December 24

An Upside-down Christmas
Text: “…to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord This will be a sign for you: you will find the child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”                                           (Luke 2:11-12)

December 17

Keeping Christ Out
Text: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to our culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You will be changed from the inside out.”
                                                      (Romans 12:2, “The Message”)

December 10

The Discipline of Waiting
Text: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.”                                              (Psalm 64:1-2)

November 19

Trusting God's Abundance
Text: “You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and breath to strengthen the human heart.”                    (Psalm 104:14-15)

November 12

Learning How to Abound
Text: “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”             (1 Corinthians 15:58)

November 5

Hold the Hand of a Saint
Text: “I pray that you may have the power of comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”     (Ephesians 3:18-19)

October 29

Mentors For the Faith Journey #6 Jeremiah: Alive With Hope
Text: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future and a hope.”                                                     (Jeremiah 29:11)

October 22

Mentors For the Faith Journey #5 Jonah: A Whale of a Fish Story
Text: “the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.”                  (Jonah 3:1-3)

October 8

Mentors For the Faith Journey #4 Joshua: Rules For the Road Ahead
Text: “Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”   (Luke 22:19)

October 1

Why Do We Do This?
Text: “Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”   (Luke 22:19)

September 24

Mentors For the Faith Journey #3 Moses: An Incredible Theophany
Text: “…the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight…’”                                          Exodus 3:2-3

September 17

Mentors For the Faith Journey #2 Abraham: Good to Go
Text: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘God from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.’”                                                                                                   (Genesis 12:1, 2)

September 10

Mentors For the Faith Journey #1 Noah: Water Country
Text: “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household...Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals...and a pair of the animals that are not clean...to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth...I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights’...And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.”                                                   (Genesis 7:1-5)

August 13

Acts Alive : #8 - Sign Language
Text:  “That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I proclaim to you.”                            (Acts 17:23)

August 6

Acts Alive : #7 - Radical Inclusivity
Text: ““You yourselves know very well that a Jew is not allowed by his religion to visit or associate with a Gentile. But God has shown me that I must not consider any (person) unclean or defiled.”                                                                        (Acts 10:28)

July 30

Acts Alive : #6 - Terminator to Transformer
Text: “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you persecute,’ the voice said. ’But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do.’”                                                                       (Acts 9:4-6)

July 23

Acts Alive : #5 - Desperately Seeking Something
Text: “Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah; so he asked him, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ ‘How can I understand,’ the official replied, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’”                                       (Acts 8:30-31)

July 16

Acts Alive : #4 - Holy Boldness
Text: “’We cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard…’ [Then they] began to speak God’s message with boldness.”                                                                     (Acts 4:20, 31)

July 9

Acts Alive : #3 - A Faith-Based Initiative
Text: “Peter said to him, ‘I have no money at all, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to walk.’”                                                                                 (Acts 3:6)

June 25

Acts Alive : #2 - Contagious Community
Text: “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”                                                 (Acts 2:47b)

June 4

Acts Alive : #1 - Power Grid
Text: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”                                                                          (Acts 1:8)

May 14

A Different World
Text: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”                                         (Luke 2:52)

May 7

A Worthy Anniversary
Text: “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.”                                   (I Timothy 2:12)

April 16
Easter

Believe in Miracles: The Miracle of a New Dimension
Text: “Jesus said to [Mary], ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’”                                                             (John 20:17)

April 9
Palm Sunday

Believe in Miracles: The Miracle of Life
Text: “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”                                                                   (John 11:39, 44)

March 26

Believe in Miracles: The Miracle of Sight
Text: “As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth…Then [the blind man] went and washed and came back able to see.”                                                                               (John 9:1, 7b)

March 19

Believe in Miracles: The Miracle of Feeding
Text: “Then Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.”                                                      (John 6:11)

March 12

Believe in Miracles: The Miracle of Healing
Text: “Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.”                                    (John 4:46b-47)

March 5

Believe in Miracles: The Miracle of Being Known
Text: “The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband;” for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’”                                       (John 4:17-18)

February 19

Practice! Practice! Practice!
Text: “A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and mother”’”                           (Luke 18:18-20)

February 12

Facing into the Storm
Text: “…in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by.”   (Psalm 51:1)

January 29

One Bite of the Elephant
Text: “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness…”                                                         (Isaiah 58:10)

January 8

Forming a Sabbath Year
Text: “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’”                      (Mark 2:27-28)

January 1

A Celebration of Hope
Text: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”           (I Peter 3:15-16)