Revive Recap December 24'
A message from Pastor Derik
Dear Valued Partner
With our Year of Reset now behind us and our Year of Breakthrough ahead, I find myself filled with immense anticipation and excitement to witness what God is going to do next! This past year has been a testament to His faithfulness as we focused our efforts on two key areas: our Sunday morning worship experiences and ReGroups.
We saw remarkable growth in our ReGroup leadership and participation as groups strengthened and multiplied. Though our Sunday morning attendance saw a slight dip, the excellence and teamwork in how we planned and executed those services reached new heights. These moments were not just about numbers - they were about setting the foundation for something far greater. We are standing on the brink of a breakthrough. I firmly believe God is preparing to exceed anything we could ever ask, think, or imagine!
As we step into this new season, I am believing wholeheartedly that 2025 will be a year where God brings supernatural breakthroughs to families, marriages, finances, mental health, physical health, and so much more. The Bible repeatedly reminds us of the power of faith with the words, “Be it unto you according to your faith.” I believe God is ready to reignite faith for the dreams and desires you may have given up on - those deeply rooted hopes that seem impossible.
This year I challenge you to dream again, to believe again, and to attach your faith to the fulfillment of those long-held promises. Trust that God is ready to do the impossible if we are willing to step out in faith.
As we bid farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025 with open hearts, let’s unite as a church body, standing together in what I am confident will be a banner year of breakthrough for not just our church, but for our families, our community, and beyond. Get ready! God is about to move in extraordinary ways!
God Bless,
Derik Kerber
Lead Pastor
Revive Church
Where it is our mission to
"Change Lives, Reach the Next Generation, & Impact the Culture for Jesus"
Wearerevive.church/Events
YEARLY LOOK BACK
2024 was an amazing year for Revive Church. During the year we had 174 New Guests, 36 Baptisms, 36 accepted Christ as their Savior and 21 rededicated their life to Christ. 2025 will continue the growth of Revive Church.
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17 (NIV)
Look and See How God is Moving
For the majority of my life I was the farthest thing from a Christian, in fact any mention of God or Christ would make me angry. I would mock people for their faith as I thought it was ridiculous to believe in what I saw as fairy tales. I spent years mired in addictions, depression and anger. If I wasn’t using something to fill the void in my soul, be it heroin, whiskey, food or video games, I felt lost. I was living a life without direction or meaning, I had no idea of the purpose God had created me for nor was I trying to find it.
The last year of my life, including the last eight months of attending Revive church, have been truly remarkable. In 2022 I had moved back home from Washington state, after almost a decade I was off of Suboxone, the substance the doctors prescribed to get me off heroin. I thought I was ready to come back home. In short order I was back to my old ways, drinking and drugging on a regular basis, repeating the same old story of a junky getting clean and coming home to become a junky all over again. This led me to a precipice, I walked up to the edge of hell and peered inside. Thankfully God was there to lead me to the light, he brought me to the doors of Revive.
When I first pulled into the church I couldn’t have felt more out of place. In my high school days I had taken part in bullying Derek and had more run-ins with Dale than I care to remember. From my perspective I always assumed they thought I was a horrible person. I know now how wrong I was, they just saw a lost soul who needed help.
Walking through the doors I saw Derek outside but didn’t want to intrude on his conversation so I walked past. I only made it a few feet in the door when I heard “Matt Smith!!!” loudly exclaimed behind me. I turned to see Derek rushing up to me to shake my hand and welcome me in, I was astonished. The feeling of being welcomed somewhere and seeing honest excitement at my presence felt so novel to me. For most of my life I’ve felt out of place almost everywhere I’ve gone, like I was always a burden to those around me. For the first time I knew this was somewhere I was supposed to be.
In the days since my life has been blessed in so many ways and my brothers and sisters at Revive have all played a part in helping me find meaning. They helped me find forgiveness, they’ve allowed me the opportunity to dive into artistic projects and they’ve been there for me to lean on when I stumbled. In summary all I can say is Revive truly lives up to its name. I’m so thankful for every minute I get to spend here in fellowship. God has assembled an amazing group of people, all unique but all of us are here for the same thing, our revival from the world.
This testimony has been abridged for the newsletter. If anyone would like to read the full version I’d be glad to share it with you.
Matt Smith
