Recent Blog Posts

03/29/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Eight - Shepherds and Sheep Today we take a closer look at first Peter chapter five and the encouragements to "Shepherd God's flock". How do we walk in humbleness as both the shepherd and the sheep in need of a shepherd? To watch...

03/21/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Seven - More Thoughts from First Peter 1 Peter 2:11​—3:9. The letter of 1 Peter contains some controversial texts. But when we look closer these texts point to the larger theme of the letter ... suffering and how we respond to it. To...

03/14/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Six - Healing Through Pain Peter encouraged 1st Century Christians to find meaning and healing in the midst of their struggles. How can we, as 21st Century Christians, lean into our struggles in a way that would perhaps create...

03/07/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Five - Peter Denies. Jesus Restores John 13:34​-38; 18:15​-18, 25-27; 21:1-19. So far in this series, we have watched Peter leave his nets to follow Jesus, walk on water (albeit briefly), profess Jesus as Messiah, and much more. This...

02/28/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Four - Tents and Swords Mark 9:2-8; John 18:1-11. If you grew up in the church, you likely have heard Peter described as the disciple who is loud and brash and regularly sticks his foot in his mouth. He’s an act-first, think-later,...

02/21/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Three - Peter is the Rock ... and the Satan Matthew 16:13-28. In the span of less than one chapter in scripture, Jesus refers to Peter as "the Rock" after Peter's remarkable confession of who He is, but then refers to Peter as "the...

02/14/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Two - Peter Walks on Water Matthew 14:22-33. Most often, the story of Peter walking on water is reduced to a simple spiritual platitude like, "When Jesus calls, you need to Step Out of the Boat." But faith cliches and spiritual...

02/07/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part One - Peter Drops His Nets Matthew 4:17-20; Luke 5:1-11. Throughout the gospels and the first half of Acts, besides Jesus there is no one mentioned more frequently than Peter — nearly 200 times. Throughout church history, he is often...

01/31/2021 – 5th Sunday Worship with Dr. Donna Battle Genesis 20:1-18; Matthew 8:1-4. 5th Sunday Worship with special guest, Dr. Donna Battle. Several years ago, we decided to commit every 5th Sunday to the topic of Racial Justice. Of course, this issue is part of...

01/24/2021 – Refresh: Pandemic Edition – Part Four - Money Luke 6:27-38. In addition to walking through a few graphs and figures and charts that show our budget and our giving over the past 12 months, today we also ask the question: why should generosity be our...