Meet Lauren

We are excited to share that Lauren Lynah has joined our staff team as our new Administrative Assistant! Get to know Lauren by reading a little bit about her below.

What first brought you to Veritas?
My husband and I started attending Veritas Church in December 2023. My husband is in the military and we are currently stationed at Fort Liberty. We began looking for churches in the Fayetteville area online and we found Veritas Church.

Tell us about your role at Veritas.
Here at Veritas, I am the Administrative Assistant. I help new visitors connect with the church and assist with the Partnership process. I also perform office administrative duties enhancing the Pastoral Staff in ministry to the church and community.

What are some of your hobbies?
I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, reading, and taking walks.

What’s your favorite beverage?
My favorite beverage is coffee. I can not survive without it!

What is the last book that you read?
The last book I read was Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments. I also have finished reading the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers this year. I am currently reading Parenting by Paul David Tripp.

Local Partner Update from Emily Ruth Perry

Hey Everyone!

Many people have been so kind to check in and ask how my job transition to Inasmuch has been going. I thought I would give you all an update here. If you will indulge me for a little, I’m going to speak from the heart about this new journey. I also don’t want to overlook giving some practical updates on our Local Partners.

Drop in to see my new office at The Lodge!

The past five months on Inasmuch staff have been an uphill climb in all of the hardest and best ways. In the first month when people would ask how I was doing, I would say “it feels like I’m climbing Mount Everest” with the work load and weight from poverty-related relief and recovery. Right around that time, I hear about and began to read the book The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life. There has been a steep learning curve moving from my 8 years on staff at Veritas. Inasmuch demands a different level of fortitude, stability, and organizational leadership from me which has been humbling at every turn.

Craig Morrison, the Executive Director of Inasmuch, also warned me before coming on staff about a different level of Spiritual Warfare. I was slightly skeptical having had been in Ministry for so long, but he was absolutely right. I quickly got into the practice of listening to and physically mimicking the act of putting on and taking off the Armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-20) in my car. Working with people who have been living in and are living in extreme poverty has been equally uplifting, humbling, and frustrating.

There is a real spiritual maturity that comes when someone deeply knows the meaning of “give us this day or daily bread.” There also is a spiritual sensitivity for those who struggle with mental illness or substance abuse that make Spiritual Beings much more than an intellectual concept. I’ve had some of the most rich and deep bible discussion of my life with the men in the Lodge. I’ve heard prophetic words and seen miracles among the breakfast family members. I am also continually seeing how much I have taken for granted and been given in my life. It is only by God’s grace that I didn’t end up in the same shoes as many of the people who come to Inasmuch.

While I often see and experience the beauty of God’s Kingdom on the Inasmuch campus, there is still so much work to be done. We need to continue to build our the structures and networks to offer real life-building skills and opportunities for the men at The Lodge. We are working on a comprehensive Neighborhood Development Plan so that the area can be safer and less drug-and-crime-ridden.

To return to my two metaphors, it often feels that we are climbing a mountain and fighting a battle at the same time. We climb together as a team, fight the good fight, and then hopefully build a little fortress to hold new ground. It is exhausting and precarious work. Chaos, heartbreak, and disappointment come often, but the work is so meaningful giving up is not an option. I’m in awe of my new co-workers and colleagues who have been in this field much longer than me. They’re teaching me survival tactics.

I could tell countless stories of how the Holy Spirit is moving, but I’ll share just one. Bernard has been in the Lodge for a few months. He is wonderful. He deeply loves the Lord, and has been discipling other men in the Lodge. One day, I wanted to see if he was interested in getting connected with Perspectives, the course that Veritas will be hosting in the Spring. He gave me a funny look, said “hold on” and walked back to his bunk. When he came back, he was holding the Perspectives course book. I asked “where did you get that?!” He said “I found it on a shelf in the Lodge and thought it looked interesting. I’ve been reading it.” I laughed, took a picture, and send it to Brad Criswell. Earlier that week we’d had a conversation about how we could get Inasmuch connected to Perspectives, and God was one step ahead of us. Brad has connected with Bernard, and he’s now part of a Prayer Team in preparation for the course.

I wanted to be as honest with you all as possible about this work. If after reading all of this, you’re interested in climbing this mountain and fighting this good fight, please call or text me at 412.414.9227. We have plenty of volunteer opportunities to get you connected with (see the update on our Local Partners for more details.) If your life doesn’t have the bandwidth to volunteer, but you’d still like to meaningfully contribute, consider becoming an Inasmuch Monthly Sustainer. Our goal is to have at least 1,000 Sustainers by the end of 2025 of at least $21/month or more.

Best and Blessings,

Emily Ruth Perry

Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Church,

A small group of women and I have spent the past 10 months reading the Day-by-Day Chronological Bible published by the creators of the Christian Standard Bible. I’m being 100% genuine when I say that reading the bible in this way has been so impactful for my overall comprehension of God’s story! You should know that some people in this group have been studying God’s word for a couple years, and others have been studying God’s word for a couple decades. No matter how long each woman has been reading the bible, a constant remark within our signal chat is how helpful this tool is for reading the bible in its own context.

Let me give you an example of ‘reading the bible in its own context’. 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles often provide different accounts of the same historical narrative. The prophetic writings are letters of warning about God’s impending judgment if people refuse to repent, and they are promises that the Lord would provide deliverance for his people.

The publishers of this bible have put 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33 together in one day’s worth of reading. These two chapters tell the same story of a King named Manasseh who leads Israel into idol worship, in effect making Israel liable to God’s judgment. God sends this King into captivity into Babylon, ultimately waking Manasseh up and spurring him on to repentance. 2 Chron 33 says that he returned to Jerusalem and removed the places of idol worship that he had set up.

In the next day’s reading, we read the book of Nahum. At the time of King Manasseh the prophet, Nahum, was prophesying to both the Jewish exiles who were in captivity and to the Assyrians. Nahum shares that God’s judgment will fall on Assyria, and Nahum also shares God’s ultimate plan of salvation for his people. Imagine the relief that God’s people must have felt after hearing that God intends to rescue them!

Now, if we were to just open up the bible to Nahum, we would probably need to do some digging to figure out when this book was written and who it was written to. Could we blindly read Nahum and still be led to worship God by its words? Of course! This is the word of God! However, because of the structure of the chronological bible, we are already familiar with Nahum’s context because we have just read it. The prophecy becomes even more rich and impactful when we are anchored into its biblical context.

This is just one example of many, many beautiful connections. The creation story uses Genesis 1&2, John 1:1-3, and Psalms 8&104. Most of the psalms are sprinkled into the stories of King David from 1&2 Samuel. The gospels are organized so that we read all accounts of the same stories during the life of Jesus. Reading the bible this way is truly a worshipful experience.

A couple of months ago, I asked the publishers of the Day-by-Day Chronological Bible if they would be willing to let me use their plan to read through this bible with our whole church in 2025. Keeping it real - I didn’t think publishers were real people. I fully expected to send my request via email and never hear back from anyone.

That is not what happened. Holman Bible Publishers quickly and earnestly gave me their permission to use their plan with our church. So, guys! It’s happening! We are going to spend 2025 reading chronologically through God’s word together as a church. We will provide the chapter references for you on a handout that will be published every 6 or 8 weeks, and I want to highly encourage you to join us in this bible reading plan.

My prayer for us is multifaceted. I pray that we will all see that God’s word is one cohesive story that tells us who God is and how he is redeeming his people to himself through the saving work of Christ. I pray that this bible reading plan would make us into a church who knows and loves the word of God. And finally, I pray that reading this plan together helps us to disciple one another into holiness. Will you plan to join me?

Sincerely,
Samantha Metheny
Director of Operations

Meet Olivia

We are excited to share that Olivia Taylor-Garcia has joined our staff team as our new Facilities Manager! Get to know Olivia by reading a little bit about her below.

What first brought you to Veritas?
I was brought to Veritas almost 6 years ago by a neighbor who invited me. I had never attended church before and I didn’t grow up religious. At the time, they were preaching through Exodus and it seemed as though God was speaking directly into my life and I’ve been coming here ever since.

Tell us about your role at Veritas.
Here at Veritas, I am a facilities manager. So I get to serve and care for the church by way of maintaining the building and executing projects. It’s a new role that I am new to and I’m excited to see what this position grows to mean in time. I also serve on the Livestream team.

What are some of your hobbies?
Some hobbies I enjoy are taking walks, journaling, spending time with my family and making art. I have a dog (Ophelia) and four cats (Wednesday, Calvin, River, and Shiloh). I also love football and am a big Eagles fan.

What’s your favorite beverage?
My favorite beverage is water with lemon in it. Which I know sounds boring but I don’t like much else.

What is the last fiction book that you read?
The last fiction book I read is The Godfather by Mario Puzo. In the last year I also enjoyed The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. Im currently reading The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin and True Grit by Charles Portis. I also enjoy nonfiction and autobiographies as well.

The Best System is the One You Will Use

Today is April 17th. Be honest - how is your New Years Resolution going? Are you still exercising 4 days per week? Does your clean laundry no longer sit in baskets on the floor? Have you stopped eating out 6 times per week? How’s your bible reading plan going?

“The Best System is the One You Will Use” is a weird title for a church’s blog post. I’ll admit it. I’ll also admit that talking about healthy systems that will help you achieve your goals feels like the title of a self-help book. Lend me your ear long enough for me to explain why a healthy system is actually the result of right worship.

During Jesus’s earthly ministry, a Jewish leader asked Jesus what the most important commandment is. Jesus replied: “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Jesus teaches us to acknowledge who God is and to love him for who he is with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Placing all of our affections on God is right worship!

And what happens when we rightfully worship God? Well, a lot of things. But for the sake of brevity, I’ll give you the answer that I’m looking for: God gives us the gift of his Spirit. With the indwelling of God’s Spirit, we are given spiritual gifts that help us to worship God rightly and build up God’s church so that we can strengthen one another to continue to worship God rightly.

One of those spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:28 is the gift of administration. For context, Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to love God and serve His church by operating within their spiritual gifts. I’m willing to bet that you can see where I’m going with this.

Those who are given the gift of administration have the privilege of joining God in God’s work of bringing order and clarity to the world (see Genesis 1). With God’s help, they are able to look at chaos and build systems to sort that chaos. If church members look at the spiritual disciplines (reading God’s word and spending time in prayer are two examples) as ways to help them rightly worship God, then the person with the gift of administration can help edify Jesus’s church by creating systems to help those Christians practice the disciplines.

So, church, do you desire to rightly worship God but struggle to find the time to practice the spiritual disciplines? I get it. And I want to help you. The best system for regular practice of the spiritual disciplines is the system that you will actually use. If you have started a reading plan 4 different times and you just can’t seem to stay faithful in your reading, then your failure is a sign that the system you are trying to follow isn’t working. If a system doesn’t work, change it.

Here is an example of a system that works for me. I am working my way through a chronological bible reading plan. The plan is built in to my physical bible, and it is designed for the reader to read 6 days per week. I bought two of the physical bibles - one to keep at home and one to keep at work. I do my reading either at home or at work after I drop my kids off at school and/or after I go to the gym. Finally, if I miss a day, I ‘catch up’ on the 7th day of the week. If I miss more than one day, I just skip those readings and pick up with where I should be in the plan. Is it a perfect system? No. But it is a system that I actually use which allows me to be consistent.

In order to create a system that you will actually use, you need

1. The Spirit’s help. Don’t think that faithfulness is a product of your own doing. That is just not true.

2. A plan (What are you reading? What time of day are you reading? Where are you going to be when you read?)

3. Self-awareness of your life stage and what kind of schedule you can actually maintain

4. A plan for how you will handle your own failure

Here’s what I want to encourage you with - you do have the time for God’s word and prayer. If you are a believer, you do have the discipline that you need in order to be faithful to read and pray because you have the Spirit to help you. If you don’t know what to read, find a free bible reading plan. If you can’t read in the morning, then read in the afternoon. If you can’t read in your house, plan time to read in your car in the driveway before you leave. Put your bible in the place where you plan to read and leave it there. Ask a few friends to read with you to keep you accountable.

I don’t care what your system is. But the best system is the one that you will actually use. Tailor your system to your personality and life stage. Most importantly, ask for God to help you to be faithful to worship him rightly.

With hope,
Sam Metheny
Director of Operations
samantha@veritasfayetteville.com