Merry Christmas Eve, friends. Today is one of our most favorite days. Today, we have the opportunity to celebrate Jesus' birth. As promised, we are posting the Christmas Eve service from The Church of Eleven22, in Jacksonville Florida. We hope Pastor Joby's message encourages, challenges, and blesses you!

​Merry Christmas!

Week 3 of our series, Unwrapping Christmas is here. This week, Pastor Adam, calls us to consider how we think about Christmas; specifically how we think about Jesus. Sure, many of us would say, Christmas is all about Jesus and His birth. And that would be true. But how many of us stop there?

I mean, it's easy to acknowledge that Christmas is all about Jesus' birth, but how often do we dig a little deeper into who Jesus is and why he came and the significance of His arrival. Pastor Adam, leads us through Matthew, chapters 1 & 2, and hows us to see the Jesus who comes.

This week we flipped the videos and suggest you watch week 3's series bumper, Christmas from Costa Rica first. Then watch this weeks message from Pastor Adam.

This has been an incredible series, and we hope that this weeks message has both encouraged and challenged you to consider the significance of Jesus' birth. With week 4 and Christmas Eve both falling on the same Sunday, we will share the message, on Sunday, December 24th, in the afternoon. This way you can watch the Christmas Eve message on Christmas Eve. 

Merry Christmas!

​- jay

* THIS POST CONTAINS BOTH AFFILIATE AND PRODUCT LINKS,
​ALONG WITH LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THE POST.*

It's just two weeks before Christmas, and we are so excited!
We're getting ready for an incredible celebration. The kids are coming home, family is coming in, it's going to be great!
But as you can expect, with the joy of the season, we're dealing with the frustrations of life.
​Check out our vlog and catch up with Life in the Higham House!

It's a few days late, but here is week two of the Christmas series from The Church of Eleven22, Unwrapping Christmas. This week, Pastor Joby takes us to the twelfth chapter of Revelation, and walks us through the "behind-the-scenes" of Christmas. The birth of Jesus brings war and victory. Take the time to listen to this weeks message.

What a powerful message. Christmas and war. A battle that takes in the spiritual spaces. And a victory that  brings hope and peace. Check out the additional videos from Sunday's worship.

We love our church, The Church of Eleven22. This past Sunday, was the start of the Advent season, and week one of our teaching series, Unwrapping Christmas. Pastor Joby presented one of the best messages about Christmas and the gospel! It was a powerful reminder of God's love for us, His purpose and plan for sending Jesus, and what the gospel looks like.

This Advent/Christmas season, we want to encourage you to rethink your Christmas and to consider for yourself, this gift that God has given to us through His Son, Jesus. Take a few minutes and listen or watch Sunday's message, Christmas From Eternity, with Pastor Joby. We hope it helps to set your holiday season in the right direction.

* THIS POST CONTAINS BOTH AFFILIATE AND PRODUCT LINKS,
​ALONG WITH LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THE POST.*

Do you love where you live? Before you answer, let me phrase this a little differently. Do you love the community you live in enough to bring them to Jesus?

I asked this question in 2013, while we were part of a church plant in the Southills of Pittsburgh.

In 2012, we moved back to the Southhills of Pittsburgh. For the next year, we worked to connect with the community. Our kids were embedded. They were involved in the schools, sports, and friendships. We were getting to know our neighbors, the teachers, the coaches, and the parents of our kids friends. 

We moved there to lead a church plant. As part of this church plant, there was excitement and anticipation for what God was going to do with and through the church. The biggest part of our time working in the Southhills was how God gave us a heart for that community.

Now it's 2023, and we're here in West Virginia. And once again God is calling us to serve the community with live in. In last Monday's blog, Happy Thanksgiving 2023, we looked at Jeremiah 29. In the verses we read, we saw how God had called the Israelites to live where they were. Where they were was in exile. They were taken from their homeland and subjected to the rule of a king and kingdom that did not know God. But while the Israelites longed to be back in their homeland, God told them to stay put; to build homes, marry and grow their families, and work for the good of the community.

We've often encouraged our kids to, "Bloom where God Plants You." The idea being the similar to what we read in Jeremiah 29, "do life where I've put you."  That brings us back to our initial question, "Do you love where you live?" Or better, "Do you love the community you live in enough to bring them to Jesus?"

If you're familiar with the church we see in the early chapters of Acts, you find a church focused on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the neighbors around them and within the community. It was a ministry of love to their neighbors; from those who live next door, around the corner, two streets away, and even across town. There was a heart for the community, and at the center of that heart was a desire to share the Gospel.

As you think about your neighbors, your community, do you have a heart for them to know Jesus? Do you want to reach them for the glory of God? Do you want to see your neighbors come to know of God's love for them, His gift of grace, and the abundant life we were meant to live through Jesus Christ?

Do you want to see the church (your church) become a place of hope and healing, faith and forgiveness, love and compassion? Do you want to see people worship their Creator, not just on Sunday's while sitting in a building, but to live their lives to bring glory and honor to God in obedience? Do you want to see people who hear the Gospel of Jesus, receive His love and forgiveness, and become disciples of His word, growing in faith and spiritual maturity?

Do you want to watch as your neighbors discover their God-given gifts, then turn around and use them to serve those around them? Do you want those new family members to become ambassadors of the King? Men and women, students and children who speak truth in love, who make it their purpose to share God's love with others. Do you want to see a church be raised up with the desire to see the whole community impacted as they become the hands and feet of Jesus? Do you want to see a generation move forward into the world to change the world for the glory of Christ.

Christmas is a great opportunity to love your community. Not only is it a season where many consider attending a church, but it's also a season where many feel like they're missing something and begin looking for that something. We know that that something is Jesus.

In our church we talk about the, 'One More'. The question frequently asked is, "Who is your one more?" The idea is, we all have someone in our lives who we love and would love for them to know Jesus. They are your one more. One more to bring to Jesus.

Do you have a one more? Is there someone who come to mind about when you hear or think about the gospel? Is there someone that you are currently praying for? Is there someone you have been wanting to invite to church? Now is your time! Why not invite that person to church this Christmas season?

​Make this Christmas season a time of rescue. Bring someone to church with you!

​Merry Christmas!

- jay

I hope that this week's blog post have been helpful and encouraging for you. Mental and Emotional Health are super important topics for us to talk about. This series from The Church of Eleven22, has been so helpful for us.

Along with the three weekly messages from COE22, there are also three incredible podcasts that go deeper into the discussion. Deepen, is the weekly podcast that follows the weekend message, that allows the leadership to talk a little deeper about the topic. This podcast has been so helpful, especially with this topic of Mental and Emotional Health.

So here you are, three episodes from Deepen.