The Next Step Community

The Next Step Community is a group of people, like you, who need other people to help them take a next step following Jesus. You won’t find any preconceived notions or quick fixes here; just real people trying to follow Jesus in real life. You are welcome to join in!

About

As The Next Step Community, we are sold out on helping each other delight in taking a next step following Jesus. Not everyone is going to resonate with our values or our basic vibe, and that’s OK; we believe having a variety of options is the best way to sustain…Continue reading “About”

Discipleship Tools

Looking Back on My Sermon Sketch Notes

12 Jan 202113 Jan 2021

By Katie Helmreich I have been blessed by hundreds and hundreds of incredible sermons in my lifetime! But... I could probably only tell you about a few of them. And...…

Cultural Studies…

A Spiritual Body?

By Conrad Gempf So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised…

Cultural Studies

The Battle for the Soul of America: There is No Spoon

7 Jan 202121 Jan 2021

By Justin Rossow A battle is raging for the soul of America. And we are all losing. One of my favorite movie quotes comes as Neo waits to see the…

Midnight Packing

By Justin Rossow Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their…

Discipling Leaders…

What Child Is This?

The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 11: What Child Is This?Date: 03 January 2021Guests: Jeff Gibbs, Professor Emeritus, Concordia Seminary--St. Louis Also available on: Apple Podcasts, Google…

New Year’s Resolutions I Will NOT Be Making, and One That Maybe I Will

By Kristeen Bruun New Year’s Day has come and gone, and I am struggling to convince myself that I will not fall apart when I go back to work on…

Top Bloggers of 2020

31 Dec 202031 Dec 2020

2020 was a strange and wonderful year in so many ways! The Next Step Community shared 135,572 words in 186 posts, encouraged 13,625 people who viewed our next step content…

Top Ten Blogs of 2020

28 Dec 202031 Dec 2020

Here are The Next Step Community's most read blogs this year. Thanks to all of the 13,569 visitors who helped us log over 27,000 views since we launched in March…

Discipling Leaders…

Joy to the World

26 Dec 202014 Jan 2021

The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 9: Joy to the WorldDate: 26 December 2020Guests: Conrad Gempf, London School of Theology Also available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,…

Cultural Studies

Far as the Curse is Found

26 Dec 202029 Dec 2020

By Justin Rossow When Isaac Watts published the text for the now-famous hymn Joy to the World in 1719, he was actually paraphrasing Psalm 98:4-9. (Read more.) Watts pushes poetic…

Cultural Studies

When Joy to the World Comes True

25 Dec 202026 Dec 2020

By Justin Rossow Joy to the World, one of the best-loved Christmas hymns, wasn't originally written for Christmas at all. At least, that's what I heard on a Christmas special…

Discipling Leaders…

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

19 Dec 202021 Dec 2020

The Next Step PodcastSeason 3: Light in the DarknessEpisode 7: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep SilenceDate: 19 December 2020Guests: Pastor, author, and coach Jeff Meyer Also available on: Apple Podcasts,…

Cultural Studies

Have A Very … Christmas

By Justin Rossow I love Christmas time! Except when I don't. And a Covid Christmas brings up all kinds of mixed emotions (shaken, not stirred). My parents decided not to…

My Virtual Secret Santa

By Naomi Rossow This time last year, I was in Detroit on Wayne's campus with my friends gearing up to take my first round of college finals. My friends and…

O Zoom, All Ye Faithful

16 Dec 202015 Dec 2020

By Katie Helmreich In those days a decree went out, that everyone should return to their own homes and stay there. This was the first pandemic in a hundred years,…

Mom’s Trash Can

15 Dec 202015 Dec 2020

By Kim Longden My mom went to be with the Lord six months ago, and one of the things we brought from her kitchen to ours was her trash can.…

My Favorite Tea Kettle

By Rachel Hinz Earlier this fall, our cute, teal tea kettle of 12 years finally needed to be replaced. As usual, it was a busy week, so I wasn’t sure…

Dear Jesus, I Have Survivor Guilt

13 Dec 202014 Dec 2020

By Kristeen Bruun Over the past ten days, I have been working on writing my annual Christmas letter, something I have sent out for at least the past 30 years.…