From the Pastors' Desks

What does evangelism look like? How do we know we are being faithful to the great commission when Jesus called us to go into all the world and make disciples?

Well, we’re back! For those of you we haven’t met yet, my name is Brennen Winter, and I am going to be Harvest’s full-time intern for the coming year. I am joined by my extraordinary wife, Tiffany, and our timid but lovable dog, Winchester (“Winnie”). We have many interests (just ask) and are so excited to be back in West Michigan and at Harvest in particular.

Being in loving and committed Christian community creates opportunities for people to give verbal recognition to the work that God has done in us. We are putting ourselves in positions where God can speak through his people to remind us: God is slowly and surely making us to look more like Christ. And hopefully we can do the same for others.

A warm welcome can make the difference between someone moving toward Bible-based, Christ-centered community or drifting from it.

As you consider this triad of biblical categories—“saint, sufferer, and sinner”—which of these lenses tends to control the way you see and speak to God’s people around you? Each of these perspectives on our Christian experience is obviously important, but my sense is that—dare I say it?—our conversations with one another often suffer from a grave imbalance: “sinner” gets the most airtime, “sufferer” runs a distant second, and “saint” gets little to no mention at all.

This past Monday my family (brothers and sisters) got together for Mom’s 83rd birthday. It was a perfect summer night for a back yard buffet – and one more chance to be with my brother Randy. A highlight of the evening was sharing stories and memories of Randy; things we particularly loved about him. It was a blessing to be able to do that with him there, to listen and join in. It was evident that Randy is a unique blessing to our family. Always has been.

The kindness of God has been made manifest in so many ways these last two years. We’ve come back to West Michigan, for a brief time, to be of service to the saints at Harvest.

Many people experience PVB because they hate their job or their ‘normal’ life. That’s not the case for me at all. I love my work and I feel incredibly blessed in my normal life. It’s just not home – not in that deep sense. Normal life, in this present evil age with a not-yet-perfected self, is a life filled with stress, conflict, loss, fear, weariness, anxiety, etc. Normal work is filled with thorns and thistles – and something deep within me longs for beauty and for deep body and soul rest. That’s why I cry a little when I must leave the place where I experience a taste of it. It feels like leaving what I was made for.

Scripture memory, however, whether it be for adults or kids, is not something we do just for kicks or to gain some religious points. Scripture memory is about worship, holiness, ministry, and mission. L