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I have been blessed in my ministry to be mentored by some wonderful people. As I think back, names rise to the surface – men who encouraged me, gave me counsel, and gave me a chance to serve and to lead. Each name I recall carries with it memories of impactful discussions, godliness modeled, and a gentle nudge to step out into new roles and opportunities for growth. Part of being a disciple of Christ is not just in the life that we live, but the people that we tap on the shoulder and bring along with us. We are commissioned not only to be disciples but to make disciples. On our own, there is only so much that can be accomplished, but when we throw our cloak around another and lead them in growth and grace, the impact on God’s kingdom is multiplied. 

I hope that one day as young men and women think back on those who invested in and impacted them in their faith, my name will be on their list. 

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 

• Do you have a list of men and women that threw their cloak around you? Take some time this week, whether by email, letter or phone call to reach out to one of them and thank them. 
• Is there someone in your life that you can throw your cloak around? Let them know that you see potential in them and are willing to invest in them.
• Elisha sacrificed his oxen, not only as a sacrifice to God, but also as a goodbye to his old life. In what ways are you willing to sacrifice as others invest in you? 

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 

Explain – what does the passage mean? 

Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 

Respond – how is God leading you to respond?

Jon Price, Associate Pastor

We can recognize the voice of God by reading His recordings (Bible), speaking with Him through prayer, and hearing from His messengers in worship. Learning His character, nuances, truth, and nature by cultivating a personal relationship. God will use dramatic means to get your attention when necessary, but His goal is for you to be so closely connected to Him that you’ll pay attention whenever He speaks to you. 

God not only wants you to hear His Word, He wants us to obey His Word. The more you get to know the real thing, the more you can spot an imposter. Be intentional in looking for the wonderful treasures in scripture through name and place, translations, chronological events, and the culture of the period. You may be amazed how His Word comes alive on the page and in you.
There are many voices out there; who you gonna listen to?

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 

• How are you at taking time to rest? 
• What are some things you do that help you rest and distress? 

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 

Explain – what does the passage mean? 

Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 

Respond – how is God leading you to respond?

Pastor Stephen Williams

Pastor Stephen Williams

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

We usually reference this passage to help define what qualifies as “church.” Whether it’s a large congregation or small, or even a cozy get-together with a few other believers, we can say that we’re “doing church” as long as we have at least two or three. (As if God can’t be bothered with an audience of one.) I don’t think that’s the significance of what’s being said here. 

If you look at the chapter that it’s nested in, the surrounding topics also have to do with the church, but specifically with handling the negative things that can pop up from time to time. Look at some of the other  items covered in the verses just before and after: 

• an argument among the disciples over who will be the greatest of them once they get to heaven (vv1-5)
• the seriousness of guiding and protecting the faith of young children (vv5-6 “whoever causes one of these little ones to sin…”)
• the lengths we should go to in avoiding sin (vv7-9 “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out”)
• God’s tender spot for the lost (vv10-14 leaving the 99 to find one lost sheep)
• how to handle a grievance with another believer (vv15-20 “If he doesn’t listen, take one or two others with you”)
• the appropriateness of forgiving those who wrong us (vv21-35 the parable of the unforgiving servant)

Jon Price, Associate Pastor

By the time she was in college, Jen Wilkin had experienced church life in seven denominations, each with its own distinctive approach to reading the Bible. One church she attended during elementary school held a Bible study where the teachers “treated us as capable of learning and understanding the Scriptures, and then gave us tools to do so.” This early investment in showing kids how to study the Bible for themselves changed everything for Wilkin. “Hearing different pastors teach the same passages in such different ways had been an eye-opener,” she says. “It pushed me to want firsthand knowledge of the text.”

By her twenties, Wilkin understood it was possible to drown in waves of opinion. If she was going to learn to swim, she would have to learn to read the Bible for herself.

Wilkin flatly rejects the notion that deep knowledge of Scripture is best left to adults and “experts.” “A child who is capable of reading is capable of reading the Bible,” she insists. “Children need early exposure to the Scriptures because they need to see them as a familiar friend. Reading the Scriptures to them—and then, of course, having them read them themselves—are all formative practices. Sometimes we think children should only read (the Bible) if they can understand everything they’re reading,” she says, but “we underestimate their ability.

This is why Wilkin advocates for young students doing adult-type Bible study.“If high schoolers are capable of doing calculus and physics, they absolutely are capable of grappling with a line-by-line study of the Bible.”

Wilkin challenges herself in the same way, and she is no longer fazed by all that she doesn’t know or understand as a teacher. She began teaching the Bible as a 30-year-old, simply because there was no other teacher.

“I was a solid 10 years younger than the youngest class member,” she remembers, “and I lacked both life experience and teaching experience. I agreed to a temporary commitment and ended up teaching the class weekly for seven years. That precious group of women allowed me to learn alongside them. I learned teaching skills, empathy for my listeners, and frankly, I learned the Bible right along with them each week. By giving me a place to grow, they served me as much as I served them.”

“Understanding that I could teach and learn simultaneously—that I could pass on what I was in the process of learning—was very freeing for me,” Wilkin says. “We don’t see ourselves as experts, but as co-learners, and then we start doing the work.”

This growth mindset is something she models and encourages for every Christian. “It’s absolutely OK to say ‘this makes me uncomfortable and I don’t know the answer,’” she says. But that should not stop us from leaning into the discomfort and learning how to ask better questions of the text. We dare not make a lifestyle habit of deferring to others’ opinions, Wilkin says, for “one day we will stand before God and give an account of how well we loved him—which the great commandment says includes how we loved him with our minds. We won’t be giving an account for how well our pastors and teachers loved God with their minds.”

“Not everyone has the gift of teaching,” Wilkin says, “but we’re all responsible for being active learners.” She knows the learning curve can seem impossibly steep, but “this is where the typical student needs a little bit of permission and a little bit of a nudge.” For Christians who want to be faithful to God’s word, refusing to learn isn’t an option.”

Closing thought from Jon – If you have young children or teenagers, encourage them to spend time in God’s word on a daily basis. Model it yourself to them. They don’t have to read massive passages in each sitting or understand everything they read, but it may spark spiritual conversations and will build a foundation in them that will have long-lasting impact. The most important thing you can do to TAKE IN as a believer is to spend some time each day in God’s word.