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    • Just “GO”

    Posted by on May 3rd, 2009 in News

    Author: Pastor Gary Jarvis

    This past weekend was a symbolic weekend for where our Church is headed.  We just finished our 16-week series on becoming more passionate about our relationship with God.  I believe, and I think the Church Health Team believes, that our spiritual energy has increased during that time.  Check out the growth from our Passionate Spirituality Survey we took in January and the follow-up survey we took on Sunday.

    Survey Question 1/25/2009 4/26/2009 Improvement

    How often do you sense God’s present and involvement in your life?                                4.20            4.35                    0.15

    How often do you find yourself in conversations about God, Church, or your Faith?  3.64            3.89                    0.25

    I spend personal time connecting with God.                                                                                  3.96            4.04                    0.08

    I share with others what God is doing in my life.                                                                          3.10            3.48                    0.39

    I share my prayer needs with a friend.                                                                                             3.12            3.56                    0.43

    I offer to pray for another’s needs.                                                                                                     4.05            4.30                    0.24

    What do we do with the increased passion we have for Christ?  If Christian Spirituality involves lovingly obeying Christ, then our next step is to “GO” into our community and share that love, grace, and passion with our neighbors around us.  That also happened this weekend.  Our first “GO” Ministry event took place on Saturday with 14 people who went to St. Vincent DePaul’s Dining room in Mesa and fed hundreds of homeless people.  St. Vincent DePaul actually has a cap for the number of people who can serve, and we had over 30 people sign-up.  I was sad to turn people down, but there will be plenty of opportunities coming up in May, June, and every month after.

    For me, it was exhilarating to see our people sharing the love of Christ.  I saw three things happen:

    1) The Small Group members who organized it were united in a common cause.

    2) People who did not know each other in our church were able to connect, and bonds were created.

    3)  Christ’s love and grace, in deed and in word, was given to and received from a community of people who are in need.  This is what it is all about, uniting as a church to KNOW together, to GROW together, and then to GO together!