Hey everyone, this month we're hosting a very special all-church event called the Return Gathering.

We believe that this gathering based on Joel II is an important moment for our church as we boldly and prayerfully step into a new season.

Ahead of the Return Gathering, Pastor Andy is bringing a seven-part podcast mini-series,

sharing different conversations with guests that you will find helpful and encouraging as we prepare

for this historic gathering at Saddleback. Let's dive in to today's conversation.

Well, hey everybody, we're back for another episode of the Return podcast. I'm here with Pastor Buddy

Owens. And in just a moment, we're going to jump into conversation.

If you're just joining us, this podcast is designed really to help us as a church family

here at Saddleback as we're preparing our hearts for a sacred assembly that we're calling

the return gathering.

And today we're going to have a privilege of diving into the passage of scripture that's really framing the conversation and the messages and our time with the return gathering.

Pastor Buddy needs no introduction, has been here at Saddleback for 20 years and teaching pastor.

What I love about this conversation is very similar to conversations

we have most weeks. I feel like often Pastor Buddy rescues me in the middle of the week.

And part of it is that very clearly God's giving you the gift of teaching and your ability to see things in

scripture that are there that I often miss. And so I love just talking to the,

talking with you about the Bible. So thanks for being here. That's an honor. Thank you for asking.

So Pastor Buddy, I'll start asking you a couple questions because we introduced this

idea of a sacred assembly to the staff and our leadership.

And then you just started riffing on like different Bible passages about sacred assemblies.

So talk a little bit about from the Bible what is a

sacred assembly and the significance of it. Okay. So you see him throughout the Old Testament,

...