Next Steps to Go Deeper

by Petey Crowder, Senior Pastor

The great hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” I can’t help but think this applies to our church and our spiritual lives. You can’t expect progress without effort. You can’t expect life change if you pass on opportunities to get involved and take a next step.

This is how faith works: when we put it into practice, it becomes real to us. We step into the reality of what we believe by trying it out! Jesus says those who hear His words and put them into practice are building a strong foundation for their lives, as opposed to one that crumbles when life gets hard (Luke 6:46-49).

Yet how many of us stand on the sidelines—wrapped up in layers of excuses or paralyzed by doubt, fear, or distractions?

Our church is led by Jesus. It is bound up in the truth that He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves! We then live in that truth by putting our faith into practice by worshiping, serving, connecting, and making space for others.

One of the reasons Scripture has always been meaningful to God’s people is that it gives a tactile, consistent, and practical point of contact between God’s desires for our lives and our own everyday experiences. You might say that Scripture is meant to be “daily bread,” providing nourishment in the midst of our ongoing journeys. Scripture is powerful for so many of us explicitly because it gives Christ followers a tangible next step to grow in our faith.

That’s what we want to do at CPC—call you to take tangible next steps to go deeper in your dependence upon Jesus, in serving and belonging, and in helping us be a church you can’t wait to invite your friends to.

CPC belongs to Jesus, and I hope and pray that as we hold that truth up in front of you, you respond to His calling to engage your faith every single day in every single place you find yourselves.