Tag: Presence of Christ

Day 1 :: Living Stone of RESPECT

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by David Newman, Pastor of Antioch Church in Countryside YMCA

Deep within the human heart is the strong desire to feel “Respected” and to give “Respect”. 

This word has become a core principle of the YMCA as we seek to build a culture where all can experience a sense of dignity and where “disrespect” is left at the door.

Perhaps, the greatest path to respect can be discovered within the foundational Bible verse of the YMCA, John 17:21

Those familiar with the history of the YMCA will know that this verse is carved in stone logos, printed on camp t-shirts, and painted on YMCA banners all over the world.

It is the prayer request of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Recently I was able to sit and pray in that garden where there is still an olive tree believed to have been planted around the time that Jesus was there.

Being in that garden, I reflected on the tender and tearful moment Jesus prayed for all of His future followers, “That they may all be one.” 

Jesus prayed for unity, and it is within the soil of it that a harvest of Respect can grow.

Unity, however, is something that is often desired yet difficult to attain.

So how do we shape a culture where a diverse group of people experiences the type of unity that grows living stones of Respect?

Jesus’ prayer reveals part of the answer – a deep connection with Him as the source of this unity.

A.W. Tozier illustrates this through the example of how to tune the instruments of an orchestra: if each instrument tunes itself to one another, they will never be in tune.

However, when the conductor strikes one standard tuning fork, all the musicians will tune the instruments to that standard, and then all of the instruments will be in tune with each other.

If we learn to love, serve and care, with Jesus as our standard, there will be a profound unity that occurs.

As we grow in our connection with Jesus, He becomes the source and the model of our unity, and out of this soil of unity can grow a mighty harvest of Respect!

“My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane [Gospel according to John, 17.20-21 NIV]

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion

Caring Like Jesus Where You Lead: Join the YMCA Online Devotion Series

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the onPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

You are welcome to join me for this 12 day spiritual journey – click here for the whole series!

If you’ve been looking for a new kind of devotion, or needing to get restarted in spiritual reflection, you’ll enjoy these short and encouraging meditations on being in the Holy Land, standing and walking where Jesus lived, and how that shapes our lives today, here.

You can subscribe to these devotions and receive them as an email by going to to timhallman.org and enter your email address into the subscribe box.

At timhallman.org you can also find a link to access the devotions through YouVersion or a downloadable PDF booklet; it was originally published on Pentecost Sunday 2021.

Download the YouVersion app and search for Living Stones devotional or click here if you already use it

The YMCA devotion series is inspired by the writings of Saint Peter, and his urging Christians to imitate Christ as we are built up into a holy and sacrificial calling to love, care and serve those God puts in our life where you lead at work, home and in the community.

“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like Living Stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

1Peter 2:4-5
Click here for downloadable PDF

Bringing Religions Together at the YMCA

One of the long-standing gifts of the YMCA in a community is bringing people of different religions and faith traditions together – in the gym, in the sauna, in the locker room, in the board room, in the playground, in the hallways.

Let’s keep embracing this opportunity, this responsibility, this calling to strengthen our religiously diverse association, to be the welcoming heart and hands of Christ in this global community.

I applaud the efforts of Christians in the YMCA to study and collaborate and suggest ways we could deepen our interfaith work and enrich our religious inclusivity.

It is necessary and crucial to us living out our Christian principles, it’s a way to stay faithful to the Paris Basis, our Mission, and our Constitutional Purpose.

Here is a helpful document that YUSA published in 2017 regarding an overview of diverse faiths of members and ideas on inclusive practices:

But: it assumes that someone else is nurturing an inclusive Christian personality and an inclusive Christian society that is ready to do interfaith work in a welcoming, gracious, in imitation of Jesus.

As a Christian Emphasis Director, it seems to me that an obstacle to more Christians participating in interfaith dialogue and events is their neglect of interdenominational and interconfessional participation. 

If we are disregarding religious folks that believe some key things different than us, but still regard Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, then it will be very difficult to take seriously the need to be understanding and empathetic to neighbors of other religions.

What can the YMCA do to encourage, nurture, even challenge its Christian members to embody the prayer of Jesus in John 17?

More Christians writing and working out practical ways we can embody The Beatitudes of Jesus, The Golden Rule, The Great Commandment, The Great Commission, with inclusive, gracious, hospitality will be helpful.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel According to Matthew that loving people that are like you, who can pay you back generously, is good – but doesn’t go far enough if you are going to love like God loves you; we must love our neighbors who won’t or can’t pay us back, we must love strangers, even our enemies – that is what God-like compassion, mercy and kindness looks like.

One of the long-standing gifts of the YMCA in a community is bringing people of different religions and faith traditions together – in the gym, in the sauna, in the locker room, in the board room, in the playground, in the hallways.

Let’s keep embracing this opportunity, this responsibility, this calling to strengthen our religiously diverse association, to be the welcoming heart and hands of Christ in this global community.