Have you ever noticed that love can grow cold? It can be like bread that is just so delicious and warm when it comes out of the oven but if you neglect it for a few weeks it will be stale and moldy. One of the greatest things we need from God is His love. I don't mean simply His love for us, but His love released within us so that we can love Him and others.

Starting this Sunday and through November we will be doing a special campaign to raise money for a much needed elevator lift at Ren. The installation of a lift is quite costly and the best quote we have gotten was still about $30,000 not including construction and electrical. I'd like to see us use our collective force of generosity and just whip this thing. As a community last year we raised $150,000 to make the overall renovation happen. Wow. Let's do it again this Fall with passion.

There's no question that in recent days the Lord has been stirring the church. Many have been breaking down and getting a fresh passion for Christ. The last few Sunday gatherings have been marked by the palpable presence of God. There have also been an unusually large number of people to the point that we are ordering more chairs. This is a wonderful problem to have!

This letter from Pastor Scott followed his sermon on September 20, 2015 from the "Lavished" series called "Spirit". Listen to it here.

I know I'm writing to some who were present last Sunday and some who weren't. Since the start of the church in January 2003 I have never seen the moving of God so strong at a Sunday gathering.

I'm taking a break this week from my regular communication of all the Ren opportunities. Hopefully you know what's happening by now. If not, go back especially to my last email when I shared about the small groups, Refresh prayer, Q Commons event, young adult Bible study, the smaller Sunday 5pm gathering, Family Nights, Ren Youth and so on.

It's so exciting to see thousands of college students flood into our city at this time of year. Many of them are looking for spiritual nourishment and are searching for that perfect community to be a part of. At Ren we always see a swell of students come through the doors in September checking us out and we love it!

I love this time of year when the city comes alive with returning college students and everyone seems to get back into good routines. As much as I love summer, I'm always sort of glad when it's over.

As we start this new fall season we are also beginning a brand new series that I'm really excited about.

Our finance team just set up a brand new online giving system that gives a variety of options for giving.

My heart has been stirred in recent days over the great numbers of people who come and go at Ren.

This Sunday I'll be teaching on Colossians 3:9-11 which is a fitting portion of Scripture in light of the recent shooting in Charleston.

Since moving into the new space at 184 Broad I have noticed that our Sunday gatherings have been crowned with the presence of God. Theologically we know that God is everywhere and always present. God is always at Ren on Sundays. But as imperfect humans we experience varying degrees of awareness of Him. So what I'm saying is that there seems to be more and more of an awakening to the reality of God each week. There is a momentum building and each service seems to take us deeper into God's heart. It's very exciting and an answer to many years of praying.

With so many different people coming to Ren each week, one of my greatest concerns is how to unite everyone and develop relationships. I am constantly meeting with people to try to get to know everyone and hear your stories. If you are attending and you have not really met me I would love to get together with you. Sometimes people think I'm too busy to meet with them but honestly this is what I do. A huge part of my ministry is just meeting with people.

Sometimes I look around the city of Providence and wonder why so few people are interested in attending church. Even last Sunday morning I was driving down Broadway and observing how the restaurants and cafes and gyms were overflowing with people. It seems like most people would rather sleep in or just read the newspaper in a cafe than attend a church. It got me wondering why.

Dear Ren friends and family,

This week I'm not going to take the time to give you all the details of regular happenings. Hopefully by now you know that we meet Wednesday night at 7pm, Sunday at 10am and 5pm.

What is most on my heart is the spiritual health of the community.

We have been in our new building for about a month and each week we are experiencing beautiful outpourings of the Spirit. I have been overwhelmed at times at how tangible the presence of Christ has been during worship. I'm so thankful for the musicians who prepare passionately to lead us.

I'm still sort of floating that we are actually in our new building and everything is completed. We have our full certificate of occupancy with the city and are approved for gatherings of 500. Our first couple Sundays were smooth and I especially want to thank the dozens of volunteers helping to provide ushering, security, parking lot, prayer, coffee, hospitality, ministry to children, visual displays, and worship. It's so beautiful when everyone works together.

If you have not heard we are finally in our new location at 184 Broad Street and last Sunday was our opening day on Easter. We had close to 500 come to our services to celebrate and we sensed a special strong presence of God upon us!!!

Hello beautiful Ren community and friends. I'm sitting in one of the local cafes called White Electric and there is music filling the air that is I think the worst music I've ever heard. The coffee is amazing and the music is usually fine but today it sounds like a group of 20 teens who don't play instruments raided a school band closet and just started vandalizing the instruments. And someone recorded it. I'm not even hearing a melody. It's just straight noise and static. Maybe I'm getting old?

Someone once said, "the hardest part of faith is the last half hour." This statement strikes a chord with me right now as we are finishing up this extensive renovation.

Every February at Ren the window opens to enlist to be part of the Core (membership). The way membership works at Ren is that people join in February and commit for one year. Memberships expire on the last day of February each year and must be renewed.