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Hi friends,

Have you ever had an experience so powerful it changed the way you see the world?

A few years ago, I had one of those moments on a mission trip to Havana, Cuba. For 10 days, I had the chance to visit Methodist churches across the city and met both pastors and believers who were living out their faith in a place where following Jesus comes with great risk. And yet, everyone we met was filled with

reat excitement for what God was doing. One Sunday, our group of 20 joined a local congregation for worship. Most of us didn’t speak Spanish—only the trip leader and I did—but it didn’t matter. As we sang, danced, and prayed with our Cuban brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit moved in ways that transcended language.

It was one of the most beautiful pictures of God’s Kingdom I’ve ever seen: people from different cultures, different languages, even different life experiences, coming

together to worship the One who heals and restores. As I reflect on my experiences in Havana, I am reminded of the vision who we are called to be at New Room—to be a reflection of God’s healing love in a hurting world.

in Luke 9:1-6, we read about Jesus sending out his disciples. He gave them authority to heal the sick, drive out demons, and proclaim the Kingdom of God. And then he told them to take nothing for the journey—no money, no bag, no extra clothes—just complete dependence on God.

That challenges me. What would it look like for us to live with that kind of trust? To step into broken and hurting spaces around us—not in our own strength, but fully relying on God’s power to heal and transform? The call of the Christian is to carry the light of Christ into a dark and broken world, and share the light wherever we find ourselves.

This is the kind of church I believe God is calling us to be. A place where people can come just as they are—whether they’re holding it all together or falling apart—and experience God’s healing love. Anyone can come and experience deep relationships with God and other Jesus-followers, and experience the transformative power of God.

As we dream about New Room being a place of breakthrough and transformation, we also need to acknowledge the reality of our community. There are approximately 80,000 people in Bloomington-Normal who are unchurched or dechurched. Can you believe that?

That means each of us knows at least one person who has yet to experience the power of God’s love. What if each of us prayed for and invested in just two of those people? Imagine what God could do in their lives—and in our city. I, for one, believe we will see lives transformed as we live out this call.

healing love means we’re also committed to serving our community in practical ways. We’re partnering with groups like Midwest Food Bank and Safe Harbor to care for real needs, like food scarcity and homelessness. And through our connection with the Global Methodist Church, we will help to support ministry and relief efforts around the world.

All of this is only the beginning. There is so much more that God wants to do through New Room, and I would love for you to be part of it. If being part of a church that is seeking to be a foretaste of heaven here on earth, that is reflecting God’s healing love to our hurting world excites you, I want to invite you to take a next step. Our next preview service is August 17th at 10:00 am at the BloNo YMCA. Mark your calendar and plan to join us for worship that morning. You won’t want to miss it!

And if you are passionate about reaching Bloomington-Normal, I want to invite you to mark your calendar for August 24th from 12-4 pm. We will be having an evangelism training led by Peter Lindell from E3. This event will be held at the YMCA.

The hope of the Christian life is to see transformation, not just in ourselves, but in the world around us. I am so excited to see the ways in which New Room will partner with God to bring transformation to our region and world in the coming years!