What would it look like for us to be a creative minority in our culture?  What would it look like if – rather than hoping for a cultural majority to reflect our views/values – we embraced becoming a minority movement of salt and light in our neighborhood?  John Orton speaks on being the salt and the light in our society.  A creative minority is powerful and life giving, uniquely different and engaged in society!

A creative minority is powerful and life giving.  John shows us that as salt is a flavor, we are the seasoning of life!  Jesus transformed a Roman culture that didn’t believe in Him and a religious culture that was threatened by Him.  All because He was authoring a life of beauty, power and fulfillment that was unavailable in the prevailing culture of the day.  This is what  creative minority looks like!  John also shows us that salt is a preservative.  To be the salt of the earth is to be a powerful healing agent in the midst of societal brokenness.  We should also be the light.  Jesus call is from darkness to light, from death to life.  The good news is that He is making all things new and redeeming all that was lost.  He is inviting us to co-labor with Him in shaping culture through redemptive participation.

A creative minority is also uniquely different.  Light, by its very nature, will be in sharp contrast to darkness!  We are to live differently in a way that points people to the Gospel.

A creative minority is engaged in society.  If we are truly following Jesus, we will find ourselves in the midst of our culture as a beacon of His light.

Are you ready to be the salt and light to our culture?

What kind of churches are we setting out to build in the Pacific NW? Special guest speaker, John Orton, talks about the mission of Jesus and prayer! We want to be a people radically shaped by grace, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living for the extension of the Kingdom and this cannot happen without prayer! Prayer changes what we see by changing our perspective. Prayer also has authority in Jesus in that the power of our prayer is about who we are praying to. The Great Commission is book-ended with a reminder that God is the one carrying it out, not us. Prayer, therefore, is not a response to who God is. It’s not need based, it’s vision based.

What we see changes what we value. If we see God for who He is, it changes our values. All authority has been given to Him and He is with us until the end. What we value changes what we do. We need to do things outside of our own capacity and put ourselves in a place of dependence on God. John closes by asking us to think on a few questions: What would it look like for you to get to work 5 minutes early to pray for your co-workers? What would it look like to walk through your neighborhood with your kids and pray for God to open doors to the Gospel? For Him to use you? What would it look like for us, as a church, to say our programs and our strategies simply aren’t enough?

Join us as we welcome back Don Rogers! This time he is also joined by his Kenyan Director, Samuel Teimuge. Don Rogers is the founder and International Director of Empowering Lives International. In 1994, ELI was formed to integrate God’s Word with ideas and practical, strategic training that equip the needy to make important strides toward God and away from the chokehold of poverty. Don and Samuel will be sharing the vision of ELI, as well as stories of real life changes experienced as a result of these strategies.  For more information or to get involved with Empowering Lives International, visit their website at http://empoweringlives.org/.

Pastor Keith Stroup speaks on the importance of having hope in reality.  Join us Sundays at 10am!