Category: Catalyst (Page 14 of 30)

A catalyst is one that sparks something. The catalyst speaks from experience and enables others to move forward more freely. These articles are written to act as a catalyst in your life.

Communication and Gardening

June 15, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

As some may know, my family now lives on over 12 acres of land. Some of that land is farmed while the rest is where our house sits. On the portion where our house sits, we currently have a garden that is bigger than the backyard at our previous home. It’s fantastic! I’ve planted carrots, onions, potatoes, beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, zucchini, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and several rows of sweet corn. I grew 99% of these plants from seeds in my basement grow room.

There were a few things I direct planted in the garden, like the sweet corn. I love me some good sweet corn in the summer months. And we even stagger planted so, Lord willing, we’ll have a crop that lasts for a longer duration. We are very much looking forward to freezing, canning, and all the things to better live off the land we have.

But in this whole process of gardening, something has kind of stood out to me. Not every seed grows. They all come from the same packet but not all of them grow. I planted several rows of corn but I have a few bare spots where the seed just simply didn’t germinate. How can that be? I planted them on the same day, in the same garden, with the same sunlight and same water pattern and all of them from the same packet! Yet about half a row just isn’t coming up.

The problem isn’t the amount of water nor sunlight. It’s not a matter of bad seeds either. The problem is…the soil. It’s the only thing that could possibly be wrong. It’s the only thing that could have variations in it. It’s really the only variable that I wasn’t able to control.

This reminds me a lot of communication! Have you ever said something to someone only to have them explode like a brick of C4? The words you said weren’t wrong or even mean spirited. They were just heard wrong. They fell on some bad soil.

If you’ve been on the giving end of a conversation that quickly turned to the receiving end of a mean spirited rebuttal or an out of character move, then you’ve been a witness to some bad soil. It’s unfortunate that the way someone hears something can so quickly change the tone of a conversation not to mention ruin an entire relationship.

But just like those corn seeds that I place in the garden have since become unusable, that’s what happens in some relationships when the soil of someone’s heart isn’t healthy. No matter what we say or how we say it, the seed won’t grow. The conversation will be heated. Feelings will become unnecessarily hurt. And in worst case scenarios, the relationship will be rotten.

Look, this is not a golden ticket to be a jerk. But it is the realization that no matter how hard you try or how good your intentions might be, some people are just living in a spot of bad soil. And unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to change the soil of someone’s heart.

So be kind. Talk gently. Be honest. Tell the truth. But know, that even if you take all of these precautions, some people just have something in their soil that you might not be able to overcome.

Now That’s Offensive

June 1, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

The word offensive is one of my least favorite words these days. I don’t mean the offensive line in football either. I’m talking about using the word to describe how something that someone does has made us feel. It’s saying things like:

I’m offended…That’s offensive…

I believe our capacity for being offended has grown exponentially! It’s almost as if we live in a society that thrives on being offended. You stand up for what you think is right, someone is offended. You just voice your opinion, someone gets offended. You tell a friend that something isn’t quite right about their actions, yep someone gets offended!

The greater our capacity for offense becomes, the lower we value our relationships. I’ve lost more than one friend in recent years because they took offense by something they didn’t want to hear. This goes for churched people, not churched people, old people, young people, people on either side of the political aisle. We are living in a culture that is trying to thrive on being offended. But there’s a better way…a much better way.

We need a capacity to forgive that’s greater than our capacity for offense.

If you constantly find yourself getting all bent out of shape over the smallest things, then maybe you need to work on your capacity for forgiveness. Now I know that I’m a church guy and forgiveness is part of our vocabulary but everyone is capable of forgiving. But forgiving isn’t saying that everything is ok or it’s no big deal. Forgiveness is not giving the other person the control over your emotions or thoughts. It’s actually the exact opposite of being offended. When we’re offended, we’re letting someone else control our thoughts and emotional response.

As believers in Jesus, we need to really ask ourselves the hard question. Is our capacity for offense greater than our capacity for forgiveness? If the answer here is yes then we have a gigantic problem! The problem is that we’re not living in the sweet spot of our identity. As Christians our identity is found in the fact that we are forgiven people.

The more we understand our own forgiveness, the more we’ll be able to offer that same forgiveness to those around us. It’s ok to not like what someone else says, but you can’t let that change how you see them. It’s ok to get angry when someone does something that hurts you. But it’s not ok to just cancel them from your life because you’re not strong enough to handle a hard conversation.

If we don’t expand our capacity for forgiveness, we’ll live in a constant state of offense. And that is not a healthy or happy place to live.

Why are churches closing?

May 26, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I recently listened to a podcast by Issues Etc that peaked my interest. The title was increased church closings. The speaker was the director of witness and outreach for the church body to which I ascribe. The statistics shared weren’t really all that surprising and unfortunately neither was the proposed solution. The problem is, the solution doesn’t address the real issue.

So why are churches closing? And why does it seem like they are closing so much faster today than ever before?

Well, churches close all the time. It’s nothing new to have a church close its doors due to lack of funds, community shifts, membership decline, large business closes and people move away, any number of things can lead to a church closing. Some of those are out of our control, but others are fully within grasp. As for why they’re closing so fast now, well the short answer is the pandemic changed the way people see the world, spirituality and service. If a church isn’t living in the integrity of its confession, then it’s pretty obvious to this society and they’ll disengage. Also we’ve set the bar way too low for church membership which makes leaving that much easier.

The podcast speaker says “the importance of religion is declining at a very rapid rate” in the US, and this is one of the main causes of church closures. Is it really that religion and spirituality are on the decline, or is it that the institution of the local church is no longer viewed as important? I don’t think the two are the same thing.

I don’t see, in the pockets of the country I’ve visited or discussed, that people are less spiritual or religious. I see a lot of people saying why do I need to belong to a church to do the things they do? There’s a large and ever growing number of people that are simply disenfranchised by the church’s lack of loving the least of these or loving our neighbors as ourselves. The old accusation of the church being full of hypocrites is all too often true in the church today. We hold the banners of what sins we think are worst, and at the same time neglect to share the fellowship and friendship that the gospel commands.

The number one reason I see people disconnecting from the local church is because of poor discipleship. We’ve thrown all of the discipleship eggs into one basket – the Sunday morning worship service. But is that really biblical? Does the Bible really tell us that the primary mechanism for making stronger, more devoted followers of Jesus is to put them in a room on Sunday morning when they can’t talk or interact or serve and just listen? That’s what a lot of Sunday morning worship looks like to a person who’s unaware of what we do in worship.

Now before you go and get your panties in a bunch don’t fill in the blanks here with some nasty assumption. Worship is important to the life of the follower of Jesus. And worship is part of discipleship, but it’s only part of it. There is so much more to being a follower of Jesus than Sunday morning worship.

Jesus raised the bar for what it meant to be his follower. He didn’t lower it. Making discipleship solely about worship attendance and how much money we give cheapens the role of the Christian in the world today. Christianity is not a hobby we pursue when we’re bored, but if Sunday morning is the only or even main place discipleship happens it’s easy to view it as merely a hobby.

I’m honored to be part of a network of Jesus loving men and women who want to see the Body of Christ grow and thrive. We’re doing this by helping churches see more clearly who they are and who their community is. This allows them to align their efforts to better meet the needs in their community and infuse a gospel presence into local neighborhoods more effectively. And one of the coolest parts is that we walk alongside churches the whole time. We take phone calls and text messages, set up zoom calls, and even will be boots on the ground to help local churches break through the barriers they’re facing.

If you’re a church leader or part of a church that’s on the decline, I’d love to chat with you about how to raise the bar of discipleship and how we can work together with other Jesus followers to more effectively and efficiently reach our neighbors with the love of Jesus and connect them to deeper relationships as growing disciples. Hit me up here or on social and let’s find a time to chat!

How To Get Volunteers

May 24, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

Ever have one of those jobs that needed a volunteer or two or ten? Ever have trouble trying to get enough volunteers to fill the roles you need to fill? I’ve used a very specific method for obtaining and keeping volunteers that has proven to work pretty well for me the past 10 years. If needing volunteers isn’t your thing, then you’re welcome to just move on.

So at the outset here I need to come clean. I’m a pastor and as any pastor or non profit leader can attest, getting volunteers is sometimes a challenge. Actually, statistics show that volunteerism is on the decline across the board for non profits and churches. Another admission, at the church where I serve as pastor, we haven’t noticed that decline in volunteerism. How do we do it? Pretty simple. We have three simple things to keep in mind.

Keep commitments short term

Gone are the days when we can ask someone to serve on a board or committee for years on end. Gone are the days when someone wants to be tied down to a commitment for an extended period of time. This is why we form teams to complete tasks. We call them ministry teams, but you can use whatever designation want. We don’t do boards or committees but action teams because action is what we’re after! Boards are often boring and committees look like people are in comas! Teams have to function together for the time it takes to get the job done.

One example of this is our team that pulls off a fall outreach event. We call our event Fall FunFest. This is a pretty big event for the size church we are. The event has 4-5 key leaders, each with a designated area of responsibility. They form their own teams to get their tasks done. The beauty is when FunFest is over, so is your commitment to this particular team. This frees them up to serve somewhere else or sit back and chill for a bit.

Say Thank You!

This one is pretty significant. Let people know you appreciate their service to the team. This can be as big or small as you want. I’ve used a passing word, a public affirmation, an email, phone call, and often I’ll use a hand written note sent through the snail mail. Just acknowledge the work of your volunteers because if they feel appreciated, not only will they be more likely to volunteer again but also they’ll be great recruiters!

Tell Them Why Them

This is the big one for me and it’s not original to me. A buddy told me to try something and it has worked magnificently! The idea is simple. Tell them why you chose them. If you can’t answer that, then you shouldn’t be asking them. So often we ask someone because they have a pulse or don’t think they can tell us no. These are not good reasons! They are not acceptable.

The trick here is to tell people 3-5 things you see in them that make them a perfect fit for the task you have in mind. This does two really important things. First, it lets them know you value them as a person. In order for you to tell them why you think they’re good for the job you have to know who they are. You’re essentially telling them what you see them bringing to the table. For me it’s really about giving them 3-5 blessings whether they say yes or no.

The second thing this accomplishes is simply to reframe your own mind. This process turns this away from simply asking someone to fill a position but engaging with someone as a human and demonstrating care for them.

These are just a couple of the lessons learned through the past years of volunteer recruitment. What’s worked for you?

Mindset

May 17, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

There has been a lot of ink spilled in books and articles on the idea of changing your mindset. Some call it self help. Others call it mind over matter. Some think it’s the best advice ever while others think it’s all a bunch of hocus pocus superstition. But if you really take time to think about it, what you think about and how you think about it affects how you approach something.

There’s a quote attributed to Henry Ford that says whether you believe you can or you can’t, either way you’re right.

The idea here is that of a self promoting or defeating mindset. Yeah I know, sounds kind of wizardish at first. It sounds like saying if we think about something one way then it’s sure to happen that way? Kind of but not really.

Think about the last time you didn’t feel well. There are two ways to react when you’re not feeling 100%. No I’m not talking about death bed feeling bad. I’m referring to the crummy, I have a cold and don’t want to do anything kind of feeling. If you’ve ever had one of those feverish, tired, achy kind of moments, did you realize that the more you just laid around and thought about feeling crummy the worse you actually felt? Then when you had something to distract you and take your mind off of the crummy feeling, you almost felt normal for a moment? Yep that’s what Ford was getting at I think.

There is a really powerful thing that happens in our brain. When we don’t think we can do something and when that’s the focus of our attention, then we pretty much set ourselves up for failure.

I love to workout. I like to throw heavy weight around. So I’m not a big dude by any stretch and I’m not a powerlifter or anything like that. But once upon a time I maxed out my benchpress at 350lbs. And I remember the first time I tried it. I got all settled and grabbed the barbell then told myself there is no way you’re going to lift this. It is way too heavy. You weigh less than half this amount.

Guess what…I didn’t lift it. It was too heavy. The moral here is that we can convince ourselves that something is impossible or too much or too hard or whatever the case may be.

So what’s holding you back? What are you wanting to do that you just can’t accomplish? What is it that you have been dreading? If we follow the mindset shift analogy, then we can approach things a bit differently and actually make a real effort to get the job done. Be honest with yourself but don’t sell yourself short. Change your mindset and watch as the possibilities open up!

Margin

April 27, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

If you’re a reader, then you know what margin is. It’s the space we see around the edges of a book or paper. It’s the white space that lets our eyes rest so we don’t have to read from edge to edge on a piece of paper. Margin in a book is extremely helpful, and is equally necessary in our day to day lives.

I’m currently sitting at my computer trying to focus through some mental fog. Mental fog happens when we’re pushing into the margins or when we’re recovering from illness or suffering from exhaustion. For me, it’s the second on the list. Mental fog induced by illness and medication. It’s the whole medicine head feeling and I can’t stand it! But what does this have to do with margin?

Well sometimes we find ourselves living in the margins of life and something has to happen to get us to slow down and leave some white space. This is pretty much what happened to me. I have a tendency to live life at a 100mph pace. It’s constantly a go…go…go…scenario. From church to family to home to property matters to membership issues to community engagement to social life there are so many things that pull for our attention and it’s easy to find ourselves living in the margins of life.

So the question is do you have breathing room in your life? Have you created and protected space in your life for margin? Or have you scheduled your life so tightly and so completely that you have no room to add anything additional?

Living life without margin is dangerous. It’s dangerous because we weren’t created to live without it. We were created for a healthy give and take between work and rest. We were created to rest from our work and work from our rest. But when we fill the white space in our lives, leaving no room for rest, then we’re not able to recover and get back to the stuff of productivity.

There are plenty of ways to preserve margin in life. You just have to make it a priority. Margin can look like 15 extra minutes between appointments. Adding 10 minutes to your estimated drive time so you don’t have to rush. Scheduling a block of time for recovery or study time or a nap.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. You don’t nap. And well I really don’t either but some people find a nap superbly rejuvenating. There are actually studies that show a 26 minute nap can essentially reset your day and start your productivity clock over again. That means if you can carve our 26 minutes to completely disconnect and shutdown to nap, you can haver two day’s worth of productivity in one day!

You see when we don’t preserve our margin, something will happen to force that reset. For me it generally comes with migraines of in the latest case a dose of illness to knock me off my feet for about 10 days. It sucks to say the least.

So take it from me, you can save a lot of downtime and exhaustion by just carving out some margin and preserving it like your life depended on it…because it kind of does!

Pray For Your Pastor

April 6, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 1 Comment

I was recently driving home from a small group bible study when something hit me. No it wasn’t a deer! It was a startling reality. Something I knew but kind of washed over me like a brand new feeling. As a pastor of a church, I am called to preach, teach, visit, pray with and for, serve communion, disciple, train, raise up leaders, and provide care for all of the people in the congregation.

That night I received a call that one of our members wasn’t feeling well. It was an older member who was struggling and I was alerted because the situation was very concerning to several people who had been with this member. I left the group and headed out so I could make some calls to better assess the situation and be prepared should an in person immediate visit be needed.

That’s when it hit me. In addition to all of the things on the list for a pastor to do, we truly care for the people around us. The men, women and children. The old ones and the babies. They all are people for whom we care deeply. We care for you by doing the things we’re called to do. We care for you by preaching and all that stuff. But we also care for you by calling out wrong behavior we see. We care for you by getting up in the middle of the night and making our way to the bedside of your dying loved one. We care for you by sitting quietly and listening as your world crumbles and reassure you that even though you feel alone – someone is there.

Pray for your pastor. He needs it. I can guarantee it.

There are so many highs in ministry that it’s hard to explain. The highs of baptisms and weddings. The highs of anniversary celebrations, ministry parties, block parties, fellowship events, game nights, movie nights, hanging out with friends. But there are also some really gut wrenching moments as well.

You know the funeral that we did for your mom or dad? That day we were there for you. That’s not the only funeral we did. And while your parent or spouse that we buried wasn’t our parent or spouse they were someone for whom we cared deeply. And it wasn’t just that person we had to bury either. It was your loved one and the loved ones of several others as well.

I don’t write this for pity or thanks or recognition. That’s not why we do it. If you’re a pastor reading this and you do these things for recognition, then get out of the ministry now. That’s not a pastor’s heart you possess. I write this because we are weak and often weary. We get tired. We carry burdens we don’t and often can’t share with anyone. We put on a smile when our hearts are torn open. When we are broken, we still have to stand by your side to provide comfort and care in your moment of grief, sorrow, or fear.

If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to ask you to just take a few minutes out of your week and pray for your pastor. Whoever he is. Whether you really like him or don’t quite understand his little character quirks. Pray for your pastor. He’s a human. He hurts. He fails. He struggles. But he loves you and would gladly and willingly rearrange his schedule to be by your side in a moment’s notice if the need arose. We aren’t heroes by any means. Just pastors trying to be the shepherds God calls us to be, and we’d truly be honored if you prayed for us.

Trip Down Memory Lane

March 29, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

I recently had the chance to take a trip down memory lane. You know one of those moments when you’re surrounded by people you knew in a former life and all the feels came flooding back. After getting home from a funeral in my home town, I started thinking about all the people that have impacted my life through the years. And be careful because the older you get, the more people are on that list.

As I looked around the room that day, I saw face after face of people I knew. Some of them I haven’t seen in more than 20 years! It was crazy to see that many people from my past all in one place. It was saddening to see that so many of them had become sheer memories until we walked into that funeral home.

The really sad part was that so often these trips down memory lane happen at life altering moments. Sometimes they’re at weddings and reunions but often we see these people and trigger these memories as we walk past the family at a funeral. And that was the case for me.

I was leading a funeral service for the mother of a friend. He and I connect periodically. But the crowd that came into the funeral that day to pay their respects were the ones I hadn’t seen in far too long. In an age of social media and all the communication devices that we have at our disposal, there’s really no reason to not stay connected.

It’s as if we’ve grown comfortable with being isolated from one another. It’s as if we’ve grown somehow ok with distant relationships and virtual connections. There’s nothing ok about virtual relationships! Call me old fashioned or whatever you want for that matter, but relationships are best celebrated in person!

I can’t tell you how to do life. I don’t have that right to be honest. But I can tell you that even if you’re an introvert you still need people. Doing life in a bubble of isolation is not good. Removing yourself from the people who mean something to you is unhealthy and will eventually leave you stranded on an island of loneliness.

Don’t wait for a funeral to reconnect with friends from your distant past. Reach out. Grab a coffee. Sit down over a glass of bourbon. Go for a walk. Have a barbecue. Host a game night. Gather as friends. This life is far too short to try to go it alone. Open up and let people in. You won’t regret it especially when you’re wading through the mess of life, broken and lonely.

Take your own trip down memory lane! It will do you some good.

When Tragedy Strikes

March 28, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

What do we do when tragedy strikes? What do we do when it hits close to home? What about when it impacts our very own family and friends? What about when our community is thrust into chaos because of the actions of someone unruly or evil?

Our tendency in these times is to find the biggest target we can find and throw blame at it. We want to find someone to hold accountable and it’s far easier to blame the biggest person, organization or group in the room. While this may be the easiest in the moment, it’s not generally the most effective method. And it will not bring the results we want.

Yesterday another senseless act of violence took the lives of innocent children and adults. It’s tragic to say the least. I hear of these things and want something to change. I want these to stop. I want children to be able to attend school without fear of something like this happening. I want teachers to be able to walk into schools with smiles on their faces and not a sense of apprehension in their minds about the safety of their room that day.

For some this will be an unpopular opinion, and for those of you who are offended by my thoughts, my intent is not to offend you. You have your thoughts and I have mine. You have the right to hit the little “x” or red dot and close this window and you’re welcome to do that.

Now for the unpopular opinion.

Blaming the wrong entity won’t help. Blaming the system, government, weapon of choice, school system, police force… none of that is going to make a bit of difference. Making more laws unfortunately won’t be of any real help either. How many bad guys read the law books to make sure it’s not going to break a law? Don’t believe me? Look at your own life for a minute.

There these little white rectangular signs on the side of the road. They are laws. Did you know that? Laws that state how fast are allowed to go in a given area. We call them speed limit signs. Now how many of you follow those suckers to the number? Do you push the limits at all? Maybe going 5 over? or 10? Drive the freeway and you’ll see it. Laws don’t stop people from doing what’s wrong. Or look at those red octagons. Ever roll through a stop? Yeah well that’s against the law too. Laws don’t make the problem go away. We just find another way.

I don’t want this to come across as insensitive at all. I am 100% against the violence. I am 100% against the evil actions around us. But I am also of the mindset that laws don’t stop stupid. They don’t stop mean. They don’t stop threats or violent acts. Rapists know it’s wrong but they still do it. Thieves know it’s wrong but they still steal. There are laws against all sorts of things but to prohibit something doesn’t stop someone from doing it.

So then what do we do?

The short answer is we need to change the way we think. Who’s to blame? The perpetrator. The villain. But more than that society is to blame. We all are to blame for the mess we’re in right now. When we can’t find a solid and consistent measure for right and wrong it should be no surprise when people will find their own measuring stick.

We live in a world that has taken right and wrong out of the equation because we don’t want to hurt or offend someone. We don’t want to “shove” our ideology down someone else’s throat so we don’t teach ethics anymore. There are not immovable standards in society. You have your truth and I have mine. That’s a sick and twisted society friends.

What do we do? We hold to some standard of truth. We hold to some form of right and wrong. For a couple of centuries this country had a pretty decent standard of how to function. From the Constitution to the Declaration of Independence to the other documents that were part of the founding of this nation, we had a real and easy to follow set of boundaries. For a time the nation used the essence of the Bible (not teaching the faith of the Bible but the boundaries it set) for a determination of right and wrong.

You may not agree with those documents. You may not like them. You may think they are old and potentially even a bit outdated. But they were foundational to who we are as a people.

How do we fix where we are? Be kind. It’s really that simple. Don’t be a jerk. Raise your kids to be kind. Not tolerant because tolerant doesn’t do anything. Kindness does. Go out of your way to do good to someone. If you’re the praying type spend some time in prayer. Dad’s be present with your families. Quit running away to pursue your own selfish lustful passions and be involved in your kids’ lives.

When tragedy strikes is the time we come together not throw crap at one another like a bunch of mindless monkeys. Stop slinging crap and start being kind and we might just see a change in our communities.

Hope

March 15, 2023 / Derrick Hurst / 0 Comments

One definition of hope is the confident expectation of what is promised. I think this picture kind of sums that whole idea up with no words. Confident expectation of a promised blessing. What do you hope for today?

I think that all of us who are located in a region that has several seasons can sympathize with the idea of hoping for spring to arrive. When the cold and damp days of winter drone on forever, we are hopeful for the promise of sunshine and warmth that summer brings. Here in Ohio it seems as if we have all four seasons in one day! It’s easy to complain about the weather but we’d be better off hoping for the sunshine of tomorrow.

I took this picture this morning of a small flower starting to emerge from the snow covered ground. At first it seems as if it might be a bit confuse about the season or time of year. I mean things don’t bud, grow or bloom in the winter months. But then a quick reminder that it’s March will tell us that this flower is only doing what it is meant to do. It emerges from the ground in hope of the coming sunshine and warm weather.

I think some days it would be helpful if we acted more like these flowers. Instead of focusing on the cold, damp, snow covered ground look for chances to emerge and grow and eventually bloom into that thing we were created to be.

Ok so you’re not a flower. No matter how much you try you’re never going to be a flower. And you don’t have to emerge from the snow to thrive in this cold environment. But we were placed here in the circumstances in which we’re living for a specific purpose. To do something unique.

Just like the flower was planted for the purpose of growing and budding and blooming you were planted to grow and bloom in your own right. This reminds me of a story in the Bible. There was a woman named Esther in the Old Testament. She was a Jewish woman who ended up becoming queen of Persia. This was largely unusual but was made possible because no one really know her lineage. The king didn’t even know she was of Jewish origin.

After a lot of really awful things had happened, you can read those for yourself if you desire, the time comes for Esther to take a stand and reveal her identity as a Jewish woman. Esther is concerned to say the least! I mean if it doesn’t work out well, she would be killed without question.

A famous line comes out of that section. For such a time as this. The idea is that it is for this moment that you were placed here. It was for this purpose, this moment, this task that she was there. The same can be said for you and me. We’ve been put here for such a time as this, and if that means we have to hope against hope to move forward – then hope! Just like that flower pushing its way up through the snow, you and I were made for this moment. So we too must push up through the cold, darkness of our current circumstances. We have to do the only thing for which we were placed here. It is only then that we will emerge to bloom and thrive in the way we were created.

For now, before the bloom, before the flower can bud – hope. Move forward in the confident exception of what is promised. Live your life for such a time as this and leave the rest to the one who put you here.

Category: Catalyst (Page 14 of 30)

Communication and Gardening

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Now That’s Offensive

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Why are churches closing?

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