Revive Recap November 24'
A message from Pastor Derik
Dear Valued Partner
2024 has been our year of Reset. We have been focusing on four main topics the Lord highlighted to me:
1. Go Deeper in our Relationship with God
2. Go Deeper in our Relationship with Others
3. Go Deeper in our Relationship with the Church
4. Deeper Leads to Double
I say these four main things often from the pulpit, but I wanted to put them on paper as well to remind us of the amazing things God has shown us. Going deeper in your relationship with God is more than just getting lost in your love for Him, but as we grow deeper through Bible study, prayer, etc. also strengthens your ability to go deeper in all of these other areas. Meaning when we go deeper in our relationship with God, He empowers us to grow deeper with others and the church! He will give us more patience to work with hard people and He will give us more capacity to grow in relationship with the church He has called you to be a part of! Two great ways you can grow in relationship with others and the Church are to join a ReGroup or maybe join a Dream Team at Revive! Both of these areas will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, but all throughout scripture we see God blessing, promoting, and using people in great ways that stepped out of their comfort zones!!
So, I would encourage you to check out our website by visiting www.wearerevive.church or scan the QR Codes below to find out more info and how to sign up for a ReGroup and join a Dream Team at Revive! You can also email me at revivechurchvt@gmail.com with any questions you have! One other step you can take is join our in person or online intro to Revive Classes we offer called JumpStart and Habits. These classes are what we offer to JumpStart new people to our vision and mission and truly get you up to speed on how we function as a church!
Your breakthrough may just be on the other side of your, “Yes.” Stepping out into unknown waters is the only way you will know if God is going to allow you to walk on it. Have a heart like Isaiah who said, “Here I am Lord, send me!” Isaiah 6:8. As your pastor I want to help encourage you to take these steps not to bolster the numbers higher for our stats, but because I know how powerful they are in unlocking in you the God given power and talent! I am starting a new series in November called, “We are the Church.” In this series we will be proclaiming every week, “We are the Church”. The Church doesn’t exist for me, We are the Church and we exist for the World!!!” So let’s be the church, not just attend a church! Let’s continue to invite people to church to show them the Love of God. Let’s continue to serve, teach, disciple, and reach the world with the Love of Jesus Christ!!
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
MONTHLY LOOK BACK
Ever Increasing in Blessing!
October was another great month for the growth of Revive Church. We are glad to report we had 18 new guests and 7 new givers. It is thrilling to see the continued increase here at Revive Church.
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 Derik 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 Derik 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 Derik 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
