I’ve never seen anything like what happened this past Sunday at Bethany Place! I was so encouraged by every aspect of our Sunday morning services.

Our students truly took over!  Not only did they handle the greeting ministry and receive the offering, a few of our students also taught in our Community Fellowship groups. Every detail was handled with excellence by students in the worship service. The music was extraordinary! There was a video featuring one of our students I think you will love; I strongly recommend watching it. (To view click here) The message was brought to us by Mark Mazza and Alex Renner. They both clearly walked us through a couple of well known texts. I am so proud of all our students and greatly encouraged by the adults who coached them. It was a tremendous day of worship and I hope we will do this again in a few months.

Sunday, we finish the series, The Path to Confidence from the book of Habakkuk. Through this series I’ve imagined all of us at one time asking the question, “Why do I need to study this book?” The answer is, you don’t. You don’t need to study Habakkuk if you are content to stay where you are in your walk with God. However, if you sense the tension between where you are and the vision of patient faith displayed here . . .

Habakkuk 3:17–19 (ESV)

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19 God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

. . . then you will want to trace the prophet’s path and discover how to reach that same level of confidence. Above all, it’s a message from God himself. I’m praying for a growing hunger to hear from God. I want to hear all He has to say to us from all of His word. Sunday’s message is called, “Trusting God No Matter What.” You can see the outline here.

In the weeks ahead, those of us who went to Barcelona will share how God worked in and through us while we were there. We will also hear testimonies about our integrated Community Fellowship groups, VBS and Sports Camp which is coming up beginning Monday. Please pray as we continue to serve the Lord through various outreach events over the remainder of the summer.

• Gene