Pruning and Purification

Encounter Online Provides Platform for Growth

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

The image painted through the words of Jesus in John 15 is one of growth— a deep inner work that produces a beautiful sweet fruit that reflects the goodness of the Father. This is fruit the participants in Encounter know well. In the Encounter community, any fruit reflects the strength and resilience it takes to endure the painful “pruning and purification” necessary to remain in relationship with Jesus and one another. This community exemplifies what it means to do the painful inner work required to stay connected to the life-giving, fruit-producing power of Jesus.

Encounter is a community of people seeking healing and hope through prayer, worship, testimonies, teaching, and support and recovery groups.

Encounter Online

Formed almost instantly out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Encounter Online provided the opportunity for many to maintain—or be introduced to—this vital connection to Jesus and one another. With meetings available four days a week via Zoom, participants were given the opportunity to step out of the painful silence of isolation and into community.

Through Encounter Online, hundreds of individuals were able to participate in Support and Recovery groups over the three-and-a-half months of in-home quarantine. A large number of these individuals, some of whom had never stepped foot in a Southeast campus, continued to stay connected as Encounter began regathering in the first week of July.

Encounter is a community of people seeking healing and hope through prayer, worship, testimonies, teaching, and support and recovery groups.

The success of attendance in the Teen Support Group, for example, is a result of Encounter Online participation. Students participating in in-person gatherings have almost all been connected via our online presence. A group that wouldn’t have developed otherwise has been formed and is creating space for community and friendship in a season where isolation is so easy to fall into.

Through Encounter Online, hundreds of individuals were able to participate in Support and Recovery groups over the three-and-a-half months of in-home quarantine.

Grasping onto Jesus

The stories of those seeking wholeness and healing through Encounter are all unique, yet they share the same strength and hope. As they grasp onto Jesus, they bravely allow the Father to work through community to remove the pieces of their hearts and lives that prevent the production of fruit. This fruit is the evidence of a restored life that is in deep and constant connection with Jesus.

Tana Tomes, an invested group participant in Encounter, has experienced more growth via Encounter Online than she could have ever imagined. Tana explained that, by its nature, group work brings light to the things in life that need to be pruned, through both insight and encouragement from other group members. To Tana’s surprise, Encounter Online provided a consistent and safe outlet for this type of growth. The pruning and purification required to remain in Jesus and produce much fruit is, for Tana and many others, cultivated deeply within the Encounter community.

Tana encourages anyone who is considering becoming a part of the Encounter community to get involved. “Just do it! Jump in before your thoughts convince you otherwise.” She challenges those who are actively participating in groups of any kind to extend an invitation, because that invite may be what connects someone else to the life-giving, fruit-producing, abundant goodness of the Vine, Jesus.

Learn More

To learn more about Encounter and to get involved, visit southeastchristian.org/ministries/care or text ENCOUNTER to 733733. You can also contact the team at care@secc.org or 502.253.8400.

Prayer Requests

• Praise God for the fruit He’s producing through the hard work of healing and restoration in the Encounter community.

• Ask God to provide protection and healing over each group member and facilitator involved in Encounter.

• Pray that those seeking healing and hope would not feel isolated, but would find community.

Catch The Wind

Acts 2, John 3:8

The Hebrew word for spirit is the word ruock, and in

the New Testament the word for Spirit is numa. Both

words have the root meaning of wind or a breath

of air. In John chapter 3, Jesus helped a religious

leader named Nicodemus understand how the Holy

Spirit works in our lives, and He said, “The wind blows

wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot

tell where it comes from or where it is going.”

If the Holy Spirit is the wind, then as a church, we

must individually and collectively answer what our

relationship with the wind of the Spirit will be. Will

we hide behind big buildings and closed doors, behind

traditions and tested theories? Will we place our trust

in that which we can contain and control? Or will we

choose another way?

The wind is what moves us. The wind is what directs

us. Wind can’t be contained. Wind can’t be controlled.

You can’t capture wind, wrap it up, and stick it in a

box. Wind blows where it pleases. The wind is not

especially concerned with our 5-year plan or our

strategic goals. The wind can come up suddenly

and it can change directions unexpectedly. All we

want to do is raise the sails and catch the wind.