A word about The Wednesday Word
By: Julie Hart

On August 11th, 2021, Desert Spring launched our very first podcast – The Wednesday Word. Since that time, we have done 59 episodes and heard from 61 people! And every time I listen to an episode, I am amazed by what I learn. Listening to the podcast over these past 16 months has made me feel more connected to the people of our church, it has helped me to understand more about who we are as a people, and it has helped me to understand more about who I am as a child of God.

If you haven’t had a chance to tune into our podcast yet, I would encourage you to do so. We have some pretty amazing people here at Desert Spring with wisdom and stories to share with us. Here are just a few of the inspirational words that I have written down while listening to The Wednesday Word:

Rev. Dan Morley on deciding where to build our church:

“The seniors who were living in Summerlin really wanted to include young people. But that meant that they had to give up on some of their dreams. And that takes courage.”

Pastor David on keeping his spiritual life fresh:

“The place where I feel that my cup gets filled the most is the times of preparation for things like bible study, and sermon writing …Every morning starts out with solitude.”

Melanie Jackson on volunteering with UMCOR:

“There is not a person that I ever met that didn’t have a great story. Everyone has stories!”

Brenda Hare on helping others:

“I want to treat people better than how I was treated.”

Sharon Scobie on feeding the hungry:

“As the director of the food bank years ago, I realized that there wasn’t just a need for food, but there was a need for friendship.”

Jacob Uecker on redemption:

“God’s love is not dependent on my failures … at the end of the day, I have the hope and the trust (and the joy comes naturally) that, no matter what, I am loved.”

Susan Denley on spiritual gifts:

“I say yes as much as I think I can when I am asked to follow a certain path but prioritizing what’s going to make the best use of my spiritual gifts and my time limits and health limits — perhaps that’s the way to go.”

Brent Slife on Christian Freedom & Responsibility:

“Doing the right thing (living truthfully) is a better set of possibilities.”

I have really come to appreciate the opportunity that the podcast has given me to learn from my church family which is why I am very excited about how we will be doing season 5 of The Wednesday Word. In the past, we have used the podcast to take deeper dive into Pastor David’s Sunday morning sermons, which has been amazing. In season 5, we are going to be taking a deeper dive into people’s stories. YOUR stories!

I know that not only do you have stories to tell, but you know of others in the church who have stories to tell as well—stories that could bless us greatly. My hope is that you (yes YOU!) will consider sharing your story with us this season. So please, if you have a story to share, contact me so I can schedule a time to sit down with you and hear how God has been at work in your story. You can also nominate someone to share their story.

Your story is my story, and they are all a part of God’s story.

God bless you!

Julie

Contact me: julie@DesertSpringChurch.com