Make a Gift Before the Ball Drops on 2018

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Make a Gift Before the Ball Drops on 2018

Happy New Year!

We hope that you and your family enjoyed a great Christmas season. As another year wraps up we celebrate the transformation, life change, and growth Jesus has brought in the lives of so many people. Thank you for your investment in our ministry, because without you this year would not have been possible. As we head into 2019 and anticipate what's next we believe that Jesus has more life change and impact to bring in this next year.

Would you prayerfully consider making a generous gift towards the Lord’s ministry through Vintage Church as we close out 2018? 

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What's Your Plan to Read the Bible in 2019?

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What's Your Plan to Read the Bible in 2019?

For many of us, 2019 means fresh starts and new beginnings. When we think about new years, new year’s resolutions typically come to mind—losing weight, quitting a habit, changing something. We all know, however, how often new year’s resolutions last or work. 

Why don’t new years resolutions work? They often fail for one primary reason—lack of discipline. Anything worth while in life requires discipline—the ability to say no to certain things, yes to other things, determination, perseverance, good time management, and more. Each year many of us long to read the Bible more but fail to. What needs to change?

As we leave 2018 and enter into 2019, we must see Bible reading as a discipline, and that’s a good thing! Like any discipline, Bible reading is something we must be committed to and willing to do regularly until it becomes a habit. After we’ve carried out a discipline regularly over a long period of time, that discipline becomes easier. This reality is also true for Bible reading. 

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Christ Is Everything

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Christ Is Everything

As we near the end of this Advent and Christmas season, we must go back to the foundational element for all of the other Advent elements, and that is Christ. He is the only way that we can truly have hope, peace, joy and love. As many people say this time of year, and as cheesy as it may sound at times, Jesus truly is the reason for the season! Christmas is about Jesus Christ. 

 The word Christmas literally means “Christ's mass,” which comes from the Latin word “‘to give thanks.” This points to the truth that we should give thanks to God for sending the gift of his son Christ into the world.

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God Is Love, But How?

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God Is Love, But How?

Love is a beautiful and, yet, confusing word. The word “love,” like many other words in English, has a range of meaning. The two most prominent meanings for love are: 

(1) An expression of intense and deep affection for another person (e.g., spouse, child, family, friends, etc.)

(2) an expression of interest and/or pleasure in something (e.g., the Saints, fishing, hunting, gumbo, brownies, etc.). 

Sadly, in today’s society these above definitions have been conflated. Case in point is the common phrase: “God is love.” When I hear someone say, “God is love,” I immediately think, “what does s/he mean by ‘God is love?’” In my opinion, the phrase “God is love” is oftentimes a conflation of the above two types of love and has nothing to do with “love” being an attribute of God. In fact, oftentimes the phrase, “God is love,” says more about the person speaking than the creator of the universe.

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Finding Joy

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Finding Joy

They say, “Opposites attract.” I guess sometimes it is true.

The third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday (or “Joyful Sunday”) because the waiting is almost over. So much to anticipate! Joy is a word tossed around in Christian circles pretty often because it is something that we are supposed to have. It is bigger than our circumstances. It is bigger than our pain or fear. But how? How is joy possible when we feel the opposite?

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Yearning for Peace

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Yearning for Peace

Have you ever been out in the middle of a body of water? You know the type—the waters surrounding you are dark with nothing around for miles and the only thing separating you from the deep, dark water is the boat supporting you. Well, I’ve been on a small motor boat in the middle of the Nile River before and I remember the fear that swallowed me the moment I saw the angry looking crocodiles on the banks. I remember losing my breath for a moment when the crocodiles dove in the water as we approached their territory. My brain immediately began playing out scene after scene of our boat tipping over, everyone coming face to face with these huge crocodiles and losing a few limbs or my life. Needless to say, I had to preach peace to my anxious heart in the middle of the beautiful Nile River, because in that moment, it wasn’t very beautiful, but instead very terrifying.

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Hoping for More

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Hoping for More

The Christmas season is upon us—a season with its own dedicated food, music and foliage; a season that sees our calendars filled with events; our houses filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of the season; and our hearts filled with Christmas cheer (or dread or anxiety or sadness or some combination of all these things). Basically, Christmas is a very full season. But in this season of “more” (more events, more gifts, etc.) Christians are called to focus on “less.” In the hustle and bustle of this demanding season, Christians are called to slow down and experience the simple gift of Christ.

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It's Time to SHIFT!

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As we celebrated our 10th birthday as a church family yesterday, Pastor Dustin challenged us to anticipate our future. What are you anticipating God to do in your life, in our church, in our city, in our world?

Anticipation should bring us to prayer for the future.

This Sunday, we will be kicking off a new series, SHIFT, where we will look at the what Jesus has to say about our priorities—specifically our relationships, time, and money. A major focus of this series will be prayer and fasting. If we are anticipating God to move, we should be hitting our knees in prayer for that future! We’re going to rally together as a church family to pray for the next four Wednesday mornings from 6–7a. We will also be challenging our church to fast on these Wednesdays.

We hope you’ll join us in prayer and fasting as we look to SHIFT for our future!

Prayer & Fasting Resources

We have several resources on our website available for you to utilize as you consider joining us in this season of prayer and fasting. Check them out using the links below.

Longing for What Is to Come

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Longing for What Is to Come

We’ve all been there. We’ve all felt it. The butterflies. The nerves. The excitement. The anxiety of what is to come or what might happen. Anticipation can cause us to feel “all the feels” at times: anxiety, excitement, and joy awaiting the expected arrival of someone or something. However, what are we called to do in the waiting? After all, anticipation can only exist when we are longing for what is to come, not what is already here.

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Disgusted by Disgust

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Disgusted by Disgust

Disgust.  We’ve all felt it, as it’s a universal emotion, but it’s an emotion we try to avoid. 

When Pastor Dustin reached out to the counselors for help writing these blog posts, I was a little later than the other counselors in checking my email. We were given a list of emotions that were to be explored.  Joy and trust were among the first chosen to blog about. Then the emotions of fear, anger and sadness were relatable enough and taken to explore. Disgust was one of the last choices and so I was stuck with it. I was literally disgusted I ended up with the emotion of disgust.  

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