John McKinzie - Lead Pastor

Welcome to our 3rd week of Hope’s new Blog Spot! I’m not one to read a whole lot of blogs (hardly any…), partly because of time and partly because of time… J But maybe you have time and love to read blogs and if that’s the case, hopefully you’ll find ours helpful & encouraging for your spiritual journey.

Speaking of journeys… since the very beginning of Hope, our theme has been “experience the journey”. The whole idea is that our relationship with God is a process not just an event. For so long I focused on getting people to “experience God” rather than inviting them on a journey with him. I most definitely believe our experiences with God are awesome & potentially “life changing” but in my view what happens between the experiences is just as important if not more.

Simply following Christ authentically each day is an “experience” in and of itself. It’s not always “touchy feely” or as some same “sexy”… but there’s nothing like it. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite words spoken by Jesus. They’re found in Luke 9:

Luke 9:23-25 (NLT)
23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

John McKinzie
Lead Pastor
Hope Fellowship
www.hopefellowship.net