Emerging Voices – Richland
What if the moments of deepest pain in our lives are not the places where God is most absent, but the places where He is most eager to meet us?
Speaker: Dawson Perkins
Date: August 23, 2026
Where are you like the woman at the well—hiding, rejected, or isolated? Jesus will meet you there, and wants you to bring your paint to the well. Watch this message from our Richland Students Director, Dawson Perkins!
Here's a 5-day devotional guide based on this sermon:
Day 1: The Road Nobody Wanted to Take
John 4:3–6 | Jonah 1:1–3
Jesus deliberately chose the route through Samaria that most Jewish travelers avoided because of hatred and history. Jonah did the opposite centuries earlier, boarding a ship headed away from people he despised rather than going to them. Jesus reverses that pattern entirely, walking directly into hostile territory because someone was waiting there who mattered to Him. He does not avoid the hard places in your story either.
Day 2: Seen at Noon
John 4:7–15 | Genesis 16:7–13
The woman came to draw water at noon, alone, likely to avoid the other women who drew water in the cool of the morning. Centuries earlier, Hagar was cast into the wilderness and met God at a well, becoming the first person in Scripture to give God a name: the God who sees me. Both women were pushed to the margins, and both were found by God in isolation rather than community. Being unseen by everyone else has never meant being unseen by God.
Day 3: No Shame, Just Truth
John 4:16–19 | John 8:3–11
Jesus names the woman’s marital history plainly, without flinching, but never shames her for it. Compare that with the woman caught in adultery in John 8, where Jesus again refuses to condemn while still speaking truth. Jesus consistently holds truth and compassion together rather than choosing one over the other. He is capable of knowing everything about you and still inviting you closer.
Day 4: I Am He
John 4:25–26 | Exodus 3:13–14
When the woman mentions the coming Messiah, Jesus responds simply, “I who speak to you am He,” echoing the language God used to identify Himself to Moses at the burning bush. This is the first time in John’s Gospel that Jesus states His identity so directly, and He does it for a Samaritan woman rather than a religious leader. The most significant revelations in Scripture often land in the most unexpected places, with the most unexpected people.
Day 5: From Rejected to First Witness
John 4:28–30, 39–42 | Romans 10:14–15
The woman leaves her water jar behind and runs to tell her town what happened, becoming the first evangelist in the Gospel of John. Paul later writes that people cannot believe unless someone tells them, and someone cannot tell them unless they are sent. Jesus sent a woman with a complicated past and no formal standing to be that someone. Whatever you think disqualifies you from being used by God may be exactly what He intends to use.