Holy Spirit | SingleRoots

Last Fall at my church, a Life Group, which eventually changed my life, began. In September 2010, a dozen singles got together in what would be my future fiancee’s living room. The church didn’t have a “singles ministry,” so one was started from scratch.

Social profiling: Helping singles find community since 2010.

The recruiting process was simple: Each Sunday morning, the leaders from the group would literally pounce on people in the foyer of the church if they had the slightest look of being single, and if in fact they were, they invited said unsuspecting singles to come to Bible study. Social profiling at its best! So a group of strangers got together that first Tuesday night, and by the end of the semester, a strong band of friends had emerged.

Well, that’s how the story has been told to me anyway — you see, I didn’t show up until the next semester in January.

What was I doing when the group started months earlier? [Read more...]

In the church where I grew up, the phrase “hearing the Holy Spirit” was never really uttered. Well, maybe someone in a back hall said it, but it sure didn’t get mentioned enough where I could hear it. Therefore, I never really connected it in my young mind as being a “normal” part of the Christian life. For almost two decades as a Christian (ages 10-29), I did not pursue a relationship with the personhood of the Holy Spirit. Sure, He was with me at all times, and led and protected my steps in countless ways I’ll never know, but I never actively pursued to hear His voice or call Him by name.

I was 29 when I went on my first sabbatical, and in the couple of years leading up to that time I kept thinking that there had to be more to the Christian life than what my life had become. I had allowed myself to fall into the greatest trap in western Christianity: to become comfortable. To achieve “nice guy” status rather than becoming a reckless follower of Jesus Christ. [Read more...]