{"id":4984,"date":"2016-01-13T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=4984"},"modified":"2016-01-13T08:00:59","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T13:00:59","slug":"ebrethren-1-13-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2016\/01\/13\/ebrethren-1-13-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Move mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"As<\/a>
As we seek to raise valleys and lower mountains
to make way for our God, your help is essential.
Photo by Glenn Riegel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Matt DeBall, coordinator of Donor Communications
\n<\/em>
\nJanuary. A new beginning. A fresh start. In these first few weeks of the year, we have the perfect opportunity to take stock of lifestyle habits, try new patterns, set goals, or even chart a new course altogether. For Christ-followers, it only seems natural to also consider how to love God and neighbor in new ways.<\/p>\n

In seeking to respond anew to the movement of God, I can\u2019t help but think of our recent celebration of Christmas. The prophet Isaiah shares, \u201cIn the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low\u2026. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed\u201d (Isaiah 4:3-5).<\/p>\n

While this scripture is traditionally used in beautiful Advent liturgies and alludes to the coming of the Christ-child, it is also a call to continually make way for the Kingdom of God in our world. Our God is coming, and we need to move mountains to make the road ready. This challenge from the prophet also reveals the way in which God, as our sovereign Lord, desires for us to be prepared for the Holy Spirit to make bold moves in us and through us every day.<\/p>\n

Changing geological features as Isaiah describes certainly seems like a daunting task, but as Jesus shared with his disciples, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains (Matthew 17:20). By trusting in our Savior, we have enough faith to raise any valley and flatten every mountain. With Jesus, every roadblock to God\u2019s Kingdom is removed.<\/p>\n

As we begin this year, your Church of the Brethren staff are planning for numerous opportunities to make way for our God and share love with one another.\u00a0Brethren Volunteer Service<\/a>\u00a0is getting ready to recruit, train, and place volunteers in the US and around the world. Congregational Life Ministries is preparing to grow faith and train leaders at events like the\u00a0Church Planting Conference<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0National Young Adult Conference<\/a>, and partner with the\u00a0Office of Public Witness<\/a>\u00a0to facilitate discussions about\u00a0\u201cProclaiming Freedom: The Racial Injustice of Mass Incarceration.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>The\u00a0Workcamp<\/a>\u00a0Office is gearing up for a summer of \u201cBlazing with Holiness\u201d at more than 20 workcamps in the US, Puerto Rico, and Northern Ireland.\u00a0Youth and Young Adult Ministries<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Office of Ministry<\/a>\u00a0are preparing for\u00a0Ministry Summer Service<\/a>\u00a0interns and mentors.\u00a0Global Mission and Service<\/a>\u00a0continues to walk with international partners and sense new places where God may be leading.<\/p>\n

In preparing for God\u2019s favor and a fruitful year of ministry, we recognize that we can\u2019t do this alone. As the saying goes, \u201cmany hands make light work.\u201d Now and throughout this year, we need your prayerful and financial support. As we seek to raise valleys and lower mountains to make way for our God, your help is essential. We pray that you will join us as we love God and neighbor in the year ahead.<\/p>\n

(Read this issue of eBrethren<\/a>)\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt DeBall, coordinator of Donor Communications January. A new beginning. A fresh start. In these first few weeks of the year, we have the perfect opportunity to take stock of lifestyle habits, try new patterns, set goals, or even chart a new course altogether. For Christ-followers, it only seems natural to also consider how<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,234,357,505,753,792,843,845,1228,1243],"class_list":["post-4984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebrethren","tag-brethren-volunteer-service","tag-church-planting-conference","tag-ebrethren","tag-global-mission-and-service","tag-ministry-summer-service","tag-national-young-adult-conference","tag-office-of-ministry","tag-office-of-public-witness","tag-workcamps","tag-youth-and-young-adult-ministries"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}