With two obtrusive pumps attached to his body and strict doctors’ orders to remain in isolation, Danny Hannan went to church anyway. He brought a retractable chair for tailgating up to the side of the church and sat there all morning one Sunday. home. It was the closest he could get to his church family, but for him, it was enough.

We all want authentic community because that means we know each other well enough to notice when there is a need. It means we’re paying attention to each other.

You are weary. But you too can take hold and claim that thrill of hope. Hope in God’s great rescue plan for His weary children. We get a glimpse of this gift at Christmas; in this Silent and Holy Night.

You do not have to be alone in your pain and suffering, for Christ will walk with you in your trials, and the church will join you to see you through.

Dispensing meds and administering rapid malaria tests to people in a poverty-stricken village in Africa is not a typical day for Christa Hewett. At home in Mobile, she is a wife, mother to three young kiddos, full-time nurse, and active Mars Hill Church member.

There is the idea of slowing down and just “being.”

It could consist of being present, being missional minded, being slow to speak, being slow to anger, being willing to stop and seek rest in Christ- this is something Alan Fadling calls in his book, An Unhurried Life, is living at the “pace of grace.”

If you think about it, the Gospel always places our immediate needs and wants into perspective and ensures we can say, no matter what happens, “It is well with my soul.” May we declare with our whole heart that Jesus is enough, I need nothing else.

What do you demand of Christ? If we were honest with ourselves, I’m sure we’d all have a long list of things we begged Jesus for over the years.

In case you haven’t noticed, I (and most of the other teachers) will end their teaching by speaking a blessing over the people. The most common blessing comes from Numbers 6:

“Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Num. 6:23b–26 ESV).

Just like a loud, clear musical note played into the strings of a piano, the correlating strings begin to vibrate showing the note played is in tune. The melody ringing in my soul has transformed into this thought of "being present" so that when another note is played nearby in tune with that, it resonates within me.

Have you ever felt really young inside? Like, in one moment, your internal experience is closer to that of a much younger self. This could be in response to a regrettable incident with your spouse, an instance of immaturity and course joking, or a scenario where you have felt immense shame or overwhelming anger. Many of us, especially men, wrestle with these feelings and are driven to put on a mask and avoid authenticity and transparency in an effort to uphold cultural expectations of what men are supposed to be. However, this does not give us the opportunity to become curious, explore these uninitiated parts of ourselves and to begin a process of masculine initiation.

The task of spiritual formation in today’s world is arguably more difficult than ever. Thanks to the advent of the smartphone, disciples have never been more distracted. These devices provide us with instant access to more information than our brains could ever dream of processing. Social media, in particular, is in constant competition for our attention. The never-ending feed of status updates, tweets, and pictures can draw us in for hours of wasted time we can never recapture. The implications for our growth as disciples are massive and virtually impossible to overlook.

2018 has been quite the year, in a good way. So much has happened since I began officially as the general manager of Mars Hill Café back in January. As I type this evening, memories flood my head of all that has occurred so far—memories for which I am grateful.

What does it look like for ordinary Christian people to live out their faith in day to day life? It can be challenging to know just what serving God looks like outside of Sunday.

I fear that because we use the word worship to describe only what happens in the sanctuary, we have unwittingly programmed ourselves to think that worship in the sanctuary does not continue in the fellowship hall.

We are busy. Families, work, finances, friends, church, kids, sports, science projects, homework, and the list goes on and on.

With so much happening in our lives, how do we evaluate where we are?