“From Resurrection to Response”

Pastor’s Note: Do You Love Me?

            Growing up, I had this feeling that I still experience today in church, even as a grown woman and as a pastor. Maybe you can relate. Every year, right after both Christmas and Easter, I feel a little let down. Before you judge me, hear me out. We spend four weeks in Advent preparing ourselves for the birth of Jesus. Then Christmas comes and goes, and we ask, “Now what?” Then we spend 40 days in Lent preparing for the greatest mirac

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Why Do You Look For The Living Among The Dead?

Easter Sunday Pastor’s Note 

Why Do You Look For The Living Among The Dead? 

Luke 24:1-12 

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). With this question, the angels at the empty tomb gently confronted the assumptions of the women who had come expecting the lifeless body of Jesus. Instead, they were met with a living Savior and a life-changing question. 

As we conclude our series, “Questions Jesus Asked,” it is fitting that we end with a question asked not b

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"Who Do You Say That I Am?"

Pastor’s Note

Who Do You Say That I Am?

As we enter Palm Sunday, we step into one of the most sacred and meaningful weeks of our faith. The crowds once gathered with palm branches in hand, shouting “Hosanna!” as Jesus entered the Holy City of Jerusalem. They had expectations of who He was and what He would do. Yet, as the week unfolded, many began to realize that Jesus was not the kind of king they had imagined.

This Sunday, on Palm Sunday, we reflect on perhaps the most impo

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Who Touched Me?

March 13, 2026

Pastor’s Note

Who Touched Me?

Last Sunday, we listened to Jesus ask a very direct question of a man who had been suffering for thirty-eight years: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5). This question sounds unnecessary at first. Of course he wanted to be healed! Why else would he be laying by the pool of Bethesda? Yet, Jesus’ question invited the man to do more than hope vaguely for change. It called him to face his condition honestly and to desire something

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Do You Want To Be Made Well?

Pastor’s Note

Do You Want To Be Made Well?

            During this Lenten season, we are invited to slow down, reflect honestly on our lives, and bring our deepest needs before God. In John 5:1-9, Jesus encounters a man who has been ill for thirty-eight years, lying beside the pool of Bethesda and hoping for healing that never seems to come. When Jesus approaches him, the question He asks is both simple and searching: “Do you want to be made well?”

            At first glance

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AWAKENED THROUGH FASTING

Pastor’s Note

Awakened Through Fasting

As we come to the close of our sermon series on the spiritual disciplines, I give thanks for the ways our church family has engaged in these practices with sincerity and openness. Together, we have reflected on Sabbath, prayer, service, silence, and Scripture and we have learned that small disciplines produce extraordinary outcomes in God’s people. The spiritual disciplines are not about spiritual achievement or adding more to an alread

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Awakened Through Scripture

Pastor’s Note

Awakened Through Scripture

Psalm 1 opens the book of Psalms by showing us a picture of the life God desires for His people: a life deeply rooted in His Word. The psalmist tells us that those who are blessed do not follow the counsel of the wicked or drift into patterns that pull them away from God, but instead they delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. This is more than simply reading Scripture; it is allowing God’s Word to shape our

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Awakened Through Silence

Pastor’s Note

Awakened Through Silence

We live in one of the noisiest and most distracted generations in human history. The average person checks their phone every 15 minutes, some studies say over 80 times a day. Many of us receive dozens, sometimes hundreds, of notifications every single day. From the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep, we are surrounded by screens, sounds,  conversations, and constant demands for our attention. Researchers tell us that most ad

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Awakened To Prayer

Pastor's Note

  Awakened To Prayer

This week is actually our second week in our brand-new sermon series called, “Awakened to Grace.” This is a series that will invite our church to begin the new year by rediscovering the simple, transformative practices that open us to God’s presence: Sabbath, Prayer, Service, Silence, Scripture, and Fasting. My prayer is that by preaching on and practicing these six spiritual disciplines, our hearts will be awakened to God’s grace, and we c

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Sabbath: Establishing Rhythms of Work and Rest

Pastor’s Note

 Sabbath: Establishing Rhythms of Work and Rest

If you are feeling a little tired this month, know that you are not alone. December has a way of doing that to us. We rush from one gathering to the next, from shopping lists to school concerts, from extra church services to extra expectations. December certainly tests our theology of rest. We sing about peace on earth while running on fumes. We proclaim Emmanuel, that God is indeed with us, while barely being pre

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The Gift of Eternity

Pastor’s Note

The Gift of Eternity

                It is officially the fourth Sunday of Advent…can you believe it? On this Sunday in the Advent season, we light the Candle of Love, which represents God’s perfect love revealed to us through Jesus Christ. The Candle of Love points to the incarnation, God choosing to take on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ so that we could once again be reconciled with God. The Hebrew word for the incarnation is Emmanuel, and it means “God

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The Personal Gift

Pastor’s Note: The Personal Gift

Advent is a very special time in the life of the church. It is a four-week season in the church calendar dedicated to anticipating the arrival, or “advent” of Jesus Christ. In just several weeks, we will celebrate on Christmas Day Jesus’ arrival, His birth. We will celebrate with family and friends, with lots of food, and, of course, we will celebrate with unwrapping the gifts underneath the tree. 

If I were to walk downtown Plant City during

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"Unstoppable Gospel"

Pastor’s Note

Unstoppable Gospel

            What an adventure we have been on through the Book of Acts! We have finally come to the close of the book this Sunday and we find the apostle Paul in the city of Rome, who is confined, watched, and seemingly limited in every way. Yet, the final words of the chapter and book tell a different story: “[He proclaimed] the kingdom of God and [taught] about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31).

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“The Unknown God Made Known”

Pastor Margaret’s Note

“The Unknown God Made Known”

 Acts 17:16-34

When the apostle Paul stood before the people of Athens roughly twenty years after Jesus’ resurrection (A.D. 50-52), Paul saw a city full of idols. The Athenian people were searching for truth in all the wrong places. Yet, Paul did not condemn them but rather, he met them right where they were, pointing to the “unknown god” they worshiped and      revealing Him as the living Creator who made all things and all

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All Saints’ Day – “A Great Multitude”

Pastor’s Note

All Saints’ Day – “A Great Multitude” (Revelation 7:9–17)

This Sunday, we join Christians across the ages in celebrating All Saints’ Day, a day to remember and give thanks for all those who have gone before us in faith. Revelation 7 paints a breathtaking picture of a great multitude from every nation, standing before the throne and the Lamb, robed in white, singing praises to God.

This vision reminds us that the Church is far larger than what we see each Sunday.

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