With the beginning of February comes the beginning of a spiritual journey called “SoulShift” and the themes will flow through our Sunday worship times, and our Home Groups as well. The title of this journey encourages us to discover the ways that God is leading us through the process of becoming more like Him. That is really the goal of any discipleship program, of leading people through a life-long experience of allowing more and more of Jesus Christ to become more and more a part of who we are, how we think, how we live and how we touch the lives of others.

When I think about who we are as a church and how God has blessed us with this rich mixture of people, with their different walks of life and spiritual experiences, I cannot help but realize that this is both a blessing and a challenge. The blessing is that we have the opportunity to be inspired and encouraged by each other. The enthusiasm of new believers is contagious, and the wisdom of the “saints” is a valuable resource of wisdom. However, my challenge to each of us is to continually maintain a hunger to grow spiritually, and to never allow our spiritual lives to settle. In order for that not to happen we need to be exposed to teaching that will cause a certain shift in our thinking, away from ourselves, and more toward the mind of Christ.

That’s what I hope will take place during our “SoulShift” emphasis. We want to involve the entire church family, therefore my sermons will focus on certain topics of spiritual transformation, and then our Home Groups discussions will help each of us apply these truths to our lives.

We’ll be kicking off this study on Sunday, February 5. For the first session of the Home Groups we’ll all gather together in the Fellowship Hall at 5:00 P.M. We’ll view the video together, and then break into our discussion groups. Hopefully this might allow new group members to join our groups. Everyone is encouraged to bring a snack for a time of fellowship afterward. I hear that there is a football game of some kind on that evening, so we’ll watch it together.

I pray that over the next eight weeks we’ll be able to share the experience of growing closer to Jesus, and deeper in our understanding of who He wants us to be, and how He wants us to live.

Your Pastor,