Today is a much more important holiday and I’d love it if you did something with me this morning. Today is “all saints day” where we thank the Christian leaders who have gone before us. Hebrews 12:1 says, “since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses…” which reminds us that those Christ followers that have gone before us have helped pave the way for us to know and understand God better, to serve the church more strategically, and to show God’s love to others more passionately. Today we think about Stephen who was stoned for his faith. We think of the early church who lived in constant persecution and threat of death. We think of the countless followers of Jesus burned as torches to light the streets of Rome under Nero. We are thankful of great thinkers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria and Augustine. We think of reformers like Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther King Jr., William Wilberforce, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. We think of missionaries like Mother Teresa, Elizabeth Eliot, and Amy Carmichael, and David Livingstone. We celebrate the writings of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, CS Lewis, Tolkien, Tozer, Spurgeon, Schaeffer, Brother Lawrence, and so many more. And we think of people like my grandfather, Colina and Cecil Abbott (from BACC), and so many others who faithfully served Jesus with their whole life. Take some time today and thank God for the people (ones you know and ones you don’t) that have influenced your faith that you will get to meet in heaven someday!