December 10, 2025
Dear Radiant Family,
It’s been four years since a handful of us decided we wanted to give this thing a go. Through prayer, hard work, loads of grace, and a bit of whimsy this wild, sometimes glorious, always challenging journey marches on!
My heart fills with joy as I think of the faces and stories that make up the Radiant community. We are an eclectic, diverse, and growing group pasted together by the glue of the Holy Spirit.
So four years out from our first service, I wanted to share my perspective:
We’ve become a refuge for the spiritual curious, the wandering and the wondering to encounter Jesus. At any given moment at Radiant, someone is exploring Jesus whether at a Sunday gathering, an Alpha table, a Home Church living room, a men’s or women’s gathering, a Radiant Youth Group gathering, or in sweet children’s ministry.
We’ve baptized dozens of people over the past few years. I often hear people from little to no church background that they feel warmth and welcome at Radiant. I am so grateful for this. This is why exist: that God’s love in Jesus Christ would be declared, known and rediscovered in new depths through our community.
Radiant has also become a gathering place for bold, missional disciples:
People here are ministering incarcerated youth. Others walk with refugees, serve the sick and dying through chaplaincy, support those in crisis pregnancies, open missional cafés, serve on college and high school campuses, resource global missionaries for holistic mission, and feed the hungry in our county.
Beyond that, so many more exhibit ordinary beautiful faithfulness as disciples of Jesus as they run businesses, make coffee, teach students, provide health care, care for young children and aging parents.
The kingdom of God is at hand and breaking out through you!
You all are pretty cool. As a pastor, I am just sort of stunned I get to be part of this thing. There are stories of redemption exploding all over the place. (And hard stories too.)
While we’ll never be perfect, I am excited to continue this journey together — that we would be a community that continues to make disciples who practice the simple way of Jesus for the good of Modesto and the world. I hope and pray that we will exist 100 years from now (if Jesus’ return lingers) having prayed like crazy, multiplied ourselves through church planting, introduced thousands to Jesus, transformed lives and communities, endeavored in creative social enterprises, and sent out missional disciples locally and abroad. In other words, my prayer is that we would be radiant of Christ’s love.
Thank you for your support in making this community a reality. You’ve shown up, you’ve prayed, you’ve served, you’ve given money, and you have given of yourself. Through your multi-faceted giving, God has done more than we could have asked or imagined. Amen!
END OF YEAR FINANCIAL UPDATE:
I also celebrate that we’ve been able to survive this year without any external financial support from our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church. After three years of tapered support, this year we’ve been entirely self-sustaining and have even contributed back to the denomination’s mission and ministry.
As we approach 2026, we want to finish 2025 strong and enter the new year on solid and sustainable footing. Here is where we stand:
Church giving year-to-date (through Dec. 10): $198,581
End-of-year budget goal: $228,000
Current progress: 87%
Amount needed: $29,419
Days remaining: 21
Though we’ve already eclipsed last year’s giving, as you can see, we have not yet reached our church budget goal for 2025.
Please join me in praising God for his generosity to us over the past year. Ask that God would provide for us our daily bread and provision as we go deeper in Christ and further on his mission in 2026.
If the Lord leads you to make a year-end gift, you can do so here: radcov.churchcenter.com/giving
With deep gratitude,
Zach
[email protected]
209-497-3710
www.radcov.org
