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Pastor Chris's Blog

You gotta meet Phil...

6/28/2025

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Hey everybody…
 
A quick hello from the road from Sherri and me. We love and miss all of you, but we’re having a great time visiting with our daughter, Dr. Rachel Hish, PharmD, as she graduates today from her first-year residency as a pharmacist at the University of Kentucky (proud and shameless step-dad plug right there). Next up are a couple days chillin’ in the middle of nowhere Ohio, then a family reunion in West Virginia, and then more intentional and blissful nothingness. But before you click delete on this email, I gotta tell you about Phil. And this Sunday. Give it a quick read in Deeper Thoughts below….
 
But first…
                                                                                                                 
·      Men… Join us for a light continental breakfast TOMORROW Saturday, June 28 at 8:30 a.m. at the church. Gordon Albert will lead this discussion with our Mt. Hope men to explore possible next steps with our Men’s Ministry. Let’s collaborate about what God has ahead for us!
 
·      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 If you’d like to be involved—especially with helping pull together historical content--click here to email Sherri Eads (but note that she’ll NOT be responding to emails until July 8!)
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and you who are so giddy that we’re gone… BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
One of the things in life that I absolutely love the most is opening the scriptures with you every Sunday morning. It’s probably linked to the fact that *the* single thing in life that I enjoy more than anything else is being in God’s Word. For more than 40 years, I have been consumed with this living and active testimony. To me, it is not some dry, static book about history. It is a living fire that burns inside of me every time I turn my attention to it.
 
Phil is responsible for that. At least in part.
 
You get to meet him Sunday.
 
I met Phil Holliday roughly 41 years ago as my 14-year-old geekish, skinny, awkward self rode my bicycle up to his family’s moving van as they unloaded their life’s possessions into a brand-new home in our neighborhood. Within hours, I became fast friends with Phil’s son Brian, with whom I would commit all manner of shenanigans, pranks, annoyances, and possibly a few misdemeanors around the neighborhood. Phil’s wife, Carolyn, would become a very nurturing “second mom” to me while Phil doled out a little discipline here and there whenever Brian and I took it a bit too far.
 
But so much more than the contagiously joyful and healthy family life that I saw every day at the Holliday house--a stark contrast to the anger and pain I was experiencing in my own home as my parent’s marriage was failing—it was their unmistakable joy at having recently found Jesus Christ that captured my heart. Every single day as I pedaled up to their driveway to see if Brian could hang out, Carolyn met me there with warm chocolate chip cookies and a challenge to be saved.
 
“Hell is a really long time,” she would tell me with a wide smile on her face—not smiling about hell, but rather about the promise of salvation she was absolutely beaming over. Jesus would rescue me for sure if I would just put my faith in him.
 
I’ll shorten up the story to this: I took the Holliday’s challenge and got saved. I trusted Jesus. I fell in love with the Word of God. I began to hear God’s call to invest my entire life in knowing and sharing God’s Word. Years later, as I was now in full time ministry leading teens and young adults to Jesus right here in Ashburn, VA, Phil retired from his senior executive career at Mobil Oil to become my boss as Executive Pastor of Christian Fellowship Church. No longer was my partnership with the Holliday’s committing teenage misdemeanors around the neighborhood, but now for many years Phil and I would share great exploits for the work of God in a great church where we both found Jesus and our life callings.
 
While I don’t get to open the scriptures with you this Sunday, Phil Holliday will. He will be teaching us through the life of Adam and Eve, whom we’ve been studying this week on “The Daily Six” and our Bible readings in Genesis. If you’ve not yet caught up on where we are, click here and grab this week’s Daily Six. Then… come join us Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Let’s see what God has for you from a man whom God used in my life so profoundly.
 
I’m jealous you get to be with him Sunday. Can’t wait to hear how it went!
 
AND… While Sherri and I are gone on, 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. Sherri and I will NOT be checking our email or texts until Tuesday, July 8, so if we need to know anything, Kristie is your POC.
 
NEXT Sunday, July 6, a Mt. Hope fan-favorite, Pastor Will Cravens, will open the scriptures for us. More on that next week!!
 
Much love to you all…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
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    Chris Eads

    Mt Hope Pastor
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​​Jesus said, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, & with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”   - Matt. 22:37-39
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Ashburn, VA 20148


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  • Home
  • Who Are We?
    • About Us
    • Our Leadership Team
  • Teaching Series
    • Teaching Series
    • The Daily Six
  • CONNECT
    • Small Groups
    • Kids & Youth
    • Men's Ministry >
      • Mission
      • Leaders
      • Men's Ministry Events
      • Challenge
    • Women's Ministry >
      • Ladies Events
      • Ladies Bible Studies
  • Get involved
    • Outreach
    • Get Plugged In @ Mt. Hope
  • GIVE
  • Calendar
    • Events
  • Blog