The Engedi Collective

Host, Rebecca Fanning, interviews the founders of The Engedi Collective (John Kovacs, David Mueller, and Elizabeth Agre) to find out what this Collective exactly is, what the heart is behind it, and who it's for! 

Pastor John shares some important updates regarding some significant, exciting, but also bitter sweet, changes to The Light Church. Summary of Next Steps for The LightLast Sunday - After several weeks of discussion amongst leadership, as well as prayer discerning and consideration, Sunday April 12th (Easter) will be our last public service. Church Move - We have informed St. Michaels that we intend to conclude our lease at the end of April. This will give us time to organize our current inventory and make arrangements for a move. Our tentative date for a community wide moving party will be Saturday April 18th. Home Groups - Similarly to Sunday services, Home Groups will conclude in April. The exact date of last meetings will be determined by each group and their leaders - but all meetings are currently suspended in light of COVID-19. Sunday Service Visits - As we conclude our Sunday gatherings, we want to prioritize helping current members get connected with a new local church. In order to make this transition smoother, we are organizing group visits to several area churches for Sunday services as well as providing a larger list of recommended local churches.  Light Leadership Network - While we are ceasing to continue in our current format, we believe that God is providing an opportunity for The Light to continue to make an impact through the development of a leadership network for past and present members. This opportunity has been in the works for almost a year and more details will be provided in the coming weeks about what this will look like and how you can be involved. 

Romans 13 is an often controversial, mis-appropriated, and even mis-applied chapter of the New Testament. So as we examine it, let's consider a couple of questions: Where is our allegiance meant to be according to scripture? What context is being outlined in this chapter? And how does that context still apply (or not apply) today?Join us as Pastor John dives into these questions as they relate to our participation in the current context of government; biblically loving our neighbors well in the process; and ultimately pledging our allegiance to Jesus as King above all else.

Join us for our fourth contextual reading in this series on righteousness as defined by Paul, this time from Romans 12 - 15. 

Here at The Light Church, we make space in our service every Sunday for people to share any testimonies from their own lives, processes, and journeys as they feel led. Join us this week for an extended time of sharing as several members from The Light speak about what God is doing in and through their lives today!

We return to our series on Romans, picking up at the top of Chapter 12.Here, we find the recognizable verse 2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."  It's clear that God has a will - and that we can know what that is! But what if conformity doesn't just mean looking like the world - but trying to be anyone other than who God created you to be? What would it look like if each one of us was walking right in the middle of what God has for us this year? Using the gifts He has given us more fully? How powerful would that be? What would come of that which hasn't been able to exist already? Join us as we dive into these questions together in 2020 in light of Paul's words...

Join us as we hear from each member of The Light Leadership Team as they share the word God has put on their heart for the church in 2020. Family - David MuellerSimple - Calvin FanningHoly - Cynthia MillerDiscernment - Rebecca FanningConnection - Maria KovacsPurpose - John KovacsHere at The Light in 2020 we are seeking to be a family that lives simply and holy by fostering connection, discernment, and purpose!

Join us as Pastor John unpacks 2 Timothy 5-12, Paul's reminder to Timothy of: Our existing foundation of faith; Our agency in tending the flame of the Spirit within us; And the role that same Spirit plays in our ability to even perceive and steward the Spirit in the midst of suffering and brokenness.

Join us as start 2020 with a call to stop, slow down, and practice discernment for God's heart and desires for us in the New Year!

This time of year we hear a lot about "the Word becoming flesh" and "the Light coming into the darkness" - which implies that it, the Word, the Light, Jesus - is SEEN. It doesn't mean that it's showy - but it does show up! So what does Love seen look like? How do we experience it more fully? How do we receive it for ourselves in such a way that we are affected by it? That it is life-changing? Join us as explore the simple truth that God loves us this season...

Sometimes it feels like this time of the year, the holiday season marks a sharp and somewhat unsettling shift - a mad dash to parties, end-of-year festivities, time off, shopping, decorating, you name it. Sometimes it feels like it just sneaks up on us and honestly - we don't feel ready for it, physically or spiritually. But the advent season isn't about BEING ready. At the core, it's about the actual process of preparation, of GETTING ready - of beholding. We have good, gospel news for you - if you aren't feeling ready, that's ok! This season of advent is about first beholding - letting God saturate us with the truth of the gospel through His Son Jesus in the coming weeks, dwelling on it, thinking on it, letting it wash over us and change us a Word, a thought, a meditation, an encounter at a time. It's not first and foremost about feeling a certain way - but about inviting God to to orient our feelings (whatever they are) to the truth of what He is wanting to communicate about who He is, what He has done, and what He is saying now. So regardless of where you are at, let's invite God to do what only he can do - and see what we behold in the process!

Paul's letter to the Romans takes somewhat of a shift as he begins Romans 9. He becomes transfixed on this idea of the expansion of salvation beyond God's chosen people, the Israelites, into the rest of the world. This might seem obvious and normal to those of us living in a global context, but this was a huge shift in how people were called to think about God, His movement, His people, and His plan for humanity. It was a significant area of tension for early believers, and it is still relevant to many contexts the church faces today. And Paul has a lot to say about this deeper, more collective understanding of the righteousness and peace bought through Christ Jesus.So join us as we delve into this next section of Romans and Paul's somewhat theologically dense, but God's ultimately simple truth - that His plans are complicated and beyond comprehension, but they are good and are to be trusted... and are for all mankind!

Join us for our third contextual reading in this series on righteousness as defined by Paul, this time from Romans 9 - 11. 

In the Bible, the word most often referenced in relation to healing is “Sozo”, which translates not only to "heal”, but to "make well”; to "restore to health"; to "deliver from penalties of judgement"; to "save." It would seem that there is an intrinsic connection between salvation and healing, healing and salvation. Healing is more than just relating to the physical and/or the emotional. And by the same token, salvation isn’t just about our eternal destination. Salvation - Healing - Sozo - it’s the all-encompassing idea of spiritual, emotional, and physical healing that takes place when we trust Jesus with our lives, and it starts here on earth! Join us as we listen to the testimony of Light Leader, David Mueller regarding his own Sozo journey and what Sozo really means for us. 

Today we continue our pursuit of Romans 8, coming upon one of our favorite verses, Romans 8:28 - "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Verse 28 is one that we as Christians often like to put on mugs and T-shirts and wall art without fully understanding the scriptural context that it is anchored in. How do we process and digest and celebrate this verse without misrepresenting the challenges and hardships and suffering that is still intrinsic to our faith and our life in a broken world? And what does it really mean for us? For the Church? For those that we are seeking to give an accurate picture of what Christianity is, and what it means to follow God? 

Join us as we reengage with Romans 8 and Paul's call for us to be co-heirs with Christ - both in His glory, but also (and often first) in His suffering.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20 that "When two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be also." And in light of this Word, believers have been meeting and gathering for what we call Church for over 2,000 years. It is fundamentally understood that there is something about us coming together that is meaningful and necessary to our Christian walk and to Christ's presence with us.But the often overlooked truth of that scripture is that there is also something missing when people AREN'T present in our midst. How does that change our perspective of Sunday service? Family gatherings? Friendships? How does that change our desire to have our family in our midst, and to invite those around us to be a part of it as well?Join us as Pastor John explores the questions, "What do we have when we come together that we can't have when we don't?" and "How does that change our attitude toward our involvement in fellowship?"

This past week, the trial of Amber Guyger for the wrongful death of Botham Jean in Dallas, TX was concluded. When it comes to justice, we know it is at the root of God's heart; it is something that He is after. So how do we respond when it doesn't feel like justice has been served?As we've been talking about Life in the Spirit, there is an important realization that we as believers are meant to cooperate with God in pursuit of His justice on earth. God doesn't pursue justice apart from humanity because this is where injustice began, where it resides. Thus, God's justice is pursued here on earth, through people, for people, amongst His creation. It is not separate from God or from us - so what is our response? Join us as Pastor John explores God's Word on the matter in Exodus 1. 

Tune in this week as we lean into 2 Timothy 1 and Paul's charge to "fan into flame" the Spirit of God. It seems that too often, we settle for something less than the intimacy of God's voice being close to us. We forget in the midst of uncertainty what God has already spoken and given us to hold on to. So what does it look like to remember, to engage, to encounter and to connect with God so that the Spirit can actually be at work in our lives?

Last week we focused on the story of Nicodemus, unpacking his questions and applying Jesus's answers as they relate to the heightened clarity and understanding that comes from living Life in the Spirit. And this makes sense - according to scripture, the Spirit of God is characterized as one who teaches; who one guides; one not of chaos and confusion, but of clarity and truth. But as Christians, we know that we don't always have the answers - and sometimes in our walk with Jesus, we find ourselves like Nicodemus: with more questions than answers. How can this be so? And how do we reconcile this with the message of last week? Join us as Pastor John explores the other side of the coin, so to speak - the side of Life in the Spirit based on faith and trust in the midst of confusion and unknowing.