Damascus Road Community Church

Throughout church history, Spiritual Rhythms have ebbed and flowed as the community of faith seeks to live out the mission of Christ together. Spiritual Rhythms are not a checkbox to accomplish, rather they’re a way of life which deepen our relationship with God, each other, and equip the people of God to live out His mission in the world. Starting this week, we will explore 5 critical Rhythms, why they matter, and ways we can practice them today.

Join us this Sunday as we explore the first foundational Rhythm and experience community lived out in front of us as we welcome back the Waterboyz Men’s Choir!

A New York Times article published earlier this year was entitled: Americans are Unhappier Than Ever. Solo Dining May be a Sign. The article reports that America has slipped to its lowest ranking in the World Happiness Report and that researchers believe eating alone is a key contributor. Why should we care? What does this have to do with following Jesus, anyway?

Come to the table- all are welcome- see you online or in-person on Sunday!

Have you ever felt like God showed up too late?

Mary and Martha did. Their brother was dead. The funeral was over. The tomb was sealed.

And then Jesus arrived.

In John 11, we encounter a Savior who delays on purpose, weeps in our pain, and calls dead things to life. This isn’t just Lazarus’ story—it’s yours.

What part of your life feels buried?

What dream seems beyond hope?

What sin or shame still wraps around you like grave clothes?

Jesus is still speaking. And He’s still calling.

“Come out!”

This Sunday, discover how God turns delays into resurrection power—and how your comeback can begin today.

The stories of the past – especially our familial past – form an essential frame for the canvas of many of our lives. Or, if our familial past is unknown, we might find ourselves illuminated by the stories of our country's past or the past stories of the people group with which we are associated.

The bottom line is that our perception of the events that came before us can provide powerful context, perspective, and even guidance for our decisions moving forward.

Join us this week as we begin a new series titled ‘Jesus Stories’ and learn to see our stories in the light of the story of the One who came before us and calls us into His family tree.

This Sunday, we're continuing our "Anchors" sermon series, and you won't want to miss it. We'll be diving into Hebrews chapter 10 to explore "Living Faith Forward," a message all about how we navigate those moments when faith and doubt collide. Come ready to worship, connect, and discover how to move forward with renewed assurance.

Do you feel like life is constantly trying to pull you off course? Or drag you backward - back to the past - to something that you remember as more comfortable than today? Maybe its something that was good in your past, something that you remember as secure and stable - something that provided answers that made sense. Maybe its something bad - something you don't really want to go back to, but because it's familiar, it exerts a pull nonetheless.  

This pull is not new - its a challenge Christians have always faced. Because sin is always the false promise that there is something better than the God who created us, and if we could just get to THAT, we'd be happy. In this message with Elder Michelle Rader, we continue our Hebrews series and look at how Jesus is BETTER than anything in our past and BETTER than any other answer we could pursue for our future. He's the hope all of history was moving toward before he came, and the hope all of history is rooted in ever since. And we need to be reminded of that all the time in this crazy world!

Have you ever found yourself feeling like God’s promises are distant, or that they’ll never come to pass? Hebrews reminds us that God is always faithful, and He will fulfill every promise He’s made. In this message with Youth Ministry Coordinator, Bryce Greene, we continue the second part of our Anchor Series, diving into Hebrews 5 and 6. Together, we explore who the author is speaking to, the challenges they’re facing, and how we can apply these truths to our own lives. Whether you’re in a season of waiting or doubt, this message will remind you that Jesus is our anchor of hope.

Every generation brings their own uniqueness to the world. Through lived experience, technological advancements, geopolitical and economic shifts, and even parenting styles; each generation comes on the scene with different ideas and new ways to do things… often to the horror of the generations before.

But how do we ensure these generational wars we see in culture supposed don’t get replicated in the church? Do the scriptures have anything to say about the way generations should work together to build up The Body?

Join us for Generations Sunday as we celebrate an inter-generational approach to church and acknowledge that we all have something to learn from one another, older and younger alike.

Have you ever been captivated by a story? That epic battle between good and evil. The great underdog story where they come out on top against all odds. That story where the hero comes through and saves the day. The plot twist where the bad guy becomes good. We’ve been created for a grand story- an epic adventure.

We’ve been unpacking God’s story and our place in it- the good, the bad, the ugly, the redeeming. Where is all of this headed, anyway? Join us on Sunday as we wrap up this series and explore our place in this epic adventure as God is restoring all things to their intended purpose, goodness and beauty!

What comes after the Fall? Redemption!

In our "Branches" series, we've journeyed through Creation and the Fall. This Sunday, we're exploring the beautiful promise of "Redemption." God's plan from the beginning was to offer forgiveness and freedom through Jesus. But how does that change how we live day-to-day? How do we practice forgiveness when it's hard?

Join us this week as we discover how Christ empowers us to bring redemption and forgiveness into our own lives and relationships.

Last weekend we kicked off our series Branches and unpacked how we as humanity were intentionally created to live our purpose to Love God and Love People. We discovered that one of the best ways we can love God is by loving the image of God in one another. However, it doesn’t take much to realize that humans aren’t doing a great job of living out that purpose to love one another… right? Why is that?

Join us this week as we continue unpacking the Genesis narrative and learn what went wrong in our quest to live out our communal purpose.

Often when we talk about purpose, we talk about it in an individual way. Your purpose and my purpose. But have you ever considered that we have a purpose, too? Join us over the next four weeks as we explore our purpose and how the Biblical narrative helps us understand where we fit in God’s unfolding story in our brand new series "Branches." 

“Does Anyone Care?”

Unfortunately, there are times when we ask ourselves this question. We face circumstances that make us feel isolated and alone. This leads us to believe that no one could understand our situation or even care about its effect on our lives. Fortunately, as the “Good Shepherd," Jesus looks at us with compassion and is well acquainted with all we face and its impact on our lives. He cares and is ready to lead us to places of rest, renewal, and peace.

Join us this Sunday for the conclusion of our “Sheep’s Journey” series as we get to know the compassionate heart of our Good Shepherd and the care that He so lovingly provides.

Imagine being in the middle of a sports complex surrounded by a barrage of different sounds and voices - the bouncing of more than a dozen basketballs, the squeaking of tennis shoes on the hardwood flooring, the whistles of the referees, coaches shouting instructions to their players, parents cheering for their athletes. It can get overwhelming! Amongst all the noise and clamor, imagine trying to play through the cacophony of chaos, trying to hear the coach or teammates with so many distractions all around.

Life can seem like that at times, can’t it? It’s often hard to distinguish the voice of Jesus through the frenzy of our daily existence. And yet, He is still speaking. Can you hear Him?

As we seek to navigate the world around us, in dark seasons or even daily life, how are we evaluating what is good and what is good for us? And how does following the Good Shepherd help us live that life to the full mentioned in John 10:10? Great questions!

Join us this Sunday as we continue A Sheep’s Journey and explore how The Good Shepherd is one who protects in all seasons… in ways we might not expect.

From Joe Rogan to Taylor Swift to Pastor Andy Stanley, our culture is full of influencers. Some reach audiences of over 500 million people. In many ways, these voices function as modern-day “shepherds,” guiding thoughts, shaping values, and forming communities. Some are Good, others not. 

But it begs the question: Who is your shepherd?

Whose voice do you know? Whose lead do you follow? Scripture teaches that we all need a shepherd. In fact, the relationship between shepherds and sheep is one of mutual trust and care. When healthy, it’s deeply life-giving for both.

In John 10, Jesus boldly declares, “I am the Good Shepherd.” He came not only to lay down His life for the sheep, but to lead us—to guide us into green pastures both now and for eternity. His life also models what a healthy shepherd-sheep relationship truly looks like.

Join us this Sunday as we begin our new series, “A Sheep’s Journey,” where we’ll explore the deep beauty of the relationship between Sheep and Shepherd as modeled by Christ, looking at the beauty and necessity of this unique relationship.

Imagine the excitement and emotions of those who saw Jesus after He had risen. The Hero and the hope that he offers are not dead! Jesus truly was different from any other influential leader anyone could place their trust or faith in. He had defeated death and was alive! Was that all that made Him different, though? The answer is a resounding NO!

While others would use this kind of power and influence to control and manipulate, Jesus chose to serve rather than be served! His heart of compassion was shown in His desire to be a Shepherd King rather than a tyrant ruler. Join us the Sunday at Damascus Road as we finish our Easter series and discover the Jesus who chose to rule as a different kind of Hero, a shepherd filled with compassion!

All of us want a hero. Whether we’re looking for a white knight to sweep us off our feet, a political leader who can push our agenda through, a pastor who can help us make spiritual sense of the world around us or just someone to come in and make us feel like everything is going to be okay. Those longings and desires to be saved by someone are natural. We all want a hero, and yet through lived experience, we know heroes will eventually let us down. Or worse, they actually get eaten by the dragon. It seems like all our heroes end up dead.

So, what happens when the one person we thought could be our real hero dies, too?

Join us for Easter as we celebrate the risen Christ, who flipped the script in "Not All Our Heroes are Dead."

Palm Sunday:

The rise and fall of a hero is a story we know all too well. At some point or another, we will get let down by someone we put our hope in; whether a family member or friend, a mentor or boss, or a political leader or pastor. Power has a crazy way of corrupting even the most promising heroes among us, turning into pride or leading to downfall.

Join us this Sunday as we continue week 2 of All Our Heroes are Dead as we examine the story of three kings and their relationship to power, and what it tells us about who we put our hope in.

In his groundbreaking book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Joseph Campbell, a professor of literature and comparative mythology, proposed the idea of the “universal hero story.” Through his exhaustive study of world religions and thousands of years of ancient mythology, he shows that hero stories have existed in every culture and at every time, from cavemen to corporate America.

Although heroes take many forms, Campbell shows they all follow a similar narrative journey—whether Osiris of the Egyptians or Luke Skywalker of Tatooine.

This says something about the human condition – it says something about our hearts. We all want a hero to save the day, someone to fix our messes, defeat our enemies, and make everything right when it all seems so out of sync.

This week, we will look at the idea of heroes and ask the dual questions: What kind of hero do we want, and is it the kind of hero we see in the person of Jesus?

So many things in our life seek to pull us off course - either violently, like the hurricane, or subtly, like the drift of a current. Life throws us both traumas and mundane disappointments. And always, the temptation to fear, to doubt, and to wonder if God really does care about us, if Jesus really does love us, or if his Spirit really is with us. And with that comes the temptation to think it's all up to us - up to our effort, our choices, our ability to protect ourselves.

These questions and doubts and temptations are not new. They have always pulled at God's people. Hebrews challenges us to hold fast to our confession and our faith - because we have a certain hope in Jesus.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone sharing a struggle or experience and you can tell that they just can't relate? When it comes to our pain and struggles, it often feels like others don't fully understand, not to mention the God of the universe. He seems so far off and disconnected. But, what if God fully understands and has experienced it? Would that change my perspective? How do we have hope when things seem hopeless and dark? Join us for week two of our Anchors series!

Life can be hard. Through our various experiences we can find ourselves challenged to “drift away” from Jesus. We're often times looking for hope in all the wrong places. For many of us we'd rather go back to what is known or comfortable rather than inviting God into those difficult spaces of life. But when we recognize the complete Jesus, we see God as being big enough to work through our greatest difficulties but also personal enough to care about us as individuals and the things we're facing. When we surrender to him and choose to trust him despite what is going on around us, he becomes an anchor that keeps us from drifting, a hope that can get us through any circumstance and point us to a future that is better than anything we could imagine. Join us this Sunday as we study Hebrews 1:1-2:1 and see Jesus as the anchor of hope in our lives.

How much does God care about freedom? Enough to go to the Cross to preserve yours. So much that the apostle Paul could say: “Wherever the Spirit of the LORD is—there is freedom.” And: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand fast in your freedom…” The great question in judgment is not whether God wants us to be free, but what we do with our freedom—our genuine ability to choose, to go this way or that way. Revelation is a book of judgment—a whole series of judgments—beginning at the Cross, flowing through history to a final and eternal verdict; and judgment is all about God taking our freedom seriously.

Each of us probably have our idea of a “Dream Home!" Maybe it’s a 2-story colonial with a white fence on 20 acres or maybe it’s a penthouse condo in a high rise in the city. God has a “Dream House” as well. As we wrap up our “Room for One More” series we are going to look at what God’s dream house looks like and what that means for everyone who calls or will call the church home!"

Join us this Sunday as we officially launch three services at DRCC! We’re on a mission to create Room for One More; one more person, one more family, one more community to experience the hope of Christ and catch the vision for how our lives can make a difference in the Kingdom of God. As we celebrate the launch of our third service, we’ll dive into the story of two sons and their desperate attempts to find vision and purpose for their lives. What does it mean for us to create room for others or accept the room created for us? Let’s discover it together!

We kick off a brand new series this weekend titled, "Room for One More," where we will be talking about how, at some point in our lives, we have all faced a task, challenge, or situation we felt was much larger than what we could handle on our own. Larger-than-life issues need solutions that are larger than this life. This is why we rely on the strength, wisdom, and power of Christ working in and through our lives.

Over the past few weeks, we have been focused on answering the question: “Who’s your one?” This Sunday at Damascus Road, we will be looking at how we can invite the Spirit of God into our lives to reach our one and face some of life’s other challenges. Join us for what we anticipate great things to happen!

The loneliness epidemic continues to grow. While it might be tempting to diagnose the contributing factors such as Covid-19, social media, or the rise of the one-person household; the reality is connection between humans has always been complicated. The faithful questions we need to wrestle with are, “What is God’s response to our loneliness, and does the church have a role to play?” Throughout scripture, we read about a triune God who exists in perfect community all the time and actually sets up social structures in families and the church to help us ward off isolation.

But considering that loneliness is only growing in our world, something must be off about the way we’re trying to live out God’s design for human connection today. This week we wrap up our series, Church, But Make It Better, and explore the question, “How do I Make Friends at Church?” Won't you join us?

his shouldn't even be a question!

In a world full of selfishness and hate, Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Love is literally the main identifier for Jesus followers!

So what's going on?

Join us this weekend as we talk about the way we treat each other, what that says to a world hungry for love, and what it looks like to live in a way that makes others want to know Jesus.

Why does the church want my money? Join us as we continue our series "Church, But Make it Better" where we will explore the ever-sensitive topic of tithing. First, we will put everyone at ease and let you know that this Sunday will not include a giving push or any hard sell on why you need to give more to the church. Second, this week will include authentic wrestling and frank confessions over money's complicated role in our lives. And finally, if you show up this week, we guarantee that you will walk away with a richer understanding of how God and the church relate to you and your money – if not, we'll personally refund the price of your ticket.

Most of us have what appear to be never-ending to-do lists. As we complete one list, another one begins, and we find ourselves behind when we feel like we have just gotten ahead. Life is filled with problems to be solved, tasks to be completed, and issues to be addressed. Church is really no different. As we seek to do the work of a “Life Saving Station,” there is no shortage of jobs to be completed. It can be overwhelming with all that needs to be done to figure out where we focus our efforts.

This Sunday, we will look at what the church is supposed to be and how, when we focus on “being” instead of “doing”, we will find fulfillment. This happens when we all take our place in the body of Christ and live a life focused on revealing who Christ is through His church. Join us again this Sunday as we look at: “Church – But Make It Better!”

One of the most amazing truths of the human experience and one of the most glorious realities of God is that there is always a new day coming and a subsequent opportunity to choose who we want to be and how we want to live. When the calendar flips each year, it brings this reality into clear focus with the freshness of a new start and all the resolutions and changes that come with it.

What is true for us individually is also true for us as a community. What choices and changes might God be calling us to as a community this year? Join us this week as we begin a new series on us—the community of God. This week, we start a series called "Church, But Make It Better." We’ll discuss who we are as a church and what God might call us to choose together in 2025.

Merry Christmas and Happy (almost) New Year! We're shaking things up this week and creating space for our volunteers and staff to rest and celebrate the holidays with their families by experiencing church online.

Join Pastor Faith, Andy and the team, and a few special guests for worship, a word, and an activity for the whole family. We'll wrap up our series "Same Story: Always Changing" as we explore what the transformative power of the hope of Christ means for us today.

Kick off the New Year with us at Declaration Sunday! On the first Sunday of 2025, we’ll gather to worship, pray, celebrate baptisms, and take communion together as we consider what we want this New Year to be like for ourselves, our church, and our community. We’re expectant for how God will meet us as we come curious and open-handed for the year ahead. See you on Declaration Sunday!

Life moves fast—trends come and go, news changes every minute, and it’s easy to feel like you’re just trying to keep up. But what if, in the middle of all this change, there’s something constant, something solid?

The Christmas story is 2,000 years old—angels, shepherds, a baby in a manger—but it’s not just history. It’s hope that doesn’t fade, love that doesn’t fail, it’s a God who stepped into our chaos to bring peace and joy.

This good news wasn’t just for one time, one group, or one generation.

This Christmas, come discover how the same story still matters—and how it can make a difference in your ever-changing life today. Timeless truth. Real hope. For you.

So… what is your favorite moment in the whole wide world of Christmas movies?

Is it when Buddy screams out “SANTA!!!!” in the middle of the department store from the movie Elf?

Maybe it’s the moment when Kevin McCallister breaks the fourth wall and says directly into the camera: “This is it. Don’t get scared now,” in the 90’s classic Home Alone.

Or maybe you are more in favor of young Tiny Tim when he exclaims “God bless us, everyone!” from A Christmas Carol.

If you’re anything like me, it’s probably any one of the several wild and unrepeatable phrases from the lips of Clark W. Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Whatever it is, there always seems to be one moment in any great story that sticks with you for good. It’s a moment that you know is coming, but every time it does, you love it again and again each year you watch it.

Join us as we explore some of the most memorable and enduring parts of the true Christmas story and we ask – how can this moment hit us in a fresh way this year?

What are you feeling as you come to the end of 2024?

Joy? Hope? Fear? Loneliness? Confusion? Assurance? Anger? Peace?

All of these emotions are part of the human experience - impacted by both our personal circumstances and the state of our world.

God understands all of these emotions because He came and shared our life.  He experienced and bore the same weakness that we often feel.  He came, not as a rich and powerful ruler - protected from life’s losses and dangers, but as a baby - dependent, vulnerable, needy.

God came and trusted a teenage girl to take care of him.

God came to show us who He truly is and who He planned for us to be.

The wonder of Christmas is this incredible paradox of God With Us - not as the most powerful being in the universe but as the most helpless participant in his own creation.

How? Why?

Join us this weekend as we begin a new sermon series focused on the Christmas story. Over the next five weeks, we will examine this familiar story through a different lens wrestling with the question “What relevance does the Christmas story have in my life today? “ 

As we embark on this journey together, our hope and prayer is that God will speak to each of us in a powerful way, helping us experience a renewed sense of hope and purpose, despite the ever-changing circumstances of our lives. This Sunday we will begin our journey together by looking at “The Birth of Jesus Foretold” from Luke 1:26-38. What does the town of Nazareth and the message from the angel Gabriel have to do with our lives today? Come and find out!

When you think about eternity, what comes to mind? For some of us, eternity looks like pearly gates and streets paved with gold. Others envision disembodied spirits floating on clouds playing harps. Still others envision… nothing.

In our series Kingdom Come, we’ve been on a five-week journey examining what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of God. As we wrap up this series, let’s take a look at what scripture has to say about what the Kingdom will be like for eternity. Is it really one, long worship service in the clouds? Will there be a physical dimensions to our forever? And who gets to be in eternity?

Join us as we wrestle with the question, What is Eternity Like?

Everyone wants to be an influencer it seems. Maybe we can learn from the greatest Influencer the world has known. His influence has nothing to do with marketing or style or getting people to buy stuff. Rather his influence led people to abandon their old life and their old way of evaluating what’s valuable. And He invites us to influence others like he did - through the example of lives that are compellingly attractive.

When I was in middle school, all the kids identified with one of two distinct groups. You were either a “head banger” or you were a “yo boy or yo girl.” To identify with one group or the other came with a whole list of activities, music, clothing that were associated with each group.

The "bangers" skateboarded, listened to grunge music, wore JNCO jeans and grew their hair long. The "yo boys and yo girls" played basketball, listened to hip hop, wore FUBU, silver chains and an uncomfortable amount of cologne.

It all seems kind of silly to me now looking back – dressing the same, listening to the same music, using the same lingo, and mimicking a pre-determined set of behaviors based on cultural archetypes that we saw on MTV. But this type of thing isn’t confined to just middle school culture – it is one example of how we as humans act when we attach our identity with one cultural group or another.

Republican or Democrat

Millennial or Baby Boomer

Gamer or Sports Fan

Each group defines right belief and right action for its members.

Join us this week as we talk about the distinctives of being a follower of Jesus when we ask the question: How should I dress?

We continue our “Kingdom Come” series this weekend as we look to answer the question: “WHY AM I HERE?”

So often, we ask ourselves questions about life and its meaning. Given the circumstances and situations we face today, we can develop legitimate feelings of confusion, doubt, and anxiety.

Could this be due to viewing our lives and existence from the wrong perspective? Do we feel like there has to be more to this life because there is actually more to this life? We were made for more! This week, we will continue to explore a Heavenly Perspective, so that as Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we can live lives of Power and Authority through Jesus Christ. 

Join us as we seek to see “His Kingdom Come and Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven”

Have you ever woken up, maybe when you were on vacation, and it took you awhile to figure out where you were?

Or, have you ever thought you knew where you were but then looked around and found you were in a completely different location than you thought?

The technical term for these feelings is “disorientation,” and we have all experienced them at one time or another. Disorientation can happen in our relationship to geographic places, but it can also happen in our spirit as well.

Sometimes we don’t quite know where we are at with faith and with God and it takes time to figure it out. Or sometimes we feel like we know where we are, but the reality is we are a bit lost and need help to reorient.

Jake and Elwood knocked on the door and said: “We are on a mission from God” in the classic film “The Blues Brothers." They really weren’t, but those who have experienced God are. Why? Because the reality of meeting God changes you into a person of mission: one who is willing to leave what is comfortable in order to love and serve others. As you take risks to bless others, you will find yourself receiving not only the gifts and resources necessary to do so, but the greatest blessing of all will be – His presence in your life.

See with God, anything is possible!

I saw a guy at a coffee shop last week wearing a shirt that said "What is your WHY?" 

I have been thinking about that question a lot ever since. I'd like to make that a two-part question: "What is your WHAT?" and then, "What is your WHY?"

Serving is my WHAT... but that isn't my WHY…

Would you join me in reading Isaiah 58:6-12 every day between now and Sunday?

We get to do this!

Indescribable.

Devastating.

Unbelievable.

If you have watched any news recently, you have likely heard these adjectives employed in attempt to capture the effect Hurricane Helene had on communities across the southeastern United States.

Many prayed to be spared from the disaster, but the reality is that storms happen. Storms large and small are a fact of life – when they blow in, they can leave homes and communities, even entire regions destroyed and laid bare.

What is true for the environment is also true for us personally.

Following Jesus is not a strategy to escape the inevitable storms of life, but Jesus does offer us a place we can build that is guaranteed to hold up against the fiercest of hurricanes and the floods that are destined to come our way.

Do you ever wish others could see the world as clearly as you do? If only other people could see where they mess up, surely the world would be a better place. Sound familiar? There is little we love more as a society than pointing out where others are wrong; and Christians are no exception. Call it accountability, helping a struggling friend, or even Christian love; the propensity to make judgments runs deep. Isn't it our responsibility to help others see where they are messing up?

As we explore the beginning of Matthew 7, we’ll encounter a passage that has a lot to say about judgments, who should be making them, and ultimately what they teach us about ourselves.

Ever heard the quote “you can’t take it with you?” This can have two meanings and presents us with two options: consume and accumulate as much as possible now while you can OR consume and accumulate no more than you need because abundant, eternal life isn’t found in the abundance of stuff. 

How do we live in a way where our money and possessions don’t own us? How do we overcome anxiety and find contentment as we’re constantly bombarded by advertisements from algorithms? Jesus offers us a more life-giving way - an invitation to freedom and contentment. Realizing that less is actually more in the Kingdom of God. When this becomes our reality, our lives are turned inside out and it’s an adventure of a lifetime!

The center of the Sermon on the Mount is The Lord’s Prayer - a prayer still prayed daily by Christians all over the world.

It’s more than a few familiar stanzas to hurriedly rehearse. In fact - it summarizes and empowers Jesus’s teaching.

It has shaped Christian hearts and minds for 2000 years - and it has the power to do the same for us today.

Join us this weekend as we sing and pray and study the prayer that Jesus taught us.

Does your life make for great theater?

“All the world’s a stage” according to Jaques in Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

Regardless of whether or not you consider yourself a “performer,” you don’t have to put on “an act” to earn the applause of Christ.

No matter what “stage” of life you are in, Jesus wants to be your secret “Audience of One.”

Join us this Sunday for part 3 in our series on the Sermon on the Mount entitled “Inside Out” as we discover how diving into greater intimacy with our Lord and Savior will reap relational rewards with God and everybody else!

In Jesus' most iconic sermon, he drops a truth bomb on his audience, declaring, “You’ve heard it said… but I say to you…” What’s Jesus saying? Today he might have said it like this, "You think you know, but let me tell you the real deal.”

Life in His Kingdom is a game-changer. It's not just surface-level, it's a deep dive into the core of our being. This is where true life begins; coming into a right relationship with God, which leads us into right relationships with others. Get ready to explore the teachings that shook the world and inspired great leaders like Ghandi, MLK Jr, and the civil rights movement. Join us as we continue this message series at wwww.damascus.com/inside-out.

Jesus has this way of turning our culture inside out and society upside down. He has this way of doing and saying things, and even blessing people, that is counter-cultural and revolutionary. It doesn’t always make sense to us. 

This Sunday kicks off our Inside-Out, Sermon On The Mount, 7-week Fall series, along with our new LifeGroups launch. Together we will explore some of the best-known verses in the Bible that still echo throughout our culture - “The Golden Rule”, “love your enemies”, “kingdom come”.  

This week as we tee-up the series, we will answer the question: “Who is Jesus’ sermon for?" And we will take a look at His opener, “The Beatitudes” – you know, the “‘Blessed are…” statements of Jesus. That word ‘blessed’, well, it can be a blessed problem. In fact, all the Beatitudes seem to be totally out of step with our culture, and pointing in the wrong direction, especially for those of us looking to climb the cultural ladder. What’s up with that, Jesus?

Come. Listen. Learn. Apply. From the Master Preacher, Jesus. 

Come join us as we wrap up the Chosen series with a focus on Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:13-16. As followers of Christ, we are called to be “salt” and “light” in this world. What exactly does this mean and is it possible? Together, let’s explore what Jesus meant when He first issued this challenge to His disciples and the vision that He is holding out for in our lives today.

Imagine you are one of the disciples who did life with Jesus each and every day. You saw Him turn water into wine and feed thousands. You were there when He healed the woman with the issue of blood. You witnessed Him eat with sinners, inviting them into new life and relationship with Him. You were there with a front row seat to the raising from the dead of the widow’s son and Jairus’s daughter. Hearing His teaching, you were radically changed by His call to love our enemies and live non-judgmental lives filled with compassion.

Seeing all of this, when given the opportunity to ask for more insight on one subject, what would you ask? In their one request, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them and tell them more about only one thing. Their request was, “Teach Us How To Pray!” The disciples saw a direct connection between who Jesus was, how He lived and how He addressed life’s circumstances and His prayer life.

Join me as we go to Jesus’ school of prayer and learn how we too can draw from our time of prayer to face life’s greatest challenges today!

Most of us have a funny relationship with freedom and control, don’t we?

We love the idea of freedom for ourselves and wouldn’t hesitate to say: “I don’t need anyone telling me how to live my life!”

But we’re also very quick to fight against what we believe is wrong. We often try to control the behavior of others, especially when we think it will affect us in some way and are ready to shout: “Not In My Backyard!”

Nowhere is this freedom/control dynamic more vividly played out than in the arena of faith and religion. We are told that Christ came for our freedom yet many of our experiences with Christianity feel completely opposite; it can sometimes feel more like behavior control than freedom.

Join us this week for Season 2 Episode 6 of the Chosen, titled Unlawful; we are going to ask what it looks like to have a freedom that truly feels like being free!

Life can be going well when suddenly… A chance encounter; an unguarded moment; a painful betrayal... and all seems lost!

Mary Magdalene has one of those days and suddenly finds herself walking down steps into a dark and dimly-lit past.

Jesus tells a story in Luke 15 about a lost sheep and how the shepherd drops everything and runs to rescue...

our stumble unleashes His rescue!

This week the Waterboyz choir will be worshiping at Damascus Road. Join us as we experience a life changing encounter with the God who rescues.

He was exhausted. The disciples? They were comfy around the campfire, until tensions arose after a long and exhausting day. Now they were waiting on Jesus. 

The conversation is being driven by four brothers whom Jesus recently called to join him in full time ministry. They are core members of his small group (Matthew 4:18-22). What starts out as fun banter becomes weaponized religious nationalism targeted at Matthew, a recent Jesus follower, who would later write this gospel.  

The tense scene is interrupted when Jesus, exhausted from healing (Matthew 4:24), stumbles past the quarrelsome disciples, stunning them into silence. Matthew’s recounting of the stories in chapter 4, verses 18-25, tells us so much about ourselves, and about a God who loves us with an unfailing love. Come and see.

Last year, we journeyed through scripture (inspired by Season 1 of The Chosen) and this year we will pick up where we left off with Season 2. From James and John wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans to the breaking of the Sabbath laws, see the adventure of the four gospels come to life.  

Together, we will explore the parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15:1-7 (which is also featured in Season 2, Episode 1).

The Beatles once sang “All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?”

One of the greatest desires of the human heart is finding a place where we belong – a place to fit in – in a world that can, at times, feel lonely and unfamiliar. In fact, of all the topics that singers and songwriters mine for inspiration (after love), I would guess that loneliness or searching for a place to belong has got to be up near the top of the list.

Join us as we look at episode two and explore a Jesus that not only sees people where they are, but sidesteps social norms in order to interrupt their loneliness and provide a place for them to truly belong and be themselves.

Come join us this Sunday as we wrap up the "Between the Lines," series with a focus on the Book of Isaiah. Our key passage of scripture will be Isaiah 52:13- 53:12. Referred to as the gospel of Isaiah, this is one of the clearest references to Jesus Christ in the entire Old Testament. Written 700 years before Jesus showed up, the prophet Isaiah foresaw a coming day of great hope for all people. And this great hope was only made possible because of a suffering servant that would emerge on the scene.

Most of us contain multitudes – human beings are complicated and often confusing.

Once when asked to “just be yourself,” Bob Dylan responded with: “no problem, but which self do you want me to be?” Many of us can relate to this because we can be one way in one situation but completely different in another. We’re all a complicated mix.

Our temptation however, when it comes to other people, is to simplify them or label them with a word or a phrase; often that word or phrase is drawn from a person’s worst moment. We see the complexity in our selves, but we deny it in others when we label them.

Murderer.

Adulterer.

King David was both yet somehow, he was also called a man after God’s own heart. Not only that, but David is also often identified with the messianic identity that Jesus came to embody. That kind of complexity can be hard for many of us to reconcile.

Join us this week as we look at the towering figure of King David and try to figure out where we can see Jesus in his story.

The book of Ruth is a pretty wild story… A young woman with her whole life in front of her, leaves everything familiar and goes to a place she's never been, with her mother-in-law no less. The story includes famine, loss of loved ones, unexpected kindness of strangers, a dramatic rescue, and a surprise ending - and Jesus has His fingerprints all over the story! If you read the 85 verses of Ruth, count the number of times the word ‘redeemer’ shows up… find the word ‘rest’ and spend some time asking God what is being said when that word shows up.

This week we will take on the book of Job, which inevitably leads us to the challenging subject of suffering. We’ll take a look at how Job endures suffering, how we can support others in their suffering, and how those who are afflicted can find hope in Jesus. Come discover Jesus in the book of Job this Sunday!

Join us as we continue the Jesus in the Old Testament series with a focus on the book of Joshua. Our key passage of scripture will be Joshua 2:1-21. We would encourage you to read this ahead of time and ask yourself, “What does a prostitute and a scarlet cord have to do with Jesus? And how does this relate to our lives today?” Come find out as we explore the “scandal” of the gospel, which was set in motion well before the birth of Jesus. 

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

I had a friend who dreamed for years about building his dream house. I would stop by to visit him and he would have the plans spread out on the kitchen table… All the attention to detail… The fixtures in the bathroom… The size of the windows… Which direction should the house face to get the morning sun… should I build a one car garage or a two car?

It turns out that God had a dream house in mind to build too. You can read about it in the last half of the book of Exodus. But wait, there's more to the story than meets the eye! Have you ever seen one of those pictures that if you look at it long enough another picture emerges… a hidden picture? What is the hidden picture buried between the lines in God’s dream house? Join us this weekend to find out!

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

Following our 1st Corinthians sermon series, Damascus Road is offering a late Spring class exploring key themes in 1st Corinthians. This class will be co-taught by DRCC’s retired Founding Pastor, Richard Fredericks, PhD, and Teaching Team Pastor, Michelle Rader, M.A. They will explore in greater depth some of the rich themes of 1st Corinthians, especially focusing on Paul’s narrative of how the “message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

They will explore how that “foolishness” plays out in counter-cultural ways for Christian community, including transformed ways of understanding weakness, unity, interdependence, honoring others, and interpersonal relations.

If you want to “go deeper” in 1st Corinthians, this class is for you!

What word or idea do you most associate with the Old Testament?

Scary? Ancient? Violent? Exciting? Weird? Lots of laws? Puzzling? Jewish scripture? God's story? Don't know where to start?

The Old Testament is much longer and older than the New Testament. It has even more genres and authors and speaks from and to a wider variety of cultures and time periods.

This can make it challenging for modern readers.  

It’s also the Bible of Jesus and the New Testament authors. Jesus said it "testifies about me." And the New Testament authors all quote extensively from the Old Testament, grounding the story of Jesus and their new Christian faith in those ancient stories.

Join us as we start a new series: Between the Lines, Jesus in the Old Testament. We’re going to learn to read Jesus’s Bible the way his followers learned to read it – the way Jesus taught them to read it – as a story that he was in from the beginning, that was always leading to Him.

“I wonder what sort of tale we have fallen into” Frodo Baggins

For the last five years we bumped into each other on the way to work or while walking our dogs. There was always the friendly "hi, how are you", nothing more. Recently we invited them over for a meal. The following Monday Sherresa & I happened to be going to work at the same time, and when she saw me, her face lit up and she came over and gave me a hug…

What had changed?

Developing friendships… discovering stories... sharing life! It's what a lonely world is longing for. 

Would you join me on the porch and stay a while? I can't hammer a nail, but I can build a porch… and so can you!

Now that's an epic tale!

Inviting others into genuine relationship and conversations can be intimidating. As we become vulnerable and open ourselves up to share our stories we can be tempted to become someone we are not. In a world where we are constantly told who we should be and what we should look like, God desires for you to be uniquely yourself! Join us this week as we discover how we can embrace who God made us to be as we endeavor to share our lives, stories, and faith with others.

“It’s so good to see you, we really need to get together sometime!”

“Sounds great – want to grab a coffee?”

“I’d love to do breakfast, or if your mornings are too busy maybe we could do lunch.”

“I’m in, but hey, we really do need to get the families together for dinner sometime…”

Doesn’t it seem like all our best social interactions happen over a meal? Have you ever noticed that the backdrop to many of the famous scenes in the bible is around the table or over a meal? If you could hear or smell the stories in the bible, many of them would sound like the clanging of dishes or the smell of roasted meat.

Join us this week as we explore the role of the table and the meal in our journey to open our porches, develop relationships, discover stories, and do life together.

What’s on your porch? Maybe there are flower pots, rocking chairs, and a welcome mat. Maybe there is an Amazon package or two. Or there could be a catchy “Welcome to my Porch” sign. Our porches are as different and unique as the people who occupy them. This week, as we continue our “Life on the Porch" series, we will be looking at how we each have unique and significant ways in which we can share who Jesus is. We will discover how the Holy Spirit can work through our individuality to connect God’s Story, Our Story, and the Story of Others. This allows God to create a New Story of New life in Christ.

Easter. True story...

Jesus died for our sins one dark Friday, and they buried him.

On Sunday, He was raised to life–resurrected from the dead!

The grave cave was empty–and hundreds of people saw Jesus alive again!

What’s more–He’s comin’ back for us–and we’ll live with Him forever!

IF this is a fake story–a fabrication, a legend–then we live and we die.

…But IF this is a True Story, then death is defeated,

and we’ve got the PERFECT ending to our story–through HIS story!

No more death, no more pain, no more tears–just joy!

Life forever with God through Christ!

Can you believe that we are just a little over a week away from Easter! Palm Sunday marks the last week of Jesus’ ministry while on earth. It’s during this week we see more clearly than ever that Christian faith involves trusting that at the center of the universe is a Being whose heart beats with an infinite love for His world, for you and me. 

The purpose of human existence is to receive this love that Jesus not only talked about but also consistently practiced in tangible, practical acts. His ultimate demonstration of this love culminated in his death on a Roman cross. 

This kind of love should not only impact our here-after, but also our here-now. In our humanity, it’s easy to forget. The ancient Corinthians did too. What’s God’s solution? Come find out as we talk about one of the most significant events during Holy Week and the apostle Paul’s counsel to an ancient people in 1 Corinthians 11:17- 34. 

All You Need Is Love!

The Beatles might have taken a look at 1 Corinthians 13 before they wrote the famous song “All You Need is Love.”

Unfortunately, many in Corinthian culture ascribed to the Tina Turner school of thought, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”

Enough song references! 1 Corinthians 13 is known as the “Love Chapter” of the Bible, quoted most often at weddings. After addressing the challenges the Corinthian church is facing from external cultural influences and internal differences, The Apostle Paul gets to the heart of the matter, literally! The encouragement to the Corinthian church is to live out their faith and relationships in a love defined not by culture but by Christ.

Join us as we dive into 1 Corinthians 13 and see how we can elevate our love walk and allow the Love of Christ to redeem relationships and draw us closer into community.

Over the past few weeks we've heard a lot about what we do with our bodies - how what we do with our bodies impacts ourselves and others - for ill or for good.

This week we'll talk about a different kind of body - the Body of Christ - His church. But this will continue the logic of our previous talk about bodies: what we do with our individual bodies matters, because we are all part of Christ's body, and what we do individually impacts and contributes to the new life we share with each other in Christ.

Every single person - their gifts, experience, and unique qualities - are valued and needed! You matter and others matter!

Join us as we continue our 1 Corinthians series with a study of chapter 12.

FOOD FIGHT!!!

I’ve never been in an actual food fight, but I loved watching them in movies when I was a kid. It’s a hilarious and ridiculous visual when you see a bunch of people throwing mashed potatoes and pies, squirting ketchup and mustard, and making a mess of each other with their dinners.

This week we are going to focus in on 1 Corinthians 8-10, which could be described as Paul stepping in to settle the food fight that has broken out at the church in Corinth. Paul is going to walk into the mess and settle another division in the church through the lens of the Gospel.

Join us at the table this week as we see what the Cross has to do with an ancient Corinthian food fight.

Are you single? Married? Divorced? Widowed?

No matter how you answered that question, 1 Corinthians 7 has something to say about our relationships with others and our relationship with God. This is likely a passage you haven't heard in church before.

Let's explore it together as we strive to be a community that’s Undivided, marked by cross-shaped love.

So 1st Corinthians can get... kind of... AWKWARD... Paul gives the Corinthians a "sex talk” in 1 Corinthians 6:9-20. Yup - Paul goes there - but he doesn't throw a list of rules at them. Rather Paul steps in to contrast the use and abuse of the world's way with the love and dignity of God's design. He is blunt and honest with the Corinthians, but always with the intent to point them to Christ - in this case, with the fresh start in Christ - to guide them to see their bodies as sacred, with God present in them, and the Spirit working both in them and through them.

Paul took sexual ethics on for the good of the family, and we will follow his lead this Sunday to continue to grow together into the community that God created us to be!

Last week Michelle shared some really good advice with us that she gleaned from the apostle Paul’s introduction to the letter to the Corinthians; she said that if you have to deliver a hard word to someone it’s a really good idea to start with the positives before you get to the negatives.

That’s a good word for all of us.

But this week we will get to Paul’s hard word for the Corinthian church which is pretty dramatic. Paul starts chapter 3 by saying – and this is my paraphrase – “you guys are acting like a bunch of babies! Grow up, why don’t ya!” Seriously, that’s what he says; check it out for yourself. The apostle Paul uses the same insult that many of us have screamed in exasperation at an annoying sibling or immature friend. (I wonder if any of the Corinthian believers heard the letter and thought to themselves “I know you are but what am I?”)

But what in the world created this level of frustration for Paul? What drove him to be so harsh with a whole community of Jesus-followers?! And, here’s a scary thought: what would the apostle Paul say to us if he showed up to DRCC on Sunday morning?!

Join us this week as we continue our journey through the letter to the Corinthian church by focusing in on chapters 3 & 4 (for those that like to do homework and read the text ahead of time). This week we will add some color and background to Paul’s words and see if we can locate ourselves in the story of the Corinthian church.

Division? Partisanship? Power struggles?

Do these seem like new problems?

Well, they are not!

Living in community has always been a challenge from the very beginning (just read the family stories in Genesis!)

But when we are living in Christ Jesus - our whole attitude toward others should change. Yet this change doesn't come automatically, quickly, or easily to most of us.

Paul's letters to the Corinthian church show us the challenges - and the Christ-centered solutions - that come when a diverse group of people do life together. 

Join us as we kick off our new series, Undivided: A New Reality - a study of 1 Corinthians, which will take us through Holy Week.

What if you could have all of your debt taken away—canceled?

What if someone forgave all of the debt of every person in your family?

What if this person dealt with all of the debt in our community?

What if they could zero out the national debt?

What if they could wipe out the debt of every person who ever walked the earth?

How would we respond to that kind of gift?

Jesus has forgiven every debt - for every human - for all time! And we are to respond to this gift by following Jesus in forgiving as He forgave us!

So what does it look like to live a life that’s debt free?

Join us as we explore practical ways to share the freedom we have in Christ through actively extending forgiveness to others, just as Jesus has forgiven us!

There is a famous scene in the 1985 cult classic film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, where Pee Wee is talking to a woman about her life’s dream of one day living in Paris. In the scene Simone hedges when Pee Wee encourages her to chase her dream, she responds with “I know you’re right, but…”

Pee Wee pushes back with “But what?! Everyone I know always has a big but. Come on Simone, let’s talk about your big but.” The audience can see what Pee Wee and Simone can’t, her terrifyingly large boyfriend begins to eavesdrop on their conversation but only catches the last sentence, just as Pee Wee is asking his girlfriend to talk about her big but.

The scene is hilarious and devolves into comedic brilliance.

Our message series on forgiveness these past few weeks has brought that scene to my mind a few times. We can all be like Simone, can’t we? Forgiveness may sound great in concept, it feels like something we should aspire to do, yet we have all had times in life when we know we should forgive someone for hurting us and we find ourselves hung up over a big BUT. Forgiveness can seem more like a dream than something we could actually do in real life.

“I would like to forgive BUT you don’t know how much pain they have caused.” Or “I would forgive BUT they haven’t apologized.”

Yet Jesus commands us to forgive – no if, and, or BUT.

Join us this week for week three of our Forgiveness series as we deal with the battle inside that each of us faces when it is time for us to forgive or seek forgiveness. This week we will talk about our big BUTs; I promise that you won’t want to miss it!

Forgiveness...

You can’t buy it...

You can’t earn it...

Paradoxically, forgiveness is costly yet free.

So who pays?

Here’s the truth...

"In Him (Christ), we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us..."

~Ephesians 1:7-8

"In turn, you and I are to forgive others as we have been forgiven..." ~Matthew 6:12

Join us this weekend as we explore the impact of forgiveness—God’s love poured out for you and me! 

At some point in our lives, we all want forgiveness.

At some point in our lives, we all find it hard to forgive.

How did Jesus do it?

How did He do justice to address the wrongs we do, yet simultaneously extend mercy to us?

In this series, we’ll plumb the depths of Christ’s outpouring of love for us, with awe at how His sacrifice on the cross is central to what the Bible says about forgiveness and how we are to forgive as we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:12).

So practically speaking, how do we go about this? Receiving forgiveness? Extending forgiveness?

We pray that you will join us as we resolve to follow the example of Jesus in forgiving others and seeking reconciliation.

Join us as we wrap up 2023 and our 6-week series, “Interrupted: Joy Broke In!” During our time together, we will reflect on the significance and relevance of what happened to Simeon and Anna in Luke 2:21-40. 

Their long-awaited encounter with Jesus in this passage has far greater implications for our lives today than we may realize. Let’s discern together what God may be trying to tell us as we head into 2024. Here’s one thing we know for sure, with Christ as our Lord and Savior, it won’t be business as usual.

What a journey we have been on this Advent season as we’ve spent time together in our Christmas series: “Interrupted: Joy Broke In!”

Each week has allowed us to experience the various characters of the Nativity story, God’s interruption in their lives, and their response to his revelation and invitation.

We’ve walked with Mary and the Shepherds, the Magi and Joseph as they each journeyed toward the manger. This week we will encounter Jesus, the baby who interrupted human history. As I read the Christmas story in Luke’s gospel, and then reread it, I kept hearing a question which had to have been in the minds of all the characters in the story, “Who is this baby?” Don’t miss God’s great ‘reveal’ this weekend as we come face-to-face with the baby who changed everything!

Joseph was a good man who was so excited to get married to the girl of his dreams. Then he got the news, the news that would be his worst nightmare—news that would be “Good News” to the whole world, but not for Joseph, or so he thought...

This news would change everything: his life, his reputation, the reputation of his wife, their marriage, his standing in the community, and his future.

How would he react to having his wedding plans interrupted?

After contemplating what to do, an angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

~Matthew 1:20&21

What does all this mean? How did he respond? How did this interruption change the world?

What can we learn from Joseph, Mary’s husband, that will help us navigate interruptions in our own lives and draw us deeper into the Christmas story, and closer to Jesus, our Savior and our Lord?

Join us this Sunday as we travel with Joseph on the next leg of our journey to Bethlehem and beyond with joyous anticipation of the coming of our King!

We three kings of orient are… bearing gifts we traverse afar… I’ve sang the song… I’ve watched the movie…

From an early age I believed there were three kings who saw a star and somehow knew something significant had happened. They set out on a two-year journey to see for themselves. Over the last month or so almost everything I thought I knew about this story has been disrupted!

But it isn’t just me…

It seems everyone in the story was disrupted… the Magi from the east, King Herod and all of Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph, and sadly all the mothers in Bethlehem.

Last week we saw the lowly shepherds showing up at the stable with nothing to offer but their worship. This week we see royalty from those scorned by God’s chosen offering Jesus extravagant gifts. What kind of king is this?

Kings from the east… evil King Herod… a baby King born in a stable… MAGI: Kingdoms disrupted!

As human beings it is very easy to fall into routines and habits that dictate the course of our days. We eat the same things for breakfast, drive to work by the same route, listen to the same radio station, check the same things on social media, work the same job, watch the same news, and follow the same nightly routine before bed. It works that way with our thought patterns too. Far more than we would like to admit, habits and routines (some conscious, but many sub-conscious) govern our day-to-day existence. This is nothing new, it is human nature and we have been this way since the beginning. 

But against the backdrop of our everyday life, the Christmas story returns to us every year and it beckons us to break from our routines and hear the news again - there is something much greater going on in the world! Something happened 2000 years ago and the world has not been the same since. We return to Christmas every year because it reminds us that the Creator became created, the founder became flesh, and the one who made time stepped into time for our sake.

Join us this week as we hear the message new again. On Sunday we will look at the shepherds, those in the middle of their everyday routine - just doing their jobs - when suddenly, their lives were interrupted and everything changed. 

The day of a momentous historic event often begins like any other - the bright, sunny morning of September 11, 2001; the quiet, mostly clear skies over Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941; an early morning sunrise in Israel on October 7.

Individuals woke up and went about their lives thinking it was a day like any other - until it wasn’t. Disruptive interruptions to our lives rarely announce themselves in advance.

For a young teenage girl living in an unimportant village in a corner of the worlds most powerful empire, the day began like any other. She surely did not expect the angelic visitor, the momentous news that the messiah was come, the call to be at the center of history’s most important and disruptive event. 

But unlike many of history’s interruptions, this one would bring not tragedy and despair, but Joy. There would also be suffering and death, for sure. Yet this ultimate Interruption would be the inflection point that would turn history, empire, power, and human assumptions upside down.

Join us as we make the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas, from gratitude for Gods recent gifts, to joy and remembrance of his greatest gift - himself. 

Our new series - Interrupted by Joy - will celebrate Immanuel, God With Us.

Did you know that gratitude expressed in community is a gateway to a life filled with joy and thanksgiving? This Sunday, we focus on Psalm 100, often titled A Psalm of Thanksgiving. This short Psalm of five verses is packed with practical ways for you and me to be filled with an attitude of gratitude.

Come discover distinct declarations, directives, and two motivations which the writer of this Psalm believes can change the way you view yourself, our world, and our God. Experience a shift. Gain an attitude of gratitude.

Come join us this Sunday as we explore the promise that Christ made to his disciples the very same night that he was betrayed and arrested. In John 14:18, Jesus comforts his disciples with these powerful words: “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” Apart from Christ, we are spiritual orphans, but in Christ, we have been adopted into God’s family. Together, we will take a closer look at Romans 8 and what all of this means for us and how we are to live in 2023.

DRCC will be joining churches throughout the world this weekend in celebrating Orphan Sunday, an opportunity to explore God’s heart for orphans and the role that the church is being called to play.

#Barriers. #Walls. #Hostility. 

Our world is filled with barriers and “walls of hostility,” of all kinds. #Religious. #Racial. #Personal. #Physical…. Plenty of barriers to go around. 

Recently, I was texting one of our senior leaders, and we both agreed that sometimes our barriers are sin and sometimes it’s us - feeling stuck in a wilderness of sorts – dysfunctional, emotional, spiritual, workplace… you name it. God feels absent. We feel stuck.  

Join Tina Buck and myself this weekend as we aim our compass at this important topic – Removing Barriers. Tina is a mental health professional, has a heart for discipleship, and leads our Rooted experience at Damascus Road. Together, we will take you with us on the last mile of our Living the Five journey. We can’t cover all the ground, but we will get you started! We will anchor in scripture, starting in Ephesians, where God tells us we can have peace - with him and others, because Jesus broke down “The Wall.” He can break down your walls too. Don’t miss this mile marker. It will point you to God’s specialty – Removing Barriers!