…the Lord deposited a word in Hannah and me from Ezekiel 44. Ezekiel was given a vision of the future of the Lord’s temple. He saw a set of priests who, because of their priority to minister to people, drew away from the Lord and intertwined the worship of other gods with the worship of the Lord. The Lord gave them their consequence: they could keep charge of the temple & minister to people, but they could not come near Him to minister to Him. Ezekiel saw another set of priests - the ones who kept themselves set apart. The Lord charged them to come near Him to minister to Him, and to keep His charge - their inheritance would be the Lord.

The latter priests are being gathered and raised up in our day, and it became our desire to build around the Levitical ministry to the Lord.

…there came the COVID-19 pandemic, political & social turmoil, division, and isolation. Many were left with the restlessness of our souls in the endless pursuit to maintain the status-quo. We lost sense of purpose, belonging, and hope. The desire to build what the Lord spoke began to seem impossible. Our leadership failed, our strategies weren’t enough, and our methods weren’t sufficient. Like a mirror, we saw who we had become.

But the Lord’s leadership broke through. In His kindness, we were led to repentance - and all we had was the leadership of Jesus to accomplish what He said.

…like a Good Shepherd, Jesus led us in what it looks like to trust Him. He showed us in His Word how He is raising up the Church to be the Bride for the Bridegroom, Jesus - that we would be pure & without blemish. He put to shame all other loves in His gentle reminding that He is enough. We learned what it meant to be with Him again. We were brought to the place of grace where we first met Him. We connected the dots between the love that was being restored & the love we had all along.

We were being prepared, awakened, and set apart. Our eyes were opened to the Man over the method, the Son over the strategy, the Righteous One over the right way. The Lord showed us how much He desired for us to come near Him & minister to Him, to keep His charge, and to have Him be our inheritance. He showed us that our Bridegroom came, has come, and is coming.

As a community, the Lord continued to enlarge the capacity of our tent; but rather than growing the size of our congregation He grew the size of our hearts. Our longing has been that our hearts would be a resting place for the Lord, and He increased our hunger for more of Him. He raised leaders, deepened our commitment to discipleship, and raised our awareness of what He’s doing in our region.

We grew in our desire to “be prepared & built up” into God’s desire: to redeem the nations to Himself. To be prepared & built comes at a high cost - for narrow is the path that leads to righteousness.

We learned how to be the Church in the context of deep covenant relationship. We saw the heart of God for local Church oneness: sustaining local-church partnership in support and collaborative gatherings in prayer & ministry. We saw how sustaining awakening and repentance in the Church could result in a sustained harvest.

The Lord gave us opportunities to go on mission. For the year, we felt called to pursue after sustainable collaboration in prayer gatherings with churches across the Bay Area. We travelled to some, & we hosted some. As Jesus prayed in John 17, our community caught a glimpse of Jesus' desire to make the Church one.

In our unified efforts, we were able to connect with our greater Church family in our region. To become a community that sustains collaborative mission has become a core part of who God is teaching us to be...

• We want to establish “first-love” of the Lord within all people – that we would raise up generations of sons & daughters who actively pursue & enjoy God, diligently follow the way of Jesus, and are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

  • We want to embody the bride, the Church, in her lovesick longing for her Bridegroom, Jesus.

  • We want to embed a culture of prayer & intercession, that we would carry the heart of the Father.

• We want to equip disciples of Jesus through the teaching of the bible within its entirety – that people would become knowledgeable of its historical narrative, Gospel narrative, and Kingdom cultural principles.

  • We want to educate disciples of Jesus in the functionality of a local church body within the past, present, & future context.

• We want to empower followers of Jesus to become covenantal leaders in their context, mothering & fathering those who are being raised up.

• We want to engage the world in the ways we are each uniquely called to reveal the heart and ways of Jesus.