Faith isn’t meant to be confined to a single day. It’s a daily pursuit of God’s presence and power.
Sundays at church are wonderful. The body of Christ comes together to worship God with one voice. We declare His goodness–past, present, and future–and then receive a sermon that challenges us to grow in our walk with Christ.
At COTR, we always try to leave space in the service for us to flow in the direction that the Holy Spirit is leading. This might mean an extended worship period, a word of exhortation, a time of ministry at the altar, etc. Sometimes God flips the script on our agenda. We love when that happens.
We are so blessed to have the power of God in our church on Sundays. There is freedom, joy, transformation, and lives are changed. We do Sundays well, for the most part.
However, Sundays aren’t the only thing we need in our lives.
The people of God need more than a singular weekly church experience. We have to stay filled up and able to help a lost and hurting world. While Sundays are powerful, we need ongoing encounters with God. We’ve all experienced leaving a spectacular service on Sunday only to be spiritually drained by Wednesday.
The other essentials that nourish the spirit are an active prayer life and regular reading of God’s word. Both of these allow God to speak to us. Through them, we attune our hearts to the Holy Spirit so that He can move in our lives.
The Bible is clear that a healthy Christian walk includes being in step with a community of believers. See Hebrews 10:24–25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:15–16, Galatians 6:1–2, and basically the entire New Testament.
We help each other! Iron sharpens iron and we can support one another in this life.
Here comes Beyond Sundays, a space for COTR leaders to encourage, challenge, and spur our congregation to do good works. You can expect testimonies, reflections on God’s word, insights related to a recent sermon, and encouragement to lead a life that daily reflects Christ.
We want this blog to be a space where church leaders can share what God has placed on their hearts, and where our church family can join the conversation through comments and digital discussion.
God is moving and this is a platform for us to share how this move is taking place in the lives of those at COTR so that it may benefit others! The Bible says we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Rev 12:11). We have the power to bring life (or death) with our speech (Prov. 18:21) and this extends to the written words we communicate, too.
God has so much more for us, but we have to take that first step towards Him. We hope Beyond Sundays helps you encounter God throughout the week and to live out your faith daily.
Brandon has been attending COTR since its inception in 1997. He’s the worship leader at COTR and also manages special projects and helps in administrative areas. He and his wife, Shauna, have one son and like to hike, exercise, read, and watch silly videos online.