We are leaving you

Hey everybody…
 
On Monday. Yep. Bailing out. Gone. Off the grid. But… we will be back. Two week later. I think they call the idea “vacation,” though I had to look it up; it’s been a bit of a foreign word to us in more recent life cycles. Here’s the good news: You’ll be in super good hands here at Mt. Hope. But there are a few things you might want to know about—and some thoughts about the revelation of God’s Word this Sunday—in Deeper Thoughts below.
 
But first…
                                                                                                                 
·      Men… Gordon Albert is gathering with our Mt. Hope men to explore possible next steps with our Men’s Ministry NEXT Saturday, June 28 at 8:30 a.m. Join us for a light continental breakfast at the church and let’s collaborate about what comes next!
 
·      Teens:  Youth Group meets THIS Sunday 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., snacks, games, testimonies, and the Word! To get plugged into our growing and awesome youth group, email Jessica Sauder: [email protected].
 
·      Kids, middle schoolers, and parents: Furnace Mountain Christian Summer Camp is coming up FAST! Join us for this Day-Camp for age-based experiences, August 4 - August 8, 9:00 – 3:00 p.m. each day. BEST NEWS: For Mt. Hope families, the cost is only $25.00 per student! For a whole week of camp!!! Transportation to/from the church is available. To secure our special Mt. Hope pricing, Chris Bowen will be handling your registration individually. Click here to email Chris to RSVP or with questions!
 
·      While we are gone, “The Daily Six” videos WILL continue!! Join me for six minutes each morning, Monday through Friday, on our YouTube channel. If you’d like to receive daily email reminders and you’re not already getting them, click here to sign up!
 
·      Mark your calendars for Mt. Hope’s 190th Anniversary celebration August 24 – a great day of worship, fellowship, southern pot-luck yummies, historical experiences, and gratitude to our God. If you’d like to be involved—especially with helping pull together historical content--click here to email Sherri Eads (but note she’ll NOT be responding to emails June 23 thru July 7!)
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and you who can’t wait for us to get out of here… BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
Sherri and I absolutely love Mt. Hope Church. There are amazing things occurring here.
 
In just the last few weeks alone, I have spoken to so many of you who are engaging the scriptures with meaningful application every single day—and for many, this is the first time that you’ve been consistent with the Word as a daily habit. Others are finding power in prayer and connection with God that is fresh, vibrant, and new. Others are blown away by the warmth and belonging they find in this “friendliest church I’ve ever been to,” as more than one person has called it.
 
Sherri and I are so privileged to get a front row seat to the healing work God is doing in your lives—from self-worth remerging to family hardships finding hope, to mental models being reframed, to clarity on life-direction being discovered, to deep personal wounds being healed.
 
Yeah, we like this place. I think we’ll come back.
 
You do know, though, that the real force behind all these wonderful things occurring at Mt. Hope is Jesus Christ, don’t you? And I don’t just mean in the static sense of the “story of Jesus” is an inspiration for people to see and feel things differently. I mean the very real, very present, very engaged person of Jesus—the resurrected Son of the Living God—is actively at work in each individual at Mt. Hope Church. In real time. With real force. With real power.
 
We often don’t realize it’s happening.
 
An active, substantive, specific, and powerful movement in the spiritual realm is being applied by the very real and living person of Jesus right onto you and your situation. Jesus is doing battle on your behalf with the forces of darkness that would try to hold you down in your self-doubt, your isolation, your pain, your wandering. Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, he is winning.
 
Jesus has been doing this for a very, very long time. You just might not have known about it.
 
This Sunday, we are going to expand our discovery about our Creator by looking at Jesus—but not so much the Jesus you know from the Gospels. We’re going to see the Jesus who you might not have realized keeps popping up in the Old Testament, centuries and even millennia before that manger scene in Bethlehem you have heard about.
 
The scriptures reveal that Jesus Christ—the Son of the Living God—has been around a long, long, long, long time. Bethlehem and a virgin birth came a LOT later into the life of Jesus than most of us realize. A lot later.
 
Let’s explore together this Sunday when all this started, why all this started, what has been accomplished, and how it is relevant to your life and mine. To get queued up for the discussion, maybe you could soak in Isaiah 53 for a bit this weekend. Oh, and see if you can pick up a really obscure phrase in Revelation 13:8 that isn’t even the point of that verse’s subject, but it does reveal something to us about how long Jesus has been up to his Jesus-stuff.
 
Hmmm… this will be good.
 
AND… While Sherri and I are gone on vacation, three things to know:
 
1)    If you have any needs that arise where our Elder Team or others could be a help or blessing to you, please reach out to Kristie Zoller via email ([email protected]) or by text/phone at 703-999-3156. She’ll coordinate response and support for your situation.
a.     Sherri and I will NOT be checking our email or texts from this Monday until Tuesday, July 8, so if we need to know anything, Kristie is your POC.
 
2)    NEXT Sunday, June 29, I am so jealous that you’ll be here (and I won’t) to be with Pastor Phil Holliday as he will be teaching on Adam & Eve, our next set of Old Testament characters that we are journeying with on “The Daily Six” and in our Bible readings next week. You may recall Phil and Carolyn Holliday are the couple that led me to Jesus as a teenager. There’s no greater man of God I’d love for you to know than Phil. I owe my salvation to his family’s care poured into scrawny little 14-year-old Chris.
 
3)    The following Sunday, July 6, our Mt. Hope fan-favorite, Pastor Will Cravens will open the scriptures for us.
 
BUT… we’re not gone yet, so don’t throw your party too soon. Shall we meet up this Sunday, 10:00 a.m.? Let’s dig deep and discover Jesus… the pre-eternal, Old Testament, before time began Jesus… and why any of this matters to us.
 
Can’t wait… see you Sunday!!
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend