On Sunday, we spent time unpacking Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders and were reminded of the high and holy calling that God places on pastoral leadership. At Port City, we take this calling with deep seriousness and humility. The process of identifying and appointing elders is neither quick nor casual—it is intentional, prayerful, and rooted in Scripture.

On Sunday, we talked about how idolatry exists in all of us.  And in order to understand the idols of our heart we have to understand how multi-layered they are.

There is a palpable move of God happening in our day. Many of you have sensed this even more recently through conversations with co-workers, neighbours, and friends.  As world events have unfolded in the last few weeks and months the ground under people’s feet has begun to shift. What seemed stable no longer provides the promise of protection that it did for many.  And so they are searching.

Emphasis matters. We know this to be true in common rhetoric and speech. Emphasising the right syllables in a given word makes all the difference in being able to say it correctly. When we think about our children and the church traditions that we practise involving children we want to ensure that we have placed the emphasis in the right location.

There are certain seasons of life—weeks even—that have an immense heaviness to them.  Solomon wrote many thousands of years ago, “[there is] a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:4).  This past week fit squarely into the season of weeping and mourning.  As I watched one of the most well-known and bold Christians of our time, Charlie Kirk, murdered, I also caught wind of another high school shooting in Colorado while also seeing a video of a woman brutally murdered on a train in Charlotte, NC.