What's at the core of who we are? These. These are ARISE.

Let's get first things first - Jesus.  We aspire to follow Jesus, which means that we're aware how we're always falling short, but we're constantly growing to do it better and better.

We're after deep growth in Jesus, and that's only going to happen if we step into some unknown places and put ourselves in contact with persons not like like us. Jesus did this all the time, and if we're going to follow Him, that's where we're headed.

Jesus was pretty clear about this one. Love God, love your neighbor (Lk 10:27, Mt 22:36-39, Mk 12:29-31). We want to spend our time, our funds and our energies to enrich the lives of those around us. That's what loving our neighbor looks like.

Prayer is our lifeline in our journey with God. It is powerful to change our attitudes, our sense of peace, even our circumstances. We wrap our worship, activities, meetings, teachings and intentions in prayer so that the way is clearer for God's Spirit to work in us and through us. We also gather each 1st and 3rd Wed at 6:30 PM at the YMCA (same location as Sundays) for an hour of group and individual prayer (please join us!)

We are not who we were back on that steamy July morning when we first met together in Brian's yard. And we'll be different next week and next year too. We'll try to learn from our mistakes as we do our best to become more and more the partner that God hopes for us to be.