A Message from Tom Gibbs

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1.27

This is the time of year when we reevaluate our lives and how we're spending or investing our resources - our time, treasure, and talents - and set new goals for the coming year.

In doing this, I was reminded of a time many years ago when my wife and I made some new friends in a new neighborhood. They, like us were parents of a toddler and unlike us, were expecting twins. He was in the army, and she was a stay at home mom. The way we saw it, investing our time in this venture had benefits for both families. We thought we were just what they needed to help them with their growing family. Little did we know just how much we would gain.

Soon, they invited us to a gathering at their house with some friends from their church. Through this group's radical hospitality and uncommon generosity, we were overwhelmed by the love of Jesus and eventually began to follow Him.

We've since moved from that neighborhood, town, and state, but continued to re-invest our most valuable resource - our time - into the lives of others in what we now call a Home Community group. In doing so, we have walked with people through: anxiety, heartbreak, illness, loss, unemployment, injustice... (you get the idea)

As we have prayed for and with one another as we walked through all of these circumstances, we have seen Jesus at work in others lives and have been drawn closer to Him in our own.

Hebrews 10:23-25 says:

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

I plan to continue my time investment strategy this year and am confident the returns will be...priceless.

If you belong to a Home Community Group, consider inviting in someone new. If you are not currently involved in Community Life at BCC, I encourage you to check out beaverton.cc/community to get plugged in.

Our Men's and Women's community groups start the week of January 22nd, and registration is open now!

Hope to see you there,

Tom Gibbs
Volunteer Men's Community Lead