by Anonymous | Feb 11, 2026 | Life and Faith, NO Accidental Disciples
Let’s be real: nobody accidentally becomes a disciple of Jesus. You don’t just wake up one day thinking, “Oh, I’m full of the Spirit, love everybody, and have zero prejudices!” That’s not how discipleship works. Becoming a disciple is intentional—it’s a partnership. God is the Master Sculptor, shaping us, and we cooperate with Him through prayer, Scripture, community, and obedience.
Discipleship isn’t just about personal transformation. It’s about living out what we’ve been shaped to do. Matthew 5 reminds us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This isn’t just a cute metaphor—it’s a calling. Salt preserves, flavors, and prevents decay. Light exposes, guides, and transforms darkness. When we live as Jesus’ disciples, our lives impact the world around us.
That impact comes in two main ways: good works and sharing the Good News. God didn’t save us just to make us morally “nice” people. He saved us to reproduce His love and character in the world. That could mean helping someone through a tough season, feeding the hungry, mentoring a child, or advocating for the voiceless.
And yes, discipleship is also evangelism. Romans 10:14-15 reminds us: “How can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe unless someone tells them?” Our words matter. And our actions matter. Both are witnesses to the Good News of Jesus. Every kind act, every conversation about Jesus, every prayer for someone who doesn’t know Him is a way we participate in God’s work in the world.
This isn’t about doing it all or saving the whole world. It’s about being faithful where God has placed you. It’s about seeing what God sees in people—the potential, the image of God, the sheep without a shepherd—and letting His love move through you.
Discipleship is active, intentional, and collaborative with God. It’s letting Him chip away at the parts of us that aren’t like Jesus, so that what’s left is fully His masterpiece. And when we do, we don’t just look like Jesus—we act like Him, bringing light, hope, and life wherever we go.
A Response for the Week:
Ask yourself: Where am I being called to shine? Who am I being called to serve? How can I share the hope I’ve received? There are no accidental disciples—only intentional ones, living as salt and light in a world that desperately needs both.
by Anonymous | Feb 4, 2026 | Life and Faith, NO Accidental Disciples
Prayer is never accidental. It’s not a spiritual suggestion. Jesus expects His followers to pray. It’s part of the rhythm of discipleship—just as (super) natural as walking with Him, listening, learning, and obeying.
Prayer is not something we do only when life gets messy or we’ve run out of options. It’s not a spiritual hobby. It’s a rhythm—a steady conversation that forms us over time. Jesus assumes His followers pray; it’s woven into the fabric of discipleship.
What if we really believed that prayer really does change things? That what we pray for really does get answered? Pause for a moment. To live with that conviction is to trust that the Creator of the universe—the One who holds all power, provision, and possibilities—actually hears us and moves in response to our prayers.
History has wrestled with this too. John Wesley said, “God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” E.M. Bounds put it this way: “Prayer projects faith on God, and God on the world. Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer moves God.” Alfred Lord Tennyson observed, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”
Prayer is active faith. It’s not a passive habit. It’s a declaration that God is not only aware but able—and that we trust Him enough to involve Him. Jesus modeled this perfectly: “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me” (John 11:41–42, CSB). If we could take that as a core belief, how would it reshape our prayer lives? Our discipleship?
Discipleship isn’t accidental. And if we are serious about following Jesus, our prayer life cannot be haphazard or incidental. It must be intentional, regular, and rooted in the belief that God really does answer.
Practical Ways to Live This Out:
- Pray with expectation. Begin your time with God not as a check on your spiritual to-do list, but as an act of faith that He will respond.
- Record your prayers and answers. Writing down what you pray—and when God moves—strengthens faith and sharpens awareness of His work in your life.
- Pray publicly and privately. Share your prayers with trusted friends, but also cultivate moments alone with God, like Jesus described in Matthew 6:6.
- Expect patience. Sometimes God answers instantly, sometimes over time, and sometimes in ways we don’t anticipate. Faith doesn’t demand timing—it demands persistence.
Prayer is how heaven intersects with earth. It’s not optional. It’s how God shapes disciples.
A Response for the Week:Show up to pray this week—speak, listen, be consistent. And then let this question sink in: What if prayer really does change things? If it does, the life you’ve been comfortable with might be exactly the one God is calling you to leave behind. There are no accidental disciples—and there can be no accidental prayers.
by Anonymous | Jan 28, 2026 | Life and Faith, NO Accidental Disciples
Prayer is one of those things most of us do—just not always on purpose. We pray when we’re stressed. When something breaks. When someone’s sick. When we’re out of options. And thank God, He meets us there. But prayer was never meant to be an emergency button we push when life gets hard. It’s a steady conversation that forms us over time.
What’s interesting about Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Matthew 6 is not what He commands, but what He assumes. He doesn’t say if you pray. He says, “When you pray…” (Matthew 6:5). His tone assumes prayer is already part of the life of a disciple. Not a spiritual extra. Just normal, everyday discipleship.
Hard truth: we make time for what we believe matters. If prayer is truly meeting with the living God—the Creator, the Provider, the One who loves us, sustains us, and holds all power and provision in His hands—then it won’t stay on the margins. Prayer doesn’t reveal our intentions; it reveals our priorities. It exposes what we believe and value most.
In Matthew 6, Jesus also reshapes how we approach prayer. He pulls prayer out of performance and pressure and brings it back to relationship. “Go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). Prayer, according to Jesus, isn’t about being impressive. It’s about being present. It’s personal. It’s relational. It’s honest.
That’s where many of us get stuck. We want prayer to feel powerful, eloquent, and emotionally moving. When it doesn’t, we assume we’re doing it wrong. But Jesus doesn’t tell His disciples to pray longer, louder, or smarter. He invites them into consistency—into a regular time with the Father, into a conversation that shapes them slowly and faithfully over time.
So how do we move from haphazard, as-needed prayer to a consistent life of prayer?
First, choose a time and protect it. Consistency grows where intention lives. It doesn’t have to be long—but it does need to be regular. Pick a time that fits your actual life, not your ideal one.
Second, simplify what prayer looks like. Simple prayers prayed consistently will form us more than complex prayers prayed occasionally. Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer not as a script to rush through, but as a framework. Start with the Father. Turn your attention toward Him. Praise Him. Surrender your will to His. Ask for what you need. Confess. Receive grace. Pray for strength.
Third, practice listening—not just talking. Prayer is a conversation, not a monologue. After you speak to God, sit quietly for a moment. Read a short passage of Scripture. Pay attention to what surfaces—convictions, encouragements, reminders. God often speaks more quietly than we expect, but He is no less present.
And finally, release the pressure to feel something every time. Prayer isn’t measured by emotional intensity. Some days will feel rich and connected. Others will feel simple and ordinary. Both count. Formation happens in the showing up.
Jesus assumes His disciples pray because prayer is how relationships stay alive. It’s how we remain connected. Disciples don’t drift into a life of prayer. They choose it—intentionally, again and again, because there are no accidental disciples. A
Response for the Week:
Choose one specific time each day this week to pray—even five minutes. Speak honestly to God. Sit quietly with Him. Let prayer become less about urgency and more about presence. You don’t need perfect words. You just need to show up.
by Julie Loehr | Jan 22, 2026 | Gratitiude, Life and Faith, Recap
In 2025, Hope Church focused on drawing closer to God, and we saw that show up across every part of church life. It was a year of steady growth—people meeting Jesus in real ways, taking meaningful steps of faith, and growing deeper in their walk with Him.
Prayer remained central to the life of the church. Through 15 individual prayer room sessions, the launch of bi-weekly intercession prayer, and the formation of altar prayer teams, people encountered the Holy Spirit in personal and powerful ways. Prayer became woven into the rhythm of the church, with many impacted through altar ministry and prayer moments during gatherings.
Discipleship helped people grow closer to God through both intentional pathways and shared experiences. Two Bible study home groups met consistently throughout the year, creating space for Scripture, prayer, and authentic community. In the spring, the Following Jesus and Hearing from God classes helped people grow in spiritual formation, obedience, and confidence in hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
To celebrate the resurrection season, Hope Church hosted its annual Passover Seder with 78 participants and held in-home Maundy Thursday Gather & Remember dinners with almost 40 participants. Our Good Friday service created space for the church family to remember, reflect, and respond to the work of Christ together.
Worship played a significant role throughout the year, with 12 Pursuit Worship Nights drawing people into extended times of prayer and praise, and Christmas at Hope welcoming over 100 people to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Hope Kids continued to be a place where faith was planted and nurtured. In 2025, there were 930 kids check-ins, with weekly volunteers faithfully serving and helping introduce 40+ kids to Jesus. Babies who once cried now eagerly attend, elementary kids were walked through the full story of the Bible, classrooms and structures were refreshed, and kids grew in confidence, joy, and community. Even more encouraging, graduates returned to serve, showing that Hope Kids is actively forming future leaders.
Student Ministry experienced a hopeful season of transition and growth. 2025 marked the first year under new leadership with a new Youth Director, bringing renewed vision, trust, and relational depth. Students built stronger community, experienced spiritual growth, and responded in faith, with 2 students baptized as a public declaration of their commitment to Jesus alongside their church family. Additionally, 11 students attended summer camp, where 2 students felt a call to pursue ministry in their future, marking an exciting step in spiritual discernment and leadership development.
Young Adults continued to grow in consistency and depth. With 20+ gatherings, verse-by-verse study through the book of Luke, conference participation, and intentional leadership development, young adults grew in faith and connection. 2 young adults were baptized, celebrating lives transformed and faith declared publicly.
Across the whole church, 8 baptisms were celebrated—2 kids, 2 students, 2 young adults, and 2 adults—each one a powerful moment of obedience, joy, and public declaration of faith in Jesus with their church family.
Outreach remained a vital expression of the gospel. With a new Outreach Director joining the team, Hope Church gave 360 pounds of food to local ministries, hosted 4 blood drives resulting in 157 donations, and continued to partner with and support local ministries, including The HOPE Center and Encompass Ministries. The church also faithfully supported missionaries serving in Honduras, Malawi, and Uganda, investing in the work God is doing both locally and globally. Partnerships such as Casa de Verdad continued to be encouraged and supported as God moved in those communities.
Social Media expanded its reach with the addition of a new Social Media Director, creating a more consistent Facebook presence, increasing Instagram engagement, and launching initiatives like Ministry Spotlight Mondays, helping share stories of what God is doing through Hope Church.
Volunteers made everything possible. In 2025, 2,203 volunteer positions were filled, supporting 602 calendar events and enabling 1,142 donations. Worship gatherings remained consistent across 52 Sunday services, including one special Church at the Lake Day. Every act of service, every hour given, every prayer offered—this was God at work through YOU. Each of you has been part of what God is doing in and through this church, and it is because of your faithfulness that we could see lives transformed, faith grow, and community thrive.
As we step into 2026 with the focus of More, we do so with gratitude, excitement, and expectation. God has already shown us what He can do when His people step up in obedience, and now He is calling Hope Church to help MORE people get closer to Him than ever before. Let’s trust Him, serve Him, and celebrate together as we move into this next season!
by Anonymous | Jan 20, 2026 | Life and Faith, NO Accidental Disciples
The Grand Canyon didn’t appear overnight. Centuries of persistent water and wind slowly carved away at the rock, revealing something vast, awe-inspiring, and beautiful. That’s the kind of shaping God does in our lives through consistent, intentional steps in our spiritual walk. Transformation rarely comes in a flash. More often, it’s the small, steady rhythms that quietly shape who we are.
Pastor David challenged us: “Without a consistent devotional life, you can’t really call yourself a disciple of Jesus.” Discipleship isn’t just agreeing with Jesus’ teachings; it’s apprenticing under Him. A disciple who doesn’t regularly sit with Jesus in Scripture and prayer isn’t rebellious—they’re simply distracted.
The real question is: how long can someone stay distracted and still call themselves a disciple? Eventually, distraction becomes a pattern, and patterns shape us more than intentions ever will. Like a river carving a canyon: it’s not about one splash, one flood, or one dramatic moment. It’s the steady, faithful presence over time that shapes the landscape—and the disciple.
Paul makes this clear when he tells Timothy, “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15, CSB). Practice. Commit. Progress. None of it happens by accident. Consistency matters. Repetition matters. Presence matters.
Our world is full of spiritual sound bites—podcasts, reels, quotes, sermons on demand. They can encourage us in the moment, but they don’t form us. Formation happens through rhythm. Through remaining in God’s Word. Through letting it sink in and gradually shape us, like centuries of water revealing the depth and beauty of a canyon.
Jesus said it this way: “Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me” (John 15:4, CSB). Remaining doesn’t mean perfection. It means persistence. Staying connected even when it’s dry. Even when it’s quiet. Even when nothing feels dramatic.
One of the most freeing reminders is that there’s no single “right” way to have a devotional life. Morning or evening. Structured or simple. One chapter or one verse. What matters isn’t the method—it’s the intention. Five focused minutes with God will form you more than an hour you never actually do.
And yes, there will be seasons where reading Scripture feels alive and refreshing—and seasons where it feels hard, boring, or painfully quiet. That doesn’t mean God has left. Often, it means He’s sustaining you with what He’s already poured into you. The Word stored in faithful seasons carries us through the heavy ones.
Discipleship is choosing, again and again, to place ourselves where God can shape us, because there are no accidental disciples.
A Response for the Week:
Pick one small, realistic rhythm you can maintain this week—five minutes a day with Scripture and prayer. Let it be like a steady river slowly carving a canyon: consistent, intentional, shaping your heart in ways that last. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak through God’s Word, then show up faithfully. Don’t aim for impressive. Aim for intentional. Formation happens there.
by Anonymous | Jan 14, 2026 | Life and Faith, NO Accidental Disciples
Most of us love the idea of new things. New year. New habits. New prayers. New faith goals. We’re very into the new wine part. What we’re less excited about? New wineskins.
Jesus once said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins” (Luke 5:37). Not because the wine is bad—but because the container can’t handle what’s coming. New wine expands. Old wineskins crack. And nobody wants wasted wine.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: sometimes the biggest barrier to growth isn’t our sin—it’s our familiarity. The ways we’ve always thought. The spiritual rhythms we’ve outgrown. The “this worked once” faith that quietly resists transformation. We don’t mean to get stuck. We just get… comfortable.
Paul puts it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, CSB)
New creation. Present tense. Ongoing reality. Which means discipleship isn’t about stacking more spiritual information onto an old framework—it’s about allowing God to reshape the framework itself.
That takes humility. The kind that says, “Lord, maybe I don’t have this as figured out as I thought.” The kind that admits mental agreement without heart transformation doesn’t actually change anyone. The kind that lets God say, “We’re going somewhere new—but you can’t bring that mindset with you.”
Peter’s story reminds us this is normal. Jesus didn’t wait until Peter had it all together. He called him in the middle of his mess. And instead of discarding him when he failed, Jesus kept shaping him—through obedience, correction, failure, restoration, and intentional following.
Discipleship is learning to live flexible enough for God to keep expanding us.
Peter later wrote: “Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13, CSB)
That phrase—minds ready for action—is intentional discipleship language. Growth doesn’t happen by accident. Neither does transformation. God supplies the grace, but we choose the posture.
So here’s the question this week isn’t “Do I want new wine?” It’s “Am I willing to become new wineskin?” Because God isn’t finished with you yet—and what He’s pouring out next is worth making room for.
A Response for the Week:
Set aside 10 intentional minutes this week—no multitasking, no scrolling. Ask God: “Is there a mindset, habit, or assumption You’re inviting me to release so I can grow?” Listen. Write it down. Pray over it. And choose one small, obedient step that creates space for what God wants to do next.
