Just in time for summer’s blend of work and rest, Redeem the Commute is starting a new series of daily challenges to help busy people restore life to the commuting lifestyle. This seven week series will look at the meaning and purpose of work, rest, and ancient practices that have helped followers of Jesus to keep the two in perspective and balance for centuries.
Redeem the Commute’s daily challenges are about being part of a community of people being challenged to live differently by following Jesus. Our daily challenges are meant to help, by following a daily and weekly rhythm.
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CloseRyan Sim - April 28, 2014
Monday - 2014 Status Update - Growth in Discipleship
Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges. Normally, we follow a weekly rhythm that helps us explore a different topic, and how following Jesus impacts that topic. This week’s going to be a little different. We’re going to be taking an opportunity to just see where we are as a community. Now, you probably know us as a mobile app and website for busy commuters, but we’re also trying to become a church community. As we explore what it means to follow Jesus as individual people engaged in a busy lifestyle, we want to make sure that we’re not completely disconnected from one another, and that even though we’re usually quite scattered as a community, we want to take time to gather as well. As a gathered community, we want to make sure that we are committed to some of the same things in common. That’s why through this week, this week alone, it’s going to be kind of a special week. We’re going to be looking at each of the things our community is committed to one by one, and see how we’re doing as a community, by hearing the stories of individuals who are a part of our growing online community or our in-person courses who are seeing their lives changed. We hope that will inspire you to see some transformation in your own life as well. Now, the five things that we’re committed to as a community start with being committed to growth in discipleship. We have some common content to learn together. We also want to be committed to God in worship, committed to generosity in our resources, committed to grace in our lifestyles and witness, and finally, committed to groups and community. We’re going to be looking at each of those points one by one this week. Today, the Monday, we’re going to start by looking at growth in discipleship. Each day, we’re going to tell you the story of somebody, a real person, who is in one of our courses as a community or engaging in our online content. The firs story we have is about somebody who came to us through our Christianity one on one course. After having discovered it online, and taken a few of the courses through the app, she decided that she wanted to come and try that in person when we offered a course in Whitby last fall. After the course was over, she met with me for coffee, and told me that she decided to do something really important in her life. Back when she was in her early 20s, she decided that she was an atheist. She very publically cut all ties that she had to the church, to her family’s Christian faith and to God himself. She made it very clear that she was an atheist now. She said after taking the Christianity 101 course, she decided she wasn’t an atheist anymore, and is looking for a way to make that public, just as public as she made her atheism back in her 20s. What happened? What made her say those words and decide to take public action declaring such a significant change? Why would she go back on her words like that, and risk the embarrassment of letting everybody know that she was wrong? Well, as a follower of Jesus, I believe that it’s the Holy Spirit who can grab hold of our hearts, and transform them to be open to hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit works behind the scenes, and sometimes very publically, in this kind of transformation in a story like the one I just told you. I’m sure the particular content of our courses had some impact, but through it all, the Holy Spirit was guiding, and directing, and teaching, and helping just open her ears to hear the good news, and opening her heart to actually be transformed by it. The Holy Spirit is behind every story of transformation that we hear from in the Bible or in life today. The Holy Spirit uses all sorts of resources in his work. That includes things like routine and just learning some habits of discipleship. One of those that we use in our community is this daily, weekly rhythm of discipleship that our daily challenges follow. Every Monday, we introduce a new idea. Every Tuesday, we study the Bible. Every Wednesday, we allow it to grab our hearts and transform us in some way. If we’re trying to live differently on Thursday, and Friday is our day of reflection, this whole rhythm and routine comes from the way monks and nuns used to order their lives as a community. Even if they were a part, even if they were traveling, they knew they were in sync with the rest of their community because they had this regular rhythm of prayer and learning that they were engaged in, whether they were gathered or in scattered mode. Now, the story I told you today is just one story that I happen to know because I met her in person, but there have got to be other amazing stories out there. What’s your story? We know that the mobile app for Redeem the Commute has been installed on mobile phones and tablets over 1,200 times. We know that hundreds of you are using and accessing our content each month. We’d love to hear from you and hear your story. How is God speaking to you? How is God’s Holy Spirit working in your heart, in and through the rhythm we’ve developed as a community, or through the content that you’ve been hearing, or watching or reading on Redeem the Commute? Well, I’d love to hear your story. There are a number of ways you can communicate that. One, come out and meet me at the Coffee Hours, or check the app or website live events listings to see when our next Coffee Hours are. It’s a great opportunity to just connect with me, tell me what you’ve been experiencing, see if I can have any help or advice for you. Another way would be to fill in some of the one-question surveys we’ve got going on right now. When you open the app, it’s going to be asking you a simple question. I’d love to hear your answer because we’re trying to get a bit of a read on our community, our people being transformed by the contents that they’re hearing. We’d love to hear what you’ve learned, and what questions you still have to see if I can help you find answers to any of those questions still. We’d love to hear if this is content that you’re hearing and exploring for the first time in your life, or maybe if you’ve explored Christianity before, and you’re just looking at it in a new way at a later point in your life. We’re not trying to become a church community that gathers together people from other churches. We truly want to become a community of people who are exploring Christian faith for the first time, and those who are committed to helping other have that kind of experience. We’d love to know if you’ve been part of a church community before, or if maybe this is your first time being part of a church community, outside of maybe attending a wedding or a funeral. Each day in this one-week series, we’re going to have a challenge for you to take on. Like I said, we’ve got some one-question surveys going on right now, where you can answer all those questions at once in the survey that you’ll find at the bottom of today’s challenge posting. Please, answer some questions for us. Tell us how we’re doing in developing as a community of people learning to follow Jesus, and how we can help you take the next step. Make sure you leave your email address, so we can follow up if you’d like a bit of coaching. Have a great time putting that into practice. If you are working with a group of people who are learning alongside you, maybe share with them your answers to the survey questions that we’ve put at the bottom of today’s post. Well, have a great discussion. Don’t forget, we’re reading the Bible in sync as a community. The way to really get connected in our community would be to take our parenting course that we’re offering just at the end of April. It’s going to be held at the Ajax Public Library, and costs just $50. It includes a delicious dinner each night for five weeks. You can find more information in the live event listings in the app or website. I hope to see you there. Bye for now.
Related Topics: Discipleship, Growth | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio
From Series: "Status Update"
Ryan shares some stories from Redeem the Commute users, and looks for feedback from others.
More Messages From Ryan Sim...
Thursday - Act On It - Disappointment | April 10, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Disappointment | April 9, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Disappointment | April 8, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Disappointment | April 7, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset Death | April 4, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Death | April 3, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Death | April 2, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Death | April 1, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Death | March 31, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset: Society | March 28, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Society | March 27, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Society | March 26, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Society | March 25, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Society | March 24, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset: Nature | March 21, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset: Nature | March 20, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Nature | March 19, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Nature | March 18, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Nature | March 17, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset: Compassion | March 14, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Compassion | March 13, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Compassion | March 12, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Compassion | March 11, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Compassion | March 10, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Family | March 6, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Family | March 5, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Family | March 4, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Family | March 3, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset Sex and Marriage | February 28, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Sex and Marriage | February 27, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Sex and Marriage | February 26, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Sex and Marriage | February 25, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Sex and Marriage | February 24, 2014 | Sex Is | Watch | Listen | |
Friday - Reflect - Reset Body and Food | February 21, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Body and Food | February 20, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Body and Food | February 19, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Body and Food | February 18, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Body and Food | February 17, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset: Work | February 14, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Work | February 13, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Work | February 12, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Work | February 11, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Work | February 10, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset: Money | February 7, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset Family | February 7, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset: Money | February 6, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset: Money | February 5, 2014 | O'Leary | Watch | Listen | |
Tuesday - Study It - Reset: Money | February 4, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset: Money | February 3, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset Time | January 31, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset Time | January 30, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset Time | January 29, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset Time | January 28, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset Time | January 27, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Reset: Goals | January 24, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset: Goals | January 23, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset: Goals | January 22, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset: Goals | January 21, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset: Goals | January 20, 2014 | TED Talk | Watch | Listen | |
Friday - Reflect - Reset | January 17, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Reset | January 16, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Reset | January 15, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Reset | January 14, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Reset | January 13, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Best of 2013 | January 10, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Best of 2013 | January 9, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Best of 2013 | January 8, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Best of 2013 | January 7, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - Best of 2013 | January 6, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - The Night that Changed The Wise | January 3, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - The Night That Changed the Wise | January 2, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed the Wise | January 1, 2014 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed the Wise | December 31, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - The Night That Changed the Wise | December 30, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - The Night that Changed You | December 27, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - The Night That Changed You | December 26, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed You | December 25, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed You | December 24, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - The Night That Changed You | December 23, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Study It - The Night That Changed the Poor | December 20, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - The Night That Changed the Poor | December 19, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed the Poor | December 18, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed the Poor | December 17, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - The Night That Changed the Poor | December 16, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - The Night That Changed the Powerful | December 13, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - The Night That Changed the Powerful | December 12, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed the Powerful | December 11, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed the Powerful | December 10, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - The Night That Changed the Powerful | December 9, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - The Night that Changed the Religious | December 6, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - The Night That Changed The Religious | December 5, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed The Religious | December 4, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed The Religious | December 3, 2013 | TED Talk | Watch | Listen | |
Monday - A New Idea - The Night That Changed The Religious | December 2, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Generosity in Resources | November 29, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Generosity in Resources | November 28, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Generosity in Resources | November 27, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Generosity - in Resources | November 26, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Generosity - in Resources | November 25, 2013 | Extra | Watch | Listen | |
Friday - Reflect - Grace in Lifestyle | November 22, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Grace - in Lifestyle | November 21, 2013 | 10 Comms | Watch | Listen | |
Wednesday - Change It - Grace - in Lifestyle | November 20, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Grace - in Lifestyle | November 19, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Grace - in Lifestyle | November 18, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - God in Worship | November 15, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - God in Worship | November 14, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - God in Worship | November 13, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - God in Worship | November 12, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - God in Worship | November 11, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Groups in Community | November 8, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Groups - in Community | November 7, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Groups - in Community | November 6, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Groups - in Community | November 5, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Groups - in Community | November 4, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Growth in Discipleship | November 1, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Thursday - Act On It - Growth - in Discipleship | October 31, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Wednesday - Change It - Growth - in Discipleship | October 30, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Tuesday - Study It - Growth - in Discipleship | October 29, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Monday - A New Idea - Growth - in Discipleship | October 28, 2013 | Watch | Listen | ||
Friday - Reflect - Becoming Like Family | October 25, 2013 | Watch | Listen |
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