Mark is the Lead Pastor at National Community Church in Washington, DC, as well as author of many fabulous books.
Mark Batterson
Heather serves as Discipleship Pastor and authors books too!
Heather Zempel
They both maintain blogs, which I follow (and actually read), as well as post sermons on their Church's web-site: http://theaterchurch.com/. I would encourage you to follow them too!
What I love most about Heather is her intelligence (although I love many other things,too!)! She is SO DARNED SMART! And she calls it like she sees it! Like it or not! She reminds me of another good friend - Michelle, if you're reading, you know it's YOU!!!
When she teaches, I learn things I never knew before! EVER! Things I never thought about! For example, I remember a sermon I listened to online concerning the passage in Jeremiah 29 - if you are familiar with the Bible, you know the verse: 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[b] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. So many of us (Christians) love to memorize that Scripture and pull it out whenever we "need" it (Which is a great thing - please don't misunderstand my point here). However, Heather mentioned the verse just prior to verse 11: 10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. How come I never read that?!?!?! It's immediately before the verse!?!??!?! Heather spoke about the suffering the Israelites had to endure PRIOR to the blessing! WOW! Maybe I would have to endure suffering too! That message gave me HOPE! (I sent a request to NCC this morning asking for the link to that message. I would like to listen to it again - and would be happy to post it on m blog if you're interested in hearing it too!) Here's the Link: http://theaterchurch.com/media/tears/tears-of-exile Thank you so much, Heather and Sarah!!!
Today, I saw Heather's name on a post from the Orange Leaders blog, here is the link: http://orangeblogs.org/orangeleaders/2013/12/27/when-christians-lie/ That message is what prompted this post today. I hope you will take a minute to read it too! I was blessed, as always!
