Even The Sparrow Finds A Home
Our Values
Seven values shape the past, present, and future of YOB: from our humble beginnings as a blog to our evolution to a podcast and video channel with a thriving online community. Our first three values center on our relationship with God; our middle two values with self; and our final two values with others. All seven values point to who we are in Christ as we strive to follow and become more like Him, both in our storytelling content and our story-living community.
H
Hope
We faithfully follow the Spirit’s call to endure the brokenness and injustice of this world for the promise of restoration to come. We lament in the “not yet,” ever fixing our eyes on Christ with the strength and light He gives us.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
— Psalm 42:11 (ESV)
H
Humility
We humbly walk with the posture that we are not our own, bought at a price, trusting God’s story beyond anything we could pen for ourselves. We faithfully follow our Author’s lead, whatever the culture, living our stories for His glory and not our own.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'”
— Matthew 16:24 (ESV)
J
Joy
We confidently proclaim our joy in the Lord. We praise God for every good thing He’s given us, in spite of our struggles, and often because of them, including this community with whom we gratefully journey alongside.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
— Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
V
Vulnerability
We boldly confess our struggles and shortcomings, not for the purpose of glorifying our sin or brokenness, but as faithful stewards of the testimony we’ve been given. We share to point others to God’s past and ongoing work in our lives.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)
I
Integrity
We regularly self-assess, both individually and collectively. We confess our sins, our misrepresentations of God, our miscommunications with others, and our otherwise falling short. When we fall down, we climb again, and we remember from where we’ve come.
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”
— Proverbs 4:25-27 (ESV)
K
Kinship
We openly embrace all who wish to navigate this journey with us. We are a multi-denominational, global community of men and women, gay and straight and everything in between, our many diversities joined by spiritual kinship in Jesus Christ.
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
— Ephesians 2:19-21 (ESV)
D
Discipleship
While we welcome our spiritual kin into the boat, we do not settle for shared commiseration. We spur one another toward continuing growth in Jesus, creating disciple-making disciples as He has charged us in the Great Commission.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)