We believe in the redemptive potential of humanity. We believe that everyone was created to be a kingdom leader. You see, no matter how lost someone might be, when they put their faith in Jesus, the grace of Jesus makes them a new creation. The spirit of God dwells inside of them. The kingdom of God is now within them. They've been given the keys of the kingdom. They're an ambassador of Christ. They've been anointed by the spirit of God. They've been sent by Jesus, commissioned to rule and reign with God. They become a kingdom leader. And because we believe this so deeply, we want to create a developmental culture in our church where people can practice the leadership calling on their life. We've always wanted to create environments, an atmosphere, a culture, if you will, where people can practice the gifts, the talents, the abilities, the things that God has entrusted to them in a safe place.

We want to raise up generations of hope carriers, and that's why Valley Creek is really a training center. It's a safe place where you can practice your gifts. In fact, if you look at how Jesus developed the disciples, he constantly sent them into places that were bigger than who they were. And he allowed them to try and make mistakes and practice. And then they would come back, and he would coach them, and he would celebrate them, and he would process with them and help them continue to grow in all that God had created them to be. And the same is true for us and our church, and we've done this for years. You see, 95% of our staff has been raised up within. We don't go get them off a church job board somewhere or find them somewhere on the internet. No, no, we want to make disciples and raise up leaders right here in our church. But not just for staff, for all the areas of life, to help even you become a hope carrier in the places that God has called you to go.

You see, what many of you will not know is that I was 29 years old when I stepped into the lead pastor role here at Valley Creek. And if I'm honest with you, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I had spoke maybe 10 messages in my entire life. I was never a student director, so I wasn't used to speaking in front of people, and yet, our church gave me so much grace and so much space and so much opportunity to work out God's calling on my life. Those early years, I preached some pretty bad messages. And yet, our church at the time was gracious and kind and encouraging to create a developmental culture for me to work out what God had put in my life. And that's who we are as a church. You see, these last two years of COVID, we lost a lot of developmental opportunities.

And so we're stepping back into a season of accelerated development, development culture where we're going to be raising up lots of new and young leaders in lots of spaces. And I just want you to be aware that this is what we believe and this is what we do. And so if you're ever around somebody who's developing in their gift, in their calling, in their space, there's three things I just want you to be aware of. One is just engage. If you see someone developing in their gift on a platform, leading a Circle, leading a team meeting, engage. Be what I like to call the first follower. Be the first person to go. Lift your voice. Engage your faith. Respond with encouragement and enthusiasm. Clap, sing, celebrate. And if you watched them struggling and you watched them trying and they're not maybe getting it just right, don't disengage and lean out. No, lean in. Encourage, celebrate, keep them going, applaud them along the way. Engage with your whole heart because that's you helping them grow.

Second thing is encourage. Be a great encourager of our people that are developing. If you see them lead a song, thank them for it. If you watch them lead a team meeting that they're new at, celebrate and tell them what you enjoyed about it. If you watched them leading a Circle for the first time and they've never done it before, thank them for giving their time and their talent and their abilities. Show them, tell them where you've been seeing them grow. Be a great encourager in a world full of discouragement. And then, be humble. Don't ever think that this is beyond you or beneath you. You might be incredibly successful in your area of life and you then might be under a leader here who's 25 years old and is figuring it out. You might have walked with God for 50 years and be really mature and be under someone who's growing as a really immature, young leader. But be humble and remember that God only served springs of living water through broken vessels.

So have a humility to know that God is doing something in you, and for you and through you in that moment. See what you are doing as part of a movement of hope for the city and beyond, because we are raising up generations of hope carriers. Come on, this is why in the Old Testament God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not the God of Abraham. Why? Because Abraham didn't keep it to himself and say, "I'm going to do it all and it's just about me." No, no. He passed it on to Isaac, who passed it on to Jacob, and they gave space and opportunity to practice, to be trained, to try, to grow, to fail, to be coached, to be celebrated, because that's the kingdom culture. It's a developmental culture. This is why Jesus says, "A student will become like his teacher when he is fully trained."

None of us are fully trained yet, and so we need a developmental culture where we are being trained, and shaped, and molded into the image and likeness of Jesus because we, by design, are raising up generations of hope carriers. And this is a training center where people get to work out their faith in a safe place where other people engage and encourage and humbly receive what God is doing through them.