The kind of fellowship you don't need a fork for...

On many Sunday nights after evening worship, the young adults from church gather with their friends from neighboring churches and the community to play a little volleyball.  And while this type of get-together burns a lot more calories than the typical potluck after church, we certainly don't abstain from the more traditional methods of "fellowshipin'", with pizza and chocolate chip cookies providing the "nourishment" needed for several competitive matches.  If you're in the area on a Sunday night, we invite you to come worship with us.  Just bring your gym shorts with you, cause the night might not end until some volleyball has been played!
(If you are interested in seeing more photos from the evening, follow the link at the bottom of the page under the church's photostream to our flickr site.  Also, thanks to Carol Babb Photography, Inc. for the great action shots)  

Repentance

   If you’ve grown up in church, then there is no doubt you have heard a lot about repentance.  As Christians, we view it as an essential component of accepting Christ in faith, particularly as we seek to follow Him.  Recently however, my idea of what repentance is has undergone a transformation.  It’s not that I have changed my view of repentance, but rather I think I have come to understand the concept in a more robust way.  I have always seen repentance as a turning away from sin, because sin is something that is directly at odds with our Christian walk.  And yet, repentance is about far more than simply stopping our bad behavior. 

The day after I moved here, my family and I decided to make a Wal-Mart run to Oakdale.  As I turned onto 165, I mistakenly headed towards Alexandria.  My dad, having a much better sense of direction than I do, quickly said “I think you’re headed the wrong way.”  When I realized that he was correct, my response wasn’t to pull the car over and stop moving.  Instead, it was to turn around and go the opposite direction.  Too often, I have thought of repentance as pulling the car over and ceasing all action, when in reality it’s about actively moving in the opposite direction.  Action in and of itself is not a sin.  The same action can be sin in one context, and completely righteous in another.  Paul says as much when he counsels the Corinthians that it is better to marry, and thus create a healthy context for our passions, than to have our passions carry us into sexual immorality.  Where are you in your attempt to truly repent?  Have you merely pulled the car over in an attempt to no longer sin, or are you redirecting your energy into heading the opposite direction?