Hello, hello, hello and welcome to Joy City, a weekly blog and podcast, hosted by yours truly, Stuart Welch the Lead Pastor of Life Connection Church located in Modesto, CA. I want to invite you in, to join with an amazing community of friends that are quickly becoming an intimate part of my daily life. I am your host and excited to hear your stories and deliver great content that can change your life and truly transform as we celebrate the greatness of God and His presence in the every day moments of our lives. Knowing the Creator, the Grand Weaver of our lives is present with us and then leaning into that Presence can be revolutionary for many of us, so lets enter in to the City – Joy City.
You see, Joy City isn’t a geographical location, it’s a place where we find our joy and happiness in the kingdom of God, following hard after God and fulfilling the call of God in our lives. It’s a place that welcomes us all with open arms. In Joy City faith is all important, our trust and confidence in the ways, will and word of God. Let me hip you to this; Jesus never uttered and opinion, ha ha ha, He never guessed. He didn’t give us sound wisdom or keen observation like Solomon. Not at all, Jesus’ words are the essence of truth and when we adhere and follow them intently, we become stronger, healthier and joyful. Understanding that Christ overcame the world and for me and every other resident of Joy City, this brings great rejoicing.
Gerry Coates, Director of Global Engagement and Strategic Catalyst for Cross Cultural Collaboration on the Executive Leadership Team for the FMCUSA joins the show. Listen in as we talk "global engagement," "strategic catalyst," missions and so much more. Gerry shares so many amazing stories about how the Holy Spirit is still showing up in powerful ways and the exploding growth of the global church. He also shares his interactions with the FMC Bishops as well as how his wife and children embraced ministry callings. So many tremendous nuggets that I hope you will learn from and be able to apply as we all fight the good fight of faith to enlarge the Kingdom of God and lift the name of Jesus even higher all over the world.