ALEX | Dream Higher!

“ According to an extensive survey by the Pew Research Center, the share of adults in the US who identify as Christians fell from 78 percent to 71 percent between 2007 and 2014.” -Growing Young by Powell, Mulder, Griffin It’s an extraordinary statistic that can’t be ignored as it helps re-define how we might interact with the Scriptures.  The Bible is not a complacent text that one can read and then set aside like a non-fictional novel or a history book.  America for a while now, I believe, has seen the gospel of Jesus Christ and the entirety of the Scriptures in that way.  We have viewed it as a good book that gives us good thoughts, makes us feel good inside, and reaffirms what we already believe to be true.  Or in other words “It’s all good!” While it’s true the Bible is filled with a compelling message of hope, love, and joy; it’s also filled with a message that challenges us to do something with what we have heard, to move beyond our boundaries, to unmask our secrets, ex

GROWING HABITS by Alex Hardt, Youth and Young Adult Pastor “ Depending on where you get your numbers, somewhere between 81 percent and 92 percent of New Year’s Resolutions fail.” -James Clear It’s not just New Year’s resolutions that are hard, but changing behavior or habits is exceptionally hard.  Every day we wake up for most of us our mornings look pretty much the same.  When our schedule changes or something new is happening within the week, isn’t true that we feel out of sorts.  Our day feels off even if that change is a positive one.  We are creatures of routines.  Routines are created by doing the same practice over and over.  Even if we know that a routine is bad for us we will often continue it out of habit.  In high school I developed a bad habit of chewing gum.  I would often go through two or three packs in a single day often times chewing three of four pieces of gum at a time.  My doctor kept warning me that it was going to affect my jaw and my teeth, but yet