And for him, while returning to important themes, can be good for both the preacher and for the congregation.

Hello, Mike and the Expositors Collective audience.

My name is Miles DeBenedictus.

I'm the senior pastor of Cross Connection Church in North San Diego County, California, in a town called Escondido.

I've been pastoring here for nearly 19 years, and for most of those 19 years, we have done what we would call an Advent series.

This actually started a few years after I became the pastor of the church in 2008.

We started doing an Advent series in 2011, and we've done it every single year since that time.