Grace City Eugene

What does real faith look like when prayer feels unanswered, people wander, and following Jesus requires persistence? In this episode of The Extended Cut, Casey Olson sits down with Grace City Church Lead Pastor Chris Sonner to put a bow on our series through the book of James and unpack the final verses of James 5 that didn’t make it into Sunday’s sermon, “When Faith Gets Real.” James 5:17–20 giv...

What does real faith look like when life gets hard? In When Life Gets Real, Pastor Chris Zauner closes out our Show Me Your Faith series through the book of James with a powerful message about enduring faith, honest repentance, prayer, healing, and staying anchored in Jesus when life doesn’t go according to plan. Throughout the book of James, we’ve been confronted with one consistent challenge: fa...

Who really owns your life? This week on The Extended Cut, Pastor Casey and Pastor Chris go behind the scenes of Chris’ sermon, “Whose Life Is It Anyways?”, as we continue our journey through the book of James. We have far less control than we often think. Our lives are brief, our possessions are temporary, and even our best-made plans can change in an instant. So what does it look like to faithful...

Who really owns your life? In Week 8 of our Show Me Your Faith series through the book of James, Pastor Chris Zauner challenges us to examine how tightly we hold onto our plans, possessions, future, finances, and sense of control. Teaching from James 4:13–17 and James 5:1–6, this sermon confronts the temptation to live as though we are ultimately in charge. We make plans, build careers, save money...

What if the conflict around you is revealing something deeper within you? In this week’s episode of The Extended Cut, Chris Zahner and Casey Olson dive deeper into Chris’ sermon, “The War Within,” from Grace City Church’s series through the book of James. James 4 confronts us with an uncomfortable reality: the battles we experience in our relationships, circumstances, and everyday lives often reve...

What if the conflict happening around you is revealing a deeper conflict happening within you? In “The War Within,” Pastor Chris Zauner continues Week 7 of our “Show Me Your Faith” series through the book of James, teaching from James 4:1–12 about the desires, passions, pride, and divided loyalties that can quietly wage war inside our hearts. James asks a confronting question: “What causes quarrel...

What kind of wisdom is shaping your life? In this episode of The Extended Cut, Pastors Chris and Casey go behind the scenes of Chris’ sermon, “What Kind of Wisdom Is This?” from James 3:13–18. They explore the contrast between earthly and heavenly wisdom, why something can appear effective without being godly, and how the condition of our hearts becomes visible through our relationships, reactions...

What kind of wisdom is shaping your life? In Week 6 of Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner continues through the book of James with a powerful message from James 3:13–18 about the difference between worldly wisdom and the wisdom that comes from God. Throughout James, we see a consistent challenge: real faith becomes visible. Faith isn't simply something we profess with our mouths—it produc...

What do your words reveal about your heart? In this week’s episode of The Extended Cut, Casey sits down with Pastor Chris Zahner to go deeper into Sunday’s message, “Watch Your Mouth,” from James 3:1–12. We all know words matter. They can encourage, heal, guide, and give life—but they can also wound, divide, and leave an impact long after they’ve been spoken. James compares the tongue to a bit in...

Words are never just words. In Week 5 of Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner teaches from James 3:1–12 about the incredible power of our words and what they reveal about our hearts. James compares the tongue to a bit that directs a horse, a rudder that guides a ship, and a spark that can set a forest on fire. Though small, our words can build trust or destroy it, give courage or take it away,...

What does it actually mean to have a living, saving faith ? Is believing the right things about Jesus enough—or should genuine faith produce visible fruit in the way we live? In this week’s episode of The Extended Cut , Pastor Casey and Pastor Chris go behind the scenes of Week 4 of our series through the book of James and unpack the challenging question from James 2: “Is your faith dead?” James g...

In Week 4 of our Show Me Your Faith series, Pastor Chris Zauner walks through James 2:14–26 and asks a question with eternal significance: What kind of faith actually saves? James makes it clear that confidence alone does not make something true—and simply saying we have faith does not necessarily mean that faith is alive. A person can know Christian language, believe correct theology, attend chur...

In this episode of The Extended Cut, pastors Chris and Casey go behind the Sunday sermon and dig deeper into James 2:1–13, exploring favoritism, human dignity, mercy, and what it really means to love people like Jesus. Building on the message “Forbidden Favorites” from our church's Show Me Your Faith series, they wrestle with questions like: Does your relational world look like Jesus’? What do...

What does our faith in Jesus reveal about the way we value and treat other people? In Week 3 of our series, Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner teaches from James 2:1–13 in a message titled “Forbidden Favoritism.” James gives the church a direct command: followers of Jesus must not show partiality or assign greater value to people based on wealth, influence, appearance, status, background, or...

What does it really mean to hear God’s Word? In Week 2 of Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris teaches from James 1:19–27 and challenges us to move beyond simply hearing Scripture to actually living it. James says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” It’s possible to know the Bible, take notes, attend church, and still walk away unchanged. Genuine faith receives God’s Word with humility, res...

Week 1 of our new series, Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner begins our journey through the book of James by exploring one of the most challenging commands in Scripture: "Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds." When life changes in an instant through loss, suffering, disappointment, or uncertainty, it's natural to ask questions like, "God, where are You?&qu...

This Sunday, we are beginning a new sermon series called "Show Me Your Faith," which will explore the book of James. Before we dive into James together, it's important to understand who wrote this letter, who it was written to, and why it still speaks so powerfully today. In this series introduction, Pastor Casey provides an overview of the background, themes, and purpose of James, h...

In Week 4 of The War Within, Pastor Chris Zauner teaches from John 15:1–17 about what real spiritual transformation looks like. Change does not come from trying harder, relying on willpower, or managing our behavior. It comes from abiding in Jesus. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine, we cannot experience the life of Jesus while remaining disconnected from His presence. This mes...

Why do we keep returning to the very things Jesus has set us free from? If the Holy Spirit is transforming us and sin no longer has the final word, why do old patterns, temptations, and desires still pull us back? In Week 3 of our series, The War Within, Pastor Casey Olsen walks through 2 Peter 2:20–22 to explore one of the most honest questions every follower of Jesus faces. Looking at Peter'...

Is change actually possible, or are we destined to repeat the same struggles over and over again? In Week 2 of The War Within, Pastor Chris Zauner teaches from Romans 8 and reveals the difference between trying to change through willpower and experiencing true transformation through the Holy Spirit. Christianity is not simply about behavior modification, trying harder, or becoming a stronger versi...

Why do I keep doing the very thing I hate? In the first message of our new sermon series, The War Within, Pastor Chris Zauner opens Romans 7 to explore the internal battle every believer faces between the flesh and the Spirit. In this sermon, Why Do I Do What I Hate?, Pastor Chris teaches that the Christian life is not free from struggle, but the struggle itself can be evidence that God is at work...

In the third and final sermon of our series, Why Can't We Be Friends?, Pastor Casey Olsen shares a message called The Kind of Friends You Need, exploring how our friendships shape who we are becoming and how Christ-centered community helps us grow in faith. Looking at Colossians 3:12–17, this message reminds us that we were made for friendship with God and with others, but not every friendship...

What does real friendship actually cost? In Week 2 of our series, Why Can't We Be Friends?, Pastor Casey Olsen explores Galatians 6 and challenges us to move beyond convenient, surface-level relationships into the kind of friendship Scripture calls us to embrace. While many of us long for deep, meaningful friendships, true friendship is forged through sacrifice, consistency, humility, and burd...

We live in a world more connected than ever, yet many of us still feel deeply lonely. In week one of our new sermon series, Why Can’t We Be Friends?, Pastor Casey Olsen explores what true friendship really is and why we were created for relationship with God and with one another. Looking at John 15, we see the incredible invitation of Jesus: “I have called you friends.” Friendship with God is not...

Before leaving for a three-week seminary intensive in Manila, Pastor Chris shared a vision for the summer centered on a powerful truth from Ephesians 2: Jesus takes people who should never belong together and makes them family. He began by observing that our world is deeply divided. People often build their identities around political, cultural, economic, or generational differences. Yet this stru...