Some Snapshots from the Men's Retreat

I just got home from my church's men's retreat which was held at a cabin ran by the gracious folks from the Calvary Chapel Conference Center in Twin Peaks. And it was refreshing to say the least! I'll be posting my thoughts on it later this week. In the meanwhile here are some snapshots from the weekend.

Baptisms and Spaghetti

Alex came to know Jesus through one of our community groups and today we baptized him and his girlfriend Marcy who also knows and loves Jesus. Sheer awesomeness. This is a real encouragement for not only those of us who were fortunate to see God at work in Alex's life over these last few years, but also an encouragement to all community groups and missional communities everywhere. Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save indeed.

And our God is mighty to grace us in the middle of our suffering. I say this because last week we had 3 deaths in our church. And we've been going through a series on Heaven and Hell at the same time! It's been sobering for our little church, but it's also been a time for us to reflect on the good news of the triumph of Jesus over sin, death, our idols, condemnation, and hell in a way that hits home. These baptisms were a sweet thing for us at New Hope today. And we are grateful for it. Oh, and we had some epic homemade spaghetti afterward too!

Thank you, Lord.