"We fail to remember that God is as the Psalmist describes: an abundant fountain, a river of delights, a full house, a radiant light. The Psalmist knows God never operates out of scarcity. Where we must begin with Deeper is recognizing the ever flowing depths of the fountain of God. He is living water, because it is always abundant and always flowing. Scarcity mindset keep...

"But all of that is worth it for the hope that people might connect and be known, that conversation might happen about things like the enneagram or stories shared about how we made it to Albuquerque and how we are doing now that we are here. Making room is worth it. Hosting people around tables is worth it. Having kids frolicking about is worth it. People being the pre...

"And when we gather at City Pres we sing about this gathering in the future that will be different. We don’t look like it yet, but we still sing of it in confession and hope. In our ‘not-yet gatherings’ we confess our failures. We are a broken communion of called out ones in a broken world. But we also confess our hope. Our hope that this will be different. In ...

"You become what you are regarded as. Here in Romans 4, Paul says, that God reckons us as righteous. Here the end time Word of God’s blessing invades our world in the now and declares that we are righteous. His end-time Word into the now ...

"I can’t fix this. My ‘Ugh’ is my groan ...

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight maki...

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom ~ Psalm 90:12 As my kids have gotten older, gathering around a table has becomes harder. We don't just do it around our farm table in our dining area anymore, but we grab time at Chick Fila and Chipotle or maybe even standing around our island food in hand. When we gather, we pray, and then I ask them, "Ok...

For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. ~ Psalm 103:14 One of the most powerful moments of my ministry life was the first time I imposed ashes on the foreheads of God's people. There was an older saint who ambled down to the front. She was in her late 80's I think. She had this intense and earnest look in her eyes, and I spoke the words: "Dear Sister, rem...

Lent begins with a feast. Each week of Lent begins with a feast. Lent all ends with a feast first on Maundy Thursday before the fasting of Good Friday, and then on Easter Sunday. On that Easter Sunday, absence gives way to presence. As our very bodies have felt the absence of food, drink, devices, social media or some other source of comfort and delight, on Sunday, they fe...

"Worship is participation in the order of God’s redeeming love. Each week we gather and participate in this story of love. We are formed and shaped by it individually and communally. We are told about it. We sing about. We taste it, see it, hear it, feel it, smell it. Our bodies are reanimated by this love." ...

Jesus asks, “What do you love?” Notice the question isn’t what do you believe or what do you think, but what do you love. This is because humans are desiring creatures. We are lovers. What drives us is what we love....

This Sunday, we begin the process of collecting Christmas Offering gifts and pledges, as well as our Impossible Prayer Requests. Have you been thinking about what to give and what to ask? I have. I'm wrestling through what else we can afford to give, and what I am bold enough to ask for. I have a couple impossible requests for me and our family and and a few for our church...

"As part of our Christmas Offering, we will be supporting Redeemer City to City in Monterrey, Mexico. Redeemer CTC is a ministry of Redeemer New York. It is a global church planting movement focusing on global cities throughout the world... This partnership will involve the possibility of ministry trips for City Pres and for the churches and pastors in Monterrey. It also...

2018 Christmas Offering and Impossible Prayers December is fast approaching, and with it comes Advent and Christmas. As part of our liturgy (remember this term isn't just about church, but about all our worship. A liturgy is a practice that organizes our worship or points us towards what we give worth to, it's like an arrow that points at a b...

"Wisdom knows that every moment is pregnant with the presence and glory of God in the midst of time marching on." ...

"We are narrative animals, and I hope the Gospel of Abraham causes the story of the Gospel to reenacted in us, in City Pres and in our city." ...

Some of us grew up in churches where Lent was observed, but with little real explanation, making it seem like an empty, meaningless ritual. On the other hand, others of us grew up in church traditions where Lent was not observed at all. Some grew up in churches where we found Lent very meaningful. Some of us didn't grow up in any church at all....

This weekend we remember and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. You might do this by taking a trip with family and friends to your favorite ski mountain, or maybe you enjoy the 3 day weekend at home, resting and relaxing, and perhaps then in either scenario the weekend goes by without a thought given to MLK Jr. and MLK Day. My hope is that this weekend might be different. ...

As we look to 2018, I wanted to first share some very encouraging things....

The good news is God is a homemaking God....

The Gospel of Jesus reminds me that I am free. That I am validated. That I am vindicated. That even though I lose, I win....

I love the rooster, because it reminds me of my need of Jesus, my call in the world, the glory of grace and the wonder of the Gospel. ...

A theology that cannot be sung is not worth having......

So whats good about being Gomer? That's my question for us. What's good about being the wayward bride? ...

If we get nothing else from Amos, we should get some holy discomfort....

Jesus sings us into a new mode of existence. Jesus sings the nations into submission. Jesus sings hearts into love. Jesus is Christmas in the room. The hope of Advent and the hope of Christmas is that Jesus Christ is in the room…...

The arrival of Jesus means that we will sigh no more. We will have in the words of Marcus Mumford, a love that will not betray, dismay or enslave us, a love that will set us free and make us who we were meant to be. Advent is having this love, waiting for this love, hoping for this love, banking on this love. So, we pause, we read, we pray, we remember, and we cry Come, Lo...

In the next two weeks we will be starting a new series for Advent and Christmastime called: The Song that God Sings: Minor Key Melodies from the Minor Prophets. Where is God? This question reverberates in the prayers of the doubter, the skeptic, the atheist, the agnostic...and in the hearts of God's people alike. We see the brokenness surrounding our lives and our very own...

The Lord knows us. He knows our wanderings and our tears, and He keeps an account, and then He enters in....

Maybe you vacillate between "having it all together" parenting and "I'm drunk" parenting. Maybe you want to fix your kids. Maybe you want to have compassion but don't, want to be interested, but aren't. Maybe you don't really know or aren't really sure, because you have checked out... Parenting does expose. It shows us our idols. ...

Why does a meeting like this matter? ...

Practical steps for cultivating intimacy in marriage. ...

Our priority as a church is to be a faithful presence of Jesus in a broken world, that we would live, speak and serve as the very presence of Jesus, and this includes in the area of sexuality....

The economic concerns of the open home have a trust, achieved by the work of Jesus. We can risk. We can have an open door. We can live in these costly places where a greater number of people are welcomed, and where we have lesser privacies. We can do this because the Gospel has secured this very thing for us. Our marriages can be a place of flourishing for our households. ...

Often we look for that relief in the wrong places. We run to our spouse and ask them to provide it, or our kids, or our job, or our well-manicured lawn, or next home project…but they all fail to provide significant relief, and they can't stop the internal noises. God's grace meets us in these places...

Family is frustrating, right? We use our words to hurt, control, garner favor, win. We use non-verbals to back up the verbals, showing our disgust. But God gives grace--and grace allows for a family to be built not on conditions, but on unconditional love and acceptance. In this post, Pastor Justin shares some ideas on becoming a grace-full family. ...

Lament is to be a regular rhythm of our worship. Lament awakens us to the realities of our world and the disorientations of our life. This past week has seen violence and revenge along racial lines. It won't be done away with by a quick prayer. Lamenting helps us to remember and repent and cry out to the only One that can help. ...

Weekly Devotional on the Sermon Series The Table. We will add devos for the week on Mondays or Tuesdays. ...

This Sunday, January 3 is the last official day of our Christmas offering. Things have been going incredibly well, and I can't wait to unveil our final total. We will continue to receive gifts earmarked for the Christmas offering or pledges into 2016, you can give online or mark your checks, but we own't ahave the Christmas offering basket out as part of our offering. I ...

This December our hope is that we will all give something to the Christmas Offering. We're asking everyone in the church - members and attenders - to be prepared to give. We're asking for two things. Your Impossible Prayer Request - You'll receive an envelope with a blank 3x5 card on it. Please write down your impossible prayer request, which is something you think God ...

An update on our financial situation....

Who are my neighbors?...

Gospel Thoughts from My Week at Liberate...

I am afraid and this leads me to live falsely in my world and in my relationships. If I acknowledge my fears, then it opens me to my brokenness and the brokenness of my world. Instead what if these emotions opened me to knowing God? ...

Each week or so, I will be posting some quotes from something I've been reading or that has been a particular inspiration to me. This week I am posting the quote from the sermon this weekend. It comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his book Life Together. This week we talked about forgiving debts and being forgiven of debts. Bonhoeffer gets to the point about the importance ...

We are excited about the new website. ...

Great post from Jonathan Dodson from Austin City Life on the importance of Community Groups for loving the city and understanding church not as a church building or Sunday Service, but rather as Tim Chester and Steve Timmis say,"a gospel-centered community on mission." Missional Communites are meant to make this happen. At Austin City Life, they call their groups City Grou...