Realigned Pt. 2
Work These Words with Sean Dreher
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. -Jesus
It feels like we’re in the Twilight Zone.
There is so much going on in the world around us. I am trying to be a good steward of whatever influence I have, so I try not to comment on everything, but just know that I feel what many of you feel, too.
Someone sent me this TikTok video, and it pretty much sums up the season.
We tired.
Anywho, in my previous post, I talked about what I took from the Lenten season, namely being realigned. I want to use this post to go deeper into what that means.
I’ve been on a mission to align everything with my name on it with my life’s calling, which is to help as many people as possible work the words of Jesus into their lives so they can experience life as God intended.
You’ve probably noticed I’ve changed the name of this Substack again.
It used to be called Work These Words, then it became with Sean Dreher.
Now, it feels right to combine the two.
Work These Words defines my assignment. At the core of everything I do is a conviction that the words of Jesus were never meant to be admired from a distance or debated in abstraction, but embodied in real life. This is about taking what He said and actually building a life on it, decisions, relationships, habits, rhythms.
The phrase “work these words” was inspired by Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Matthew 7:24-25 MSG:
These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
Working the words of Jesus requires alignment, not just agreement. The kind of alignment that, over time, leads to life as God intended.
with Sean Dreher defines my role in that assignment. I’m not presenting myself as the hero of the story or the standard everyone else should try to reach. I’m a guide. A pastor, yes, but also a practitioner, someone doing this work in real time, with all the tension and growth that comes with it. My aim isn’t to talk at you or position myself above you, but to walk with you. To offer clarity where I can, to ask better questions, and to help close the gap between what Jesus said and how we live.
One of the clearest ways this plays out is through leading Kingdom South, a formation-focused church planted here in Columbia, South Carolina. I’ve been leading long enough to know no church is perfect, but I’ve also learned that clarity is kindness. And we are clear. We are committed to working the words of Jesus together, right here in our city.
Tomorrow, we begin a new series called Gender Wars. Since May is Women’s Month at Kingdom South, this teaching series is designed to expose the unseen battle shaping the lives of women today. As part of our Year of Radical Warfare, this series names the real enemy, not people, but the spiritual forces and cultural patterns working to distort God’s design.
I’ll be splitting the speaking duties this month with some of the ladies on our ministerial team. It’s going to be a great month.
I’ve also created a Bible Reading Plan to serve as an additional tool for formation. Each week of the plan is geared toward a different aspect of womanhood and war.
Week 1: The War for Identity
Week 2: The War for Voice & Value
Week 3: The War for Wholeness
Week 4: The War for Relationships
Week 1 of the plan will be available on YouTube this Sunday evening.
I have some additional changes coming to Substack, but we’ll get to that next time.
✌🏾