Alright, hey, everybody. Welcome to Valley Creek. I am so glad you are here with us today, and you picked a great day to be here because today starts a new season for our church. Today, we start writing a new chapter together. Today, we move forward towards creating a future that doesn't exist. And so, whether this is your first time here with us or you've been with us for years, it is a great day to be here. Because today, we start a brand-new series, a brand-new season, a brand-new reality called Missional Move; Create the Future. Today, we take our first step towards creating a future that doesn't yet exist, together. And so, over the next six weeks, I'm going to try to unpack what's next for our church, where we're going, what we feel like God is inviting us towards this future that we see that's right here in front of us, that we can create together. So, my encouragement for you would be, it's going to be like one big message over the next six weeks. So, do everything you can to be here, because it's really hard to create a future that you're unaware of, and it's really hard to pursue a vision that you haven't yet heard or seen. And so, for the next six weeks, we're going to try to lay it all out together, because it's time to move on, in Jesus' name, and go create a future that doesn't exist. Because whether you realize this or not, COVID now is officially five years ago. Five years ago. 2020 to 2025, five years of your life has passed by. And whether you realize it or not, over those last five years, God's grace has been all over your life.

You may see it, you may be aware of it, you may be totally unaware of it, but God's grace has been all over your life in these last five years. You see, five in the Bible represents grace. In the Bible, numbers have meanings and significance, and five is the number of grace. One is the number of unity. Two is the number of division. Three is the Trinity or the number of God. Four is the number for the earth. Five is the number of grace. Six is the number of man. Seven is the number of completion. Twelve is the number of government or order. 40 is the number of testing and new beginnings. Numbers have meaning and significance in the Bible, and five is the number for grace. And you see it all over the place. When David goes to confront Goliath, he picks up five stones, the number of grace, to go defeat a giant. When Jesus feeds 5,000 people, he does it with five loaves of bread, the number of grace. When Jesus hangs on the cross, he gets five wounds, three, four, five, to release his grace into the world around us. There are five main sacrifices in the Old Testament to create the relationship between God and man, a picture of grace. When Abram and Sarai, who we just read about in our Old Testament reading plan together, experience an identity change, God puts the letter H into their name. H in Hebrew is the number five; it's the fifth letter, and they become Abraham and Sarah. And by grace, their identity is completely changed and restored. So, five is the number for grace, and I think it's incredibly prophetic that from 2020 to 2025, God's grace was all over your life, my life, and our church. Here we stand in 2025, and 25 is five times, grace upon grace. That's what John 1 tells us, that Jesus came to bring us grace in place of grace. And so, here we stand with five years of grace behind us, grace upon grace in 2025. And I'm just believing that the next five years, there's even more grace available for you, me, and our church. And I'm believing and I declare this over your life, that in the next five years, God is going to restore the years the locust has taken. He's going to do more in the next five as you walk with him than you could have done in these 10 by yourself without COVID. It's time to move forward into a new season of grace. But before we can move forward, we have to look back because, whether you realize it or not, the past shapes the future. We believe as a church and as a people that wherever we're going is better than where we've been. But before you can understand where you're going, you have to understand first where you've been. So, you have to look at the past because the past shapes the future. We learn from the past, we live in the present, and we look towards the future as a people. And whether you realize it or not, the past has created the present, and contained within the present is everything you need to create the future.

And so, sometimes, we have to look back before we can move forward, and you'll find this all over the Bible. One of the most often repeated phrases throughout Scripture is God telling His people, "Do not forget. Do not forget." He says it over and over again, "Do not forget. Do not forget. Do not forget." It's like God understands that if we're going to create the future, we can't forget our past. We have to remember who he is, what he's done, how he's moved, his grace in our lives, and who we now are because of that. So, he is constantly reminding His people to look back so they remember what has happened, so they have the faith to move forward into the new reality that's in front of them. In fact, when God frees the Israelites, and he's taking them to the Promised Land and he gives them the 10 Commandments, a new future that they get to live in, do you know what the first thing he tells them in the 10 Commandments is? It's not the first commandment. It's not "You shall have no other gods before me." It's, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." In other words, don't forget the past, because if you forget the past, you won't be able to create the future. Don't forget what I've done, because that's going to give you everything you need for what I want to do, to have the faith to move forward. So, God is constantly telling us not to forget what has happened. And don't misunderstand that and don't exchange that with what Satan wants to do as the great counterfeit. See, Satan wants to keep you trapped in the past. Satan wants you to remember the worst moment, the worst chapter, the worst paragraph, the worst sentence. He wants you to remember the shame, the fear, the brokenness, the condemnation, what was stolen, killed, or destroyed, so you get trapped in the past. No, God wants you to look back and remember the whole story, so you see his goodness and his grace, so you can move into the future that doesn't currently exist. And so, for us to move forward, we have to look back, which means I have to first tell you our story. I have to tell you our story because story is so incredibly powerful.

See, contained within story is origin and destiny. Contained within story is vision and values. Within story is culture, the ethos, the sacred, and the supernatural. Contained within story are the scars and the celebrations, the highs and the lows, the successes and the failures, the mountaintops and the valleys. Contained within story is the reminder that we are alive, and that there is a life to live, and we are a people in progress, and God is writing a new future with us, in Jesus' name. Story is incredibly important because story tells you who you are, what you are, where you are, why you are, and how you're going to get where you're going. Story tells you who you are, identity. What you are, what makes you up as a people. It tells you where you are on the journey. It tells you why you are, why you exist. And all of that frames how we're going to move forward together into the days to come. And this is why it's so important to not lose story because if you lose your story, you lose your identity. And if you lose your identity, you lose your future. If you lose your story, you lose your identity, you won't know who you are. And if you lose your identity, you lose your future. Why? Because who you are determines what you do. Identity determines behavior. So, if a family, a nation, a people, a kingdom, a church loses its story, it loses its identity. And if it loses its identity, it loses its ability to create the future. So, for us to create a future that doesn't exist, we have to know who we are. And to know who we are, we have to know the story that has made us who we are, in Jesus' name. And so, story builds life. Story reminds us that we are alive. And story creates the future that's in front of us. And movements run on story. We are a movement of hope for the city and beyond, which means a movement is a story written by thousands of people all at the exact same time. That's what a movement is. A movement is one singular story being written by thousands of people all at the exact same time. And whether you realize it or not, you're the one holding the pen to what the future of Valley Creek Church is going to look like. So, we have to know where we've been so we can know how to write what's next. You with me on all this? Okay, so what I want to do for the next few moments, is you can probably just set your stuff down and close your stuffs, I just want to tell you our story. I'm going to tell you the major moments of our movement. I'm going to tell you the major chapters of our story. And we've created this as just a way of declaring the story of a people called Valley Creek Church. 

You see, in 1992, Pastor Kevin and Lisa Evans left Lubbock, Texas, to come to DFW to plant a church. And they started this small little church in Lewisville, and through prayers, seeking God, spiritual warfare, radical mission, and passion, they started reaching people. And slowly but surely, this church started to grow. People started to come, and people's lives began to change, and they gave everything they had to create the reality that you and I enjoyed today. And over the next 19 years, the church grew, moved around, and met in five different locations until 2002, it moved out to this rural little country farm town called Flower Mound, Texas. Where there was basically only horses and farmers. And it felt like the church was so far off the beaten path that nobody was ever going to come, that's how far away it was. And over those 19 years, Pastor Kevin and Lisa gave their lives to make disciples and seek Jesus. And they loved people so well. And about 15 years into that journey, they hired a young leader from the North, a young leader that really didn't want to be in Texas, who wanted to go plant a church back up in the North. But he felt like God was inviting him to come and be a part of this for a season. And God spoke very clearly to that young leader who wanted to leave and plant a church and said, "Hey, will you serve me by serving Pastor Kevin? Because I can do more in two days than you can do in two years." And that young leader decided to listen to God's voice in his life. He stayed and served Pastor Kevin for the next two years. And at the end of that two years, he went to Pastor Kevin and said, "Hey, I think it's time for me to go and plant a church. Let's find somebody else to take this role." And if you haven't figured out who that young leader is yet, it's me. Pastor Kevin looked right back at me and said, "Well, I think I'm supposed to go to China as a missionary, and you're supposed to take over leading this church." And so, I was 29 years old, and on 10-10-10, the first weekend, we had Saturday and Sunday services at that time. I remember standing up for the first time, and in that moment, God whispered in my ear and said, "I just did more in two days, Saturday, Sunday services, than you could have done in the last two years on your own in what I entrusted and gave to you."

And so, at 29 years old, I had never preached. It's scary picking a lead pastor who has never preached before. And so, we had a really gracious church and a whole bunch of people that were willing to give me time, patience, and tolerance, and listening to a lot of really bad messages as I was learning to preach and teach as a really young leader who really didn't know too much what he was doing. And this was our logo at the time, it's a valley and a creek representing Valley Creek. And if you've ever wondered why we care so much about raising up young leaders, it's because that got infused into our DNA at that point. And if you've ever wondered why we talk a lot about taking next steps, it's because Pastor Kevin took a next step to China, and it set in motion a thousand next steps across everyone in our church because everybody had to move to a new time and a new place. And so, we didn't know what we were doing, but we weren't going to maintain the present, we were going to go after the future with everything we had. So, we decided to follow God. And we had this kind of ragtag group of leaders. We called it "a lot of just young, and immature kind of leaders.” We really didn't know how to do it. So, God kind of gave us this vision, this framework that we just simply call “follow the Cloud.” It came from the Old Testament, the Israelites, and the way God set them free from Egypt to the Promised Land. He just gave them a cloud to follow. He said, "This isn't really all that hard. Just follow me. When I move, you move. When I stop, you stop. Where I go, you go. If I go to the left, go to the left. If I go to the right, go to the right. Don't worry about what everybody else is doing. Whatever I'm doing, that's what you need to do." And that kind of became our mantra as a church, mantra as leadership. We just said, "We're just going to follow the Cloud. Whatever God says, that's what we're going to do. We're going to listen to his voice, and whatever he says is what we're going to do." And so, what happened is we really just didn't care anymore about what everybody else was doing. And make no mistake about it, when you're a young leader and a lot of good things are happening, everybody has an opinion about what you should be doing. And everybody had a voice about how we should be doing Valley Creek Church. But we really didn't care what those voices said. What we cared about was what God said. And so, when God said left, we went left. When God said right, we went right. Whatever God said, that's what we did. And what happened in this season is that a value for God's voice got infused in our church, that we don't care about the crowd; we care about the cloud. That we don't care about – if you've ever wondered why we don't care what everybody else is doing, it's because of this season. We don't care what every other church is doing. It's really irrelevant to us. We hope they're following the cloud for their life, but it ain't going to determine what we do. We're not crowd chasers; we're cloud followers. And so, we followed God and we listened to His voice. And as we started following God, we started to become people like aware that God is here, he's actually real. That this isn't religion or just a church event. 

And so, we became really passionate about God, and we had this thing in our heart, this dream that felt so radical at the time to be a worshiping church. We didn't even know what that meant. We just decided we are passionate about God's presence, so we're going to be a worshiping church. So, we just started to declare it, "We're a worshiping church." Now, make no mistake about it, at that time, we were not a worshipping church. Whatever you think is a really bad Sunday, like, "Man, the team was off today. There wasn't a lot happening," that was the dream in our hearts of what we could one day be. We were not a worshiping church, but we started to declare it by faith because Romans 4 says that God calls things that are not as though they were and gives life to dead things. So, we started calling things that were not as though they were, and God started giving life to dead things. And we watched as we became a people that started to learn to value His presence. And we started to say things like, "Hey, if you're so busy that you can't be here for the hour of service, don't miss the worship and just come for the message. Skip the message and come on time for the worship." Because it's the presence of God that changes us, it's not information and content. In fact, if I don't have a heart for His presence, I really won't be transformed by His Word, because His Word is His presence. And so, we became people of His presence. And as we made God's presence the focal point of who we were as a church, people's lives started changing, because God inhabits the praises of His people, and His presence is the greatest change agent on the face of the earth. And so, we went through a season, probably a three- or four-year season, where we grew by 50 to a hundred people a month. The people were coming and they were just being radically saved. And I would call it the "snot bubble season.” People would come up after service, they got snot bubbles flying out of their nose, and they're just going, "I don't know, I don't know. It just happened. I felt something in God, this is me." And at first, we were frightened. We're like, "What is happening?" But then we figured out God was wrecking people's lives and building them back up. And it was like week after week, the previous snot bubble person would bring their friend up, and the friend would be snot bubbling, "I don't know," and the friend would be like, "It's happening to them. What was happening – it's happening to them." And the presence of God started changing people's lives. And as we grew and people were being saved and changed, all of a sudden, there was a lot of people around here. And I remember calling out to God in around 2012, and just being like, "God, we need some leaders, man. You say “ask for what we need.” I need some leaders. Like there's just – we don't know, we just need more leaders." And I'll never forget when I heard God say, "I've already brought you leaders." And I looked around – I was like, "You seen these people snot bubbling? What?" And God said, "I've already brought them. You now build them." And if you've ever wondered why we're so big on leadership development, it's because God put a mandate on this family to spend their lives raising up a generation of leaders. That in this moment, we started to actually believe that every person has the ability and the calling on their life to be a leader in some capacity. We believe in the redemptive potential of humanity. 95% of our staff has been raised up within. While that may not mean much to you, here's what it means to me, organizations hire from without; movements raise up from within. Organizations, institutions, businesses, and religion has to go hire from without. Movements actually raise up people from within, whose lives were changed, and they can't help but live and lead in such a way that they create a future that doesn't exist. That's why that's such a big deal to us. So, kids' leadership, VCLA, student leadership, and all the things, it all started there.

And as we started developing these leaders and people were coming in 2013, we were out of space. Flower Mound, one campus, five services. I was literally dying, like physically dying. I blew out my voice. We were emotionally exhausted. We didn't know what to do. We did the best we could. Two on Saturday, three on Sunday. We gave everything we had. And in that season, God invited us to our first ever missional move, the biggest thing that we had ever done. And it overwhelmed me. Honestly, I didn't have the faith for it at the time. I never thought that we could be where we are. But God invited us to do three things. Acts 1:8, "You will receive power. You'll be my witnesses. Jerusalem, your city, Judea, Samaria, your region and ends of the earth." And so, we felt like God is inviting us to double the size of our Flower Mound Campus. So, we built a new worship center, which is what the Flower Mound worship center is today, the atrium, the kids' space, and all that. But just so you know, asterisks, at that time, everybody, everybody, everybody say everybody. Everybody told me as a young leader to build a giant worship center, a 4,000-seat, a 3,000-seat giant worship center, and put all your energy into the mega-church building. But we knew that we knew, that we knew that that is not what God said. And I cannot tell you how many days go by that that decision was one of the greatest decisions we ever made because it created a future that we would have never been able to do. Imagine taking care of a 4,000-seat worship center in COVID, that's how I would have felt. So we started Flower Mound, and then we also launched our Denton Campus. The reason we didn't build a big worship center is because we said we want to be a church that serves other cities and raises up and reproduces leaders. And so, Denton, in 2013, you were born. Before that, you were a dream in our heart, an idea in our imagination. In that moment, the future was created. Something that had never existed now exists. And that campus became a city on a hill, a light to a city. Thousands of people have been touched, changed, and transformed in the last 12 years of the Denton Campus's existence. And we didn't know what we were doing. You have no idea how radical that was. We're so used to video and technology and all the things. We were like, "Is anybody going to come? Can we – is this legal? Are we allowed to do this?" I mean, the amount of people that I – literally, they get up and leave services. I remember one of the first times we started using technology to be healthy, sustainable, and reach more people, a gentleman got up and he said, "I am ashamed that this is what this church has become." You always have to be willing to risk the present to create the future. And if we wouldn't have risked the present, we wouldn't have created the future, and Denton wouldn't have existed. And not only did Denton exist, but then we were able to launch a ministry school for church planters in New Delhi, India with our partner, Koshy. And because of that, more than 500 churches have been planted in India, Nepal, and the surrounding region, because we just took a next step.

And then, in 2013, everybody started just asking us, "Who are you? What is Valley Creek? What do you guys stand for? You're not in a denomination. You're not in a network." So, this was the question, "What kind of church are you?" Everybody asked me that. "What kind of church are you?" I hated that question. I'm like, "I don't know. Just come. That's the kind of church we are." "What kind of church are you?" But because we could never effectively answer that question, we decided, we're a Jesus-focused, Spirit-filled, life-giving church. That Jesus is the narrow gate that leads to an ever-widening life. That we're Jesus-focused, more focused on what He has done for us than what we have to do for Him. We're Spirit-filled, we walk in the character and power of Jesus. And we're life-giving, on mission to receive and release the life of God wherever we go. The logo was born, and then the reason it's green is because green represents life. We declared our identity to the world. And I don't know if that means anything to you. It means everything to me. See, that's not just a church logo or a brand or something that you've never even seen before. To me, that's divine. To me, that represents the supernatural. To me, that represents my entire adult life. To me, that's where I've raised my kids and I've experienced revelation with Jesus. To me, that represents the spiritual formation that I've undergone. To me, that's my best friends. To me, that's where I've watched God move, heal, restore, and bring transformation. To me, that's the body God has placed me in, the vine He's grafted me to, the field that He's planted me in. To me, that's not a logo or a thing; it represents an open heaven that has become the mission of my life. What does it mean to you? To me, it means everything, because it represents all of it. And as we moved forward and continued to grow and reach people, in 2016, we felt like there was an opportunity to take another missional move, this one called Breakthrough, to bring the breakthrough, the things God's done in our lives, into the lives of other people. And again, we did three things, we launched our venue campus, which was to help raise up and reproduce new leaders, and we started our Lewisville Campus. Lewisville, this is when you were born. Before this, you didn't exist. You were a dream in our heart, an idea in our imagination, and you are now one of the most amazing places in the city of Lewisville, serving a beautiful city full of hope carriers that are literally living as a harbor of a hope. It didn't exist. It was a future that God was just waiting for someone to say, "Who cares about the people in the city of Lewisville? Who's willing to go?" And we said, "We will go." And what was an old Kroger building where people bought groceries is now a beautiful harbor of hope, where a family on mission gathers every single week as a light to the world in the city around them. And we also started our Next Step Center next to the Lewisville Campus, and because of that, we started to become people who learn to listen, learn, and love to the needs of the city. And because of the Next Step Center, we became a church that doesn't just be a church in the city, not just a church for the city, but a church that literally serves the city, to seek the peace and the prosperity of the city. "To the place that I have called you" is what Jeremiah tells us, and we have literally touched hundreds of thousands of lives through what God has done through the Next Step Center.

And then, in 2017, the Three Circles was officially born, if you will, when “Follow the Cloud,” the book, was released. And this theology has changed our life. If you've never seen this before, I'm going to teach it in a few weeks a little bit deeper, but it's we receive His grace, we experience His presence, and we release His kingdom. Identity, relationship, purpose. And we would look at other churches, and man, they were people of grace, and they understood the grace of God, but they weren't passionate about His presence, and they didn't care about mission. And then we'd see churches that, man, they knew how to meet with God, but they weren't on mission, they didn't care about the city, and they really weren't all that interested in grace. And then we'd see people, man, they knew how to develop leaders, and they were on mission, but not by grace, and they didn't care about His presence. And we're like, "We're not any of those. We're all of them." The Father's heart is that we would receive His grace, experience His presence, and release His kingdom. That identity would lead to relationship, which would release purpose. That when I know I'm a beloved son, I'll run to my Father, and I'll spend my life releasing His kingdom. We are drawn by grace, not driven by expectations, beloved sons, as close to God as they want to be, ruling and reigning with God forever. If anything in this church has ever blessed you from a revelation-theological standpoint, it comes from this. This is the foundation of almost everything we do because it's the core of who we are and what we believe.

And as we moved forward in 2019, we started Missional Move; Hope for the City, and we changed our vision from helping people take a next step to being a movement of hope for the city and beyond. We wanted to double down, go from four campuses to eight, because we don't do anything small around here, really. If you're going to do it, do it. It's like, don't fight Goliath's little brother, just fight Goliath and call it a day. And we felt like God was inviting us to start a campus in Argyle, University by the UNT campus, Gainesville, and online. And so, God knew in 2019 that 2020, COVID, was coming. We didn't know. We went after it with everything we got, and we were able to acquire land in Argyle, land across from the UNT Welcome Center, Gainesville property, and online. And as we moved into COVID and that whole reality took place, in 2020, when everything was shut down, we were still embracing the unknown and advancing in Jesus' name, and we launched our Gainesville Campus. Gainesville, this is when you were born. Before this, you were a dream in our heart, an idea in our minds. We created a future that didn't exist, and the present you're enjoying right now was a future that somebody else created for you. The Gainesville Campus is amazing, and it is the largest church in all of Cooke County. It's changing people's lives. It is serving the entire Red River region, all because we were willing to embrace the unknown and give to other people who weren't ourselves. And then, in 2021, we launched the online campus and moved from just putting church resources online to actually being a campus and online people. This is when you were born. Before this, you had to just log on and watch by yourself, and there was a nothingness existence. But now, our online campus, we have people in Africa, Florida, Alaska, thousands of people all over the world living as hope carriers. Not just watching and consuming, but actually, this is their church, this is their family, and you have never met them. But every week, they do the exact same things you do. And we take for granted what we have access to physically. It's a little hot, it's a little cold, I'm a little tired, it's windy today. It's the perfect temperature and dew point, so I need to stay home and enjoy it. They give up their vacations to come fly here, to be in the room together in a community. And so, online campus, you are as much of us as everybody else in this place. In 2023 was the Hope Carrier Initiative, disciples of Jesus living on mission to change their world, areas of life, that you are a person full of the hope of Jesus, and hope influences. Hope leads. You're salt, light, and leaven. You bring taste to a flavorless world, light to pitch-black darkness. You make all things rise. And then last year, 2024, this is now officially a part of our story in a different way. Disciples of Jesus, doing the things that Jesus did so we could do the things that Jesus did.

Spiritual formation is now forever a part of our story in Jesus' name, and here we are. Here we are. 2025, here we are. That's a great story. Here's my question for you, when did you join the story? When did you join the story? Because if we're honest, a lot of us don't ever really want to listen to someone else's story, we only care about our own story. So, I get that. So, my question then is, where did you join the story? 2020? '23? You came to Gainesville for the first time, Lewisville for the first time, Denton for the first time? You were here and had to suffer with me in 2010? I don't know. When did you join? See, whenever you joined, you joined. And your present reality was a future that didn't exist, that someone else created. Someone else created a future that didn't exist that became the present reality that you got to enjoy when you joined. So, make no mistake about it, this story is now a part of your story if you're a part of these people. See, if Valley Creek has touched your life in any way, then Kevin planting that seed in 1992, that all this would grow into eventually one day, he created a future that wouldn't have existed. If my life, Colleen's life, has touched your life in any way, well, we gave up our entire young adult life and took massive responsibility as a 29-year-old. So, we tried to create a future that didn't exist, that became a present reality, that many of you were able to join into. If worship has ever touched your life, if a leader here, or if you've become a leader here, has ever touched your life, if the Denton Campus, if our theology, if Lewisville, if Gainesville, if somebody shared online with you, if the concept of a Hope Camp, just a different way, somebody else created a future that didn't exist that became the present that you got to easily enjoy. That means this story is a part of your story. See, so often, I think we want to live as individuals. We want to be isolated. We think we're lone wolves, an island unto ourselves, but there's no such thing in the Kingdom. You just think of the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Those guys could've been like, "We've got it. Like, we're the new covenant promise, poured out Holy Spirit. It just starts with us." But no, their story was shaped by the disciples' story, that was shaped by Jesus' 30 years of hiddenness story. Jesus' 30 years of hiddenness was shaped by Mary and Joseph's purity and obedience story. Their story was shaped by 400 years of silence and waiting on God. 400 years of silence was shaped by the return of the exiles. The return of the exiles was shaped by being exiled, by rejecting God. The exiles being exiled was shaped by the Davidic Kingdom. The Davidic Kingdom was shaped by the Judges in that season. The season of the Judges was shaped by Joshua taking the Promised Land. Joshua was shaped by the Exodus and the people being set free. The Exodus was shaped by Joseph being sold into slavery, going to Egypt, and ultimately becoming the number two ruler. Joseph was shaped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham was shaped by Noah saving the world with an ark, and Noah was shaped by Adam. So, no one gets to say, "Ah, it's just my story." As the people of God, we have our story. And your individual story, and my individual story, and thousands of people's individual stories come together at some point. And together, a movement is thousands of people writing the same story at the same time. We all have a pen in our hand, and the way we live determines how this story reads. And so, what if, wherever you joined, what if at the dot right before it, we as a people decided to stop? What if you joined at the Gainesville Campus, but in 2019, we decided, "We're good, comfort, convenience, and consumerism, it makes great church." What if you joined in 2016 at the Lewisville Campus, but in 2013, we're like, "We like our logo. We're good. We're going to consume. We're going to be comfortable. We like convenience, man. I got a good coffee bar here." What if, before we expanded the Flower Mound Campus in 2019, we just said, "We're good. We don't want to build space for other people." Here's what you think in your mind. You think, "Well, I would have just gone somewhere else. I would've ended up at a different church." Are you sure that would have happened? Because God says He knows the exact times and places that He puts us in this human history. And maybe, just maybe, God put you in this time, in this place, because He knew that He knew that you would need these people, with this theology, and these experiences, and this culture, in this location. And maybe, just maybe, if the people before you didn't created that future, you wouldn't have ended up anywhere. Or you would have stayed in your own doldrums. Or you would have stayed in your own comfort and convenience. Or you would have stayed in that lack of revelation that you've now experienced. But maybe, just maybe, God, in His sovereign grace, knew exactly what you would need for your family, your marriage, your children, your future, your vision for your life, your freedom with God, and your forgiveness, all the things that He invited a group of people to create a future that didn't currently exist, knowing that one point, it was going to cross your life. And right where it crossed your life, it was going to be exactly what you needed. That's a big God. And so, as we sit here together, we now get to decide, what is the future we want to create together? Because the past shapes the future and the past has created the present. And everything we need to create the future; we have in the present. And we have to remember this. And I think it's incredibly important to just stop and acknowledge what's in between each of these dots, all these little dashes. You say, "What are all these little dashes? What are they?" You know what's on all the dashes? All the things that no one wants to do. Like forgive people who hurt me. And be humble. And sacrifice and serve, submit and surrender, embrace the lordship of Jesus, pray, give, pick up my cross, deny myself, go when I want to stay, stay when I want to go, get up and participate even when I don't feel like participating, getting over myself. You know what's in all of these dashes? The hidden, mundane, routine things that nobody celebrates, but that actually make up a movement. It's all these little things. It's the little dashes are things like doing to the least of these, and therefore, it's unto Jesus. Like living a life in the secret place and seeking God even when it's hard. Like saying, "Because You say so, Lord, I will do it, even though no one is going to celebrate it or cheer me on for it." That's what's in all of these. And just so you know, it's the little things that create the future, not the big things. The big things are a result of thousands of people writing a story, faithful with the little things. And when we're faithful with the little things, to forgive and let go and love, be patient and give grace and deny myself, there's no telling the future can be created. So, I gladly and joyfully tell you our story because, the Psalm says, "We will not hide from the next generation the wonders our God has done."

So, I tell students and young adults our story, but I also tell you. Even if you're 80 years old and new with us, you are the next generation. And so, I tell you our story because, you don't know it, but now, it's your story. See, if you're here with us, I don't care if you came today and you want this to be – this is now your story. And guess what? Like getting adopted into a family, everything that belongs to that family now belongs to you. There's no asterisk next to your name. There's no like, "I'm part of the family starting in 2025 and beyond." No, you've been adopted into this family. So, all the revelation, all the realities, and all of the resources of this family are now yours. The only question is this, what are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with it? You either took this ground by faith, you're enjoying it by sight, I don't really care. But someone else created a future that didn't exist that every single person in this room, except Pastor Kevin and he's not here today but even he would tell you that this story didn't start with him. So, everyone one of us is enjoying the present reality that was someone else created that didn't exist. So, what kind of future do we want to create for other people? This is our story. This is who we are, our identity. This is what we are. This is what makes us up as a people. This is where we are. This is why we are, in Jesus' name. And that informs how we're going to move forward. And so, I know every one of you wants to know then, what's next? You're going to have to come back next week so I can tell you. Because I told you, it's one long, six-week message. Because you can't understand what I feel like God has in front of us if you don't first understand this journey. And so, here's what's going to happen in a few minutes when we let you out, everybody that's here that wants one is going to get one of these shirts. Now, it's a t-shirt, but it represents something. See, when you get this shirt, you have to receive it by grace. You can't buy this shirt. It's not for sale. You didn't earn this shirt. You can't perform for this shirt. You won't achieve for this shirt. You can't get two of them. And that's very prophetic, because you're only supposed to be deeply rooted in one church family. I don't wear two wedding rings. You are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not by works, so that no man can boast. Make no mistake, not only were you saved by grace, you were planted in the people of God by grace. You didn't deserve all this. You didn't earn all this. You didn't achieve all this. You didn't perform for all this. Neither did I. Just like we're saved by grace, we're placed by grace to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do, in a family that He knows needs us, and we need them to become who God is created and called us to be. So when you go and you take it by faith, and if you're like, "No, I'm not here," then don't take it because it's not a shirt to just wear. Literally it's like, "By grace, this is my story." And you know what's next for us? However, the people who wear these shirts live determines what the next story is going to read. Why? Because a movement is thousands of people writing the same story at the same time. So, how you live and how I live and how we live determines what will be after this dot. We can put the pen down. We're good. Comfortable, convenience, consumption. It's good. My life is good. I'm good." Or we can say, like, "All those who have gone before us, I pick up the pen and by faith, I write a great story, in Jesus' name." And I wear this shirt with this sense of gratitude, and I wear this shirt with a sense of humility, and I wear the shirt with a sense of belonging, and I wear this shirt with a sense of origin and destiny and sacred and supernatural and culture and ethos and vision and values, that there are highs and lows behind and highs and lows ahead. But I wear this shirt because I'm a part of something bigger than myself, and no longer am I hiding that identity from the world around me. You know why we do these shirts? Because when you go out in the city, you think the city is so big, it's so much smaller than you think it is. And when you wear yours and you bump into someone here and they see it, they don't say anything, but then they bump into someone there who wears it, they don't say anything, then they bump into the third person at school or at work or at a ball game and they're like, "Bro, what's that shirt?" "Oh, I don't know. I had somebody – I got it at Goodwill. I don't know. It's just this church I went to one time and they gave it to me." Here's the hope, "Oh man, this is something that I'm a part of that's changing my life and it's changing the world around me, and I would love for you to come and experience it." We're not inviting people to church. We're inviting people to the kingdom of God. That's what a movement of hope is. I don't care. It's not about church. I mean, I don't know how to say it to you any more ways than I do. It's not church, it's not religion, it's not a service, it's not consumer. I mean, it's the life in the Kingdom. A movement of hope for the city and beyond with a history, it matters. So, my hope would be that today by grace, you take it and you're like, "I'm taking this because I'm writing the next story," and I just want to keep declaring over some of you, your church hurts of the past, your church wounds of the past, your skepticism of the church, your own deconstruction of your faith. None of those things will get healed until you by faith say, "God has placed me here, so by faith I'm going to go for it with everything I got. 

It's 2025, it's grace upon grace." This is your grace upon grace. To say, "God's grace was with me, but I'm not going to keep talking about my last church, and when I was a kid, and why these people on social media, and all that." Like in Jesus' name, we got better things to focus on. That healing won't come by being a skeptic. The healing will come by picking up your cross, denying yourself, and say – like some of you, literally, when you go get that shirt, you should almost, like, there should be a sense of divine wrestle in your own soul, because it's not a t-shirt, it's a life. And so, when I take it by faith, I'm saying, "By faith, I even receive the grace of God to heal me from my past, and God to strengthen me for my future, and I'm taking an inheritance that I didn't earn. But now, all the revelation, and all the resources, and all the realities of a group of people on a journey with God, now belong to me. I got to believe that counts for something, and somehow, it's going to heal me. See, we have new people to reach. It's time to go seek and save that which has lost people, places, environments, atmospheres, areas of life. We have new encounters to pursue. You have not discovered the fullness of God yet. How deep, how wide, how long, how high is the love of God. He wants to fill you with the fullness of all of Himself. We have new leaders to raise up, to make disciples of all nations, and train up the next generation in the way they should go. We have new revelation to discover. Jesus says, "I have more to say to you than you can currently bear." I can't wait to hear what God wants to say. And there is a future to create that doesn't exist. "Call to me and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not yet know." This is our story. This is our past. This has created our present, and we now sit here, and we get to decide what kind of future we're going to create, in Jesus' name. May, by grace, this be the moment. We're done with COVID. We're done with deconstruction. We're done with being transitory. We're done with jumping church to church. "I'm a part of a people, and this is going to mean something to me because it means something to God." And so, we're going to treat it as sacred. We're going to go write the next story together. You say, "What's next for Valley Creek?" Today, you walk out and you pick up the pen, and next week, I'll tell you how we're going to try to write that story together. And however, each one of us lives, and however each one of us writes, will determine what the dashes and the dots after that look like. So, close your eyes with me. Come on, whatever campus you're at today, in Jesus' name, wherever you joined the journey, somebody else created a future that didn't exist that's become the present reality that you now enjoy. And so, in Jesus' name, I just declare over your life that today is the beginning of grace upon grace. Today is the day where you are a part of a people with a great story that has an even better future. Our glory days are not behind us. We're just getting started, in Jesus' name. As the world gets darker, the Kingdom gets brighter. So, we say, "Come Lord Jesus, come." Thank you for grace that saves us, and grace that changes us, and grace that places us in a people, in a place that will change our lives. I declare today is a day of healing. Today is a day of breakthrough. Today is a day where people who hadn't written anything pick up the pen, in Jesus' name, because they see their life as bigger than themselves, and we have a great future to create. So, Jesus, this is a Jesus-focused, Spirit-filled, life-giving people. We are passionate about your presence. You are our one thing, our only thing, our main thing. We say, "Because you say so, Lord, we will do it. We seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. We don't even care about the everything else." Let there be a movement of hope for the city and beyond. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.