Following Jesus was never meant to be something you add to your existing life. It was always meant to be a complete surrender. This is a look at what it truly means to make room for God, why syncretism is quietly weakening the church, and what has to change if you want to experience the life Christ actually created you for.

Jesus did not mince words when He described what it looks like to follow Him. In Matthew 16:24, He says: "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me." - Matthew 16:24
To the people hearing this, the cross was not a metaphor. They lived under Roman rule. They knew exactly what crucifixion meant. Jesus was not describing a minor lifestyle adjustment. He was describing total surrender. He goes on: "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." - Matthew 16:25
The Apostle Paul echoes this in Galatians 2:20: "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." - Galatians 2:20
When something is crucified, there is no surviving it. That is the point.

Syncretism is the blending of various beliefs, religions, preferences, and cultural influences into one. And it has quietly crept into modern Christianity in a significant way. It shows up when people build a faith that looks like Jesus plus something else. Jesus plus cultural values that contradict Scripture. Jesus plus other religious texts. Jesus plus whatever feels compassionate in the moment. The result is a version of Christianity that has been diluted to the point where it no longer points people to the real Jesus. Jesus made an exclusive claim: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6. That is not a statement that leaves room for blending. Christianity does not mix with other belief systems. The moment a cultural practice or personal preference conflicts with the truth of God's Word, the culture has to go.

Many people think making room for God means sliding a few things over on the shelf of their heart and adding a cross. But what God is actually calling for is a demolition. A clearing out. A complete emptying of everything that is not of Him.
To be a vessel that carries the heart of God, you must be emptied of all that is not of God.
When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10), you are giving God permission to come in and do a full remodel. You are not adding Jesus to your existing life. You are clearing out the entire space and inviting Him in.

Salvation begins at a moment, but it is not the finish line. It is the starting line. What follows is a process called sanctification, the ongoing transformation of your mind, will, and emotions to align with the heart of God.
Romans 12:2 puts it plainly: "Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." - Romans 12:2
Jesus prayed for this transformation in John 17:17: "Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth." - John 17:17
And James 1:21-22 adds a practical challenge: "Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves." - James 1:21-22
God works from the inside out. The Pharisees tried to look righteous on the outside while remaining dead on the inside. God is doing the opposite. He is renewing you from within, and that renewal eventually changes everything on the outside too.

1. Make Room for God
This is where it starts. Salvation opens the door, but daily surrender keeps it open. Every day is an opportunity to say, "God, I don't want mixture in my life. I don't want compromise. Remove what is not of You."
2. Make Room for the Church
There is a popular idea in Western Christianity that says, "I am the church, so wherever I go, I'm doing church." That is not accurate. You are a member of the body of Christ. The body, gathered together, is the church. You cannot reject what God has established in the local church and still claim to be the church. Jesus said He is coming back for His bride, and His bride is the church. Prioritize it.
3. Make Room for Other Believers
Smaller gatherings and community groups are not just a church program. They are where real transformation happens. When you open yourself up to relationships with other imperfect people, your insecurities get exposed, your preferences get challenged, and your capacity to love grows. Sometimes you show up needing something and discover someone else needs it more. When you lay down your need to meet theirs, God meets yours. Matthew 6 has been saying this all along: seek His kingdom first, and everything else will be taken care of.
4. Make Room for the Mission
The mission is the lost. And it will pull you out of your comfort zone. Making room for the mission does not necessarily mean quitting your job. It might mean staying in it. Your workplace is a mission field. Your home is a mission field. The grocery store is a mission field. God has placed you exactly where He needs you. The question is whether you are showing up with that awareness.

John the Baptist said it best in John 3:30: "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less." - John 3:30
The things that used to define you before Christ, your old ambitions, your selfishness, your need for control, those things have to decrease so that Jesus can increase in your life.
God is not asking you to lay down your dreams because He wants your life to be boring. He is asking because you do not yet have a full picture of what He can do with a surrendered life. The tighter you hold on to control, the further you get from the life He created you for.

This week, take an honest inventory of your heart. Ask yourself what you have been trying to make Jesus share space with. What belief, habit, cultural value, or personal preference have you been blending into your faith that does not actually line up with Scripture?
Then do something about it. Not just think about it. Do what the Word says.
Here are a few questions to sit with:

• What in my life has been taking up space that belongs to God?
• Am I following the Jesus of the Bible, or a version of Jesus I have shaped around my own preferences?
• What does it look like for me to make room for the church, for other believers, and for the mission this week specifically?
• What needs to become less in my life so that Christ can become greater?

The challenge is simple but not easy: surrender one thing this week that you have been holding onto. Bring it to God and ask Him to fill that space with more of Himself. Then watch what He does with a life that is actually cleared out and ready for Him.

Micaiah
Living in bondage under the influences of this world was never enough to stop the love of Jesus from reaching Micaiah! Jesus continued to chase after her and help her heal from her past. Jesus changed her life forever, and He can do the same for you!

If you can relate to Micaiah's story, don't hide in shame of your past! Run to the arms of the Father and find community that will help you in the hard times and lead you closer to Jesus. There is nothing you can do that can separate you from the love of Jesus. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

At CONVO we have amazing small groups called CREW to help you in your everyday walk of life while centering everything towards the Lord! No judgement, no shame, just welcoming with open arms like Jesus! To find more information and sign up for our CREW groups, visit our website! If you are looking for a church to call home, we would love to have you join us on Sunday mornings at 9am and 11am!

Reno is one of the most unchurched cities in the United States. Over 300,000 people in the area have never stepped foot inside a church. That number is not a statistic to gloss over. It is a mission field sitting right outside our doors. This post explores what the Bible says about why every believer is called to share the gospel, and how that calling connects to a simple but powerful question: how will they hear unless someone tells them?

The answer starts with Jesus Himself. In Matthew 9:35, we see a summary of His ministry: He traveled through towns, preached the good news, and healed people. But what comes next is just as important.
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.'" - Matthew 9:36-38
Jesus saw the need. He felt compassion. And then He did something remarkable. He started commissioning people to go.

Jesus did not keep the work to Himself. He gave authority to His 12 disciples first, then sent out 72 more. Each group came back with reports of what God had done through them.
"When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, 'Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!'" - Luke 10:17
Jesus responded by pointing them to something even greater than miracles. He told them to rejoice because their names were written in the book of life. The work was never about the workers. It was always about the One sending them.
And then, after His resurrection, Jesus made the commission universal.
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20
That commission includes every believer today.

There is a chain of logic in Romans 10 that is hard to argue with.
"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?" - Romans 10:14
Three questions. Each one depends on the one before it. People cannot call on God if they do not believe. They cannot believe if they have not heard. And they cannot hear if no one speaks.
That last link in the chain is us.

When the church pulls back, something else moves in. In Reno, that vacuum is being filled with psychic events drawing over 100,000 attendees, $75 sessions to contact the dead, crystals, astrology, tarot cards, and what are sometimes called New Thought churches. These are places that teach the principles of Jesus without Jesus Himself.
The deeper question people are asking is not whether God exists. Most people already sense that He does. The real question is: how do I reach Him? Through a Ouija board? Through manifestation? Through a zodiac sign?
We have the answer. The question is whether we are willing to give it.

One of the most encouraging things about real-world evangelism is how ordinary the people doing it are. People who had only been evangelizing for a month. People who fumbled through their words. People who were nervous and did not stick to the script.
And yet people gave their lives to Jesus. In Walmart. At a convention center. On the street.
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." - 1 Corinthians 1:18
The power is not in the delivery. It is in the message.

The harvest is real. People are searching. Many of them are exhausted from trying to be their own God, from carrying the weight of manifesting their own reality, from looking for peace in places that cannot give it.
Jesus said it plainly: "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28
That is the message people are ready to hear. They just need someone to say it.

Before any outreach event, before any conversation about Jesus, the first form of evangelism is how a believer lives their life. Many people who might otherwise come to faith have been pushed away because of how a Christian behaved in front of them.
Evangelism is not just a program. It is a posture. It is the way we carry ourselves every day, in every interaction, as people who actually believe what we say we believe.
The church growing in numbers while the surrounding community grows faster in the opposite direction is a sign that something needs to shift. The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. That gap is not closed by better programs. It is closed by believers who go.

God does not send us out alone. The same Holy Spirit that filled Jesus with joy as He looked ahead to what His followers would accomplish is the same Spirit available to every believer today.
"And these signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages." - Mark 16:17
The signs follow those who believe and go. Not those who wait until they feel ready.

This week, find one person outside your normal Christian circle and start a genuine conversation. It does not have to be a polished gospel presentation. Ask them how they are doing. Listen. Look for an opening to share what Jesus means to you. Pray before you go, and trust the Holy Spirit to bring the right words at the right moment.
The chain in Romans 10 only breaks if we stay silent. You are the link between someone hearing and not hearing.
Ask yourself these questions as you go into the week:

• Is there someone in my life right now who has never heard the gospel clearly explained?
• What is holding me back from starting that conversation, and is that reason bigger than their eternity?
• Am I living in a way that makes people curious about what I believe, or does my daily life contradict my faith?
• Have I prayed recently and specifically for God to send me to someone who needs to hear about Jesus?

The harvest is great. The workers are few. But you are already in the field. The only question is whether you will reach down and gather what God has already prepared.

Anna - God has transformed her life from carrying the weight of shame in her motherhood journey, to being held in the Savior's loving arms with grace! Jesus changed her life forever, and He can do the same for you!

If you can relate to Anna's story, don't hide in shame! Run to the arms of the Father and find community that will help you in the hard times and lead you closer to Jesus. There is nothing you can do that can separate you from the love of Jesus. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

At CONVO we have amazing small groups called CREW to help you in your everyday walk of life while centering everything towards the Lord! No judgement, no shame, just welcoming with open arms like Jesus! To find more information and sign up for our CREW groups, visit our website! If you are looking for a church to call home, we would love to have you join us on Sunday mornings at 9am and 11am!

What if the reason so many Christians feel powerless is because they are trying to fulfill a Spirit-empowered mission without the Spirit's power? God never intended for you to live the Christian life on your own strength.

The Holy Spirit is not a secondary or optional part of the Christian life. He is the very power source behind the mission Jesus gave every believer. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come upon people from the outside, enabling prophets and leaders to do extraordinary things. But after Jesus died and rose again, providing the perfect sacrifice for sin, the Holy Spirit could now dwell within believers, baptizing them from the inside out. This was a promise of the Old Testament heard about but never personally experienced. We live in that reality today.

Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28, calling His followers to go into all the world and make disciples. But in Luke 24, He gave a critical instruction first: wait for the power of the Holy Spirit before going anywhere. These two commands are inseparable. The mission and the power belong together. Speaking in tongues, often misunderstood or avoided, is a personal prayer language available to every believer for spiritual edification and empowerment. It is distinct from the corporate gift of tongues and interpretation described in 1 Corinthians 14, which is given to some for building up the church body. Paul himself said he prayed in tongues more than anyone, and he encouraged believers to do the same privately while using prophecy to build others up publicly.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time experience. Throughout the book of Acts, the same believers were filled multiple times. Like a glass that gets emptied as it is poured out, we need to be continually refilled. Common hesitations, such as feeling like it is fake, wondering if it will work, or feeling like the gift has been lost, are all addressed directly in Scripture. God is not a ventriloquist. He does not take over. He fills, and we respond in faith by opening our mouths and speaking. The call is to pray in the Spirit daily, stir up the gift consistently, and refuse to let the enemy minimize what God has freely given.

Today is a great day to stop settling for a version of faith that runs on your own energy and start leaning into the power God has already placed within you.

Many Christians reach a point in their faith where the version of God they have encountered does not feel big enough for what they are facing. That tension is not a sign of weak faith. It is often the beginning of something greater.

God did not stop at salvation when it comes to what He wants to give His children. The Holy Spirit, His gifts, and His power are available to every believer, and yet unbelief inside the church is one of the most significant barriers to experiencing them. Mark 6 reveals that Jesus was unable to do many miracles in Nazareth because of unbelief, and what He did accomplish there, a few healings, would be considered revival by many churches today. That is not the ceiling of what He wants to do. It is the floor.

The gift of tongues is one of the most misunderstood gifts the Holy Spirit offers, but it serves a real and powerful purpose. First Corinthians 14 describes a personal prayer language that edifies the believer, literally building up a dwelling place within them and tearing down old patterns and cycles that natural effort alone cannot break. Romans 8 reminds us that the Spirit intercedes on our behalf with understanding that goes beyond what our natural minds can access.

When believers stop settling for a minimum version of faith and begin asking for the fullness of what God has promised, something shifts, not just personally but in the communities around them. The pattern of the New Testament church, seen clearly in Acts 19 and the transformation of Ephesus, is not a relic of history. It is an available reality for the church today.

Whether you are new to the topic of spiritual gifts or have wrestled with questions about tongues and the Holy Spirit for years, this is a grounded, Scripture-based exploration of what God has made available to every believer. The invitation is open. The question is whether we are willing to receive it.

Are you ready to stop agreeing with the giants and start believing God for more?

Hope is one of the most powerful forces in the human experience, but it is also one of the easiest things to lose when life gets hard. What does it actually mean to have hope that does not depend on your circumstances? And what does it look like to face the giants standing between you and everything God has promised you?

Real hope has a source, and that source is not a feeling, a circumstance, or even a powerful moment in worship. It is Jesus Christ Himself. Hebrews 6 uses the example of Abraham to show that God's promises are not cancelled by delay. Abraham waited patiently, and what God promised came to pass. God cannot lie. It is not simply that He chooses not to. Lying is completely contrary to His nature. That means every promise He has spoken over your life is still standing, regardless of how long it has been or how impossible things may look right now. He is a strong and trustworthy anchor for the soul, and that anchor does not move when everything around you feels like it is falling apart.

The story of the twelve spies in Numbers 13 brings this truth into sharp focus. God had already told Israel they could enter the promised land. The spies were sent to scout it out, not to vote on whether to go in. Ten of them came back focused on the giants and convinced the entire nation to turn back. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, believed the report of the Lord and were ready to move forward. The consequences for the ten and for the generation that followed their fear were severe. An entire generation forfeited their inheritance because they believed more in the power of the giants than in the faithfulness of God.

Every promised land has giants in it. That is not a sign you are in the wrong place. It is part of the process. The giants may be personal strongholds, past wounds, or destructive habits. They may also be larger forces at work in your city or community, things like addiction, trafficking, corruption, or spiritual darkness in places of influence. God is calling His people to stop waiting on the sidelines and start engaging. You are qualified. Give your life to Jesus, get baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit, get the Word of God in you, and go. Isaiah did not wait for a detailed plan before he said here I am, send me. God does not always give you the full map before the first step. He asks for obedience, and He provides faithfulness every step of the way.

What does it look like to have God's heart for the city where you live? It starts with being honest about the giants standing in the way and having the courage to face them with bold, active faith.

In Numbers 13, God sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan. Ten came back paralyzed by fear, convinced the giants were too powerful and the walls too thick. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, came back ready to move forward. They had seen the same land and the same obstacles. The difference was not what they saw. It was what they believed about God.

The church today faces a similar crossroads. Sobering statistics reveal that only 6% of self-identified Christians hold a biblical worldview, and a significant portion hold beliefs that contradict the core of Scripture. This is not a reason to point fingers but a call to honest self-examination. A church that does not know the Word of God cannot stand against the giants of its time. Those giants are not abstract. They are real and present in every city, including addiction, suicide, the devaluing of human life, and leaders who champion darkness over truth. The level of peace in any city is directly connected to the spiritual engagement of God's people.

Three responses are possible when facing these giants. The first is doubt, letting fear of the enemy grow louder than trust in God. The second is indifference, a self-focused faith more concerned with personal comfort than the mission of God. The third is the Caleb and Joshua response, courageous and faithful, anchored in Matthew 6:33 and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Revelation 21 warns that cowardice heads the list of those who will not inherit the blessings of God. That warning was written to believers. The same God who parted the Red Sea and raised Jesus from the dead goes before His people today. No giant is too large, and no wall is too thick for Him.

There are real giants in your city right now. The question is which kind of spy are you going to be? Identify the giant you have been avoiding and take one step of faith toward it this week!

God has always had a heart for cities and communities, and He calls His people to reflect that same heart wherever He has placed them. In Jeremiah 29, God told the Israelites in exile not to simply survive until things improved, but to build, plant, invest, and seek the peace and prosperity of the very city they found themselves in.

That same call belongs to every believer today. A passive, privately-held faith that stays comfortable and disengaged is not the posture Scripture calls Christians to. History shows that when the church loses its fire and retreats from the world, entire nations that were once rooted in the gospel can drift into spiritual emptiness.

Jesus makes the calling clear in Matthew 5. Believers are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt that has lost its flavor is worthless. Light that is hidden defeats its own purpose. When darkness seems overwhelming in culture and society, the honest question is not why there is so much darkness, but where the light has gone? Romans 10 reminds us that people cannot call on a name they have never heard, and they cannot hear unless someone tells them.

Sharing the gospel is not the exclusive responsibility of a few gifted leaders. It belongs to every Christian, in every workplace, neighborhood, and relationship. God is calling His people out of comfortable, self-absorbed faith and into kingdom-minded living, where every city is seen as an outpost of His kingdom and every believer is sent as salt and light into the places that need it most.

God has placed you exactly where you are for a reason. Are you active and engaged, present but neutral, or absent and disengaged? The harvest is great, the workers are few, and God is not looking for perfect people. He is looking for willing ones!

Official Statement from Pastor Craig Dyson and CONVO Leadership:

In light of recent events where a church in Minneapolis was stormed and disrupted by leftist protesters and fake journalists, CONVO Church wants to clearly communicate our position and how we will protect our gatherings.

We strongly condemn any attempt to disrupt a church service for any reason. The purpose of our gatherings is to worship God, disciple believers, and share the gospel. These gatherings are protected by law, but even if they were not, we would not allow them to be interrupted.

More importantly, it is not a Christian virtue to tolerate unsafe, abusive, or violent behaviors. We protect the  environments for families and generations to worship together. Meekness is not weakness. Hateful and disruptive attempts will be met with swift and deliberate actions. We are committed to showing God’s love while also exercising strength and responsibility in protecting our church and people.

CONVO Church has an organized Safety Team led by law enforcement officers and trained church members who serve to protect our worship center and children’s areas, and to be first responders for emergency needs in the church. They are authorized to take swift, appropriate action to stop and remove any individual or group attempting to disrupt our services.

Firearms are not permitted in the building without authorization. Open carry is not allowed on church property except for uniformed officers or approved Safety Team members. Anyone wishing to legally conceal carry must first speak with a Safety Team member for approval. If you desire to be a part of the solution and protection of our church, then you need to complete ENGAGE and sign up for our Safety Team. Any law enforcement present, in the event of a disruption, may engage as a de facto member of the Safety Team and is permitted to take action with the existing Safety Team.

If a disruption occurs, we ask all members and guests to remain calm and follow instructions. Please do not intervene—allow the Safety Team to do their job.
We will not be intimidated or bullied. We will love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, bless those who curse us, and at the same time faithfully steward and protect our people and gatherings as we worship God together. The mission of the church will go forth.