McGregor Podcast

What happens when your own sin is the reason your future got interrupted? In this episode of our Midweek Bible Study series, "How to Handle Life's Interruptions," Pastor Russell Howard turns to the story of Moses in Exodus 2. Moses was prepared and positioned for a great calling, yet one moment of sin nearly derailed everything. Pastor Russell traces how God preserved Moses' mission even after his...

When was the last time a fellow believer sat down and told you that you were wrong? In this Beyond the Notes episode, Pastor David Miller goes deeper into Sunday's sermon on Matthew 16, exploring what it means to rebuke one another well. He walks through Jesus' teaching in Luke 17 and Luke 6, the call to humility in Galatians 6, and the danger of self-deception described in James 1 and 1 John 1. L...

Matthew: The King Has Come "A Significant Shift" (Matthew 16:21-28) After two and a half years of public ministry, Jesus began preparing His disciples for what was ahead: His death, His resurrection, and what following Him would actually cost them. Pastor David Miller walks through Matthew 16:21-28, where Peter's attempt to talk Jesus out of the cross meets Jesus's clear response, and where Jesus...

What does it actually mean to be thankful for your country without loving it more than you love the Kingdom of God? In this Journey Together Summer teaching, Pastor Russell Howard marks the nation's 250th birthday with four specific reasons for gratitude: God's sovereign hand over the rise and fall of nations, the principle of religious liberty born out of a Baptist conviction, America's unmatched...

What did the location of Peter's great confession reveal about what Jesus was claiming? In this Beyond the Notes episode, Pastor Russell Howard goes beyond his notes from Sunday's sermon on Matthew 16 to explore the geography and archaeology of Caesarea Philippi. He traces the city's history as a center of pagan worship, explains the significance of the cave known as the Gate of Hades, and unpacks...

The King Has Come "The Great Confession" (Matthew 16:13-20) The world is full of people who think well of Jesus. Every major religion has something generous to say about him. Most people in your neighborhood, given the chance, would call him a great teacher or a profound moral leader. But in Matthew 16, Jesus makes clear that a high opinion is not the same as the right answer. In this sermon, Past...

The moment you hear a sermon about handling life's interruptions is often the moment the interruption arrives. In this Around McGregor, Mark Bricker, Tamar Miller, and Christian Miller close out the first half of summer before the show's annual July break. They cover the July 1st celebration of God's faithfulness in Fellowship Hall (dinner at 5 p.m., program at 6:30), the summer Wednesday night se...

What do you do when everything you counted on suddenly comes apart? In this opening Journey Together teaching, Pastor Russell Howard draws from the life of Joseph in Genesis 37, 39-41, and 50 to walk through the things every believer needs to learn in the light, before the dark arrives. He covers seven specific realities: the world is broken, people are fallen, your days are numbered, deserve is a...

The Pharisees and Sadducees look like a unified front in the four Gospels. They were not. In this Beyond the Notes episode, Pastor Russell Howard traces the distinct origins, beliefs, and social roles of these two first century Jewish parties. The Sadducees controlled the high priesthood under Roman favor but rejected the resurrection, angels, and miracles taught in the Old Testament. The Pharisee...

The King Has Come "Doubt and Discipleship" (Matthew 16:1-12) In this Sunday sermon, Pastor Russell Howard examines two contrasting responses to Jesus in Matthew 16. The Pharisees and Sadducees arrive demanding proof, but their problem is not a lack of evidence. It is a resolved commitment to protect the sin their doubt allows them to keep. Jesus gives them a single answer: the sign of Jonah, point...

What does a full week of God at work actually look like? VBS just wrapped, a mission team is on the ground in Austria, and summer at McGregor is officially in motion. In this episode, Christian and Tamar recap VBS Rainforest Falls, including a peak nightly attendance of 433 children, 266 volunteers, and $6,569 raised for Go Tell Stories missions. They walk through the Journey Together Wednesday ni...

Were the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 the same event? Some scholars say yes, and they use that claim to cast doubt on the reliability of the Gospels and the whole of Scripture. In this episode of Beyond the Notes, Elder Peter Finch walks through the specific differences between the two miracles: the location, the crowd, the season, the amount of food used, the length of time t...

The King Has Come "Thy Compassions, They Fail Not" (Matthew 15:29-39) In Matthew 15, Jesus moves through Gentile territory with the same compassion He showed Israel. He heals the lame, the blind, the crippled, and the mute, then feeds a crowd of 4,000 with seven loaves and a few small fish. Elder Peter Finch walks through both of these moments to show what compassion actually means. Not a polite f...

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"G.R.E.A.T. Faith" (Matthew 15:21-28) In Matthew 15, a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus with a need that no one around her could address. She was not a Jew. She had no standing. And yet she fixed her eyes on Jesus, called Him Lord and Son of David, and refused to move no matter what came at her. In this sermon, Elder Omar Edwards walks through five elements of great faith using her story as the fram...

There's a lot happening at McGregor right now, and the people you love being around are talking about all of it. Mark, Tamar, and Christian are back this week covering the Renew Phase 2 permit news (spoiler: they're back on schedule), a Vacation Bible School preview that sounds like it's taken over the whole building, and a new summer Bible study series called "How to Handle Life's Interruptions."...

Holiness in Worship & Living, from our Midweek Bible Study: "Holiness of God" - 6.3.26 Taught by Mike Whitt. What does it mean that God is holy, and why does it matter how you live today? In this Journey Together teaching, Elder Mike Whitt walks through the holiness of God not as a single attribute among many, but as the crowning perfection that defines everything God is. Drawing on Archibald...

Can external discipline actually change you from the inside out? In this Beyond the Notes teaching, Pastor Russell Howard works through Colossians 2:16-23, where Paul identifies two dangers for believers: the legalistic judgment of others and the illusion of holiness through self-made religion. From dietary restrictions to ascetic practices to claims of superior spiritual experience, Paul's argume...

"Tradition" (Matthew 14:34-15:20) In this sermon from our ongoing study of the Gospel of Matthew, Pastor Russell Howard draws a line between spiritual discipline and spiritual deception. Habits and behaviors can be genuinely helpful to a believer's walk with God. But when external conformity becomes a substitute for biblical obedience, or when rule-keeping becomes the currency we use to earn God's...

What does community look like when the building is still under construction? On this week's Around McGregor, hosts Mark Bricker, Tamar Miller, and Christian Miller cover the week of May 31st. Topics include the return of newcomers coffee on Main Street between services, the prospective member class registration deadline, four life groups relocating to the modular building as Joy Building renovatio...

Holiness in Salvation and Sanctification, from our Midweek Bible Study: "Holiness of God" - 5.27.26 Taught by Omar Edwards.   Elder Omar Edwards opens this teaching with an honest confession: the call to live set apart for God sounds like an impossible standard, especially when someone cuts you off on I-75 right after church. Working from 1 Peter 1:13-19, Omar walks through four men in Scripture (...

What do you do when you know God is faithful but your circumstances are screaming something different? In this Beyond the Notes episode, Ryan Flint, Worship Pastor at McGregor Baptist Church, explores the concept of gospel amnesia: the very human pattern of forgetting what we know to be true about God the moment suffering gets loud. Drawing from Matthew 14, the Psalms, and the Israelites' journey...

The King Has Come "The Storm That Reveals The Savior" (Matthew 14:22-33) Jesus did not send the disciples into the storm by accident. He sent them on purpose, and He knew exactly what they would find there. In this sermon from Matthew 14:22-33, Ryan Flint, Worship Pastor at McGregor Baptist Church, traces the disciples from the shoreline crowd still buzzing after the feeding of the five thousand,...

Life rarely follows the plan we wrote for it. How do followers of Christ respond when it does not? In this week's Around McGregor, Mark Bricker, Tamar Miller, and Christian Miller preview a new summer Bible study called How to Handle Life's Interruptions, starting Wednesday, June 24 at 6:30 in Fellowship Hall. They also walk through the next month at McGregor: the Newcomers Coffee on May 31, the P...

Wednesday Night Teaching "Holy Justice" (Luke 13:1-5) What do you do with the parts of the Bible that feel severe? The passages where God's judgment lands swiftly and people die, where nations are destroyed, where the cost of sin is immediate and real? If we're honest, those passages can produce more questions than comfort. In this Wednesday night teaching, Elder Mike Hess walks through Luke 13:1-...