Love Ain't Easy // February '23 Update
Another month has gone by! And another month testifying of the crazy cool things the Lord is doing. Check out this month's update!
Love Ain’t Easy: Sermon Series & Sunday Services
With Valentines Day being in February, and the topic of “love” being in the air, we’ve been working through a series called “Love Ain’t Easy.” Where culture says love should be easy and feel-good and all unicorns and rainbows all the time, God says that love—true, agape love as he defines it—ain’t easy. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things you can do. But when you do, it’s so, so worth it. We’ve covered what it means to:
– Love Your Spouse
– Love Your Enemies
– Love Your Friends
– Love the Poor
– Love Your God
Sunday services have continued to be a blast! We have continually been averaging in the mid- to upper-70’s in attendance, still seeing new guests each week. But what I’ve been noticing is that each week there seems to be a “leaning-in”—an anticipation that God’s going to show up. Sunday morning worship has been electric, and it’s been so amazing to see how our community continues to grow and our culture continues to form!
Friend Day!
In light of the Love Ain’t Easy series, we had a special Sunday service that we called “Friend Day!” We challenged our people to invite their friends to church on February 26th—the Sunday we preached about Loving our Friends. We sat around round tables to encourage discussion and community, and fed everyone with Pizza Ranch right afterwards. We saw several new faces, and had 89 join us—our highest attendance to date post-launch!
Resilient Students Worship Night
We also had our first Worship Night of the Spring semester with our Resilient Students College Ministry! These monthly worship nights are staples for us. They go all the way back to our roots last Spring 2022 when we hosted worship nights in the Vermillion Public Library. Now, they’re hosted at the Danforth Chapel on USD’s campus.
The Worship Night lasted from 7-9pm, with time for fellowship before and after. We incorporated a special prayer element, where students wrote down their prayer requests on sticky notes and spent time praying over each one.
Casas Por Cristo Missions Trip & Fundraiser
We’re also preparing to embark on our first missions trip as a local church! Kellen Hackett, our Compassion Pastor, is taking a team of 8 people down to Juarez, Mexico to build a home for a family in need in partnership with Casas Por Cristo. (link to Casas). Our team will be leaving March 11th and returning on March 18th!
On February 20th, we held a Community Impact event with Pizza Ranch, where 10% of all food purchases from the night helped raised funds for the trip. Our team bussed tables and served customers while sharing about Resilient Church and this incredible trip.
Be praying for this team for safe travels and that the Lord will use them in mighty ways!
Vision Night: March 23rd
Lastly, we are hosting a very special event on Thursday, March 23rd, called Vision Night, at the Dakota Center. It’s an evening of worship, celebrating what God is doing in Resilient, and dreaming about where he’s taking us next. Dinner will be served from 6:30-7pm, with the service going from 7-8pm.
We’re inviting our church members and all of our outside supporters and institutional partners to join us—which includes you! If you would like to attend, RSVP with the button below:
Prayer Requests
Pray pray pray for our team heading to Juarez, Mexico! For safe travels, amazing fellowship, and life transformation that can take place. Not just for the family we’re building a home for, but also for our team, themselves.
Pray for our students, as midterms are currently underway with spring break just around the corner. Stress is high—pray for the Holy Spirit to bring peace.
Pray for our Vision Night! We’re thrilled out of our minds for what God has already done in these short 6-months of being a planted church, but this is only the beginning. Pray that the Lord reveals his will to us clearly, and that we will respond in obedience.
Pray for revival. We believe God is awakening his church, and it’s happening at college campuses across the nation. Many of our students, and myself included, sense that revival’s a’ brewin’. In light of the events at Asbury University and the movements breaking out from that, we are begging for the Lord to unleash something similar at USD and Vermillion. Join us in praying for a fresh wind and fresh fire of his Spirit to awaken us and see culture completely transform here.
That’s everything from the month of February! Thanks for all your support, as always—your prayers, your giving, your encouragement, and your advocacy!
– Jake