The language that we use at Ethos for those that have committed to live on mission with us is the term FAMILY. Family is permanent. It’s not something that can be separated by distance or circumstance. Family is bound together by something unbreakable...someone unbreakable. We are bound to our biological families through the blood of our veins, but it is the blood of Christ that binds us together with our Ethos family. Those of us leaving to join God in His mission for the city of Seattle through Missio Church got to experience that bond this past Sunday night in a powerful way.
Sunday night was amazing. Don’t get us wrong, every time we gather and worship our Savior, it's beautiful. But as we gathered in the top floor of the Cannery this past Sunday, we got to experience something truly special. We saw a modern manifestation of Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”. Our cloud of witnesses continues on past those we read about in scripture. You are alive and present as we look around at our family here in Nashville.
As a team, Missio church has been preparing for our departure to Seattle for quite some time. Long before we had a name or even a city, Jared and Laura were pursuing the Lord and seeking His calling for the church they would one day lead. As the team began to form and the Lord started revealing the details of our mission, we never doubted his sufficiency. But never did we expect such an overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and encouragement from our family here at Ethos. We could never have fathomed the power that our sending off would hold. This blog is meant to be a glimpse of our overwhelming gratitude for the ability of you, our family, to posture yourselves in a way that allows the Lord to so powerfully propel His mission through each and every one of you. Today we’re grateful. Not just that the Lord has led each of us to be a part of this family at Ethos, but that he’s called us to get to step into a whole new city and invite a city of people into this same type of family. Into His family.
As we prepare to head off to Seattle in a few days, we find ourselves overcome with gratitude for the beautiful depiction of Christ we've gotten to see in our Ethos family over the past few months. For your sacrifice. For your prayers. For your financial support. For the outpouring of your gifts and skill sets. For all the words of encouragement. For being our mentors. For being our friends. For discipling us. For so beautifully displaying the characteristics of our father and showing us so well what it means to love like He loves. For all of these things and so many more that we’ll never be able to put into words, we say THANK YOU! Thank you, family, for loving us well, and more importantly, for propelling us to walk in the good works laid out before us. May we Love God, Love People, and Awaken a Movement in Seattle because of the way you’ve loved and sent us out.
With deep Love,
The Missio Church Team
The Missio Church Team
