Fellow Followers of Christ:

When I last wrote for the church newsletter we were in the midst of our 40 Days of Discernment. These forty days were most amazing and I offer my thanks to the listeners who facilitated the 10 groups that met over the 40 days. These listeners were Alfredo Castillo, Barbara Cavazos, Rose Damon, Jeanne Loggie, Vikki Miranda, Ken Olson, and Katy Reiner.  Taylor Bailey, the summer youth intern, will lead a group soon for the youth. Each of these listeners collected excellent stories and information that tells of our life together – who God has made us and who God may be calling us to be. The Bishop’s Committee and I will use this information to help determine ministry priorities and the Sacred Space Team (Gene Dowdy, Chair) will use this information to help guide the building of our new sacred space. You can view the raw data on the sacred space page on the church’s website.

On the Sacred Space webpage, you will also see demographic information for zip codes 78249 and 78251. Take a look at our responses as well as the demographic information to see who we claim ourselves to be and those to whom God is sending us. In the fall, we will have a forum or two to discuss this information and what it will mean for us in the future. I am very excited about what I see the Holy Spirit saying to us!

Our conversation with St. Michael’s about a call to common mission continues to unfold. I sent a letter to you all, on July 21, about my visit to their church so that I could be a part of their worship. This time together was valuable as we broke bread with one another, gave thanks to God for all the blessings in our lives, and then spent 1 ½ hours in conversation about what our common life together may look like – the good and the growing edges. One of the major points I made is that we, at the Church of the Holy Spirit, are being shaken (not stirred) by the Holy Spirit into action. If they are going to come with us, now is the time to do it so that we can listen to God’s call together. I will keep you posted as this conversation continues. I thank Alfredo Castillo (Chair), David Callihan, Jack Hadley, Julie Hogenauer, and Mary Manship for serving on the Task Force on the Call to Common Mission. You can view several documents about this conversation and joining congregations together, in general, on the Community Life webpage.

There is so much before us and I give thanks to God for this opportunity to serve beside each of you as we seek to bring the Kingdom of God into our world.

Faithfully,

Jason

Please also remember to bookmark the church's online calendar as one of your favorites so you can know all the wonderful things we are doing to serve the Lord and one another!