Pastor Chris Seay invites us into the season of Advent, in which we remember and await Jesus’ coming. As part of a global family of faith, we believe that we are called especially in this season to share joyfully from our abundance, and we will continue doing so as a church family this year by partnering with efforts to bring clean water to places in desperate need. Chris enters the scriptures to remind us that generosity springs from a grateful heart, and suggests practices to grow us in gratitude.

Pastor Sean Palmer teaches from Matthew 16; inviting us to consider the ways that the religious and cultural expectations of the anticipated Messiah in Jesus’ day mirror our own gravitation to the conqueror rather than the suffering servant. The path Jesus has given us is not one of power and coercion, but instead the faithful obedience to take up our cross and follow him.

Ericka Graham invites us to look again to the story of Moses and the burning bush, offering the important reminder that practices which grow our mindfulness and attention are only a first step. It is when looking up in wonder and awe becomes a habitual discipline that we might hear God’s voice calling to us more clearly.

Pastor Chris Seay reminds us, navigating a climate of such division, that our true citizenship is not a question of nation or party-platform, but the belonging in which we all share as members of God’s kingdom. Teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, Chris invites us to recenter our hearts and lives as we seek to walk the narrow path of Jesus’ expansive love.

Pastor Sean Palmer guides us to consider the difference between hope and optimism. God offers us an assured hope which dispels worry about tomorrow, and instead empowers us to live today as though heaven has already come. What are you waiting for?

Pastor Chris Seay, with a special appearance from our brother Marcelo Robles, reminds us that the heart of Christianity is not a checklist of regulations, but an invitation into relationship with God. He urges us to consider how we might renew a sense of friendship with our creator, through intentional time, nurture, and care.

Pastor Sean Palmer invites us into three parables that Jesus chooses to tell together, and the common theme that binds them; the mistakes made when we forget to live and prioritize our lives in a way that remembers that the Master is coming back! Meeting others with kindness and attentiveness, and seeking always to use our gifts to bless and serve, we live expectant that we will encounter the Divine.

Pastor Chris Seay shares some of the lessons he has learned from the life and teaching of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who spoke pointedly to the Church in a time of great crisis. We ask God to guide us as we seek a balance between growth through solitude and the vital gift of community, as we learn to love one another well in all our imperfections, and as we abide in hope to be a faithful church in this ever-changing world.

Pastor Sean Palmer looks to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, inviting us to consider the ways that our culturally distorted idea of “the good life” has resulted in anxiety and worry. God knows, sees, and cares about the many concerns we have in this life, and calls us to seek first the Kingdom, to relinquish our false sense of control, and to trust that God will provide for our true needs.

Pastor Chris Seay offers us a vital reminder of the great diversity exemplified by the early church. Especially during this cultural moment of such toxic division, followers of Jesus are to live into a different narrative, shaped by curiosity and open-mindedness, loving grace for those with whom we disagree, and the elusive hope of unity.

Pastor Chris Seay invites us to consider how we are called to live into the rhythms of Jesus in both giving and receiving care. Especially at a time in which the needs of our neighbors are so vast and so many, we ask God to meet and guide us in our particular places of heartbreak. May God help us to be vessels of grace, filled to then be shared in loving care of others.

Pastor Sean Palmer asks us to consider the call of the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew in light of the peculiar limitations of this season. Wherever we are sent or called to dwell, the gift Jesus gives and invites us to embody is presence.

Pastor Chris Seay teaches once again from the church-site of our friends in Lake Charles, Louisiana as we continue to respond in care for our neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. As we are reminded in the story of Nehemiah, empathy calls us not to draw back while others are suffering, but to take action while leaning into relationship.

Pastor Chris Seay teaches from Louisiana as we seek to respond in care for our neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. God never promised that we wouldn’t be given more than we can handle. Instead we are called from temptation and idolatry to rely ever more on God, and on one another, in all that overwhelms us.

Pastor Sean Palmer teaches from the story of healing at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Our desires are not inconsequential or insignificant to God, but it is when we ask and allow God to transform our wrong desires that we discover the right ones, that those desires would result in choices aligned with God’s will.

Pastor Chris Seay leads us to consider our understanding of sin, and particularly sins of omission. Where have we failed to act; to ask, give, fight, and encourage in the ways that God has called us? We can either let guilt to become shame that keeps us stagnant, or allow it to urge us toward seeking forgiveness, restored relationships, and transformation.

It is always a great joy to have a visit from our friend and brother, the incomparable Bob Goff, and we are grateful for the encouraging word he brought to share. When we see through the distractions, we are granted the opportunity to grow in genuine interest for those around us; which is the first step toward love.