Pastor Chris Seay leads us into the beginning of our Advent journey, drawing from scripture and the wisdom of the inimitable Fred Rogers. By committing to authentic presence and intentional pace, embracing the power of forgiveness and vulnerability, and taking on our shared responsibility to care for countless of God’s beloved in need, this sacred season has the potential to transform our relationship with our coming Savior.

Sarah Seabrook continued in a recent series considering the lives and callings of important figures in Christian history, leading us through the journey of British politician and abolitionist William Wilberforce. Slavery and injustice remain a heartbreaking reality in our world, and until that is no longer the case, we cannot tire of our part in God’s movement against them.

Pastor Chris Seay offers an important update on our partnership with Iglesia Cristiana para la Frontera along the Venezuelan and Colombian border in helping to meet many needs related to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and our continued call to our family in the region. Please watch the video if you missed it, and hear Chris’ follow-up at 26:05 of the audio. To access the most up-to-date impact report of our involvement, click here.

Pastor Sean Palmer continues our series exploring the lives and wisdom of important figures in Christian history, sharing what he has learned from the example of Henri Nouwen as he examines our relationship to power. Power sought or abused will never satisfy. It is in giving up our love of power, and taking on the power of love, that we become people that humbly give and receive rather than those who tirelessly grasp.

Pastor Chris shares wisdom and insight from missiologist, theologian, and pastor Leslie Newbigin which changed his understanding of the church and have been invaluable in shaping the ethos of Ecclesia. The Gospel is good news for everyone, calling us into the culture to share it; not to cling to the supposed “safety” of our own religious circles. God’s mission is everywhere, and you are called to be a part of it.

Pastor Chris Seay asks us all to consider both our shared calling, and the beautiful and unique forms through which that calling is expressed. Your vocation is sacred, and is a part of God’s mission. We hope that the message Chris shared will be of comfort and encouragement to you this week.

Pastor Sean offers up the redemptive works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and shares insight into the power of our own stories. When we know and share our stories with others, it changes the way we engage with those around us. 

Ericka Graham shares insights from from the Book of Jonah. The tiny book in the Hebrew Scriptures has the potential to change the way we engage the world around us, giving us the capacity to see God in everything and everyone we encounter.

Pastor Sean Palmer shares a critical word from the Book of Acts and the teachings of Jean Vanier. Community is messy, and it is vital. We need one another.

Our beloved brother Scott Erickson invited us to consider prayer, images, and identity. What will seed, grow, and flourish in the fertile space of that imagination? How will we participate in “the way” rather than submitting to what lies “in the way” of our continued call to be the enduring presence of Jesus?

Pastor Chris Seay continues our series considering the lives of important figures throughout Christian history. The faithfulness and sacrifice modeled by Dietrich Bonhoeffer show us who the Church is called to be in the face of bigotry and injustice; a call to embody a faith of courage and empathy.

Pastor Chris Seay considers the life and teachings of 16th century church reformer Martin Luther and the critical turning point for our understanding of the Cross. When we realize that the justice God demands, he also provides, we become freed (as Luther experienced) from places of anxiety and fear, and into a deeper living faith.

Pastor Sean Palmer offers a convicting challenge, asking each of us to assess the ways we are blind to, benefit from, or participate in the injustices of our world. Considering the words of Jesus and the prophets, Sean urges us to embrace our tireless call to the work of Kingdom justice, even when doing so may carry a heavy cost.

As we look back two years following Hurricane Harvey, and look ahead to the ways we remain called to love and serve within the relationships that God has provided, Pastor Chris Seay shares some important updates on some of these stories. The invitation is for us all to consider how we are to continue engaging together as a community, blessing and resourcing our brothers and sisters both in Houston and around the world.

Pastor Sean Palmer shared the incredible witness of Dr. Paul Brand, who spent his life treating people afflicted with leprosy, and the story of Jesus’ early gospel encounter with a leper. Sean asked us to consider our relationship to pain; what it’s trying to reveal to us, and the ways it reminds us that we can still feel. In places of pain, we are those called to draw near with presence and touch for all those hurting.

Pastor Chris Seay continues leading a conversation that will unfold through this season on the distinct nature and call of the Church. Considering the prayers of Jesus and the unique teachings of Jeremiah Burroughs, Chris suggests some of the ways we find unity and cooperation within our great diversity, that certain doctrinal differences need not divide us, and that our differences in fact enrich our family.

Pastor Sean Palmer tells the story of Thérèse of Lisieux, and the “little way” that guided her faith. He asks us to consider the unique and vital gifts that God has given each of us, and how they might be used in every seemingly small but impactful way as a blessing to the collective body of Christ.

Pastor Chris is back! Sharing insights gained from his recent sabbatical, Chris begins a conversation that will continue to form over the coming months around the identity of the Church. If the Body of Christ is truly to be God’s primary instrument of hope for the world, it will because we are not passive observers, but are actively rooted and bearing fruit as we seek instead to be the Church.

Sarah Seabrook shared vulnerably from her own story of battling intense anxiety, and asked us to consider the areas of our lives that may be similarly affected by living in an age of ever-increasing commotion and confusion. When we are reminded of the truth of our identity, as beloved children invited to lay our worries in the care of God, we begin to regain our solid footing.

Pastor Sean Palmer offers a convicting challenge, inviting us to wrestle with our relationship to the particular sin of avarice; the attachment to money and things which leaves us with a desire that is never satisfied. When we always want more, we are never content with enough, and hold all the more tightly to what we have in ways that isolate us from community and participation in God’s Kingdom.