INTO THE WILDERNESS

Israel's sojourn in the wilderness is a paradigm for the human experience of transition. In this series, we consider the lessons, temptations, and experiences common to transition as we prepare for a transition between ministers.

A Place of Learning (Exodus 16)

As Israel enters the wilderness, one of the first challenges they encounter is hunger. God responds to their complaint by feeding them bread from heaven. Forty years of living on miracle bread teaches them humility, faith, and rest—things we all stand to learn in seasons of change.

A Place of Temptation

While Israel is in the wilderness, they are tempted to grumble and complain, to distort the past and the present by waxing nostalgic, and to reject their leaders. These same temptations await us in our own seasons of transition.

A Place of Encounter (Nehemiah 9)

Nearly a thousand years after Israel came through the wilderness, Ezra remembers that event in prayer. He remembers it as a time when Israel encountered God—when God was present with them, led them through the desert, and revealed himself to them.

The End and the Beginning

After ten years of ministry, our minister says goodbye.