This two-year journey has been led with God out front showing us the way. For some of us, the journey has felt long. We have been stretched. We have experienced difficulties along the way. For others, the SHAKEN journey hasn’t brought about many changes or challenges for us. The two years have seemed to go quickly. For some, we’ve seen God move us to take bold steps of trust. For each of us who have been on this journey, we’ve been invited to boldly step out in faith asking God to do his powerful work in and through us. Just like the believers in Acts 4, we have asked God to do what only he can do.
And he’s done that. If you had asked me two years ago if I thought our church family would be where we are today, I don’t know if I would have imagined it. The movement of God we have seen in the stories so many of you are sharing is remarkable. The ministry impact God has used White Oak to participate in has been awesome. The generosity of our church has been overwhelming. Thank you for sharing your generosity and your life change.
As we look at the culmination of our initiative at the end of this year, it makes me wonder. What does a shaken lifestyle look like going forward? When you look at Acts 4 and the chapters that come after, you don’t see a Church moved to boldness in just one season. It was a movement which had been sparked by a shaking of God’s power in them. It was on-going. The believers were so filled with gratitude toward God for his grace and power at work in their lives, that their only response was extravagant generosity. It overflowed into giving to the poor and to anyone who had need. They held their possessions loosely and gave back to God the things he had given to them. They shared their lives and the Gospel with their neighbors, and loved one another with abandon.
As we prepare our hearts for this portion of our journey to culminate, we look toward our Shaken Culmination Sunday on December 8. We will spend some time in our services celebrating what God has been doing in and through our lives during this incredible season. But more importantly, we also must prepare our hearts for the next leg of the journey.
I pray that you would ask yourself how your gratitude toward God for his grace and power at work in your life will overflow into the next season of your life? We’ve included some important reflection questions for you and your family to take time to pray and reflect. I invite you to join me in seeing these past two years as a launching point and not a finish line.
What bold steps of faith have you taken since beginning this journey? What are you grateful for as you look back?
How have you seen God’s power at work in your life and family as well as our church and community?
What are you sensing that God is inviting you to after Shaken culminates? Is it a shaken lifestyle marked with Trust and generosity?Our good Heavenly Father is eager to shake us up for what is next.
He’s not done.
His Church isn’t done.
Move boldly with me.
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor
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