S2S Roundtable: "S2S Books Anniversary, Europe Conference '25, Salt & Light, and Creel Cafe"

The one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Welcome to another Strength to Strength roundtable. Uh, we're—our goal is to, once a quarter, um, have these. We haven't always got that done. Our last one was back in August. And so today we're excited to, um, meet here as an admin team along with an invited guest, Phil. Welcome here. Um, it'll be—I'll be introducing Phil here shortly. Uh, and then later in the call, he'll be sharing, um, about a project he's involved with. Um, so yeah, the rest of us is the admin team, um, here at, at Strength to Strength. Um, our vision at Strength to Strength is this: inspire flourishing communities of faithful Jesus followers around the world.

Um, as we look at our destination, um, the big vision, the big why of this ministry, and it is that we want to see communities of believers. And part of our mission, uh, part of what we do is that, and is, is pointing people to those communities, to those churches. Um, and in the last year, there's been a, a, a big initiative, um, here with Glenn and, and some other brothers, uh, putting together a whole database of churches from around the world. That's called—that's at churchindex.org. Check that out. Um, but we also interact with seekers and, and, uh, help, and help them find churches. That's really an important part, um, of this ministry. So our mission, our mission statement goes like this: advance Jesus' kingdom by assisting the church in earnestly contending for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints through tackling thought-provoking topics, by stimulating candid discussions, and by sharing faith-building testimonies.

And we do this by providing multimedia resources, including podcasts, videos, books, and then, like I mentioned, and by pointing people to local communities of believers. So thank you for joining, um, here today. Um, thank you. Welcome to our listeners. Um, we're at the end of a year. Uh, and as we look back this year, we are amazed at how God has provided for this ministry and has enabled, has given us the privilege of, of partnering, uh, in a small way, uh, with what he is, is doing, uh, in the world. And so a couple of things we're going to look at today. We're going to, we're going to talk about our, some of our books, um, going on here.

We have a, uh, Glenn will be sharing about, uh, so a new book, uh, some, uh, courses that we're partnering with, uh, Salt, uh, Christian Ministries and bringing to the market. Uh, we're also, we're also doing a sale. We'll discuss that here shortly. Uh, and then Sam is going to be sharing about a conference that is happening in Europe. I believe it's called Kingdom Connect. Is that right? That's correct. Uh, Sam? Yeah. Okay. So it's like, it's like a Kingdom Fellowship. Um, some of our listeners have been to that, but it's a, a Kingdom Fellowship for Europe, uh, with Strength to Strength and Anabaptist perspectives and, and, um, sound faith that follows the way. There's been a lot of interaction with seekers, uh, or, and with, with Kingdom people in Europe, kind of a growing movement there.

And, and so this, this, uh, conference is going to be a way to kind of bring those together. There'll be some, there'll be speakers there, times of fellowship. Anyhow, Sam will be telling us about that here shortly. And then also, uh, yeah, Phil. So Phil is, if you remember, uh, a year ago, we did a walk the talk, spotlight on Kingdom work, and Phil there shared a vision for a cafe ministry in the city of Creole, Mexico. Uh, and Creole is, is kind of back in the mountains, as I understand, it's kind of the, the trailhead for the Copper Canyon. Um, and there's an Anabaptist church plant happening there, and they had this vision to start a cafe.

He's going to be updating us on that. Some exciting updates. Uh, I think that your cafe name is La Cosecha, right, Phil? Um, I love that name. It means the harvest, I believe, uh, in, in English. Um, so yeah, so we'll be, uh, he'll be updating us on that and, and sharing ways that you, um, can partner with this work there. And then in wrap up, uh, when we'll be sharing a little bit about our sacred roots series that we have coming. So that's kind of our, our, our agenda, um, in this roundtable, um, here. And so let's go ahead and jump into our books. So a year ago, um, here at Strength to Strength, we, we, we kicked off our first book, um, this book, Jesus and the Mennonites by Hector Troyer, forward by Dean Taylor.

Um, and we also had a, had an online store to accompany that. So it was our, it was our kind of a, almost exactly a year ago, we, we kind of brought this, uh, to the market, left our listeners know about that. And, um, and in that time, in the last year, we've sold over 7,000 books, uh, which includes all the books in the store, plus other books we published, uh, which currently stands at four. We had a book by Glenn Martin, um, um, called Righteous Lot, um, a really scholarly book. So take a chance to, um, read that if you can. And then we also had a, a children's book, um, by Sherilyn Shirk called You Are Precious in His Sight.

We sold lots of that one. Uh, people were using that for, for ministry work, uh, taking into foster, uh, agencies and schools and, and, and children's, uh, like Bible clubs and stuff like that. Uh, and then also the most recent one has, is the, is, uh, this book by Greg Weaver called A Great Nation: Rescuing Abraham from Dispensationalism. So those are our four books we published ourselves. Um, and, and then plus we have lots of other books, uh, on the store as well. So, um, Glenn, go ahead and tell us about this new, uh, Kingdom-focused finance, um, courses that we have, uh, that, that'll be coming out here in the next month or so. So, uh, go ahead, Glenn.

Sure. Yeah. So like you already mentioned, we do have courses coming available shortly. Uh, this is actually produced in collaboration between Strength to Strength and the SALT team that's part of Christian Aid Ministries. So together, uh, we are bringing this to the market shortly. Uh, they have been working on development for years on this. And, um, I'm going to maybe just, um, show you a little bit of what we have coming. Uh, there's actually a dedicated website for this that I'm going to share on my screen here right now. All right. So what you'll see here is the website for SALT books. And again, that's, uh, the website is saltbooks.org. And you can look this up.

But on this, uh, website, you'll be able to, uh, see what's coming there. The course consists of four tracks, and each of these tracks is to meet a specific audience. So track A is for those in chronic need, track B, local community, C, local church, and track D, young adult. So just as an example, let me just, uh, click on this one here, maybe for, um, for young adult.

And, uh, right here, you'll see that it's, um, um, a little example of that. Actually, Brian, would you want to hold up? I think you have a physical copy, uh, with you there. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Right here. Um, so Spiral Bound, I think this book is over 400 pages long. And this is a participant guide. Um, there's also, of course, facilitator guides as well for the facilitators of, of, of this, of this, of this, uh, course. Mm-hmm. Yep. Thank you. So, uh, like was already mentioned, there's those four, uh, tracks, and each one has a participant guide and a facilitator guide. And these are large books, uh, like Brian mentioned, about 400 pages on that one.

I think that's about the average of what they, what they run there. So, uh, yeah, that's going to be coming up here shortly. Uh, these are actually right now being shipped to us on a container. I have a picture right here of, uh, what that looks like. So we're going to be receiving these in the next, um, yeah, we're expecting probably the end of January. So you can keep posted on updates. If you go to saltbooks.org, put in your email address, and we will keep you posted when these become available. Uh, there's also a Telegram group, CloudVale group, that you can follow as well to get some updates on what's happening there. So yeah, we're looking forward to that and very thankful to the SALT team for their collaboration with us.

Sure. Yeah. So with, with, with these books, um, with, with the SALT team, what we, what we're doing, um, in partnering with them is, is helping raise awareness of this product, um, to our listeners and to the Anabaptist Kingdom world, um, as well as helping provide educational material. And so we'll be doing some videos, um, bringing on people who are using the, the, the courses to really kind of help develop an understanding of, of best practices. Uh, and so, you know, with SALT, um, which stands for, um, they said as an acronym, um, uh, Sustainable Accountable Lending Teaching Program, you know, they've been working in all other parts of the world for, for years, uh, helping people raise themselves out of poverty.

So it's very focused on investing in people and, um, helping people learn how to fish themselves, right? And so those same principles and methods have been incorporated into this, into these courses. So a lot of, a lot of experience, a lot of powerful stuff there.

Uh, I thought it'd be a, it really needs, needs translated into Spanish, so Phil can use it there in, in, in Creole.

Yeah. Okay. Glenn, thank you so much for that. Um, so again, we'll keep updating it on some of our main channels, but like we said, we have a, we have a website dedicated to these books. Uh, we'll also have those books on our Strength to Strengths bookstore as well. But because of, of, uh, really wanting to create kind of a, um, a center for information, for resources, for education around these courses, we developed this other website, and that was Glenn's work. So, uh, great work, Glenn. Um, okay. So we talked about, um, our, our new books, our SALT with Light. And finally, um, for the month of December, we're going to be doing a 10%, um, a discount, uh, on our store, um, for the, for the rest of the month.

So, um, if you don't have access to the internet, you can email us at contact@strengthstrength.org, and we can email you a, a flyer, um, for all, all of our books. So feel free to reach out to us there. Uh, also orders of $45 or more, um, get free shipping, uh, in the United States. Um, so that would, um, that's something we just offer, you know, across the board. Uh, Justin's there, our admin, uh, here on the call. He lives in Ontario. He actually stocks our books there, um, uh, and, and ships, uh, in Canada, uh, with which really helps bring down the cost of shipping. Um, so you can just hop right onto our store, place an order, and if there's a Canadian, uh, address, and then we just, you automatically get given those, those, those better rates.

Um, so please, um, um, use, use that, that resource as well. Okay. Um, thank you so much. Any questions for, for Glenn there on specifically on SALT and, and Light stuff?

Okay. Yes, go ahead. When do you, did you maybe you mentioned this, when do you think that this will be on the market? Yeah. So we don't have a hard date yet, but, uh, we're expecting maybe right around January 31, plus or minus.

Excellent.

Yeah. Okay. Um, all right. So let's just mention that, uh, we're, we're accepting pre-orders, so you can actually order today, and then we'll get it shipped to you as soon as it's available. Sure. And one of the things with, with, with these courses is we have some pretty, uh, significant, significant discount on packages. And so the goal really, um, with this curriculum was to bring it to market, uh, at the best price possible because we see people using it more, um, in, in possibly in groups. And so we have, we have, we have some pretty significant discounts there for, is it called packages, Glenn? Is that how, is it what do we use? Bundles. Bundles.

Thank you. Uh, bundles. Yeah. Mm-hmm. All right. Great. So Sam, uh, let's turn to you now. Tell us about the Europe conference. Absolutely. And, uh, are you going to buy us tickets to go to that?

I might pull some strings. We'll see. Okay. Uh, yeah. Uh, give us a little bit of a history, uh, of, of how this came together and, uh, talk a little, talk a little bit about it. Yeah, absolutely. So the Kingdom Connect planning is in the works, and we just had an in-person meeting here in State College yesterday.

Um, and a little history behind it is, um, through these platforms like Strength to Strength, Anabaptist Perspective, Sound Faith, Followers of the Way, um, through David Berceau's literature, um, there's been a lot of people reaching out over the years and, um, interested in the content, interested in, um, connecting with people who are humble, obedient followers of Jesus Christ. And so I think out of that grew a burden to connect these people. And our vision with this conference is to bring Kingdom Christians together in Europe for fellowship and encouragement by hosting a conference that brings, um, teaching, worship, enduring friendships. Um, the scriptures encourage us to comfort one another, edify one another, and bear each other's burdens.

And that's the heart behind this. Um, so it was born out of a desire to make these connections. And our prayer is to, that by bringing these followers of Jesus together, that we can be a catalyst for flourishing communities of believers all over Europe. And we plan to have times of teaching, lots of prayer times, worship, focus on, uh, making connections. We'd also like to have times of question, uh, Q&A and a lot of open discussion. Our goal is for attendees to go away strengthened in their faith and also knowing that they don't walk alone and hopefully make some good friendships that can be a blessing to the body of Christ as they go back to their home communities.

And the location and the specific dates will be announced, um, in January. And if you're interested in information as it comes out, um, we will have a website that will be live in a couple of weeks. So that'll be kingdomconnecteurope.com. And if you would like some information, feel free to send me an email at info@kingdomconnect, uh, sorry, info@kingdomconnecteurope.com.

So, um, again, the website will be, it won't be live for another two weeks or so, and that'll be kingdomconnecteurope.com. And then, uh, for information as it comes out, um, info@kingdomconnecteurope.com. Mm-hmm. Sure. Great. Um, so Sam, can anyone from stateside just come there? Because you, you could potentially have quite a lot of people coming, especially maybe another question too is 2025, that's the 500th year anniversary of the Radical Reformation or the kickoff of the Anabaptist movement there. Is that the reason you're doing it? Um, and, and, and yeah, so any, can anyone come and, and, and are you trying to put it next year because of that?

Right now, registration will be limited. It is our first time doing this, and we're not sure how many people will come from Europe. And, um, looking at locations, it seems like, you know, hundreds of people is not a huge option, um, depending on what kind of location that we find. So right now we're limiting registration for that. And if we do actually open it up, we'll make an announcement, um, if we open it up to just anyone registering. But I don't believe that'll happen this year for Americans or people on this side of the, the water. Um, but we would like a strong presence of, um, Anabaptist Kingdom Christians who, um, can make connections with people in Europe as well.

Sure. So your, what, what your focus is, is for the people of Europe, not for the people of North America. That's correct. And so it's not like you, you're, you're limiting registration from this side of the pond. That's right. You're saying, please, everyone in Europe come. And I understand too that you're really trying to make it as cost-effective as possible. That's correct. Yeah. Um, we're, we're working on that part of it right now. There might be a sign-up fee or a registration fee for that, um, but we have to work out some of those details yet.

And as far as it being the anniversary of, um, you know, the founding of Anabaptists, you know, from January, what was it, 1525. Right. You know, 500 years later. It just happens to be in 2025. Um, we probably will have one talk on history and kind of make the connection with who we are and with Anabaptist faith, but also rooted in the historic faith. So, so not stopping in 20 or, uh, 1525, but connecting it to the historic faith, um, because I believe the, the heart of the Anabaptists was connecting to the historic faith as well. Um, so it happens to be in 2025, and, uh, that's very interesting. I love history and Anabaptist history specifically.

So it will be great to be in Europe, you know, 500 years later, but that's not the, the focus of this event at all. Sure. Any questions for Sam here from the other, other brothers?

All right. Um, so Sam, um, boy, I was going to ask you a question and I'm forgetting what that was. Oh yeah. So Sam is, is, was, was asked by the Strength to Strength board to be the representative on that team of brothers who are putting that on. And I believe there's also a brother from Europe helping as well, um, putting this, making this happen. Um, and so it includes, yeah, for other ministries and churches and stuff like that, kind of working together to, um, see this happen over there. Okay.

Very well. Well, thank you for the update. Um, feel free, feel free to reach out to us, to our listeners, to us here. Um, if, if you want more information, but as you heard, there's the website coming. Um, if you're from Europe, um, and, and I want to, I know we have a lot of listeners out of Europe, um, consider, consider coming. Uh, I've been part of a Kingdom Fellowship weekend. There's actually one in the West now, Kingdom Fellowship West as well. Um, maybe there'll be a Kingdom Fellowship in Mexico, Phil, um, uh, a Kingdom Fellowship, uh, out, uh, Western Canada. I don't know. Um, but anyhow, uh, and, and this for 10 years, we've been part of that, my family and I, and it's, it's been a huge blessing coming together, um, to, uh, under the banner of King Jesus and his kingdom, and it has made for so many rich relationships, uh, from all around the world and across many different church groups.

And so I'm thankful for that. So exciting to see that happening. Uh, Sam, God bless you with your work there and making this happen. I know that you're, I think you're guys are kind of heading up, looking for a facility as well. And so if anyone, uh, any of our listeners from Europe, uh, have a facility suggestion, um, please, uh, let them know. So, all right, let's keep moving along here. Let's turn now next to Phil Rife. Um, Phil, welcome back here. I know that you, um, we always have an invited guest to this, uh, to our round table just to add some spice.

Um, oftentimes that guest is somebody who's connected in, in, in some way. Uh, I know that you are a listener of our talks and, and you, like I mentioned earlier, uh, shared on one of our walk the talk, um, spotlight in Kingdom work talks, um, a little over a year ago, um, on your dream for this cafe, uh, there. And so here we are, uh, a little over a year later. Tell us, tell us what, what's, what's been happening there.

First of all, thanks so much, Bryant, for, uh, for having me. You're welcome. It's a privilege to have you here. And, uh, first of all, I want to say that Bryant is, uh, part of Extend Cafes, and they have been a huge blessing in this journey. And so we have really been working closely with them. So a year ago, I shared about we were looking for a venue, and there was kind of, there was this, this abandoned property, the real sad history that came, that was, we realized was for sale, uh, basically next door. And it checked off, um, the list for location, uh, what we were looking for. And, uh, but it was just a really big, um, it looked really big.

And, uh, Extend came along beside us, and we were able to share, uh, here with, uh, Strength to Strength. And God provided in, in amazing ways. And, uh, the property is now purchased, and we're looking at the next phase. Um, and that is, that is actually fixing up the property, uh, sorry, fixing up the building. We've cleaned up the property. It needed a lot of that and, uh, fix up the building and, uh, do the build out of the equipment and get up and going. And so that's in a nutshell is, is where we're at since last year. And so God, God has opened doors. Some things have not gone as fast as what we thought, but when I look back, um, you know, over the past year, a lot has happened.

And so it's been exciting. So that's a little bit where we're at right now. Sure. And this property was not just a third of an acre. Uh, like, uh, in, in using acres measurements, uh, uh, how many acres was it?

Yeah. So it's, it's a, approximately a three-acre property. Okay. And so that made it, you know, we weren't looking for anything that big. We were looking for a building. And, uh, and, but it was all being sold as one. And so that was, um, you know, part of the, the deal. How do we make this work? And sure. But what, what that has done is that's allowed, um, some property that we can use for ministry purposes at this, at this point. Um, and so it's opened up some other doors as well. Mm-hmm. Sure. So you shared on here a year ago, um, about, um, this, uh, about, about this vision to, to purchase this property and rehabilitate, um, this, this old building that was used for some really dark, ugly things.

Um, and, and investors stepped forward and, and bought that property, um, there. And so now you have it. So tell us a little bit more kind of what's, what's been going on with that and, and some of the vision for La Cosecha Cafe.

Yeah. So, um, basically we have been, um, we've been working with Extend and Extend has brought in their in-house, um, Anabaptist, uh, financial advisor. So we've been looking to them. So what should the next steps be? How do we make this a, uh, a viable cafe? Um, we are, we are, uh, planning on, on making it a for-profit business. And that really comes from what Extend has, has, uh, encouraged us to do. And so how do we do that? Um, so AAF, um, their advisor has kind of laid out a little bit of a plan. And the other majority owner has, uh, has stepped forward and said, said, you know, I want to work together with that plan.

And he's put out a proposal. Um, and so basically we're laying out a brochure, um, that you'll be able to get if you go to Extend's website that kind of lays out the plan. It's a little bit, you know, too much maybe to share everything here, but, uh, and, and that's, so that's, that's what, what we're working at. So it feels like there's, uh, a just a great opportunity in front of us. It looks big. God's going to need to work, but we're excited to be at this, at this place. Mm-hmm. Sure. Um, so oftentimes, you know, kind of in a, in a, uh, quote, foreign mission, uh, mission work or missionary work, we tend to think nonprofit.

Um, but obviously I've been working with you, so I, I know some of this, some of the why behind this, um, what, but of why would you do a for-profit? Um, so could you talk a little bit about that, the, the for-profit idea here first for La Cosecha?

And then maybe, and even give us the vision too for, for, for the cafe. I would love to hear you share that. Sure. Well, I'll, I'll first, I guess, share the vision. Um, so our, our written vision statement, I'll share that, but then I'll, I'll expound on that just a little bit is to provide a third place for the community to, to relax, savor excellent cuisine, study, make connections, and search for truth.

And for our employees to feel honored and led towards growth. So that's, that's our written statement. It goes beyond that because our vision is also how can our family be involved in, in the community, in, um, ministry. And we see that as a way, um, they're very excited about what we're doing, um, a way that we as a family can be involved in the community, um, can, can continue to build relationships.

Um, and, uh, as far as making it, you know, for-profit, um, you know, I'm learning as I go, but I'm learning from, from you all as well. And, uh, and my understanding is that a, a for-profit business in the long term is, is much more sustainable. So it, it does, it takes a lot upfront, and that's kind of where we're at right now. But long term, um, there's sustainability, and, and that's really what we want. Um, so we'd rather, uh, do the hard work now and, and accept some help, but be able to be sustainable long term. Uh, it also makes us, forces us, and, and yet it is, it is our vision to actually reach into the community for employees and that type of thing where, where we're actually working side by side with the community versus maybe just taking volunteers from the states to, um, operate a nonprofit.

So it's, it's really, it's business as mission. Sure. And, and one thing too, um, that that does is it gives you a very authentic presence in the, in the community as a business owner. You know, you're here making a living just as your neighbor down the street.

Absolutely. That, that gives you a very authentic presence there. And then, um, uh, and then like I said, you can, you can, you'll be hiring local people to work there. And so it's very much of a, of a, uh, a normal relationship, which, um, in the long run, you, you can really go the distance with that. Um, and then of course you mentioned, yeah, so with a for, with a for-profit, yeah, bigger investment upfront, get rolling, but in the long term it becomes sustainable. And really, and often nonprofits are the opposite of that. Um, it's in the long run they require more funding. So, um, yeah, so you're, you're, you're headed toward doing a for-profit.

Um, so, so really, um, you know, you're, you're, why don't you just share a little bit here? Um, what are some of your needs there? Obviously financial need is, is, uh, is one of those. So feel free to kind of lay that out a little bit and then point people where they can go to get more information, um, on, on this.

Sure. So I guess we'd first ask that you, you pray for this because God has worked, uh, in amazing ways, um, ways that we, uh, didn't initially, you know, we wondered if it was possible, but here we are. He has worked. And so we ask that you, you pray that he continues to work as he sees fit. Uh, it hasn't all gone exactly as we thought. And yet we see God working in ways that we, uh, we, we wouldn't have imagined. And so, um, we asked you to pray for it. Um, and, uh, I would say that, you know, besides that, the biggest need is actually for funding to get the building fixed up. So I think I had mentioned we, we wouldn't have been looking for a project of this, of this size.

We were, we were initially looking for, you know, a small building, get started small, but it just felt like God dropped this right in front of us. It was a place that really needed to, we felt like needed to be redeemed. And, and, and God really gave us that vision and others have, have come on board with that. And so it is a bigger project than what we were initially, you know, looking for. Um, and so just, um, yeah, some financial help to get the building fixed up, to get up and going, um, would be a huge blessing.

Um, we have, have had numerous people say, hey, once you have the funding and you're ready to work, you know, that they'd like to come down and give a hand. And so we are hoping to have some volunteers. And I think we have, um, a fair amount that are interested already. Um, and so we're gonna, we plan to use some volunteer labor, some local, um, local contractors, and of course do as much work as we can ourselves as well. And so, yeah, that's, that's, those are some of the big, bigger needs right now.

Sure. Yeah. So the financial part. Um, so as, as Phil was mentioning, um, Extend Cafes, which, um, I'm, I own Sewers Harvest, my wife and I own Sewers Harvest Cafe. And in the last two years, there's been, uh, several of us cafes working together to start an alliance. Um, and this alliance is, is, uh, is focused on, um, new initiatives and helping equip them from, from bookkeeping to business planning to vision to culture to training, um, on how to actually, you know, deliver the product. Um, so, so that's, that's, that's been developing behind the scenes. And, uh, and, and Phil actually was one of our first clients, um, it's a for-profit alliance. Again, you know, the same, same, same thing there with Extend Cafes is a for-profit alliance.

So, um, so Phil's been one of our first clients that we've been, so we've been helping him along with, as he mentioned, an Anabaptist, um, financial advisor, uh, helping us, uh, business coach really helping us with, with that. Um, so, um, so it's been exciting to, to work with you, Phil, to see, to see this vision, you know, and actually, so yeah, um, see this vision lead out. So if you go back to our, our talk a year ago, there's like a 15-minute, um, section of that. Well, actually we'll link it here, um, on the website where this talk is, uh, and in the description, whether it's on podcasts or YouTube or wherever within Telegram, we'll, we'll, we'll put links here to kind of help you to go get more information, that initial vision that Phil lays out a year ago.

Uh, and then, um, over on our ExtendCafes.com website, you can go to, go to his specific cafe and there we'll have more information. We'll have a PDF that lays out the story, lays out some of the financial needs, lays out ways that you can give, um, on, on the Extend Cafes website. Um, there will also be some more, more information there as well. So yeah, so, uh, feel free to reach out to any one of us, um, uh, myself at Extend Cafes or, or Phil, uh, that information will be there. So Phil, thank you so much for sharing, um, here, for coming on here. Uh, you know, our, our vision is to see, uh, very faithful communities of Jesus followers.

And, and I, I, I, I believe that business is one of those ways that we do that is, is, is, is how we develop these communities and make them sustainable, um, and help, and help others, um, to do the, to do a kingdom business. Um, many people in your part of the world have never experienced a workplace where, uh, it has the, the culture of, uh, of Jesus, you know, of his, of his ways. Um, and so to, to see you preparing, preparing to do that, dreaming of doing that, um, is, is exciting. And it's been a, it's been a great privilege to, to partner with you. So any questions from Wendell or Glenn or Justin for Phil before we turn to Wendell here on, on our next series?

Okay. All right, Phil, thank you so much for, um, for coming on and sharing that. God bless you and your family, uh, in that hard part of the world, um, as you strive to, to be a light there. Um, I have no doubt that you and your family, uh, are and, um, we'll be looking forward to seeing how God's going to answer these, these needs here. Okay. Um, so back over to you. Yeah, over to you, Wendell. Um, tell us a little bit about Sacred Roots.

Hey, yes. So Phil, great, really good to hear what's, what, what's going on there. I, I love hearing that update and also for the, you know, the, the Kingdom Connect Conference and the Salt Book. This is, this is good to hear, but I'm just want to give you a little update on our Sacred Roots series. Um, this is ongoing and it's going to continue throughout, um, the, the next year, 2025. And so, yeah, it's Sacred Roots, rediscovering the ancient faith. And our, our line for that is humbly and lovingly rediscover the history of God's people in order to reground, renew, and re-tether our faith and practice.

So we've got some on, uh, upcoming talks on that. We have a talk on the, on why study church history. Hopefully that doesn't have a date attached to it yet, but, um, we have one by on the birth and growth of the church, a tour of acts by Finney Crevilla on December 14th. And that's actually an event with, with one in the afternoon as well, um, that Sacred Roots, the Apostolic era.

And then we have a talk by David Berso coming up, uh, Sacred Roots, why study the early Christians. So yeah, um, that actually was the one that, sorry, that already happened. I'm looking at this at the series here. Yeah, but yeah, no, we're looking, I'm looking forward to continue as we continue in this series. And this is, this is the year of 2025. It's, it's going to be, it's going to be 2025 shortly. Um, and it's, that is the 20, the 500th anniversary of the radical reformation, um, a baptism that happened in Switzerland, baptisms that happened in Switzerland. And, and it's seen as the, as the starting point for the Anabaptist, um, movement. And yeah, as, as a, as someone who's from that tradition, I've been really blessed being part of that.

And we want to use this opportunity to point people to the ancient faith and looking back even beyond 500 years back to, to Jesus and to his apostles and early disciples. So yeah, anyone have questions about that? Mm-hmm. Um, go on, go on our website, check that out, listen to the talks as they come out, and I hope you can be blessed and encouraged and challenged by it. Mm-hmm. Amen. Yeah. Thank you, Wendell, for that update on Sacred Roots series. Um, you might have mentioned this, but it'll probably end up being running into next year this time, probably till we wrap it up. Um, so we're still building it out as we go. And we do have several, several other brothers, um, who are advising us on that.

David Anderson from, from Boston. Um, he's a historian as well as, um, Stephen Russell from Faith Builders. So it's been neat to see those brothers helping us here, uh, on this journey, which hasn't been completed yet. Uh, I'm getting this set up. So, okay. All right. Well, it's time to wrap up here. Um, thanks to each one for joining us here. Thanks to our listeners. Um, thank you for our, your support of this ministry. Um, we are a nonprofit. Uh, we're a 501(c)(3) ministry. Um, and so there's been people along the way, uh, who've donated to this ministry to help it make it happen. Thank you to those who have. Um, and it is an option for you as coming to the end of the year to, um, donate and get a tax deductible receipt.

Also, as we mentioned, you know, we do, we're doing book sales. One of our goals is to see our books be, um, be, be part of funding this ministry and hopefully even making us fully supported through the books.

Um, so, uh, that's been exciting to see that happening. Like I said, we, you know, we sold over 7,000, 7,000 books. We weren't anticipating that. And so we're, we, um, continue to want to dream big, um, as we, uh, work on this. Good, good morning, uh, Phil Jr. Good to see you.

All right. Um, and yeah, so God bless you all. Thank you, brothers, for joining us here. To our listeners, go to our website, strengthofstrength.org. Um, feel free to email us at contact@strengthofstrength.org with, with any questions or input that you have. Uh, we just want to thank you for being part of this journey with us. And we want to especially thank God, uh, in his blessings, uh, in this year. All right. Grace and peace.

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.