Goodness Weekly 6.16.25
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
- Desmond Tutu
WHAT’S GOOD
Last Thursday, we got to see many connections we have around the city gathered in one place to celebrate the work of The Impact Guild’s, Good Acres. During this Summer Soirée in Charis Park, we heard from some impassioned leaders in our community about the dream of transforming the nearly 3,000 acres of underutilized church property in San Antonio to become reimagined spaces used for the flourishing of our communities.
If this kind of work is intriguing to you, please consider attending a Roundtable here on campus, or around the city. The next one is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17th, at Bethel AME Church.
Sewing Seeds
Jess Lowry, Executive Director, Sunset Ridge Collective
“What’s Good?”
It’s the question we ask around our family dinner table.
The question we begin each staff meeting with.
A question inspired by Good Acres founder, Sarah Woolsey.
This week, “good” looked like gathering in Charis Park for the first annual Good Acres Summer Soirée—a fundraiser celebrating the vision and work of Sarah and her team as they cultivate goodness in our city.
Jess Lowry, Taylor Bates, and Sarah Woolsey, welcoming guests to Good Acres Fundraising Event in Charis Park
Back in 2018, as we were discerning the direction and vision for our own organization, something beautiful was simultaneously taking root through Sarah and the Impact Guild. She envisioned what it might look like for churches in San Antonio to steward their 3,000 acres of congregational land for the good of their neighbors.
In the fall of 2019, I attended their first event, hoping for clarity about where we were headed as a church. A few months later, in February 2020, I heard Rev. Josh Esparza speak about a church building in Dallas being used to support the flourishing of its community. That vision stuck with me.
Through the years, Sarah patiently and encouragingly walked alongside us. During the pandemic, she joined me on countless Zoom calls - not always with answers, but always with presence, helping hold the questions with hope. She led our team and four other churches through a Fellowship that ultimately gave birth to Charis Park - championing the dream of transforming one simple acre of asphalt into a place of belonging and beauty.
As I reflect on Thursday’s event and all it represents, my heart is filled with gratitude—for Sarah Woolsey, and for her sacred gift of cultivating good wherever she is planted.
Chef Ted, of Viridian Farms, catering the evening’s locally sourced meal.
And it makes me wonder: What kind of seeds am I sowing?
What kind of seeds are you sowing?
Sarah often tells the story of how, after a volcanic eruption, the regeneration of land begins with just one small sapling—emerging from ruin and reaching toward the light. In our modern world, with its 24/7 lens on pain and destruction, it can feel nearly impossible to see past the molten lava of it all. Some days, I get swept up in it completely.
But I also sense an invitation - for all of us who still believe in the good, who long to be part of making it real. Perhaps we are being called to be that little sapling. That fragile yet resilient sign of hope. That beginning.
Worship leader Hunter Bates wrote a lyric for our congregation that has stayed with me:
“I know we’ve got to root our cynicism, because it chokes the hope within and leaves us helpless in defeat.”
Lately, I’ve been hearing more sarcasm. More cynicism. More criticism - around me and within me. And so, again I ask: What are we sowing?
May we have the strength of that tiny twig rising from the ash -
Bold enough to begin a whole new ecosystem.
One rooted in goodness.
One bearing the fruit of kindness.
One where flourishing is for everyone.
Love, Jess
Calendar
We’re slowing things way down this summer.
Our core programming will remain the same, and we hope to see you around campus.
This Week
Thursday, June 19th, Offices and One Another Coffee Closed in Observance of Juneteenth
Coming Up…
Every Saturday, Sunset Ridge Farmers Market, Charis Park
* Summer Hours 8 AM - Noon
Every Sunday, Worship at 9 AM and 11 AM
Event Rentals - Interested in hosting your event at Charis Park or in our facilities? We are currently booking for 2025–please email rentals@sunset-ridge.org
Community Partners: For updated schedules and events please follow One Another Coffee, Sunset Ridge Farmers Market, NYX Wellness, Scott’s Pizza, Mission Compost, Sprouts School, Good Acres, and Community First Food Pantry.
Inhale: Today I will not be swept away by fear
Exhale: But will plant good things wherever I go
