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Swagata Bergquist
Transcript One practice that I was exposed to growing up was, regardless of what was happening in people's life, they would drop whatever they were doing to be fully present with someone else. Like our neighbors attending to our needs when my dad spent months out of...
The Comparison Games We Play: Grace is the Thief We Need
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God's grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. As of 2023, the world’s...
Why We Fuss: And the Shocking, Unfair Power of God’s Provision
My favorite time of day is early morning. That might put me in the minority, but I look forward to that first sip of warm coffee as I sit in my little corner of the couch watching the light stream in through the windows. Now, on this side of having kids, my mornings...
The Lists We Keep: Another Way God is Not Like Us
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God’s grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. Fridays are the...
Kaelyn Larson: Testimony
I was trapped in my brokenness, seeking to be satisfied by what the world has to offer. I believed complete satisfaction would be met each weekend I entered the bars, drinking to my heart's content. Yet, I would wake up each Sunday with immense feelings of shame for...
Too Tired to Work Out My Salvation
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God's grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. I love routine. It...
Sovereignty of God
When I was growing up, there was a game released in 2000 called The Sims. The objective was to build a home and support a family. At the beginning, you first create your family. From there, your family is placed on a plot of land and as the player, you are to create...
Gender Roles
The conversation surrounding gender roles in the church has been an interesting one for me to consider because of the tension I’ve wrestled with regarding this topic, especially as a wife and also a woman who works in ministry full time. Until this year, I didn’t...
Breaking Shame Narratives
Shame. It’s a heavy word. One, when spoken out loud you can feel that “shame-like” feeling wash over you. It’s a feeling many have experienced and wish they hadn’t. Shame is a feeling that we, as God’s image bearers, weren’t meant to experience. Yet, because of the...
Grieving Unmet Expectations
Expectations. We all have them. Whether they are known or not, whether they are met or not. They can be sneaky and can reveal a longing, a desiring or a hope we didn’t know we had until that expectation was not met. Expectation is defined as the state of expecting or...
What is Discipleship?
In the world today, it’s said the average person is to observe roughly 4,000 ads a day. The ways in which someone experiences advertisement is through television, radio, print (newspapers, magazines etc), online advertising, social media and through apps on a...
Progression of Relationships
Relationships are a wonderful gift the Lord has given us in this life. He, in his all-knowing nature, knew that we need others, we are not meant to do this life alone. While relationships are a gift, they can also be tough. Change is often taking place in...