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Come with us as we spend time together, live on mission, connect with our partners and MORE this summer! After all, church is a Y'ALL thing! Save these dates and watch for more info on all of them as the weather warms up.

If you serve in Community Kids, you're in for a treat! The appreciation cart will be making its way through the Next Gen Space every Sunday morning in May to help you start the morning off right! Even if it's not your day to serve, stop by and pick up a treat to go with your coffee! Serving in Community Kids is fun and sometimes a little crazy, but it is so much more than just childcare! Each Sunday, we have an opportunity to build relationships with families and point kids to Jesus as we follow Him. One of the ways we are called to join Jesus in making disciples is by laying a foundation for discipleship starting in nursery through elementary and beyond. God has called us to walk alongside our families in discipling the next generation of Christ followers. This is only possible through a community of believers willing to serve, like you! So, thank you for your faithfulness. Thanks for caring about kids and families. And thanks for letting God use you. We are honored to partner with you in ministry to impact the lives of kids and parents. "My people, hear my instruction; listen to what I say. I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past - things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us. We must not hide them from their children, but must tell a future generation the praises of the Lord, His might, and the wonderful works He has performed. He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children so that a future generation, children yet to be born, might know. They were to rise and tell their children so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God's works but keep His commandments." Psalm 78:1-7

HUGE NEWS! Barren Heights has received matching funds up to $10,000 from the Ray & Kay Charitable Trust! Any donation now through the end of their Spring Campaign will be MATCHED. So your $20 donation becomes $40. Give $250 and it becomes $500! Learn more about our Spring Campaign and make a donation at barrenheights.org/spring. We are so excited to see what God does through your generosity. Thank you, Ray & Kay Eckstein Charitable Trust, and thank you, BH family!

We are at the end of our year for Edge students but we aren't finished just yet! We are off this Sunday for mothers day but our End of School Bash is the 19th and it will launch us into our Summer schedule which you can access below! Printable forms will be at the connect desk to clutter your fridge with. Make sure to scan the QR code if you are not already on the Student TEXTS to stay updated with all the info and logistics for our summer student life schedule

Reign Above it All. Loved closing the Gathering with this new song yesterday! Here's a short clip to give you a taste in case you missed it, or just want to praise him for a minute! We need everyone to be ready to SERVE! Yesterday we continued our "Seek the Kingdom" series with an encouragement from Jesus to serve in order to stay ready for the King's return. We asked each person in our CCC family to fill out an online form to sign-up for volunteer teams for the next year. Thanks to over 70 of you who have already done that! If you missed it or haven't completed your form do it now! Be the Church membership class goes online. For some of those volunteer roles, being a covenant member is required. To become a covenant member, completing our "Be the Church" class is required. After trying some changes earlier in 2024, we're adapting it just a bit more to a hybrid model. You complete an online course on our beliefs and covenants before attending an in-person event that connects you to people and ministries. If you need to take the next step of becoming a covenant member, you can start right now on the online class! Mother's Day. This is on my mind for all kinds of reasons! One, I love worshipping with families as they dedicate their children! Such a special moment! Second, Monday is the reminder to think ahead on how to honor the special ladies in my life. Guys, lead well by honoring well this week! Dead Batteries + New Life. I started my Monday by heading to the garage and finding my car battery dead. As I finally got to my "Top of Mind Monday" thoughts, it hit me that my dead battery may have hit me like the challenge to serve hit others this weekend. It feels like something else to add to the list or take care of. Moments later, the Spirit was good to remind me that when I'm serving in the flesh, it feels like trying to navigate a day with a dead battery. But when I'm serving in the Spirit, resurrection power is bringing me new life. Romans 6:11 comes to mind which says, "So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Let's do that this week, CCC!

When we rolled out our "new and improved" membership class this spring, we used a key phrase: trying. We realized there would probably be needed tweaks. One of the challenges was being able to attend 4 weeks worth of lunches. And yet, there's a lot of ground to cover when it comes to learning about becoming a covenant member at CCC! In response, we've shifted "Be the Church" to a hybrid model. Now, anyone can engage at any time with an online class that covers our beliefs and our covenants. In a couple hours of your own time, and at your own pace, you can take the first part of Be the Church. To complete the process, those who have completed the online class will be invited to attend "Be the Church" events that help them make real connections to groups, serving opportunities, and the mission at large. The next time this class will be offered is Saturday, June 29th. If you're new to the CCC family, we hope you'll jump in to the online "Be the Church" class and take a next towards joining Jesus in going out to make disciples!

Painted Stone (one of our local elementary schools) is having a celebration for 5th graders and their families and have asked for our help! We are looking for 3-4 people that can grill and serve some hamburgers on May 20th from 3:00-7:00pm. If you can help for all or part of that time please email katie@loveshebyville.com!

Satisfaction I'm so thankful for Jeff Bracken and his holey pants! That distinction of seeking the things of this world and never finding and seeking the kingdom and it being easy to find! Good stuff! His message yesterday got me thinking a lot about being satisfied, and it let to digging up this quote from Charles Spurgeon: “It is a very rare thing to meet with people who say that they have enough.” - Charles Spurgeon Maybe I can be the person who says he has enough one day. Help me Lord! Not putting pressure on my kids to be God for me Equally as encouraging was Michelle Noel! How the Spirit used her story to convict me of making my kids an idol is still creating some healthy cobwebs in my brain to clean out. It's making me realize I put pressure on my kids to be God for me when I push them to perform well in sports or other extra curricular activities. I'm looking for validation from them as a good parent at times. I'm even expecting them to satisfy me with their accomplishments some days. Kind of makes me sick to realize. Time to repent and realize I need to pray more that my kids would find their identity and self worth in what God says about them, not me. If evangelism is relational, then evangelism is unrelenting. We've seen a lot of new faces at CCC in this recent season, and many of them have come relationally connected to our CCC family! But as these people being seeking the Lord or a church family to be a part of, I've been reminded than when evangelism is relational, it must also be unrelenting. We have to keep caring and loving well. We have to keep inviting them into our lives, our homes, and our gatherings. We don't give up on relationships and we don't give up on reaching people for Christ. If we're committed to relational evangelism, we're committed to unrelenting relationships! The value of the church & the importance of its leadership It's always a tender moment when we recommend new leaders to CCC. Yesterday, after a period of testing and learning, we recommended Mike Davis and Ron Boyd as Pastor/Elder candidates for the CCC family. We'll vote on them May 19 after a period where covenant members can expess any questions or concerns about these men. In reflecting on that this morning, I was reminded of Acts 20:28 (CSB): Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. This verse reminds me of the value of the church; it was purchased by Christ's blood! It also reminds me of the importance of it's leadership; overseers are appointed by the Holy Spirit. This season of appointing new leaders is important CCC! Let's keep in step with the Spirit.

God doesn't waste pain. Shawn Crowe's story yesterday during the Gathering recalled some of the hardships that people from Midland and our church faced over the last several years. But he did so in a way that reminded us of all that God was still doing in the midst of that, including growing his faith! Top that off with fellow former Midlander Mary Bracken belting out "Ain't no grave gonna hold this body down!" and it felt like CCC was ready to storm the gates of hell with a water pistol! As I reflect this morning, it was a reminder that God doesn't waste pain. He transforms it by the gospel into fuel for the mission. Let's GO! Your leaders want to be praying for you. I sat with our deacon team yesterday afternoon and was reminded of just how deeply our leaders care about our people and how much they want to be praying for God to work in their lives. Your leaders want to be praying for you. Don't be slow to contact one of your leaders; a community group leader, a deacon, a pastor/elder, or staff member, and let them know how we can be praying for you. It's not selfish. It's allowing the church to be the church. One more family.. We're excited to help host a weekend at Barren Heights Retreat Center this summer, but we need one more family to commit to joining our team June 21-23. Here's my ask; Pray this prayer: Lord, do you want our family to join you in this? If he says yes. Contact Katie! We're constantly underestimating God. The Lord has reminded me in about 10 ways since yesterday morning how I'm underestimating just how good and powerful he is. I fail to trust him so often! He wants to do so much more in our lives than we believe. So believe big today. Don't underestimate God. His plans are way better than yours.