As I am reflecting on our 20-year journey together as a church family, I’m filled with gratitude and excitement. We’re celebrating two decades of helping people take next steps with God – two decades of transformed lives, baptisms, growing campuses, and expanded reach. But as amazing as these past 20 years have been, I’m even more excited about what God is about to do in our future together.
It all began because two people, Bob and Kim Smith, went all in on the mission of Jesus. Their faithfulness has rippled through generations, and every single one of us owes them a debt of gratitude. Their decision to trust God completely has changed all our lives. That’s the power of going all in – it changes not just our own lives but transforms the world around us.
The Question That Changes Everything
Over these next few weeks, I want to challenge each of you with a foundational question: What is God calling you to do to go all in for the mission of Jesus here at 242?
This isn’t about doing what I tell you to do or what the church tells you to do. This is about being obedient to God’s specific call on your life. It’s about prayerfully discerning what steps God is asking you to take to fully commit to His mission through our church family.
I believe God is about to do something extraordinary. The life change we’ve witnessed over 20 years is just the beginning. I don’t want you to miss what’s coming next. That’s why I’m inviting you to join one of our all-in groups across all seven campuses, where you can discover in community what God is calling you to do.
A Worldview of Abundance vs. Scarcity
To understand what it truly means to go all in, we must first understand Jesus’ worldview. In Matthew 6, Jesus shares wisdom about worry and anxiety that reveals a fundamental truth: He operates from a worldview of abundance, not scarcity.
When Jesus tells us not to worry about what we’ll eat or drink or wear, pointing to how God cares for birds and flowers, He’s inviting us into a completely different way of seeing reality. It’s a worldview where we trust that our heavenly Father knows what we need and provides abundantly.
This wasn’t a new concept Jesus introduced. It was the original worldview God intended for humanity from creation. In Genesis, we see God generously giving humanity stewardship over all creation – the land, sea, animals, and plants. One of the first characteristics we see of God in scripture is His remarkable generosity. He gives abundantly to His people.
Adam and Eve lived in a garden of abundance, with every tree (except one) available for their nourishment and enjoyment. The forbidden tree represented just one thing: the temptation to not trust the generous Host.
The Choice to Trust or Not Trust
Throughout Scripture, we see God’s people repeatedly facing this fundamental choice: Will we trust our generous Host, or will we succumb to the fear that His generosity might run out?
Moses led the Israelites to the edge of the Promised Land, but when they sent spies who returned with reports of powerful inhabitants, they chose fear over trust. After everything God had done to lead and provide for them – parting the Red Sea, feeding them with manna, guiding them by cloud and fire – they still couldn’t trust that His abundance would continue.
In Deuteronomy 1:29-33, God expresses His heartbreak: “In spite of this, you didn’t trust the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey… to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.”
Contrast this with Joshua’s leadership years later. The night before crossing into the Promised Land, Joshua tells the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5). Joshua was filled with excitement, confidence, and trust because he understood that God’s generosity does not run out. When you trust the Host, the party never stops.
The Party That Never Ends
Jesus’ worldview of abundance calls us back to God’s original intention. When Jesus talks about money, worry, and finances, He’s inviting us to see the world as God designed it to be seen – through the lens of a good and generous Host whose provision never fails.
Over the past 20 years at 242, we’ve experienced this provision in remarkable ways. We’ve grown to 15,000 people calling 242 home, with 75,000 watching online last year. Thousands have been baptized. Life after life has been transformed. All because people have trusted God and gone all in for His mission.
Like the Israelites, we’ve been raising our Ebenezer – our monument of remembrance – proclaiming God’s goodness to generation after generation. But I believe we’re just getting started.
Standing at Our Jordan River
I believe we stand at the edge of our proverbial Jordan right now, and God is asking us this fundamental question: “Do you trust me?”
Do we trust Him to be the generous Host? Do we trust Him to provide for us and take us where He wants us to go? Are we willing to continue building our Ebenezer for generations to come?
The choice is ours. We can choose to trust God and step into the dream He has for us, or we can remain on the banks, looking at what might have been.
The Four Pillars of Our Future
As we look toward the future God has for us, I see four pillars that will define us as we go all in:
1. We Plant Churches: We have a vision of planting a church every single year moving forward. Not just talking about planting churches, but actually becoming a church that plants churches. When we launch new faith communities, lives are transformed.
2. We Launch Leaders: The church should be a locus of leadership development, raising up Christian leaders not just for the church but for the world – from CEOs to stay-at-home parents.
3. We Prioritize Kids: We recognize that 60% of people make decisions for Jesus between ages 4-14. Instead of asking how we lost a generation, we must focus on how we can keep a generation through intentional ministry to children.
4. We Mobilize Disciplemakers: We can’t be content to merely consume church – we must be the church. Every person called to 242 is meant to be mobilized as the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.
The Decision Before Us
The question is simple: Do we trust Him? Do we trust the One who has gotten us this far? Do we believe that God is the generous Host whose abundance will not run out?
Or will we be like the Israelites of Moses’ day, who bought into the lie that God’s generosity might fail them?
I’m asking you to begin shifting from a worldview of scarcity to Jesus’ worldview of abundance. I’m asking you to go all in with us.
Start by prayerfully, intentionally asking: “God, what do you want me to do to go all in for the mission of Jesus here at 242?” Then, be obedient to His call.
Trust the Generous Host
Every day when I was a child, I would race home from school to our apple orchard. I’d run straight to my favorite tree and pick a perfectly sun-warmed Golden Delicious apple. The abundance was remarkable – we had apples for pies, dumplings, and fresh eating. We never ran out.
That’s how I picture Eden – a garden where Adam and Eve experienced God’s abundant provision in every way. It’s also how I picture our future at 242 if we trust our generous Host.
We stand at a crossroads. Will we trust that the God who has led us these 20 years will continue to provide abundantly? Or will we hold back, fearful that His resources might run out?
I believe God is taking our church somewhere extraordinary, and I don’t want you to miss it. I want you to join us as we cross the Jordan together. I want you to go all in with us for the mission of Jesus.
It begins with trust. It begins with seeing the world through Jesus’ eyes – as a place of divine abundance, not human scarcity. It begins with asking that one pivotal question: “God, what do you want me to do to go all in for the mission of Jesus here at 242?”
The celebration for our next 20 years has already begun. The question is – will you join the party?
Check out our website for more information. We always welcome new friends to worship with us. Find a location that’s close to you!
You can learn more about our beliefs and visit our video library to explore more topics like this one. You can also check out our events page to find out what fun new things we’re doing this season.
