So today is gonna be a little bit different than the typical sermon. Uh We have been walking through the Book of Acts and we're gonna continue that study next week. So make sure you join us next week as we jump back into the Book of Acts. But what we wanna do today, that is a little bit different here on our sixth anniversary as a church. We are a church that turned six. Can we just clap for that? That's good. We're in kindergarten now. As a church we can read, we're learning about shapes uh and there is recess coming up for you all. No. Um No, what we want to do today that's gonna be a little bit different is that the church itself is gonna be involved in the sermon. And so what I want to do is really celebrate and praise all that God has done in the past as well as pray for what God is going to do in the future because on a church anniversary, like you would in a marriage anniversary or celebrate a child's birthday, you wanna take a look back and see how far we've grown, right? And so, like think of it today as uh we are lining up against the kitchen doorway, right? And we're just kind of marking where we're at. Uh we wanna just pause and celebrate all that God is doing. And so what we're gonna do is that we're gonna take a look at scripture, we're gonna take a look at Second Corinthians chapter five and chapter six. But then what we're gonna see is how God is actually playing out those principles in and throughout this organization and beyond. And so if you're taking notes, I encourage you to write this down, that the best time to follow God is now the best time to follow God is now the reason this is our driving idea today. Number one, it comes specifically from Second Corinthians chapter six verse one and two. But also, uh I've just seen this played out time and time again that if you wait for the right moment or the right circumstance or you wait to have all your ducks in a row. Um I don't know why we focus on ducks and why we need them in rows. I'd feel like it should be more in these as we fly together as we've learned from the Mighty Ducks and all my nineties movies, uh aficionados out there. But um whatever ducks you have, they're never in a row, they just aren't right like we never have all of our stuff together. Um There's always a financial issue. There's always a relational issue. There's always some worry or a question we have or maybe a self doubt or maybe a doubt of God or maybe something we're wrestling with or walking through. And so if we wait for the right time, the right moment, if we wait for all of our ducks to get in a row, uh we're never gonna act. But what we see time and time again throughout scripture is that you don't have to understand fully to obey immediately that in other words, you don't have to wait for that moment where you feel smart enough, brave enough, kind enough, right? Holy enough, if you will to make a move of God, that when God calls you out, when God calls you to take the next step of obedience, when God calls you to become that man or that woman that God has called you to be that the best time to follow God is now, I know for me, uh if I had waited for the right circumstance and the right timing, we would have never started this church that six years ago when God called me out to to start this church really seven years ago because it took a year to get things going. Um That uh I felt overwhelmed, I felt underprepared. I felt unsure of myself, unsure of how God was gonna provide that when I left. Uh when I left my last location or vocational ministry, uh we had about a month of savings and a mortgage and a wife and three kiddos and a whole lot of prayer on God. And so we went to work and we saw has really truly been amazing that many of you in this room have been with us on this six year journey uh from the beginning and, and so to see it go from an idea from uh a prayer request from a dream from a vision night in the backyard of my in laws house to uh now being in a church building with multiple staff and multiple services. It's been so cool to see the move of God. And that would have never happened if we didn't obey what God called us to do six years ago. And so two years ago, on this date, we launched something called The Crazy Love Project, The Crazy Love Project. And really, this came after we finished a church wide book study of the Crazy, the book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. And we started asking ourselves a question that what is God calling us to do? What would it look like if we, if we dreamed big? If we, we risked it all, we, we put our faith out there to better reach our community with the good news of the gospel. And so here was the need behind it was that what we saw was this was in 2022. So the previous year in 21. We saw that Phoenix was the fastest growing city in the entire country. And I don't know if it's still the top growing city in the country, but it's definitely in the top five that here. We're seeing so many people moving to the Phoenix Valley. So it's the fastest growing city in the country that if you take the nine zip codes that surround our church location. Just the nine zip codes around this church actually makes up over 450,000 people, 450,000 people within just a few minutes of this church. And if you take this road specifically here on Cave Creek road, that um traffic data shows that 26,000 cars drive on this road, drive past this location every single day, 26,000 and, and some of those might be, you're like, well 100 of them are me cause I'm running my kids back and forth right to school and practice or you forget something and whatnot. But 26,000 cars and then George Barna, who does Christian theological and, and practical ecclesiastical research on like church ministries, how it functions, what church just do their behavior, their beliefs. Well, a a recent church Barna survey showed that Phoenix actually ranked as the ninth most unchurched city in the US. So you either we're either considered top 10 or maybe even bottom 10 depending on how you take that. The ninth most unchurched city in the US, which seems confusing because there are a lot of churches, it feels like in the area, right? But when you take the number of churches and the number of people engaged in churches versus the overall population growth, what we find is that churches are not keeping up. And so do we need another church in this area? No, we need 1000 and more churches in this area, which is actually why our name is called Mission Grove. The idea behind that is that no single tree can make a grove, but a grove can start from just one tree. And so our desire was to plan a church six years ago that plans churches, that plants churches, that plants churches, this idea of multiplying believers to make and multiply disciples. And so that was the need that the population is growing. Spiritual engagement is going down in our culture at large. And so that, and what does our heartbeat behind this? So the driving passage for the Crazy Love project came from Second Corinthians chapter five that reads this in verse 13 to 15 says that if we are out of our minds, a K A crazy, OK. If we are crazy, if we are out of our mind, as some say, it is, it is for God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for you. And I love this phrase here for Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And if he died for all that, those who lived should no longer live for themselves. But for him, who died for them was raised again. In other words, that the love of Christ should compel us to live in a way that living for God and not ourselves, that is living for others and not ourselves that you were placed here in this community in this moment, in time in this season, in life on purpose and for purpose. And that purpose is not just for you, but it's bigger than that. And that we have a part to play. Along with this passage. We looked at John 13 verses 34 to 35 to drive us these last two years when Jesus is speaking to his disciples, he says a new command. I give you love one another as I have loved you. So you must love one another by this. Everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, what made that command new was not, not just loving your neighbor, but loving your neighbor the way that Jesus has loved us. And so really, when we prayed through scripture, we talked about it as leadership and as an organization. What we came to is that our theme for The Crazy Love Project is that for Christ's love compels us. What is the love of Christ called us to do? And who has the love of Christ. Then in turn called us to be as an organization, as a church body, as a family. And so we felt that God was calling us to move into our first ever church building to better reach this community. And beyond that, we want to reach more people to uh really our vision behind it is to help every man, woman and child experience, Jesus. That's our vision that our mission then is to plant the gospel, the growing community to multiply through service. And so we felt that having a facility that we could call our own would help us do that. Now, how did we get here today? Well, the very beginning years ago before the church ever existed physically, this is the area in Pinetop lakeside on the Moon Rim Trail. This is where God uh gave me the idea here for the church. So we were on a student mission trip. I was having a quiet time there uh on the Moon Rim Trail when God hit me with this two thoughts, one that no matter how big one tree gets that, no one tree makes a forest. But then two at some point, you, you realize that one tree can make a forest. And again, this is why our name means so much to me because Mission Grove is the idea that it's not just about us that we want to be a church that plants churches, that plants churches that we can multiply disciples in and around and throughout this valley and beyond. And so we were there and then we began construction uh two years ago. Uh and what you see here on, on the right, you actually see the classrooms that kind of make up the lobby space that also make up what's now our auditorium. And so we tore down all these classrooms and I actually just posted on Instagram yesterday. And so if you're watching this in real time, just go to the Instagram story and you can actually see day one of construction of what this building looked like before we came into it. And it's pretty cool to see how far we've come in just two years. And so what I used to do at night in the late afternoons, early evenings, I would come into this building, uh when everyone was gone and I would just pray and I would preach sermons in this space and I would just practice. And it was so cool for me now to understand that we are sitting in an answer to prayer and you can see the exact spot. I'm, I'm standing right where I am right now. Uh But you can see in just except instead of people, I was preaching to like nails, like metal pieces and like things hanging from the ceiling so much safer now, um to preach than it was at the time. But I was super excited for that Um Then before um Easter on that Good Friday two years ago, uh we gathered here in an empty space if some of you were in this room and we wrote verses on the floor and we prayed that God would use this space for ministry. And then what we see here is now just a beautiful space. And I show photos mainly for our online audience because if you're here in the room, you actually saw the lobby as you walked in. Um But if you're watching online, just see that the space, the transformation uh from all the hard work from our construction company A Z Wranglers. Uh Thank you so much to Vince and Joe and Chase and, and all the guys out there who did such an incredible job of building out. But then I also think about all the volunteers and the, and the staff and the workers who came in to really make this place come together to where now we're then preaching the word um here on a weekly basis and just diving into God's Word together. And it's so cool to have a space where we're not only preaching the word that we're experiencing community together, but it's not just these walls as well that outside of these walls, we also launched mission trips. Uh We've now for the last couple of years taken mission trips down to build a house in Mexico. And so this photo is from two years ago uh last uh this year, actually, this past spring break, we went down and build a house for uh one of the ministry leaders of I 68. His name was Danny. Um and he had a great experience down there. And so that's expanded ministry and then uh it's so cool too to see, not just this ministry, but then expansion into our next generation as well. So I think of Clark sitting here, front and center helped launch this thing. And uh Clark for so many years was running youth group out of his house. So thank you for opening up your house for that. Uh But we've been praying from this beginning as former youth pastors uh been praying for God to work in the next generation. And so this is a photo from just a couple of weeks ago at our first ever uh connect weekend where we had over 32 students come out for that. And so we're seeing God move in this generation and beyond. And we're also seeing God expand the grove. We launched a church called Grafted Church with pastor Craig Klauke. I was at his grand opening there on the west side of the valley there in Vistan CIA where he launched with 100 and 50 people. And they saw uh they saw 10 baptisms that first day. And so we're seeing so many cool um things happen from the seeds planted uh years ago. Now, for those that like numbers, you're gonna like this next section because there's a lot of numbers for those that don't like numbers just hang in with me. OK. Um But the question is what, what are the numbers? What, what have we been trying to raise? Where does the money go? How much have we raised? What's the impact of that? The reason I share this today is because I want you to see um all that God is doing in this community and beyond. So when we came into this project two years ago, we thought it was gonna cost a million dollars to renovate this whole space and beyond. And with that, uh we were, we were able to get 228,000, what's called tenant improvement uh funds from the landlord to help improve the space. And so we were gonna try to raise um roughly like 750,000. We'll get to that in a second. But there's this little thing over the last couple of years that was called inflation. I don't know if you've heard of it. Um But no, it was uh inflation just things got more expensive. And then also when you, when you renovate an existing building, what happens is you open up the walls and the ceilings and everything and you realize a lot of extra stuff you gotta fix. So like we had to rewire and make, bring everything up to code for the fire inspection. And things like that, there was a uh giant pole like right here in the middle of that, we had to take down. Um And so a lot of extra expenses and increase in cost in labor and in goods. And so what we thought was gonna cost a million dollars. I'm just being real with you. It cost about 1.4 million to kind of come in here. Now, 1.4 million. Um Originally, we thought it was gonna be a million. And so we had set the victory goal was 600,000. 600,000 was a goal we're trying to raise internally. And then we had a miracle goal of 750,000. So the 750,000 plus, the 10 improvements was gonna get to that million dollar range. Ok. Now, the question is, how are we doing because that's a lot of extra money that we needed to get into this space. Um Well, I wanna share a couple of things here with you. First of all, God has been so, so faithful and we've seen miracle after miracle. And I say that because when you see this gap of what we've um raised versus what we owe it. It's pretty amazing. And that I want you to know that we've seen uh anonymous givers from outside of our organization. We've seen organizations itself, for example, we've had multiple churches and outside organizations give us 100 and $90,000 so that we could buy, so we could buy chairs, we could buy our A V system, things like that. Uh We're seeing God come through with individuals and even some of our general giving that we were able to contribute to that. And so here's where we're at, numbers wise. So our original goal was 600,000, really pushing for 750 so far through the Crazy Love project we've raised to date uh $574,027. So we can clap for that. That's awesome. Ok. And here's what's amazing. Ok, because we're starting to do math. It costs 1.4. We've raised like half a million. That's a lot of difference, right? I feel a little bit like the boy who gave his lunchable to Jesus to feed the 5000. Is that what we've seen? God and time and time again, come through individuals, organizations, people giving grants, different things here that have come in that um we had to take a loan to complete the, the building so that we could gather here as a church even. That was a miracle by the way, because banks don't like to give nonprofits uh loans for a building they don't necessarily own. Um And so there was actually a Christian owned business that said, you know, we're gonna set aside capital, we're gonna be the bank for you. And so we had a Christian business actually work as our bank that gave us uh interest free loan so that we could build the building. So after the loan from 1.4 down, are you ready for this? We only owe 100 and 70,000 left. Isn't that amazing? I mean, that's only God, that's only God. Ok, through that. And so that's amazing here with that, that and that's our heartbeat behind us. So, you know, just being upfront with you. Um So we got a couple of months left. The crazy love project was running for two years which ends the end of December. Um But if you start doing them path, actually on that, we've raised 574 our victory goal was 750. Uh So if we can actually hit our miracle goal, we'll actually pay off the loan and then we'll actually go into 2025 completely debt free as an organization. Isn't that pretty good? So, it's pretty exciting there. Now, with that, uh we also are very much committed to local and global missions. What we say often is that you don't just give to Mission Grove, you give through Mission Grove. And so what does that mean? It means that we've been um committed as an organization to give back to ministries that are making a difference here in the community and beyond. And so these last two years and running the numbers is that the money that we've given away to local and global missions is $68,044. And so that's actually higher than the 10% of what we've pulled in for the crazy Love project. So, where does that go to? Well, we've given away uh, $25,000 to our mission partner, the Timothy initiative, which plants churches all around the world and so they can plan a church for about $400. And so with that $25,000 gift, we've been able to uh spread over the last couple of years, we've actually been able to plant 63 churches in India and Bangladesh. So you're gonna hear more about that Timothy initiative as it gets closer than the year. But that's been awesome. We've also been able to give $9000 on top of what people gave to their own missions. Um You know, fees there to help build those two houses in Mexico. We've given $16,000 in church planting efforts to Vision Arizona and converge Southwest. That's the organization that we planted through. So, Vision Arizona is like local converge is more national, right? And then we even gave away $2000 to Orbit Church which launched uh last February. And because a month before they launch their trailer got broken into and a lot of their equipment was stolen. So we were gonna bless them there along with church planting. We've given away $17,000 to local organizations. So we've done um teacher lunches at schools. We've launched programs in ministries. We've helped out with um with hope kids. We've helped out with thrive A Z A foster care transition home. We've helped out with Harvard's Compassion Center with fellowship of Christian athletes. Uh We've done, we've helped individuals and people serving this community and beyond. So all that combined is $68,000 given out from these doors to make a difference in this community. Along with that, when we moved into this space, uh we felt God calling us to pay it forward. And so instead of selling our mobile equipment, so we had two trailers, we had like a dozen carts, uh lighting play panels, like all stuff that makes like church in a box. We instead of selling that, we actually gave it away to five different church plants that are now thriving up in this community. And beyond that totaled for about $45,000 worth of equipment. So when you take the money given away, plus the assets given away over the last two years alone, we've given away uh 100 and $13,000 to make a difference in ministry and beyond. Um Now, every year in January, we pick a theme. Uh We started doing this on the other side of COVID. And so this last year, really, this current year's theme here in 24 has been stronger that if we're gonna be healthy, we don't just wanna simply grow numerically, but we wanna grow in our reach, we wanna grow and our strength, we wanna grow in our community. We wanna grow in every area of the church. And so the question here is how are we doing? And so the three areas that we talk about on mission is planning the gospel growing in community and multiplying through service. And so the first area here is to, are we growing in our efforts to plant the gospel in this community and beyond what I want you to see here is that back in 22 our average September attendance was about 164. OK. Uh Then in 23 last year, when we moved into this space, we jumped up to 255 people in September on average on a Sunday this last month. So these last four weeks here, we've averaged 335 people. So in two years, we have doubled in size as a church. It's awesome. 21 was actually lower than that. In 2020 we weren't meeting because of the pandemic. So it's been so cool to see that. Not only are we surviving in this, that we're actually reaching more and more people, but it's not just um at large that we really love and care for the next generation. And so in September on that, within kids ministry, this last month, we've been averaging 50 kids on a Sunday. So 50 kids on a Sunday, which I'm also gonna use to shamelessly plug if you are ever interested in helping in kids ministry. We have a lot of kids coming these days and so we could use your help and uh, Miss Holly could use your help here, Holly Holmes, our children's director. And so it's super fun to see how the kids ministry is growing. And actually, uh if you look at all of our Sundays and all of our kids activities and events, we've actually reached uh unique kids, 226 kids. Uh this year alone in the kids ministry um in vacation Bible school last summer, we actually moved in, in June. We actually got the certificate of occupancy on a Friday. We heard that the school was renovating the parking lot that weekend. So we didn't have anything ready. We had like chairs and walls and that was about it. And so we moved in that Sunday and he said, hey, what can we do uh in this new space? And so on a couple of weeks notice we launched a V BS. We saw 50 kids uh come, we saw several pray to receive Christ, which was awesome. And so 50 kids last year at V Bs this summer, we had 88 kids at V BS, which is super fun. And then I just showed a picture a few minutes ago from our first ever student connect weekend where we had 32 students there. Uh We've reached over 40 unique uh teenagers this fall alone. Uh We are a part of a national prayer movement called See You at the poll. Just two weeks ago, we had 32 high schoolers that Cactus shadows praying for their school and beyond. And it's expanding to other schools in the area as well. And so I want you to hear this guys that God is alive and well, that the gospel is moving in and throughout our community that we're reaching families. We're reaching the next generation and we're super excited for that. But not only are we reaching more people that more people are responding to the gospel. And so back in 2022 we celebrated when nine people got baptized, gave their life to Jesus went public in their faith and every number is a name and every name has a story. And so we celebrated with that. Well, then last year we had the most baptisms ever in the history of our church, which was 20 people. And we were so excited for that so far through this year. Uh We have another baptism Sunday next week by the way. And so this number is gonna grow. But so far through this year, we have baptized 32 people, which means in the Crazy Love project, we baptized 52 people. And so we're seeing lives change. And so I love, I love seeing this, I love seeing this here. So not only are we planning the gospel, we're also growing in community. And so we really wanna connect you relationally so that you can grow spiritually. It's not just a large gathering on a Sunday morning, but rather once you plant the gospel in your life, you can actually gather together with other people. And so we've added uh equipping classes like the art of marriage, the art of parenting. We've added bi studies, women's Bible studies, men's Bible studies, we have growth groups or home Bible studies, uh families getting together. And so currently, right now, as a church that's still considered a small church, if you will, we actually have 16 different groups that meet on a regular basis, 16 different groups that are meeting and the number of people in groups right now and there's a little bit of overlap because some of y'all are a little extra Christian coming to multiple groups, which is good. I love that. Um But right now we have 313 people this year that has been a part of a group. Isn't that amazing? Um They say in Barna studies, they say that if you have a church that has 40 to 50% in groups, that's a really good thing. We have almost as many people that meet during the week than as they do on a Sunday morning. And so I absolutely love that. And actually of those 313 people, 204 joined their group at Mission Grove for the first time this year alone. And so we're seeing so many people connect, not just on a Sunday, but also throughout the week. And I wanna plug that as well, that life is too difficult for you to go through it alone. And so whether it's a class, whether it's men's, women's home bible study, whatever you're walking through, whatever stage of life you're walking through right now, we wanna come alongside you and in the middle of our mess and our issues and our questions that we have. Let's walk through this life together and see how God continues to move. So we're seeing God be praised as we plant the gospel. We're seeing relationships be built as we grow in community. But then also we just shared that it's not just about us. So we wanna multiply through service. We shared how we give back to the community with partnerships with different organizations, but we also wanna engage people here within the church. And so the number of people currently serving in the church. Uh This, this year alone is 231. So 231 people have served in the church this year and actually new people serving is 100 and 22 people. And so you guys are engaging, this is really making it different than just like a Costco membership that you show up and just get something and you leave. Uh But rather you're engaging. So it's called the body of Christ. It's called the Bride of Christ. It is a church family and collectively when we serve and help one another, what we're doing is we're creating a church that feels like home. Ok? The best time to follow God is now, now, those are a lot of numbers and I'm excited for those. But where does this come from? And why do we do it? I want to continue reading that second Corinthians passage to hear the heartbeat of God. Ok. Let's continue reading here in verse 16 says from now on. Therefore, again, if we're compelled by the love of Christ from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once were regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. I love this verse here. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. We don't do these things so that bad people can become good people. We do these things so that dead people can become alive in Jesus. And that when God comes into your life, when you experience the God of the universe, the God who is Lord who is Savior. He changes everything that is inside of you. He changes your thoughts. He changes how you speak. He changes how you live. He changes how you give He changes how you serve. And here's the beauty of this that it's not all done simply for you, it's done through you so that you can be a blessing to everybody as well. Is that God has chosen us to make a difference in the lives of our family and our friends in our workplace, on our sports team, in our schools, in this community and beyond. You see, don't just take my word for it. Let's see what Paul continues to write. He says here in verse 18, he says all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself. In other words, brought us back with Him to make right, to renew, to restore to refresh. And he gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting. Oh my goodness. This is a crazy word here, entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Why is that word? Entrusting so huge? Because in John 13, we just read that God says love one another as I have loved you. But right after that in John 14 verse one, he says, trust in God, trust also in me. And you've probably heard it said, if you've been in church before, you've probably heard at some point, someone say, put your faith in Jesus, believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus. What's crazy about verse 19 here in Second Corinthians chapter five is not only does God say trust in me? He actually flips it and says, I trust you. I entrust you. I am giving you the keys to the kingdom. I'm giving you the license to drive. I am giving you the freedom and the power and the gifting and the passion to make a difference in this world that the church has been and will always be God's plan a that in the middle of all your doubts, all your issues, all your questions, all your imperfections. God looks down and sees you and says, I'm gonna use you to change the world that you were created on purpose with a purpose to make a difference. And your life is so much greater than what you bring to it. God did not just come down to earth to set us free so that we can sit on the sideline and go yay says, look at us American dream. I'm gonna work and buy stuff and be in a house and do things that I want and work hard to where I can retire and then do more stuff that I want. And it's about me. It's not about you. Go after the things you want, get the career, get the spouse, get like do the things that you love, but understand this, that your life is so much bigger than you. And this story is so much bigger than you and that God has saved you has set you free so that you can in turn help others become free. Says, verse 20 says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And then one of the craziest verses in all of the Bible. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21 he says, for our sake, he made him to be sin. Who knew no sin. So that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God. That means we have in here, the greatest exchange in world history where Jesus takes on our sin takes on our doubt takes on our issues, takes on everything that is wrong with the world, all of our pain, all of our loneliness, all of our e everything that could possibly ever go wrong. Jesus takes on the cross takes the penalty of our sin so that when he rises again, when he defeats death, when he defeats sin itself, he says, now you can receive the righteousness of God. You can receive the forgiveness of God and love and purpose and life so that Jesus takes our sin and we receive Him blessing. He takes our pain and we receive his purpose. He takes our darkness and we receive his light and his love so that we can go and you don't receive all of those things so you can sit back and go. Hm hm. Ok. He does that to unleash us into the world. His plan a to transform the world through the largest movement in history known as the church continues on in chapter six, verse one and two, he says, as God's coworkers, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain for he says, and he's quoting Isaiah here. He says, in the time of my favor, I heard you in the day of salvation. I helped you. I tell you now is the time of God's favor and now is the day of salvation. The best time to follow God is now when Paul was writing to the church in Corinth, did you know that Corinth assize was seen as a sexual act. Like it was such a corrupt town, such a pagan idolizing town, there was such sexual immorality prevalent throughout that community that it was seen much even more than like say what we might say, Las Vegas today, right? Like we need like sin City like that. Sin City was Corinth. And so the church in this city that's surrounded by darkness. He says, yeah, those people, that's what I'm going to use. The time for salvation is now the time to move is now because God is alive and well and that his church cannot and will not be stopped church. We are not people that shrink back, we are not people that hold back that we boldly proclaim the goodness of God and that in darkness, we proclaim light in a world of division and hate. We proclaim love in a world that is lost and selfish. We selflessly serve and sacrifice and give and help and come alongside because it changes everything. Because beyond just a number, we understand that it's the stories that change lives. When I think about Mission Grove, I think about Kyle Randall, who him and his family came. We were in the comedy club. I remember distinctly praying for his stepfather who was gonna, he really needed a miracle and a, a medical surgery and a transplant he received that he's healed. And Kyle and his family would come in and Kyle actually would get called in the ministry. We go to GCU, we graduate undergraduate. Now he was going to seminary there now works as an intern here helping primarily in our children's ministry. But just this summer, Kyle had the impact, not only just in his life, not only in our church's life, but in his family's life where he got to baptize his grandmother this summer when I think about Mission Grove church, I think of Kevin old British Kevin. Besides being jealous of his cool accent. He came, uh, you know, just about a year ago and he came in and I said, you know, I've been to other churches. I never felt accepted or connected. And, uh but I came here and I got greeted by like six or seven people before I even sat down. And so now he's plugged in and serving every single weekend cleaning the facility, setting up the tent, prepping the room so we can hold service here. When I think about Mission Grove Church, I think about Little Bela Jacobs, a family who were neighbors to Andrew and Morgan Sandry who got to know them through an ministry called Apartment Life invited them to one of our Aviano events. They came, the kids had fun. They got connected, start coming to church. The family gets plugged in and just again, a couple of weeks ago, little Bela got baptized. It's an entire family's eternal destiny changed why? Because somebody reached out when I think of Mission Grove Church, I think about uh Luke who's in the room who got baptized this spring, who had probably one of my favorite baptism celebrations and did a backflip back into the pool. That's a teen proclaiming the love for Jesus. When I think of Mission Grove Church, I think of Trevor who got baptized who in his baptism testimony without notes, you self-proclaimed, not public speaker shared how he didn't grow up in a Christian home. So he didn't understand what Christianity was all about. But because he was invited by Ali, by friends, came, heard the word of God experienced the love of God through the people of God gave his life to Jesus. And then on that Sunday, without his phone, without nerves proclaim the gospel back to us. That is the church. When I think of Mission Grove Church, I think of stories like Anna is and on the east part of the thrive A Z. The foster transition home came from a Muslim background. Some tough life circumstances, young mom, little one at home trying to find her way through life. Joy Kunz leads her to Jesus. She gets saved. She starts coming to Mission Grove, she gets baptized. She dedicates her little one joins the worship team and now started a Bible study at thrive a to where now she's leading other women to Christ and, and a Bible study to share how her life has been changed and how their lives can be changed as well. Church. This is the gospel. This is why we do what we do. And so I wanna challenge you with two things this morning. Number one is I want you to ask God for what is your next step? I want to encourage you to take it the best time to follow Goddess. Now, what is God calling you to do? Is it a person to invite? Is it uh do you personally have to put your faith in Him? Do you need to join a group? Are you looking to serve? You need to share your faith with others? What is it that God is calling you to do? And who is it that God is calling you to be? Whatever that step is, be bold, be courageous, know that God is with you. God is for you and to know that the best time to follow God is now and I encourage you to take that step. And the second thing is being, we're celebrating all that God has done. But I want to invite you to join the Crazy Love project. I wanna ask specifically for you to give to the crazy Love project. Look, I want you to know that if you don't give anything to this church, I, I want you to come and be a part and, and we're gonna love you and we're gonna serve and we're gonna connect, right? I'm, I'm not about pressuring. But what I do wanna do though is that if you believe in what I shared this morning, if you see the life that's happening here, the growth that's happening here, the, the community and the connection and the transformation that's happening here. I wanna invite you to join that generosity and that help us finish this crazy love project, right? Let's go in, let's make a difference. Let's pay off the remaining debt to be in the space and expand and beyond, to reach this community for the gospel that if God is calling you to do that, invite you to give, give specifically, give sacrificially, give significantly. I want to challenge you to do that between now and the end of the year and the last thing we're gonna do and we've done this for the first Sunday of every month since we've started is that we're gonna end the service today to reflect on the greatest gift that was ever given in Jesus Christ himself. We're gonna take what's called communion and you have elements there. If you don't have elements yet, we have people that are gonna be walking down and we'll pass those out. So don't stress it, we'll bring it to you. But I invite you to open those elements reflect on your faith in Jesus. And if you, if you've never believed in Jesus before, you got a couple of options, number one, I wanna give you permission just to let the elements pass. Ok? And, and just have a moment to reflect if you're not ready. But number two, if you wanna believe in Jesus for this first time, like if you wanna put your faith, may this be an act of your belief and take this communion as a representation of your faith? Put your trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. OK? Let me pray for us. We're gonna take these elements together, dear God. Just, it's been amazing to see how you've worked in and throughout this church in these last six years and even more specifically in these last two years, God, as we remember that when you who knew no sin became sin, took on the sins of the world died on the cross as payment for our sins, but then rose again, covering our sin and defeating death itself. Yeah, it's because of this that we can have our faith and our trust in you as Lord and savior, that we can have forgiveness and life transformation that we can turn around and be a blessing to our community and beyond God. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for loving us. May we be a church that boldly proclaims your truth and boldly loves this community the way that you have first loved us. He says, let me pray. Amen.