I shared a recent video with our church family that has awakened my passions for church leadership in a way that is unlike anything I've known before. You may view it from the link below if you'd like. It glimpses the love between a husband and a wife that is unique in its quality...Christward in its devotion. What does it mean to love your bride as Christ loved the church...to submit to your husband with a commitment that "in God's sight is very precious"? To recognize the beauty of surrender and obedience is one of the most rewarding experiences in the life of the believer. My prayer is a soft-spoken one today. I pray that I may have the humility to lead Clearwater with the gentle power that flows from the kind of love displayed at the cross. Oh that I might even through my own death demonstrate how deeply Jesus loves His bride, the church. I pray that in mutual submission, all the people of our church might glimpse the beauty found in seeing beyond what a worldly mindset would allow us to see in terms of what it means to be obedient, and realize that by the power of Christ in us all that we might surrender to every word in the Word rather than only those commands we find palatable. And together by His grace, that we may move from one degree of glory to another....I love you all.
Ian and Larissa