{"id":1147,"date":"2019-02-10T10:34:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T15:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2019-02-16T06:17:28","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T11:17:28","slug":"ctpress-february-8-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/2019\/02\/10\/ctpress-february-8-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"CTPress February 8, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Everybody has a story.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the most valuable lesson I learned in seminary, and time and again in ministry, it has proven to be the case. Everyone has a story, and that story is filled with pain and grief, joy and triumph; high highs and low lows. In the  midst of that story, we find that God is at work in exciting and unpredictable  ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most powerful ways our stories are used by God is when we share them with others. In the not too distant past, we called these, \u201cTestimonies,\u201d  and they were meant to point to, or testify, to how God is at work in a  person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of us have been thinking and praying about how we can share our stories at Charles Town Presbyterian Church. Everyone of us has a story, and whether you believe this or not, people will be blessed by what you share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are calling this endeavor, \u201cFaithStory,\u201d and we are eager for people to share. FaithStories will be shared as part of the worship service. When someone shares their FaithStory, it encourages those who hear it, and it glorifies God. FaithStories can be very powerful and God works through them in ways we can\u2019t even imagine. We want to encourage anyone who is<br> willing to share their story with the congregation. This will happen in worship on a Sunday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have developed materials to help people prepare their FaithStory, and if you think you might be interested. please <a href=\"mailto:jbethard@ctpres.org\">email me<\/a>. I am happy to talk to you, work with you, and cheer you on as you share your FaithStory with your church family. It\u2019s tempting to think that no one wants to hear your story, or that you aren\u2019t polished enough to share your story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let me be the first to tell you that the opposite is true. We want to hear you, and you just need to be yourself when you share. I promise you, people in the congregation will connect with your FaithStory and find comfort and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what\u2019s your FaithStory? Will you share yours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">-Pastor John<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everybody has a story. This is the most valuable lesson I learned in seminary, and time and again in ministry, it has proven to be the case. Everyone has a story, and that story is filled with pain and grief, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/2019\/02\/10\/ctpress-february-8-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Faith-Story-1.jpg?fit=785%2C420&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}