A Note from Pastor Roger

Good afternoon, Church Family!

As we move into a new month this weekend, we move into a new series: "Lift: 7 Principles to Drive Change." We are staying in Paul's first letter to Timothy, continuing to learn from the apostle's encouragement to this young man.

If you are unable to join us in person, you’re welcome to be with us online during one of our livestreamed services through our CityRise app, on our livestreams page, or at youtube.com/cityriseorg.

For the last couple of years here at CityRise, we have held an annual conference geared toward networking local non-profits to work together in lifting our city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each conference has been immensely impactful, so this year, we'd like to invite even more and expand the invitation to business leaders.

If you're a business leader who's interested in growing in your leadership potential or would like to gather with other leaders in the business, non-profit, and church worlds, I encourage you to reserve your spot for this year's CityRise Network conference on September 21 at our West U Baptist campus. We're calling it "The Greatest," and it will feature worship, lunch, and talks from myself as well as the following leaders around our city and state:

• Mark Edworthy, CityRise Missouri City Campus Pastor
• Bryant Lee, Pastor of Higher Expectations Community Church (Atascocita, TX); Founder and President of the Collaborative Fellowship
• Gregg Matte, Houston's First Baptist Church Senior Pastor

I look forward to seeing you there!

And before we go today, let me ask you a question: are you interested in understanding more about "biblical context," namely the history, geography, and society in which the Bible was written, whether for teaching the Bible to others or for your own study? Then I want to introduce you to Walking the Text, a strong study resource that focuses on exploring the original geographical and societal contexts in which the Bible was written.

Founder Brad Gray and his staff have a unique gift in bringing the background and history of the Bible to life and helping us make profound application today.

If you're a Bible teacher or want to learn more on your own, I can't encourage you enough to check out their videos, either on their site or on their YouTube channel.

Below is just an example of what they offer as they ask the question, through geographical reasoning, why Jesus spent more time ministering around the Sea of Galilee than in Jerusalem.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Sunday, Church Family!

Stay Expectant,
Pastor Roger