Vision Weekend 2026

we're grateful father we come before you now and I know there are people here who can't say that yet Lord we're so grateful that they're here what I'm so grateful that you have created a church where we can we can come together whether we believe yet or not what we're coming before you and I I'm grateful and I thank you and I'm asking that today that you would that you'd soften our hearts that you'd open our eyes that that we'd clear our minds so that we even here at the beginning of this year we could see something Lord get us ready for your power Holy Spirit we're asking you to to land in these rooms and in these living rooms and wherever people are joining us today Lord we're asking you to land in such a way that we will hear you calling us into this future and we will we will thank you we will give you all the credit we ask all of this now in the name of Jesus amen now before you all have a seat would you first of all Happy New Year can you believe it's 2026 yeah it's there it's there we're gonna talk about it why don't you turn around and tell somebody how good your internal clock is like are you somebody who has a pretty good sense of when time is are you early are you late go ahead just talk to some people around you real quickly then have a seat it feels like feels like some of you are trying to explain why you were a little bit late for church and you'll just have to talk about that later time's a weird thing isn't it I mean it we're told by the physicists that it's not constant I mean Newton thought it was Einstein says nope it's not speed of light gravity they can affect time that's not what we're talking about for us it kind of it's constant and yet we still try to fudge the numbers so I'm watching when it was unseasonably warm here a couple of weeks ago I think a lot of places in the US but I was outside and I was watching a bunch of little boys play together and they were doing the things man I mean you know it was it was it was warm so they had they had stuff to get done they were playing football and basketball and soccer and riding scooters and bikes and doing the whole thing but there was a kind of a lull in the activity and as happens with men of all ages there was a lull in the conversation and they didn't know what

to talk about and they're kind of staring at their bikes and their scooters and the grass and the oldest who I think is eight ish looks at the youngest who's three and says to him hey how old are you now he's not doing it in a threatening way you need to know because I was kind of watching them all from afar and the oldest one was being really cool to the youngest one so that wasn't it they're just trying to make conversation he goes hey how old are you and the three-year-old rounded up you know I'm talking about like he's so desperately wanted to belong that he said well I'm almost four he's not even three and a half but this is what we do when we want to belong sometimes there are times in our life where we round up it's like I'm eight and three quarters I'm almost 16 I'm practically 21 we round up until we don't right and then we get to a place where we start rounding down and then we get to a place where we're just talking in big vague blocks of time maybe decades and then we just start lying about it my point is this we can try to pull time forward we can try to push time back but we only get so much of it I mean no matter how you divide it no matter how you manage it or mismanage it we only get so much time it's why Moses who wrote the 90th Psalm asks God teach us how to number our days teach us how to do this so that we can be wise I want a heart of wisdom now when it says teach teach me how to number my days what he's really saying here is help me to understand that I've only got so much time I've only got so many days and some of you're like man that's a really morbid thought to start the new year with I don't think so I don't think that's what Moses is saying what he's saying here is if you really want to live life then you should understand you've only got so much time I mean time is precious the moments that you have in time you see there is this time and I believe there is a life after this but there is also a right now and in that right now you and I have a life to live in time to me it's one of the miracles of the incarnation when we were talking at Christmas about God becoming flesh part of what happens with Jesus is this eternal Son of God now feels the pressure and the squeeze and the pull of time,

because he's going to live with us in time. Now, speaking of Christmas, some people are curious about these things. We don't even have the final tally, but we had over 16,000 people join us for our various, I think we had like 52 and a half Christmas services. And so, that's not true. We had 16,000 folks who joined us from all of our campuses in all of these various ways. And some of you are like, I don't know, are we supposed to clap for that? Listen, there were people here for the first time. There were people here who came back. I heard from so many of you who said, hey, I've got a friend, and they're coming to church for the first time, and they're gonna come back. We had a really interesting conversation. By the way, if that's you, welcome back. But I heard from a person after person after person that it was like, it was just such a worshipful, joyful, Jesus-centered time. There's that word again, time. You see, if we're at the new year, and people are kind of talking about what I'm gonna do differently, or how I'm gonna adjust things, I think we should be intentional about our time. If you go to the New Testament, one of the things you'll see

is that there are two words in the Greek. That's the language in which the New Testament is written. There are two words in the Greek for time. Now, the first of these is a word that's gonna sound sort of familiar to you. It's the word chronos. It's the word we get chronology from, things like that. Chronos is just exactly what we think of when we think of time. It's the tick, tick, tick of time. That's chronos. Now, just so we all are agreeing on this, with all apologies to you sci-fi fans, time moves in one direction. There is no time travel, there's no going back. Again, sorry to Marty McFly and Doc Brown, Terminator 2, Interstellar, whatever your favorite sci-fi thing is, but time moves sequentially in one direction. Once we're past that time, that's it. That chronos is gone. But there's a different kind of time that I think is really interesting. It comes up in the scriptures several times, and in the Greek, it's kairos. Now, kairos is a moment in time, and it's a moment where you have to make a decision. Think of it as an opportunity. So, kairos is an opportunity. So, at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry,

like we're in Mark chapter one. This is his first public sermon that we have on record. He's going throughout the Galilee. He's proclaiming the good news of God, and then this in verse 15. The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news. Now, when he says the time has come, he is not looking at the people who had gathered and saying, hey, y'all, it's like 3.15 on a Tuesday afternoon. Come on, pay attention. No, it's the word kairos. What he is saying there is the God of the universe is standing before you. The offer of a lifetime is here. This is your kairos. Pay attention. Decades later, Paul would write deeper into the New Testament. He would write this. He would say, look carefully how you walk, how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, and then in the old translations, it'll say redeeming the time. Here it says, make the best use of the time, and it's that word kairos. What Paul is saying here is you've got kairos moments. Don't waste them.

Now, we think that life is measured by chronos time, and I guess in some ways it is, because the clocks, the phones, the watches, the calendars, they tell us something, but I need y'all to hear me. This kind of time ends. Chronos time, it ends, and when it's all over, your life will be measured by how you handled the kairos moments. You see, that's gonna be your legacy. Anybody here think about legacy, like your legacy? If you, whether you follow Jesus or you're still trying to figure out whether you wanna follow Jesus, you are leaving a legacy. Let's try it this way. There was, many, many years ago now, but there was an online magazine that asked a question, and I'm gonna ask it of you, and it's gonna be difficult for you to come up with an answer in the brief time that we give you, okay? So I'm saying that up front, but try, and then you can amend your answer on the way home, but this will help you maybe think about your legacy, okay, you ready? Here it is, the question online that was asked is, can you summarize your life in six words? You get six words. What is it that defines your life? Now, I'm gonna help you,

because when they asked the question, they almost crashed the site. They got so many responses that it. turned into a book that basically then gathers all of these six-word answers from famous and not-so-famous people. I'm gonna give you just a few of them. Here's one of them. The psychic said I'd be richer. Okay, well that's what you get for listening to a psychic, first of all, right? Okay, this next one's a little too much information, but 70 years, few tears, hairy ears. Okay, so this next one, I just love the honesty of this one. Afraid of everything, did it anyway. Come on. This next one tells a story and I don't know all of the story, but I feel part of it. I still make coffee for two. Yeah, I don't know what the story is, but there's a story there. And this next one was apparently written by a nine-year-old boy. Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends. Now here's the thing, I want you to take a second, a minute, talk to some people around you. You got six words. What defines you? Now you can be funny, you can be sarcastic, you can be clever, you can be honest, you can be theological, you can be philosophical. Six words. You got six words. Go ahead, talk to each other real quickly. Okay, so here's the thing, I want you to take a second, a minute, talk to some people around you. You got six words. What defines you? Now you can be funny, you can be sarcastic, you can be theological, you can be theological. Six words. You got six words. Go ahead, talk to each other real quickly. You got six words. Go ahead, talk to each other real quickly. Okay, anybody got any answers that they want to give me here? Like, anybody got a great answer? Like, your six words that summarize your life. Anybody got anything for me? Yes, sir? Drugs, prison, abuse, God's redemption, heaven. Drugs, prison, abuse, God's redemption, heaven. Come on, man. And there are some of you who are watching online for whom that was your moment, okay? All right, anybody else? Let me give you one of our campus pastors. The way she put it was, there, I guess I told you who that was. The way one of our campus pastors put it was, prepared for race, running

different race. You see, sometimes you think you know how life's going to go, and then you end up running a different. There was one in a previous service, and help me remember, what did he say? Offered solutions even when not wanted. Offers solutions even when not wanted. So, he's available if you need him. Anybody else got one real quickly? Just like it was yours. Yes, sir? I am so lucky I met her. So, it's like, I'm with you. You figured it out. You got it. I got you. I got you. You're grateful to have met her. Those are, these are the kinds of things. And so, you know, I don't know what yours was. Like I said, you get to work on it on the way home. Can I give you one more that came from the book? Thought I would have more impact. You want impact in your life? You want a legacy in your life? You see, I think you were made for that. So, if that's you, here's something. Take the long view. Take the long view on this thing. That's the way God sees things. We are so, like, we just demand things to happen in the, like, I need it yesterday. No, take the long view. God is telling an old man, a nomad with no kids, he said, hey, your family, your descendants are going to change the world. I'm going to bless the world through you. And he's like, wait, I don't have any kids. But he tells Abraham, no, it's going to happen. And so, he actually says, I'm going to make an everlasting covenant with you. I'm going to make it with you and your descendants and after you for the generations to come. So then Abraham has Isaac and Isaac has Jacob and then God tells Moses centuries later I'm the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and then he says that's my name forever the name you shall call me from Generation to generation Psalm 22 says future generations will be told about the Lord. Are you picking up on a word here? There's a theme here when it comes to generations So take the long view and then start to imagine what's it like to pass this on to future generations? Now we have to be intentional about this, but let's just ask another question in your family Does anybody ever like ask out loud? Like does your family have a clear vision of what you want your clan to accomplish over the next hundred years? We say that again over the next hundred years Does anybody say I think over the next century this is what our family

Can do for the kingdom of God and some of you're going we don't ask those kinds of great Like we don't have a foundation. We don't have a family office We don't have those kind of resources when I hear about the greatest transfer of generational wealth ever That is now ongoing Greg Greg that ain't us. We're not we're not a part of that. Well, I feel you me either But let me just put it to you. Let me give you two points here. The first one is this What sort of stories do you tell in your family? Like when you family gathers, maybe it's your friends Maybe I mean you're you're you're you're your nieces and your nephews and your your grandkids your kids your parents Whatever part of a family that is coming to mind when you come together. Do you tell stories? I Was in a room of leaders once and somebody asked us and said what are the ten stories that you want your family telling? After you're gone What are the ten stories that just keep getting passed down from generation to generation now some of those are gonna be cute They're gonna be heartwarming. It's how grandma fell in love with grandpa. Some of them are gonna be really sobering Some of them are gonna be thrilling. This is what happened when so-and-so did a heroic act Everybody's gonna have different stories. Some of you have themes in your families like we're sports family Greg We're a dance family We're all about the arts. We're all about the outdoors. I'm shocked. We're indoors right now than they think about it Greg Some of us are like, well, we're an academic family Greg, that's what we okay. Okay. Okay some of you It's like no when we gather together, honestly, we end up just talking about the family business Listen, I get all of that but somewhere in there is somebody speaking to the almighty power of God Is there somebody somewhere in the family who says hey, you know one of our stories? It's the grace of God that landed and changed us. Hey, you know what? We are the ones who invested in the kingdom of God and told the world that was desperate for hope that Jesus is King Is there anybody who says out loud in your family man a hundred years from now? I want us to have been able to be a part of that thing that happened That's the first thing. The second thing is some of you're going. I don't have a family Or I don't have a family that cares about God Will you do now Well, you can You see we get to do this together and I've been saying all weekend long. That's the key

We do this together when we bring our our gifts and our talents our dreams our resources our ideas our connections our treasure and We invest in what God is doing Something begins to happen. Yes in the world, but it begins to happen to us Like our faith grows deeper that this this life with Jesus. It really starts to pick up steam Go to the book of Acts and you'll see at the end of chapter 2 that at the beginning of the church There are people who are like they believe that Jesus is king But now watch what they do they gather together regularly see part of the way we make progress is we hang out together Regularly, they shared they opened God's Word. They prayed they learned they they gave Outrageously, they there were miracles the power of God landed. It was family. Keep reading in the book of Acts They had conflict they had to figure out how to do that It's family, but they grew in their love of Jesus and they grew in their love for each other. That's family you with me and Please note the word and and It says the Lord added to their number daily those who were saved You see we get to grow in our faith. We get to grow in our connection with each other and We tell people about Jesus it's both Please help me dispel a myth that kind of lurks in the corners that says you know what? I'm not really about like telling others. I'm just about growing deeper. I want to go deeper in my faith I want to know more about the word. I would just I like my people We're just gonna do this and that's what we're gonna do. No, it's that and you tell people about Jesus. There are others who will say, you know, Greg, I don't need to be a part of a church, like community and reading the Bible, boring. I don't want to do that. I just want to tell people about Jesus. No, it's, and you tell people about Jesus and you grow deeper in your faith. It's both. You see the family story that we get to tell around here a hundred years from now. God, please let this be our story. People just kept coming to Jesus in an anxious world. And they grew in their ability to know him and to read the word. And they grew deeper and more spiritually mature. And they served folks whose names they'll never know this side of heaven. And neighborhoods in St. Louis changed

to the point where the economic outlook changed and it made headlines. And the water crisis was solved. And little girls weren't trafficked for going too far to find water. And little boys stopped dying of cholera. And I'll give you an update on the Christmas offering in a week or two. But these are just some of the opportunities, the Kairos moments that a church can pay attention to. And they could be a part of our story, our family story. Now, if you're new here, you need to know that we have talked about in a couple of different times, we've talked about a 10-year initiative. And it's based on, just look at this, it's based on like a stand of aspen trees that, you know, on the surface they look like different trees, but beneath the surface they're all connected and they're one. And so what we're saying is there's a 10-year initiative, and we don't have time to go into all of this, I just want you to know what it is. We call it Aspen Stand 35. You see, for the next 10 years we want to pay attention to this. Now, this middle tree, that's us, that's the church, and that's what's going to fund and fuel these ideas and connect these things. But there are five different initiatives or emphases that we're taking a look at. And again, we're not going to go through all of these, but I just want you to know one of them. One of them is we're seeing this in our own world, we're seeing this in our own church, we've been seeing it, but we're now seeing it in the data. There is a renewed interest in Jesus in younger generations. And y'all, I want you to hear something. We don't just want to celebrate that, we want to celebrate that. We want to celebrate that. Over 60% of the people who were baptized this past year were under the age of 30. We want to celebrate that. But now listen to me, we've got to do more than that. We've got to fan the flames of revival. We're just getting started. God's just getting started. We've got to figure out and dream of ways to create more opportunities for discipleship and mentoring and connections for younger people, because the rhythm of life is different, and we can't ignore that. We've got to use digital tools to help bridge this gap. I'm going to tell you next week, I was talking with a young couple in their 20s in the last service, and they bought their first Bible. And he's like, so where do I start? And I love that conversation. So we're kind of talking about some strategies. But I also told him, come back next week, because we're going to share with you a digital tool that's going to help you read your Bible. I can't wait for us to do this together, because this is just one of the ways that we can help each other. Now, this spans all generations. This is going to be for each of you.

I mean, when you talk about digital things, I mean, online, our Christmas services this year were attended online. We saw a 50, 5-0, more than 50% increase in the people who joined us at Christmas online this year. Something is happening. Now, outside of Christmas, we had people around the world joining us over this last calendar year, and we're approaching a half a million. I don't know what it was by the time we got finished with December, but we were approaching a half a million views, a half a million devices joining us. And we don't even know how many people are sitting there, because some of you who are watching, it's one person. Some of you, it's six, eight people watching at once. All I'm saying is this thing is happening, but it's happening right here. When we talk about generational stuff, I want you to know this. It happens right now. So, I'm going to ask Ryan Peters, who is our pastor of worship arts. He was until recently our director of youth ministries here, moved over to that. David Cording is now overseeing all of our youth ministries. You see how there's this generational pipeline of leadership going on. So, Ryan, you're best suited to introduce us to Doug, so go ahead and do that. Yeah, well, this is my friend, Doug Stroud. Doug, I got to serve with you and your wife, Becky, for a lot of years in Youth Crossing. So I just wanted to pick your brain a bit about how God's used you around here over the years. Can we start with, how did you get started serving at The Crossing? Sure. So when we were looking for church home, we wanted to be someplace that God was working, that we could see that he was working. And we didn't want to just be there watching it, we wanted to be part of it. And then we came to the first baptism service that we came to, and we walked away from that going, every year when we come to this, we want to be able to know the stories

of somebody that's there. And so jumping in and serving was the best way, and the only way we knew to go towards that. Okay, so hold on, let's pause right there, because if you're looking to find a way to be deeper connected to what God's doing around here, a serving team, to be able to go to baptism and know those stories is amazing. So you're serving in youth, you've done that for a lot of years. Some of us, that might be a little intimidating to hang out with teenagers. Can you tell us what it's like to serve with teenagers? Well, it's awesome, first off, and a lot of them are over there. I started with a group of sixth grade boys with a couple other leaders, and it was a lot of what being with sixth grade guys can be. Moments of they're getting it, and a lot of moments of things you don't want to talk about. But had the chance to watch them grow. And it's not just my group of guys, like what Greg said about the last year and a half, things are changing in Youth Crossing, and we're seeing kids go after their faith. And with my guys in particular, been able to watch some of them that were timid about their faith, not sure about sharing it. I've watched some that questioned if God was even real,

go from questioning to seeking after him, to accepting his gift of salvation, and then watching them be baptized, and then watch them serve. As they serve other students, leading Bible studies, serving back in Kids Crossing, just all over the place. And it's just, it's amazing to get to watch God work in the lives of youth. Well, it's incredible, and you're having a huge impact, but you're not only serving in Youth Crossing because you've also served in Kids Crossing for many years, where you're not Doug, but you're Mr. Doug. And so you were telling me a story recently of a moment that you had with some of your high school guys, and they were sharing kind of their memories of you from back in kids. Can you share that story with us? Yeah, it blew me away, because when you serve with kids, a lot of times, you know, when you serve with youth, you get to see a lot of growth, and you see a lot of decisions, and the making decisions for the life. With kids, occasionally you'll get a, hey, this made sense, I get this, or an interesting question, but most of the time, you're serving with the heart and the hope of 1 Corinthians 3, that you're planting a seed, other people are watering, and you just, you don't know where it's going.

So at Winter Blast, our camp a year or so ago, we had a question in our small group that was who in your life, other than your family, first taught you about Jesus? And one of the guys looked at me and said, well, you were. And I'm like, no, no, no, guys, I'm not talking about right now, I'm talking about in the past. And another one piped up and said, no, you were in Kids Crossing. And it made me stop, it made me try not to lose it, as I'm talking to these guys, but it was God stepping in and saying, hey, pay attention, what you do matters, that it does get into the hearts and the lives of these students. Yeah, because you're, I mean, for some of these guys, you've been investing in them spiritually now, from Kids Crossing to middle school to high school, which goes back to this legacy and generational thing that Greg's talking about. So I'm so grateful for the way that you're investing. But I also know that there's Mr. Duggs and many people at all of our campuses who are investing in my kids, but also in your kids. So what would you say to the folks who are just making that investment every week? Yeah, I would say thank you to all of you that have invested in my family, my kids. Raising kids can be hard,

and knowing that there's another adult that we can say, hey, go ask them what they think, and you know that they're gonna get a godly answer from them is huge. So thank you for that. Thank you to everybody that does something to create these environments for kids and students to come to know Jesus, because it really does matter. Yeah, that's right. Would you guys help me thank Dugg and so many others who serve faithfully? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's generation to generation to generation. So he's given a shout out over here to a bunch of high school students, but there's also, I'm looking around this room and other rooms where there are others that are here, and actually, if you haven't joined us at Youth Crossing, come on, because something is happening. But I need you to know, at the kids ministry level, we are, and again, a lot of data here, but. We're 15% ahead of last year in our numbers. Like there are 15% more children that are coming into our midst.

We're seeing hundreds of third, fourth, and fifth graders who are being baptized. We're seeing families by the hundreds who are saying, hey, I want to be a part of this. Will you help me pass this on to another generation? So when Doug and a whole bunch of other heroes in this church are pouring into school-aged children who then become teenagers, who then become 20-somethings, that's what it means for us to be a multi-gen church. And that's what we want to do. We want to keep leaning into that. We don't have time to go into all of these other things. I'm not going to even try. I will tell you that at Grant's Trail, we're attempting something that is already underway and it's catching traction, a hub of kingdom activity and collaboration that we've never tried before. We'll keep you posted. The international stuff I was talking about just a minute ago, the opportunities for Genius of One Resources and what we're doing nationally and internationally, we're seeing some opportunities, some kairos moments in front of us that quite honestly are more than we can imagine. Now you need to know for us to be able to do that, we're not going to get out over our skis. It requires funding. It requires staffing. Those two things are connected. But we believe God is calling us into something. Let me tell you one last thing though. God is calling us to raise up young leaders and pastors to lead churches, yes, maybe around the world, but certainly here in St. Louis. And it's already happening. We're seeing that beginning to happen. In fact, we have these official partnerships with a variety of pastors, but we also have unofficial relationships and networks where we're mentoring and helping.

We're helping pastors around the St. Louis area. I keep asking, what would it be like if 10 years from now there were 500 flourishing churches in the St. Louis metropolitan area that were working together to advance the kingdom of God? They're not the same denomination. They don't look the same. They don't sound the same if you go in and listen to their worship, but they are connected and they rally around Jesus. How could that change St. Louis? How would that change us? I've been saying all weekend long, I think the politicians and those who have given up on St. Louis, I think they will either have to get on board or get out of the way because the kingdom of God will advance over these next 10 years. Now, some of us actually believe that. And some of you are going, how does that happen? Well, we're going to keep tapping into our relationships and people around the world who have built these kinds of mentoring networks. But I will tell you, it's already happening. We just got this recently from just three, just three of our partners, but you know these three. So we wanted to share this with you. I remember the time where it was the most where I was like, I'm done, God, I can't do this. And that's when Randall gave me a call and said, hey, let's meet. And hey, we've got people at our church that believe in what you're doing up there in Jennings. And that was a turning point, not just in our church, but that was a turning point in my life. Because of the crossing, I'm here and a whole team of people are here. We've been there through the gamut of our ministry journey. And I'm utterly grateful for a partnership with The Crossing.

Through partnership, we're able to gain sustainability, structure, impact communities, both East St. Louis, Collinsville, St. Louis City, North, South, East, and West. And we are excited about what the future looks like. Right now we're on pace to serve over 10,000 people through this space, all because a church stepped up and said, you know what, Pastor Andre, you're not crazy. You're not crazy at all. Keep dreaming and we'll keep walking with you and we'll keep figuring this out together. Without this partnership, there are nearly 200 people whose eternities would not be what it is. You're giving hope to a leader like me who then takes that hope and spreads it among his team, his church, and it spreads throughout a neighborhood. Here's the big takeaway. The church wins. The kingdom wins. And over time, we see how we come back to the table to look at our future with a lot more excitement. So the church wins, the kingdom wins, and I want you to understand something. When you hear Will say there are 200 people who now know Jesus because of this partnership, that's a part of your legacy. When Andre says there are going to be 10,000 people this next year served because we're partnering with him, that's a part of your legacy. When David says that the future looks bright and that God is still up to something in the St. Louis area, that's a part of your legacy. See, I don't want to get too dramatic with you, but I believe there will come a day in the eternity future where God will sit many of you down and say, I need to tell you some stories. I want to connect the dots for how you were a part of something. This is your family story, this is your legacy. Now I just said that I believe there is a time after this time, and I believe that.

My life is built on a hope that I hope is resilient, and in some cases, defiant, because it's rooted in Jesus. I believe that part of what we pass on is hope in a world that is in desperate need of it. But y'all can't pass on hope if it isn't yours. So if you go back to Christmas, in chapter one of John, he's talking about the word becomes flesh. Just a few verses later, he says, but there were some people who didn't land on the side of Jesus. Like some people chose darkness instead of light. They still do. But then right after that, he gives us this stunning promise that he says, yet, yet, even with all of that, yet, anybody who receives him, anybody who believes in his name, he gives them the right to become children of God. You know what that means? That means if you turn to him and you trust him at the core of your being, you are welcomed into the family. It's the Kairos moments to end all Kairos moments. And if you wanna talk about what it means to turn to Jesus, if you have questions about what it means to believe in him and to trust him and what he can do for you, then in just a minute, come find a pastor at any of our sites or talk to somebody online right now because we want you to join us in what God is up to. We're gonna keep doing this throughout the winter and the spring. Starting next week, we're gonna do something

called Base Camp. Now, what we're doing for the next few weeks is gonna be so practical and intriguing and interesting. It's gonna give you tools. It's gonna give you a way to make progress on your spiritual journey this January. We got a whole bunch of pastors that have been working on this and cooking things up. Next week, I get to share some things with you. You wanna come back for that, okay? Then we're going to go back into peak experiences. It's part two. We did part one in the fall. Part two is in the New Testament. We're gonna look at the high points and the mountains in the New Testament, and we're gonna hear the voice of Jesus again and again and again. I can't wait because it will all end a few weeks after Easter, and we will end where we began, on a high mountain in the book of Revelation. After that, we're gonna tackle some contemporary issues. I told you at Christmas that one of those is gonna be AI. How do you approach and think about AI from a biblical perspective? That series is entitled Anchored because we live in an unstable, unsettling world, and we need to be anchored in a biblical perspective. So this is what we're doing.

This is what we're gonna be chasing after, and I hope you'll join us because we absolutely believe that God is still up to something at this church and in this world. Now, some of you have seen this before, but it's happening again. You see, the chronos kind of time, the tick, tick, tick of our days, it will end. I mean, it's just, you can't deny it. I mean, it's 2026. Whether you're excited, worried, freaked out, or still in denial about it, it's 2026. But here's the good news. These kairos moments, these moments where you get to respond to what God is offering you, these moments that could change everything, they're gonna keep stacking up. Some of them are gonna be really huge, some of them not so much. Some of them are gonna just be these quiet, little moments of obedience where you just continue to follow Him for a while, but they will stack up into a legacy, that's the invitation. It'll be your choice. You're gonna seize these moments or not, that's up to you. But the invitation is, will you trust Him? For some of you, do you know Him? Will you trust Him? Will you turn to Him? If you do know Him, have you told anybody else about this?

Will you celebrate what God has done for you? Will you maybe work on your legacy and how you want to make a difference? Will you join us? Will you invest your time and your talent and your treasure? Will you get involved and engaged in this church? See, I'm telling you, if you do this, there will come a moment, I can't tell you when, but there will come a moment that some of you, you know what I'm talking about, because it's hard to describe, but the very Spirit of God will land on you and you will know that you know that you know. Whether you are 55 or 15, you will know that you redeemed the time, that you, here it is, that you're not crazy. You're not crazy for dreaming that big. You're not crazy for serving or for loving or for listening. You're not crazy for offering grace to someone who aggravates you. You're not crazy for learning a new way to have a conversation with someone. You're not crazy for giving outrageously. You're not crazy for inviting that friend one more time to church with you. You're not crazy because God is still up to something. And there are these individual moments where God will say, hey, look at that. But sometimes it happens corporately. You see, sometimes we gather together corporately

and God reminds us that we're not crazy. That he really is up to something. When I think back to two very warm evenings in June, when 500 people stepped into the water and told the world that they're with Jesus, and when I think about this multi-generational picture, when I think about grandmas, and business leaders, and teenagers, and 20-somethings, and singles, and married couples, when I think about a little girl, third grade, fourth grade, in the water, eyes filling up with tears, and I just wanted to make sure that she knew. Do you know what this means? Yes. Do you have any idea how proud your Heavenly Father is of you? I do. I do. He's here now. I know He's with me. And when she says, I want the world to know I'm with Jesus, y'all, those are the moments when God, because He's good, because He loves us, He gives us a glimpse of His glory and His faithfulness, and in those moments, He says, hey, you see what I'm up to? You see what I'm doing? You see what you're a part of? This is your legacy.