This past Wednesday night, the church kitchen overflowed with laughter and conversation as 30 youth students worked together to make a simple meal. Students sat side-by-side around tables, sharing in this meal they had prepared. Then, with full stomachs, we gathered in a circle for precious moments to read Scripture, share, and pray–a new thing in youth that we call 'Table Talk in the Kitchen with Jazmyn'. I mean, who isn’t happy when they have a plate of tacos with chips and queso in front of them? 

During the creative chaos of that night, I couldn’t help but take a step back and remember the words from a stranger who sat next to me on a plane just a week before. “What if the church was a place that young people knew they belonged, not a place they couldn’t wait to leave,” she said. Her vision resonates a lot with me, so I bubble with joy in moments like those in the kitchen where I get a front-row seat to the church living out her call to be a family where people know they belong. Can I just say that I am so excited by the things that God is stirring in our young people?!

This week, we will continue our series through the book of James, taking a deeper dive into James 1:19-27. Through the wisdom and reminders of James in this passage, we can take a step back and ask ourselves a similar question as the woman on the plane—what does it actually look like for us to live as God’s people in a hurting world? Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry? Doers of the Word? Caring for orphans and widows in their distress? These aren’t just behavior modifications that James gives but are the result of allowing God to transform every part of us from the inside out. 

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday at 9:00AM for a special time of worship as we talk about Faith Beneath the Surface followed by a special opportunity for prayer!

Come, open to the good work that God wants to do in you – in us!!

You are so loved!

Jazmyn Collins