Beloved,

It was my first day of seminary. My first time in that classroom where I’d end up sitting for countless hours over the course of three transformative years. And my first professor opened up our first lecture with a line I’ll never forget: “Leadership begins with listening.”

Those words rang so true and touched something deep within. Every leadership book in my younger years focused on leaders as visionaries who’ve been to the mountaintop and descended with the infallible stone tablets of truth! But here was a seminary professor flipping the paradigm on Day 1. Leadership is not about telling others what to do. Leadership is about listening well to those around you.

So familia, as we begin to slowly shift from Summer to Fall, with hopes and dreams aflutter, we’d love to begin by first hearing from you: what hopes and dreams are you envisioning and imagining as you hold the heart of our church going into this next season? 

Email us at ines@thechurchwehopefor.com & bobby@thechurchwehopefor.com. We’d love to listen and envision and imagine alongside you. And if email isn’t your thing, let’s grab coffee or lunch or a happy hour and share a table and hope and dream together!

Couple of other important things:

First, just a reminder: we will not be having a church service on Sunday, September 4th. Over the course of a calendar year, we aim to find some moments to step away from a Sunday service to make extra space for people to connect outside of the church. So, reach out to friends and fam and find some time to share a table and enjoy one another’s company!

Second, it’s so hard to believe this is true, but we are about to turn two, y’all! On Sunday, September 11th, we will be celebrating our Two Year Anniversary as a church! I still remember opening my laptop that Sunday morning back in the Fall of 2020. And to my surprise, many of your faces were there already awaiting this church! We’re so thankful for this familia. And we’re gonna make sure we find a way to celebrate well that day. So save the date!

Thank you for making this church all that it is, all that it’s becoming, and all that it can be!

With great hope, gratitude, and joy,

Bobby