Sixty-five million adults in the U.S. have dropped out of active church attendance and about 2.7 million more are leaving every year. Faith After Doubt was written for the millions of people who are in the process of examining the relevancy of their faith in today’s world.

The Faith After Doubt Book Club is a four-week, ongoing discussion of the book’s premise that doubts are not the enemy of faith, but rather a portal to a more mature and fruitful kind of faith. We will take a careful look at the author’s four stages―Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony― to see if they might offer a path forward that can help sincere and thoughtful people leave behind unnecessary baggage and intensify their commitment to what matters most.

The conversation will take place on Zoom across four Mondays: August 1, 15, 22, and 29. Participants are responsible to purchase their book in whatever format they choose – here’s a link!

Facilitator bios

Rick Sims
Rick Sims has been a writing lecturer at UC Irvine for the past 10 years. He holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and a Masters in Poetry from UC Irvine as well. His passion, not so surprisingly, is book reading…and talking about those books with others. He enjoys good coffee, being a husband and a father, and thinking critically about language and its impact on how we see the world.

Ed Salas
Ed received his undergraduate degree in Intercultural Studies from Biola University. After graduation, he worked in the corporate world for the next 12 years and also studied at Fuller Seminary where he received a MA in Theology. For the last 31 years, Ed has served in the local church and for the last 17 years he has been serving at Newsong Church in Santa Ana, CA as the Spiritual Formation Pastor.

Pastor Ken Wilson continues to support us as we walk through experiences of loss during this season. These gatherings are a time for us to process grief together. Please don’t feel like you have to commit to all the meetings, just come when you can and get the care you need – the link to join is below.

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About Rev. Ken Wilson
Shortly after receiving Master of Divinity seminary degree, Ken and his wife Louanne served on the mission field in Latin America for 4 years. Upon their return to the US, Ken served as local church pastor and for the last 17 years served as a hospice chaplain and facilitator of bereavement groups in Orange County. As a member of Newsong for 14 years, Ken serves in a leadership role on the healing prayer ministry team.

If you want to hear the latest Newsong family happenings, we would love to have you join us on Zoom this Saturday. The Newsong Board and Leadership Team will be hosting this time full of news and inspiring stories – please RSVP below!

The past two years have presented some enormous challenges to our families, especially in regard to the mental health of our kids. Please join us for this crucial conversation on how the pandemic has affected many of our children and how we can help them to overcome. No matter what we’re facing, there are ways we can understand, equip & encourage our kids to thrive in their mental health right now. Let’s engage in this important discussion together!

Alexandra is a mother of 3 and a licensed Marriage Family Therapist. She is also a volunteer in Newsong Kids and a mentor to counseling graduate students. Her professional focus is treating a wide range of mental health disorders, familial problems, and relational issues within minority populations and marginalized communities. She loves going on family outings, DIY home projects, and watching documentary series.

Join us this Lenten season as we partner with CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) to reflect on our Orange County jails — the people living in them, the people running them, and the entire families outside that are punished when one of their loved ones is incarcerated. This 3-week online course will help us understand the current crisis, and how we can be part of making a difference.

The past few years have been full of nonstop tensions. Political tension, cultural tension, generational tension, racial tension, and the list goes on. These tensions have caused separation, division and have led us to what feels like a new depth of relational brokenness. I believe that we at Newsong were made for such a time as this. What if we hold the key the unlocking the antidote our world truly needs? The beauty of knowing. The beauty of empathy.

This Black History month gives us yet another opportunity to strengthen our minds and our hearts as we step into what it really looks like to embrace and love the margins. Join us for two online sessions led by our Director of Sound and Justice, Jalen Seawright, as we dive into discovering what the heart of empathy holds for us all.

Learning Cohorts are part of how we create community within our Online Academy. It’s also another way we get to partner with World Relief – they will be leading us through an amazing 3-week course called “Welcoming the Stranger,” helping us learn how to be a neighbor to immigrants and refugees in our community.

If you’d like to learn more about World Relief, please check out the November Forum through newsong.net/academy!

Newsong’s RECESS team is proud to partner with Dr. Nefta Pereda to host this workshop, “Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences.” The goal is to help to build self-healing communities – we’d love for you to be part of it!

Incense at the Throne of God is a three-part, virtual seminar that will examine the uniqueness, spiritual significance, and necessity of intercessory prayer in the rhythms of life and ministry for every follower of Jesus. Topics to be explored will include:

• Intercession: How it Works in the Unseen Realm
• Types of Prayer and the Uniqueness of Intercession
• The Profile of an Intercessor
• Understanding the Gift of Intercession
• The Four Types of Intercession
• Avoiding Flaky Intercession
• How to Keep from Becoming a Needless Casualty of War
• Prophetic Symbolism in Intercessory Prayer

When:

Monday, October 18, 7:00-9:00 PM

Wednesday, October 20, 7:00 – 9:00 PM

Saturday, October 23, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Incense at the Throne of God Presenter:

Ed Salas is the Spiritual Formation Pastor at Newsong Church, a multi-site international church based in Santa Ana, CA. Ed’s life and ministry was forever changed because of a seminary class taught by a pioneer of healing prayer, Dr. Charles Kraft. Ed is the author of The Praying Church, Discovering What the Heart Longs for Through Prayer.

Join us online as we study “He’s Where the Joy Is: Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity” by Tara-Leigh Cobble.

Pre-register below – we’d love for you to be part of it!

Questions? Please email: [email protected]

Join online as we exchange ideas and engage in the most important conversations of the day. Once a month, we’ll dive deeper into the Sunday message, discuss current events, and hear different perspectives on the issues that matter in our world. We need your voice to be part of it!