…from Pastor Jonathan

This past Sunday began a new season in the life of our church as we began Confirmation with our students.  I’m excited for the opportunity to dive deep into who God is, what the Bible is about, God’s plan for the world, and how these young people can become faithful disciples who are a part of God’s mission of redemption and transformation.  Often we think of the process of confirmation as filling students up with knowledge that will help them know, believe, and trust God more.  But I think the true work of Confirmation is teaching our students to surrender…to let go…to trust God with the process of becoming the people God created them to be.

John Wesley believed that our salvation is a process that begins the moment we take our first breath, is confirmed when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and is enriched and enlivened as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification. This is our common journey.

• Today, you are invited to surrender your life to Jesus and to become a disciple of him.
• Today, you are invited to surrender a little more of your life so that you become more like Jesus.
• Today, there is an opportunity for each of us to be perfected in love, but it all begins with surrender.

As our students embark on this new season of growth, I encourage you to embark on a new season of surrender so that the Spirit of God might dwell richly in your life and that you might carry Christ’s presence with you out into the world.

May God bless all of those who are journeying through this season of Confirmation!

Jonathan Smith

For Jesus. For People. For Community.