Having been inspired by the 3SI Conference this past summer, the young adults of Church of the Resurrection (Asheville, NC) and Church of the Incarnation (Black Mountain, NC) have organized a monthly gathering. With plans to gather together to fellowship and simply enjoy one another’s company, they hope this gathering will fan into flame the gifts of God that are present in each of their lives. “Therefore I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind.”  (2 Timothy 1:6-7) Here is a photo from their inaugural meeting: a waffle social full of good food, good coffee, and lots of laughs. —Amanda E. Newcomb

This past Saturday, September 27th, was the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene’s devastating attack on Asheville and the surrounding region.  Flood waters, as high as 28 feet above flood stage, washed away homes, businesses and lives.  There was over one billion dollars of damage to the City of Asheville alone.  The storm cut off electricity, cell service, and most problematic, our water supply.  Asheville was without potable water for just short of two months.  Historic Biltmore Village and the River Arts District were most severely impacted.  Here is a picture from one year ago of the flood waters washing through Biltmore Village. Many churches and individuals in the CEC came to our aid, and for that we are eternally grateful.  We were able to set up a hurricane relief fund with the money you sent to Church of the Resurrection.  From those funds we distributed more than $22,000 to individuals and businesses, some of whom had no flood insurance.  There is still a tremendous amount of recovery work yet to be done.  The City of Asheville projects that we are probably five years away from full recovery from this storm. This past Saturday, members of Church of the Resurrection did a prayer walk through the River Arts District and Biltmore Village, lifting up the businesses, studios, and the individuals each of these represent.  The  historic Episcopal Cathedral of All Souls suffered massive damage.  Their hope was to be back in the building for Christmas Eve Mass this year.  However, as you can see from the photo below, there is yet much work to be done. Many of the restaurants in Biltmore Village suffered irreparable damage, like this Moe’s Southwest Grill.  Some, like the Starbucks at the entrance to the Biltmore Estate were completely washed away. Other restaurants, like the unique McDonald’s

After returning home from the Three Streams Ignited (3SI) Conference this past July, I was asked by several people to write about my thoughts afterwards. Usually when that sort of thing happens (confirmation of two or more), I find it easy to step up, and gladly.In this case however, there were a couple of problems: The first problem was that writing is not my preferred creative medium, and nearly all of my written contributions to the world, due to my previous career, take the form of 20 years-worth of police incident or investigative reports. “Just the facts”, in other words. It is impossible to do that here, so I’m starting way out of my comfort zone. The second problem was worse: I found it very difficult to wrap my head around the experience. If you were there, you may feel the same way. It was powerful. I will start by saying that I was very excited about attending the 3SI event for the full year leading up to it. From my perspective it began the year before at the 2024 North American Convocation in Orlando. The Convocation itself was an amazing week, and,following the last evening service of the week on Friday, the announcement was made that the 3SI conference was scheduled for July of this year. I have felt for quite some time now that there would be something special about the generation among us that has grownup in the CEC. The generation that has no memory of anything outside the CEC, as it pertains to their religious walk or experience. At the Convocation in the summer of 2024,it became clear that the Lord was moving within that generation. As soon as it was announced that night, I knew that I wanted to go. Not because I am from

In the summer of 2023, several of the young adults from Saint Michael’s Church traveled from San Clemente, CA to Italy for HOST Con. There they became inspired by the gathering of youth from across CEC Europe. As Christian McGrew, Jane House, Michelle Madison, Christian Harris and Emma Powers began to pray about what God might be calling them to, they felt distinctly called to create a gathering of young adults for the CEC NA. While HOST was focused on youth ministry, they felt called to reach their own generation of CEC young adults. These young leaders asked me to help them achieve this vision and I quickly recommended former CEC4Life Staffer, Sarah Neeley, to join us. For years, Sarah and I and several other leaders had been trying to create a conference just like this and we couldn’t be more excited to help. Listening to the 3SI team during those early meetings, a clear vision emerged: Within a couple of months, I had the opportunity to present this vision to the House of Bishops during the week of Bp. Brett Crompton’s consecration. The plan for the first Three Streams Ignited conference was to hold it July 16th-18th, 2025 at Saint Michael’s Church. The HOB unanimously approved the conference and the3SI team launched into planning. All throughout 2024, we planned and prayed for the conference. Each decision was made with humility and prayer; everyone was truly open to whatever God wanted to do. As the conference speakers and worship leaders became finalized, the excitement for God’s purposes grew. The worship band was such an incredible mix from around the country. Worship leaders from Nevada, Michigan, Maryland, New York, Alabama and California came together and began meeting to discuss God’s vision for the music of the conference. I write all this