The Arsenal Church

In this message, Chad explores what happens when awe feels out of reach in the middle of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. Using the story of Peter walking on water and Jesus’ invitation to “look at the birds” and “consider the lilies,” this talk reframes faith not as trying harder, but as learning to widen our perspective. When fear narrows our world, awe expands it—and what shapes our attention ul...

We were handed "the fear of the Lord" as a posture of dread — grit your teeth, suppress the anxiety, just trust Jesus harder. But the Hebrew word (yirah) was never really fear; it was reverent awe, a perspective shift. In Mark 4 the disciples and Jesus are in the same boat, the same storm, the same lack of control — the difference isn't their circumstances, it's their lens. Fear narrows the frame...

We're being formed by a world engineered to keep us reactive — every headline, every clip, every algorithm built to keep the herd running so it's easier to steer. Chad starts with a confession: a sharp response video he almost posted but didn't. From there he walks through Jonathan Haidt's "elephant and rider," Durkheim's collective effervescence, and Bonhoeffer's warning about stampedes, then lan...

We live in a moment where everything is reactive, urgent, and demands an instant take — and our knee-jerk reactions reveal what we actually believe about God. Drawing on psychology and the gospels, Chad argues that religious blindness isn't born from ignoring Scripture; it comes from obsessing over systems while missing the person standing right in front of you. The danger Jesus names isn't blindn...

When the world feels unsafe, the first thing we lose isn't our beliefs — it's our perception. We stop seeing faces and start seeing categories, threats, and labels: people who "look like trees walking around." In this raw, honest message, Chad names the fear, anger, and grief so many of us are carrying right now, then turns to the strange two-stage healing in Mark 8 — the one time Jesus has to tou...

On the Arsenal's ninth anniversary, Chad trades the usual vision-casting for something quieter: an invitation into a "year of awe." Drawing a line from Elijah — who looked for God in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, only to find him in a gentle whisper — to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus whose hearts were burning long before they recognized who was walking beside them, Chad makes t...

We tend to think we have to go chasing awe — book the trip, stand at the Grand Canyon, wait for something big enough to move us. But awe rarely announces itself. More often it interrupts us: a toddler obsessed with helicopters, the impossible ordinary work of learning to hold a fork, the trillions of living things quietly keeping us alive. In a guest week framed as a conversation rather than a ser...

What if the thing we're missing at the start of a new year isn't more discipline, more hustle, or a better version of ourselves — but more depth? Chad opens 2026 by gently dismantling the resolution machine and offering a different invitation: stop trying to fix yourself and start being present. Through family photos and a son's 21st birthday, Moses pausing at the burning bush, and Jesus refusing...

On Christmas Eve, the God of the universe didn't arrive with power, certainty, or control — he chose to become small. Small enough to be held, small enough to cry, small enough to need warmth and care. Chad sits in the quiet of the candlelight to ask what that says about love: that it isn't about being right or standing over anyone, but about closeness, vulnerability, and a God unafraid of our hum...

We grew up with a villain in the Christmas story — a hard-hearted innkeeper who turned the pregnant Mary away. But the word we translate "inn" actually means a family's guest room, and Bethlehem was too small to even have an inn. Chad reopens the Advent story to suggest there was never an innkeeper at all: Joseph and Mary were turned away by family, by a system that taught people it was normal to...

Most of us were handed a Christmas story whose whole point was what happens after we die — baby Jesus born so he could grow up, die, and get us a ticket to heaven someday. But that's not what the angels are actually saying over the shepherds. The announcement is "peace on earth" — now, here, to them. In week two of Advent, Chad reframes biblical peace as the Hebrew shalom: not the absence of confl...

We tend to treat the Bible like a magical book that fell from heaven in modern English. But it's an ancient, human collection of documents — written across thousands of years, in languages we don't speak, to people whose world looked nothing like ours. Daniel Gertson makes the case that context isn't an optional add-on to faithful reading; it's the whole game. When we rip a verse out of its time a...

After four weeks tracing the lenses that harm us, we cross over into the lenses that heal — and the first one is Jesus himself. The "word of God" the Bible names isn't a leather-bound book; it's a person. So when Chad goes to Scripture, he goes through the character of Jesus, asking not just "what does this say?" but "would Jesus say that?" Watch how Jesus actually handles Scripture and a pattern...

Some of us learned to read the Bible through a "hierarchy lens" — Scripture as a tool to decide who's in charge, who's righteous, and who gets silenced. Robert Vargas names what that lens costs us and offers a different way in: not obey-or-be-condemned, but grace. God isn't Santa keeping a list; in Christ you are already loved, forgiven, and accepted — not because you earned it, but because grace...

"The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it." It sounds confident and faithful, but Chad names what that posture actually does: it shuts down curiosity and conversation. Drawing on Zach Lambert's Better Ways to Read the Bible, this week looks at the literalism lens — the modern habit of flattening poetry, parable, and story into one-dimensional commands, and the way inerrancy got weaponized...

Most of us were handed a version of God we never thought to question — always watching, easily angered, quick to punish, impossible to please. Describe that "person" in any other relationship and you'd be warned you're dating a narcissist. In the opening week of Undoctrinated, Chad starts the work of unlearning the toxic God we inherited and reclaiming the one we actually meet in Jesus. Using the...

In this week’s message, Daniel Gertson invites us to rethink everything we thought we knew about the Bible—moving beyond rigid, inherited beliefs and into a more honest, human, and transformative way of engaging Scripture. Through personal stories, humor, and thoughtful insight, Daniel explores the tension many of us have felt when the Bible seems confusing, contradictory, or unclear, and reframes...

For Father’s Day, we throw out the manly checklist and re-root ourselves in the way of Jesus. What makes a good dad? A good man? It’s not toughness or dominance—it’s presence, empathy, and love. Using the parable of the prodigal’s father and research from leading psychologists, this talk unpacks how Christlike fatherhood heals families and transforms culture—for sons, daughters, and all of us.

Jesus told us to love our enemies—but what if “enemy” is a label we created? In this message, we explore the psychology of division, tribalism, and how compassion disarms it. Chad reflects on his time at an interfaith summit, and we revisit Jesus’ teachings on enemy love, with insights from writings of Psychologists Jonathan Haidt and Kristin Kobes Du Mez. What if compassion is the way we unlearn...

What if awe is more than a feeling? What if it’s medicine? This week, we explore how awe expands empathy, creates connection, and rewires our brain. Drawing from recent research, scripture, and everyday wonder, we explore how living rooted in awe changes not just our worship—but our world.

Is it possible that awe—not fear—is the beginning of wisdom? In this message in the Rooted series, Chad dives into what it really means to be “God-fearing.” With scripture, psychology, and real-life application, this talk unpacks how our view of God shapes the way we treat others—and ourselves.

We were told that God turns away from sin. But what if that’s never been true? This week’s message features the powerful “Gospel in Chairs” illustration and reflects on Jesus’ posture of unshakable presence, even with those who expected condemnation. When love never leaves, everything changes.

Mother’s Day Sunday leads us into the nurturing, motherly nature of God. What happens when the Church stops nurturing and starts controlling? In this talk, Chad blends psychological research, theology, and personal stories to challenge our view of a God who only disciplines, and instead reveals the God who nurtures us into healing and wholeness.

This week, we explore the story of Mephibosheth—a man who expected rejection, but found welcome at the king’s table. Chad invites us to see how our deepest fear of being too “damaged” to belong is met with the radical love of a God who always makes room for us. You don’t have to be fixed to be loved. You belong.

We begin the Rooted series by asking a deeper question: What if you were never broken to begin with? This week, Chad reframes our origin story—not as one of sin and shame, but of belonging and belovedness. This message explores how the story we believe about our beginnings shapes everything about how we live, love, and grow.