Marty Coming to Great Britain |
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Marty will be on sabbatical this summer, and part of that will be vacationing to Great Britain. It’s been on their family’s bucket list and they are taking the time to make it happen. They’d like to tour England, spend a few days in Cornwall, see some castles in Wales (Marty is looking to find one from his adolescence in particular), as well as potentially drift up to Scotland.
They’re also looking for help!
Marty can do his own research, figure out public transit, see the typical sites, and so on. But he knows we have many BEMA listeners in the British Isles and all of this could be so much more fun with local friends! Marty would love to visit your local BEMA group and is looking for helpers who may get excited about showing them around the sites, sharing their favorite restaurants, and/or helping them navigate the details of lodging, travel, etc.
If you find this idea intriguing and you are in Wales, England, or Scotland, will you reach out? Marty would love to chat with you. (If you have friends or family in the area, you can forward this email to them, but please help us cut out the middle man by having them contact us directly if they are interested.)
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BEMA Israel 2024 (Low-Contact) |
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Once again, this trip is currently scheduled for March 23 – April 6 (subject to finalization). We’ll be celebrating the Resurrection “on-site”! See last month’s Messenger for a fuller introduction to the trip.
We expect registration to fill up quickly and move to a wait list, so be ready. Registration will be announced first right here on the Messenger, opening next month in May. While the BEMA Messenger typically goes out early in the morning, the May edition will be sent around 9 am PT. We do not yet know the day, but it will be no earlier than May 3, and probably within the first two weeks of the month. Please be ready if you wish to participate on this trip!
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What’s Happening Around the Globe?
Emma’s Story
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This is Emma.
She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and has found BEMA to be incredibly helpful and transformative for her walk with God. She wrote in after listening to Episode 98, titled “A Good Eye,” where the discussion revolved around the rabbinical understanding of ayin tovah—the “good eye.” Brent and Marty talked about how the rabbis (particularly Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount) encourage us to have a generous posture and outlook on the world with what God is doing. This paradigm is rooted in the same concept as “Trusting the Story” and believing in God’s good world and His good project.
Emma had struggled with chronic depression since she was 15. She had always struggled with Jesus’s exhortation to “not worry” and the ways that others would often reference it as a band-aid to anxiety. She was tempted to close off her heart to this episode, but decided to give it a fair chance. She was glad she did.
Rather than hearing the condemnation of not seeking the Kingdom enough in her anxiety, she was invited to trust the story and trust that God had made her good, even with her struggles. Those struggles are not a curse from God to be cured. They are, instead, ways she can invite God in to experience the transformation taking place in her walk. Whenever Emma is anxious or worried, she will often see it as an opportunity to turn to God and be reminded that His story is a good one. She’s learning to have a “good eye”!
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Marty, Brent, or Brian may be coming to your neck of the woods. Use the contact buttons at the bottom of this email and see if there is some time you can meet up with them or attend an event. If more information is available, we will include it below. Full details on the BEMA website.
APRIL 1–10: Solomon family spring break in southern Texas (details)
APRIL 14–16: Marty in State College, PA
APRIL 17–20: Marty in Colorado Springs, CO (details)
APRIL 21–24: Marty in Denver, CO (details)
APRIL 27–30: BEMA Team Retreat in Indianapolis, IN (no public events)
MAY 1–4: Marty in Indianapolis for an Executive Team Retreat (no public events)
MAY 27: Marty begins a 100-Day Step-Away to finish up his sabbatical time
Events have been scheduled through May. Updates and additional details will be posted as they arrive at bemadiscipleship.com/news.
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Marty’s Book Tour Concludes This Month |
Be sure to catch the remaining dates above for Marty’s first book tour. Asking Better Questions of the Bible: A Guide for the Wounded, Wary & Longing for More is out and available wherever books are sold. Order now.
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We are sharing links to the latest videos Marty is producing for those of you who don’t subscribe to his YouTube channel. (But please subscribe!)
We also have a new BEMA YouTube channel. As of this writing, we are adding some older sermons that we had linked in the show notes for various podcast episodes. They had become unavailable at their original source, but we have permission to share them and are happy to keep these resources at hand for those who want them. We will continue to use this new channel in the future as we develop more of our ideas.
And on that note, please pray for us as we engage in a planning retreat at the end of April. If you have not filled out the quick survey, listen to the first 5 minutes of episode 309 and then follow the link in the show notes for that episode. We are looking forward to where God is leading us in the coming years. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey.
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Published by BEMA Discipleship, in partnership with Impact Campus Ministries. |
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