01 | Love

 

John 15:1-11

Jesus says he is the True Vine - the only place where what we need for a thriving life can be found. We’ll talk about the ways we go in search of love, acceptance, and validation, how that always ends in a shriveled life, and how “abiding” in Jesus leads to a love-filled soul and overflows in loving relationships.

December 2, 2018 | Steve Hart

 

Choosing Slovakia

 

Choosing Slovakia | “Being before Doing”

Recounting the process God has brought Aaron and Megan on as they’ve gone from marginal involvement in the church and mission of Jesus to rearranging their lives around what He is up to and preparing to move their family to serve the disciple-making movement in Slovakia! A combination of story-telling, gospel proclamation, and invitation to partnership.

November 25, 2018 | Aaron Gibbs

In 2016, Aaron and Megan were searching for more ways to reorient their lives around the Great Commission while serving on staff at their local church. This led to involvement in a church planting residency where their desire to equip followers of Jesus for everyday discipleship continued to grow. They became more aware of the need for skilled practitioners in places around the world where the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are very few. Aaron and Megan realized that their gifts and training could be used to further equip the body not just locally, but globally. This realization led Aaron to serve at a leadership conference in Poland in the fall of 2017, where he saw the impact Josiah Venture (JV) has had over the years. At this same event, he also heard a call to serve church leaders in central and eastern Europe long-term. After asking God to clarify this call, by growing their heart for a people or a place, he answered that prayer by leading them to join the disciple-making movement in Slovakia.

Aaron and Megan, along with their three young boys, are excited to partner with Josiah Venture to see local churches flourish, and provide a place for youth to use their gifts, find belonging, and reach their city. They will be serving with the JV Slovakia team at TC Kompas, and making their home at the church plant, Za Kostolom, in Žilina. The Gibbs family are currently support raising with the hopes of moving to Slovakia by fall 2019.

 

06 | Servant Leadership

 

1 Corinthians 4:1-20

The Corinthians are assigning way too much significance to certain leaders within the church, which always leads to deifying or demonizing them. Instead, Paul urges that we see leaders as servants and stewards - men and women called to sacrifice so the church flourishes, tenderly but courageously pointing the church toward Jesus.

November 11, 2018 | Steve Hart

 

05 | The Building

 

1 Corinthians 3:6-23

Paul is continuing to bring the Corinthians back to the basics of the gospel and the way of life it produces. In this section, Paul emphasizes the fact that the church is God’s building, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, to be a dwelling place for the Spirit. It is a unique view of what the church is, what the church needs, and how we all move together towards God’s purposes for us.

November 4, 2018 | Gabe Shippam

 

04 | Spirit-Led

 

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

While the gospel destroys the wisdom of the world and the schemes of religion, it does have its own hidden and secret wisdom. Wisdom is knowing how the world works and living in it in a way that leads to flourishing. If you want to know how the world works, and you want to play it well, the popular options - Religion and Secularism Wisdom - will fail you, driving you deeper into the pride and self-will that is the root of all our problems. But the Gospel offers a radically different kind of wisdom - given by the Spirit of God - which leads to a flourishing life - not just eternal life, but abundant life now, today, here in all the regular stuff of life.

October 28, 2018 | Steve Hart

 

02 | Jesus-Centered

 

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Paul’s first appeal to his brothers in Corinth is to find unity under the leadership of Jesus. The divisions about leaders reveal our tendency to reach for physical resources (people, organizations, programs, etc.) instead of Jesus. We wrongly assume we will find fulfillment in those resources. But, only Jesus offers what we are looking for. Only Jesus offers forgiveness, resurrection, and a new identity.

October 14, 2018 | Gabe Shippam

 

 

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