May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus." God did not wire you and your spouse the same way, and that was entirely on purpose. One of you is a spender, the other is a saver. One of you fills up by being around people while the other fills up by being alone. One of you is driven by tasks while the other is driven by relationships. Left unaddressed, those differences will slowly build a wall between you. But surrendered to God, those same differences become the very places where you learn to need each other. Harmony is not sameness. An orchestra produces something beautiful precisely because it contains instruments that are nothing alike. The goal of your marriage is not for you to become a copy of each other. The goal is for two genuinely different people to be bound together by a love strong enough to hold the differences without being destroyed by them. That requires choosing, on an ordinary Tuesday, to look at the thing about your spouse that frustrates you most and say, "That is part of who God made them." Unity is not the absence of tension. It is the daily decision to keep turning toward each other rather than away from each other, and it is the kind of decision that only grace makes possible. Today's Challenge: Name one difference between you and your spouse that you have allowed to become a source of frustration, and spend a few minutes today asking God to help you see that difference as a gift rather than a burden. Prayer: Father, I confess that I have let what makes my spouse different from me become a source of resentment rather than a reason for gratitude. Grant us harmony today, not because we are the same, but because your love is holding us together in our differences.
July 29, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
The Power of a Covenant
Focus Verse: Malachi 2:14 "But you say, 'Why does he not?' Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant." There is a word that changes everything when it comes to marriage, and that word is covenant. A commitment says, "I will stay as long as this works." A covenant says, "I will stay because I made an oath before God." When you stood at that altar, God was not simply a guest at the ceremony. He was the witness to what was promised, and that changes the nature of what you made. Our culture is fluent in contracts. We negotiate terms, protect our interests, and build in exit clauses. Many people carry that same contract mentality into marriage without ever realizing it. But a contract is between two parties, and a covenant involves three. God himself stands as witness to what you spoke over each other on your wedding day. That is not a weight to burden you; it is a foundation to steady you. When the feelings are thin and the effort feels thankless, the covenant is still holding. God's faithfulness to his own word is what gives you the strength to be faithful to yours. You are not holding your marriage together by sheer willpower. You are leaning on the one who witnessed the promise and is still present in it. Today's Challenge: Set aside five minutes today to pray over your marriage as a covenant, thanking God specifically that he was a witness to your vows and asking him to be active in your union. Prayer: Father, I thank you that my marriage did not begin and end with two people. You were there, and you are still here. Remind me today that I am not keeping my covenant alone, and give me the grace to honor what was promised in your presence.
July 28, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Leaving and Cleaving Together
Focus Verse: Genesis 2:24 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." This verse is ancient, yet Paul quotes it in Ephesians 5 and Jesus quotes it in Matthew 19. When the same truth is repeated by the Author of the Law, the Son of God, and the apostle who wrote half the New Testament, it is worth slowing down to receive it. God established the pattern of leaving and cleaving from the very beginning of human history, and he has never revised it. Leaving is not just a physical act of moving out of your parents' home. It is an act of the will. It means you stop organizing your life around every relationship that came before your marriage and you reorganize it around your spouse. Cleaving means you hold fast, you stay, you press in even when pressing in is hard. Many couples in difficult seasons simply drift. They keep all the outward appearances of marriage while quietly moving further and further into separate emotional worlds. God's design is the opposite. He is calling you toward oneness, and oneness does not happen by accident. It happens when two people keep choosing each other, again and again, in every ordinary season of life. Today's Challenge: Identify one habit, distraction, or outside attachment that is quietly pulling your attention away from your spouse, and take one concrete step today to address it. Prayer: Father, I ask you to show me where I have stopped truly cleaving to the person I married. Give me the courage to leave behind whatever is competing for the place that belongs to my spouse. Teach me what it means to hold fast.
July 27, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Weekly Update for July 26
Welcome to the July 26th weekly roundup 👋 This is your one-stop spot for everything happening in our church family. From kids to adults, small groups to special events, here's how you can get connected over the next seven days. Sunday, July 26th 11:00 am Worship Service - Join us for Sunday
service in person or online. 11:00 am - Family Day - Check Facebook for pictures and a video Kids Ministry - Age-specific programming during the service. Monday, July 27th Prayer Gathering - 5:30 pm Thursday, July 30th Praise and Worship Practice - 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary Upcoming Events Partnership Dinner - Sunday, August 2, 5:30-7:00 PM in the Kid’s Room Women’s Painting Party - August 8th from 12-2 at the church Kid’s Back to School Swim Party - August 9th from 4-6 PM at 116 Shadowood Court, Seneca, SC 29678New here? We'd love to connect. Last Week's Message "Marriage is a Covenant Relationship"
Pastor Eric | Ephesians 5:22-33 A Christian marriage is fundamentally different than the prevailing culture’s understanding of marriage. You can have a great marriage. But it starts with understanding that marriage symbolizes the covenant relationship between God and His people. Just as Christ sacrificially gave His life for the Church, a husband is called to love his wife; and just as the Church honors Christ, a wife is called to respect her husband. Watch last week’s sermon 👇Watch Online Community Prayer We carry each other through the spiritual practice of prayer. Here's what our community is lifting up this week: 🙏 Partnership Dinner - That the vision is delivered with clarity and conviction. That new connections will be made and new partnerships established. 🙏 Our City – For renewal and revival across our communities. Submit your own prayer request .here Giving Your generosity makes our work in our community possible. We’re so grateful for you. New to our community? No pressure. Today, just be our guest.Give Now Here Stay Connected 📩 Subscribe to this Collection to get these updates delivered directly to your inbox. 📸 Follow us on , Instagram, and .YouTube 💬 Pastoral care or questions? Connect with us here. Services: Sundays at 11:00 AM
3210 Blue Ridge Blvd., West Union, SC 29696
See you soon ☀️
July 27, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Marriage Mirrors Christ's Love
Focus Verse: Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Paul is doing something remarkable in Ephesians 5. He is not merely giving husbands and wives a list of rules. He is drawing a picture, and the picture is Christ. Six times in just a handful of verses, Paul mentions the church, and that repetition is not accidental. He wants you to see that your marriage is meant to be a living, breathing illustration of the greatest love story ever told. Think about what that means for a Monday morning, when the romance has faded and you are sitting across the breakfast table from someone who left their socks on the floor again. The call on your life is not to feel love in that moment but to choose it, the way Christ chose the cross not because it was easy but because the covenant demanded it. Your marriage is not primarily about your happiness. It is a testimony, a visible sign to a watching world of what sacrificial, faithful, covenant love looks like. That is a high and beautiful calling. Today's Challenge: Read Ephesians 5:22-33 slowly and count every time the word "church" appears, then ask yourself what that repetition is meant to teach you about your own marriage. Prayer: Father, I confess that I often reduce my marriage to what I get from it rather than what I can give to it. Open my eyes today to see my spouse the way Christ sees the church, as someone worth sacrificing for. Let my love be a reflection of yours.
July 24, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
Praying for Open Doors
Focus Verse: Colossians 4:3 "At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison." Even the apostle Paul asked others to pray that God would open doors for the gospel. He did not rely solely on his own boldness, his theological training, or his remarkable story. He recognized that the opportunities to speak about Jesus are ultimately God-given, and that prayer is how a believer positions himself or herself to see them. This is an enormous relief. You do not have to manufacture conversations or engineer moments. You simply have to be willing and watchful. The sermon closes with a practical challenge: pray each morning for an open door and then ask God for the eyes to see it when it appears. That second part matters enormously. Doors open all around you every day - a colleague mentioning that they are struggling, a neighbor who seems unusually discouraged, a family member who brings up something they are afraid of. These are invitations. Prayer trains your attention so that you recognize them as the gifts they are rather than letting them pass by unnoticed. One person, one conversation, one act of visible hope can change a life. Begin with prayer, and then stay alert. Today's Challenge: Pray a simple, specific prayer this morning: "Lord, give me one opportunity today to show your love to someone, and give me the eyes to see it when you do." Prayer: Father, I do not want to miss the doors you are already opening around me. Train my eyes to see the people you have placed in my path today. Give me courage to walk through the door when it appears, and remind me that you are with me always, to the very end.
July 13, 2026 • 1 Minute Read
Family & Kids Ministry Update
Summer is here!!! 🌞 Our Sunday Kids Church curriculum kicks off with a brand new 8-week series, “Back-to-School Survival Guide.” The kids will learn how to make this school year the best ever as they see how to listen and hold on to instruction. “I also want to spotlight 🤩 our incredible Hope Kidz team, who have faithfully served Sunday after Sunday! Thank you for making disciples… who make disciples in Hope Kidz!” - Pastor Eric Do you have a passion for kids and a heart for helping them grow in their faith? Do you enjoy teaching children about Jesus and making disciples? Hope Kidz would love to have you join our team! If you're interested in serving or would like to learn more, please reach out to Valerie for additional information.Sign up to join Hope Kidz ⭐HOPE KIDZ NEWSLETTER ⭐ Coming up 🔔
