An obscure passage in the Old Testament book of Proverbs has lots to say about what happens when people of privilege (royalty in that day, white males in our day) are blind to the way that privilege affords them options that the rest of the world doesn't have. Bringing to a close our series on what we can improve on as a church, Kyle acknowledges the reality of white, male privilege in our community.
Read MoreFor this talk Vince wants you to remember double what you usually remember from his talks, so he made it a multimedia presentation... Even better, maybe he should take a page from Jesus in Luke 10: Maybe the best way to learn is to be empowered.
Read MoreBLV's Sunday prayer team leader Laura Doo shares her story, and encourages us on the benefits of surrendering (yes, surrendering!) our lives to Jesus
Read MoreIf we want alive and lasting spiritual fulfillment (and not just a passing experience of faith that's nice but nonetheless fades), Jesus tells us to "seek first the Kingdom of God" -- in other words, set our sights higher than just our own selves, and look to participate in the grand, all-of-history-spanning story of all life. This Kingdom of God story, it seems, is as relevant as ever in light of current events.
Read MoreContrary to what highly religious and highly guilt-based environments have led us to believe, repentance is actually awesome! So Kyle led us in both some individual and corporate repentance...
Read MoreA key assumption behind everything we plan and do here is that you (yes you!) can hear from God, and that (there's probably a more profound or punchy way to say this but...) well, we think you're going to like that!
Read MoreWe're obviously pretty convinced there's a pretty amazing gift Jesus is offering people like us. But what exactly is that gift? We wonder if it's not always solutions to our problems. Despite the fact that that's what most of us human beings default to looking for, maybe there's something actually better?
Read MoreA reflection on Christmas from Co-Lead Pastor Kyle Hanawalt
Read MoreThe question "What are you about?" is posed to us more often than we might think. What if that doesn't have to feel overwhelming? What if we all have within us a unique set of values that God wants to help us discover, so we can be driven by those values, instead of reactive to anxiety? We want that to be true of our church!
Read MoreThe Magnificat (the Song of Mary, the mother of Jesus) is a window into one of the foundational values behind our community -- the desire to experience the lasting & world-impacting promises of softening our hearts over the deceptively short-term protection of hardening our hearts.
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