“Before God, the main focus was doing what I thought we needed to do, and now I do what I think he wants us to do,” says Scott Read, from the Waterford Campus, about what worship means to him. … In the spring, Scott and Briana opened up an opportunity for friends and family to worship together over Zoom and watch Summit’s online services together, reaching people from different parts of the country.

During his time on earth, Jesus’ ministry with people was never transactional. We know that he healed, he resurrected, he fed. But when you dig deeper into those same actions, you’ll also see that he touched hearts, he cried, he conversed. Jesus connected. With love deeper than oceans, he has always met us where we are with grace and an outstretched hand. And what a gift it is that we get to take the love and connection God has given us and share it with others through our acts of service!

When it comes to God's truth, many of us assume we know what's in the Bible. But maybe we need to take a closer look. Engaging with the Bible isn't easy, even for people committed to following Jesus. When we love God, we genuinely desire to have a deeper relationship with him. But cracking open the Bible can feel like a chore. I think this happens for one of two reasons (or, more likely, a combination of the two).

“I was just excited to get to ‘spend time’ with this amazing group of people that I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get to know otherwise...” I was so excited to hear about this virtual Connect group that formed after staying at home became the norm earlier this year. What could seem on the surface as an obstacle became for them what made it easy to “meet” together. And this being together, in prayer and in community, became so sweet in the hard months of this year.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you once were lost and have been found. And like many of us, you will remember how far away you were from hope. And most of us, even after being found by Jesus and experiencing the new life he offers, still go through seasons where we get turned around and feel lost. It’s a reality of life—an effect of the great lie of sin found at the beginning of the story of creation. It’s a separation and a break from the giver of life. But the greatest hope we have is knowing that God came to us on a rescue mission, sending his own Son to prepare the way for us to come back home, to have new life, real hope, and to be found and pointed in a new direction.