In this month’s episode of Bringing An Ancient Faith to a Modern World, I am joined by Steve Messeh of HOPE Multiplied (and my brother) and we discuss the history and impact of community service at STSA and why all churches should be looking for opportunities to invest in their own communities as well.
Read MoreNEW YEAR, LESS ME - Part 5, The Selfless Church
“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” Pope Francis
We wrapped up our New Year, Less Me series and special thanks to Steve Messeh for talking to us about what it means to apply these principles at the church level. Just like our personal lives, we need to make sure our churches are “others-focused” and continue to be the Body of Christ in our local communities.
Why? Because as we’ve been saying throughout this series, “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).
Read MoreTHANKS TO YOU [sermon video]
“We exist to transform lives in the DC metro area through an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ founded upon the life and teachings of the Orthodox faith.”
That’s our mission statement at STSA and yesterday, we decided to take a step back and reflect upon how God is using us to accomplish that in our local community and beyond.
So if you’re one of the many people have supported the ministry at STSA - whether through prayer, or giving, or serving - then you NEED to know that you are making a difference in the world.
Check out this week’s message to learn more about the great work God is doing in the lives of so many - and it’s all THANKS TO YOU.
Read MoreKINDNESS FOR LIFE - The KIND that Breaks, Part 6
Our kindness challenge has come to end, but not before we went out with a BANG in the finale of The KIND that Breaks.
In this message, we talked about three things we can do to turn our 30 day kindness challenge into a 30 year (or more) kindness lifestyle. In addition, I got some help from some fellow STSA members who were willing to share their stories about how showing kindness has impacted them.
"Our happiness depends FAR more on how we choose to treat others, than on how we ourselves are treated."
Read MoreGENUINE LOVE FOR OUR COMMUNITY - Family Matters, Part 5
"Everybody matters to God, even if God doesn't matter to them."
That's what our 10th core value is all about. It's about God taking flesh in our local community and "making some waves" through His Body, the Church. It's about us following the example of Christ and the early church and offering no-strings-attached love and compassion for others, especially those deemed of little to no value by society.
And while we may be questioned for what we believe, we should be embraced for how we love.
Read MoreLOVE IS LOCAL - Love Is, Part 4
[NOTE: Audio missing for the first 3 minutes. Technical difficulties. My apologies.]
"Love isn't just loving your neighbor; it's also loving your neighborhood."
Week 4 in the Love Is series and this week we looked at the fourth characteristic when it comes to Christ-like love: LOVE IS LOCAL.
In this message, you'll hear me talk about one of the foundational principles upon which STSA was built: Genuine Love for our Community. More importantly, you'll get to hear someone else share about how fulfilling this principle made a huge impact on their life and deepened their relationship with God and with His Church.
Check out the video about and see for yourself. And get ready to start seeing your neighborhood in a whole new light!
BEYOND THE KINGDOM - Build Your Kingdom Part 5
Get ready for a celebration! It's the final week in the Build Your Kingdom campaign and yesterday's message answered the question: "WHAT'S NEXT?" Check out the video above to see what I mean.
And keep laying those BRICKS! The Sunday series may be complete, but the campaign to build the Kingdom in Arlington is NOT! I'll post an update tomorrow. But in the meantime, KEEP ON BUILDING!!!
HOPE Association @ The Well
"For You are He who loosens the bound and uplifts the fallen; the hope of those who are hopeless and the help of those who are helpless; the comfort of the fainthearted and the harbor of those in the storm." Excerpt from Liturgy of St. Basil
If you missed The Well yesterday, you missed out! HOPE Association gave a special presentation and showed us all the different projects and initiatives that they're kicking off this Fall. Not only that, they also reminded us of the great impact that we - the Body of Christ - can have on this world through simple acts of love and kindness and sacrifice. It really touched my heart and there was a barely a dry eye in the room by the end.
Check out the video and see for yourself.
Seeing Christ through His Brethren
The day was finally here – the day we’ve been preparing for and praying about for weeks! It was the day of our medical/spiritual outreach event in an impoverished Atlanta community.
The goal was to serve a shelter for abused and homeless teenage mothers and their children – both medically and spiritually. We had volunteers ranging from elementary school kids – ready to sing their hearts out – all the way up to our competent medical team. We prepared a program for the adults, and another one for the kids. We planned various lectures on health nutrition and even dental hygiene. In addition, we had a lecture on how the message of Christ was relevant to us today.
With over 60 volunteers from all ages from a variety of churches involved, we were ready for this day...
...until two unexpected events took place.
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Your One Thing
A few generations back, before the world of Twitter, Facebook, or cool blogs on the Internet (subscribe to us here!), there was Popeye the Sailor man: the short, balding, mischievous cartoon character on television.
For those not familiar with the character, he was a sailor by trade but more than that to millions of kids who tuned in faithfully every weekend. He also had a special lady friend named Olive Oil, a dashing young lady with a pickle-shaped nose and spaghetti-thin arms (every young boy’s fantasy!). And most of the time, Popeye and Olive Oil went about life enjoying their days and taking things in stride as they happened.
But when things took a more serious turn, and if it looked like Olive Oil might be in some danger, Popeye would race to her side and utter those famous words of an entire generation: “That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!” (Popeye was never known for his impeccable grammar however)
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