becoming: Unscripted

On this episode, we’re discussing 1 Timothy 1:12–17. The chapter begins with Paul warning Timothy about people who care more about being right than being transformed. Then, almost unexpectedly, Paul changes the subject, and begins talking about himself. He remembers the man he used to be: someone who believed he was serving God while actively opposing the very movement God was creating. Most of us...

This week we're looking at the end of Esther – a story filled with uncomfortable violence, difficult questions, and a holiday centered on feasting and generosity. Rather than trying to explain away the hard parts, we're asking what this ancient story might still have to teach us today.

Pastor Alison and Pastor Kent are away this week, so joining Jon and Melinda on this week's episode is Pastor Ron McClung. Esther 4 tells the story of what happens when someone on the inside is forced to decide whether they'll use their access to protect themselves or to protect other people. After Haman's decree to destroy the Jewish people is announced, Mordecai tears his clothes, puts on sackcl...

Today we're wrapping up the book of Ruth. After three chapters of loss, loyalty, and late-night threshing floor drama, the story ends in less dramatic fashion with a legal transaction. Boaz heads to the town gate, gathers some witnesses, negotiates a property deal, and settles a family matter. It sounds more like a city council meeting than a dramatic finale. But by the end of the chapter, Ruth an...

Today we're talking about Ruth Chapter 3. It begins with (what I think) is a terrible plan, involves a deeply awkward conversation, and somehow ends up teaching us something about hope. A grieving mother-in-law tells her widowed daughter-in-law to get dressed up, sneak into a threshing floor in the middle of the night, uncover a man's feet while he's sleeping, and wait to see what happens. If that...

If Ruth Chapter 1 is a tragedy, Ruth chapter 2 is about getting groceries. Yet, it's one of the most important chapters in the whole story. After all the loss and grief of Chapter 1, Ruth wakes up and does something pretty ordinary: she goes looking for food. She ends up in a field owned by a man named Boaz, who shows her kindness, and makes sure she has enough to bring home. That's basically it....

This week we're beginning the Book of Ruth. What struck me most is how honest the story is. Before there's redemption, before there's hope, there's simply loss. A family falls apart. Naomi is grieving. And instead of explaining her pain away, she says she feels empty and bitter.

Today we’re diving into Philippians 2. I’ve always read this passage as a message about humility. But this week I’m wondering if there’s a bigger point. Is Paul describing something deeply personal… or presenting an entirely different vision of power, leadership, and what makes a human community actually work?

This week, we sat down and wandered through Philippians 1:1–18a… Paul is writing from prison to a community he deeply loves, reflecting on partnership, suffering, joy, and the complicated reality of faith. Rather than presenting Christianity as certainty or polished spiritual success, Paul talks about transformation as something still unfolding — both in individuals and in the community as a whole...

This week, we’re looking at Acts of the Apostles 17:16–31... A moment where faith moves from broad and philosophical, into something much more specific. It starts with curiosity. It ends with tension. Along the way, we wrestle with a question a lot of us feel but don’t always name: Why do some parts of faith feel expansive and meaningful… while others make us hesitate or resist? And, what do we do...

In this first episode of Becoming: Unscripted , we sit with Acts 16:16-34.... A story that moves from exploitation to imprisonment to an unexpected kind of freedom. A slave girl is set free, Paul and Silas are thrown in prison, and a jailer’s world falls apart in a single moment. Along the way, one question keeps surfacing: What does it actually mean to be free, and what does it mean to be saved?