United Church Podcast

What does it look like to actually experience God, not just hear about Him? In this message, Pastor Léonce teaches Acts 19:1-10 and introduces us to twelve sincere men in Ephesus that had repented, been baptized, and believed everything they were taught, yet had never encountered the Holy Spirit. They had information about God without experience of Him. Then Paul rented a borrowed lecture hall and...

You were made to be necessary, not a spectator. In this message from 1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Pastor Léonce unpacks one of the strangest church services in the Bible: a gathering where Paul assumes everyone in the room has something to bring. No stage, no audience — just people, each one necessary. We also walk honestly through two of the most debated verses in the New Testament (1 Cor. 14:34-35),...

What if the longing to be known completely and still wanted is the signature of your Creator? Today's message is from 1 Corinthians 14:25 where a stranger slips into a gathered church and falls to their knees, declaring, "God is really among you."  Pastor Léonce finishes what was left open four years ago and asks: are we building worship around the people already inside, or around the one still st...

What if the most important thing God is building right now isn't a building at all...it's YOU? Pastor Léonce opens Vision Sunday by reframing a four-month wait into a divine decision: January 17 isn't a delay, it's an appointed day. Drawing from Habakkuk 2:2–3, he unpacks God's ancient playbook for waiting people: write the vision plain, remember it has an appointed time, and run. A finished build...

What if the place your soul has been longing for already exists and you're sitting in it right now? This week, Breanna opens Psalm 122:1 where David sings about the joy of gathering with God's people, and invites us to trade one word that changes everything: from "have to" to "get to." If your soul is tired of watching other people's gatherings through a screen or if church hurt has kept you at a...

What if the thing holding you back isn't a lack of knowledge, but a lack of people? In Acts 18, Pastor Léonce introduces us to Apollos: eloquent, biblically sharp, fervent in spirit, and fundamentally incomplete. Into that gap stepped Priscilla and Aquila, ordinary tentmakers who quietly took him aside and explained "the way of God more accurately." Talent is not maturity. A gift no one is allowed...

What if the most sacred ground in your life isn't the sanctuary, but your office, your job site, or the classroom you're dreading on Monday morning? In this message, Pastor Léonce opens Acts 18 and dismantles the sacred/secular lie with surgical precision: God's first act in Scripture was work, and He made us in that same image. Your job isn't a detour from your calling. It's the mission field whe...

What if you don't know how to bring up Jesus in an everyday conversation? In Acts 17:22-34, Pastor Léonce shows us how Paul built a bridge to the Gospel by meeting people where they were. Instead of leading with condemnation, Paul started with their questions, their longings, and their search for meaning and pointed them to Jesus. We may live in a different time, but people are still searching. Th...

What if the ache you're carrying isn't proof something's wrong with you, but proof you were made for more? Pastor Léonce takes us to ancient Athens, where Paul found an altar "to an unknown god" in the most impressive city on earth. Atlanta, we're that city, chasing achievement that promises to fill the ache but only makes it echo louder. The gospel isn't "try harder to find God." It's that He's b...

What's really choking your faith? Not the big stuff...the et cetera. The thorns that were already in your heart before your phone became the best fertilizer they've ever had. Day One of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, Pastor Léonce opens Mark 4:1–20 and the parable of the soils, landing hard on the thorny ground. This soil never said no to Jesus. It just never said no to anything else, either. He n...

What would you do if the door was closed and someone's eternity was on the line? In Mark 2:1-12, four friends refuse to take "no room" for an answer. They climb a roof, tear it open, and lower their paralyzed friend directly in front of Jesus and Jesus responds to their faith with forgiveness and healing. Because someone went to extraordinary lengths to get you to Jesus, now it's your turn. Tear t...

You might know a lot about Jesus. But have you actually met Him? Pastor Léonce opens Acts 17 with a question that cuts through inherited faith, cultural Christianity, and secondhand belief, and gets to the King who actually exists. The one who didn't demand your blood. He gave His own. If your faith has felt more like a hand-me-down than a living thing, this is where the roots start going deeper....

What do you do when doing the right thing leads to the worst outcome? Paul and Silas freed a girl from spiritual bondage and it landed them stripped, beaten, and thrown into the deepest cell of a Roman prison. But at midnight, bleeding and chained, they did something unexpected: they started singing. In this message, Pastor Léonce unpacks Acts 16 and exposes a quiet exhaustion many Christians carr...

Sometimes the door that won't open isn't God ignoring you. It's Jesus standing in it, redirecting your steps toward something greater.   In this message, Pastor Léonce unpacks Acts 16, where Paul faced two consecutive closed doors—both from the Holy Spirit—only to discover that divine redirection led to the birth of the first European church through Lydia, whose heart God opened by a riverside.  ...

Some of the hardest fractures in life aren't between enemies — they're between friends. People who loved the same things, held the same line, and built something together. In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas — two men who would have died for each other — had a disagreement so sharp they had to part ways. Luke doesn't soften it or tell us who was right. He just records it, and shows us what God did with...

Are you truly free or just choosing between cages? We live in a city obsessed with independence. Atlanta celebrates autonomy, options, and self-sufficiency. But what if all that freedom is actually leaving us more isolated, more exhausted, and more trapped than ever? In this powerful message, Breanna challenges everything our culture has taught us about freedom and reveals what it actually looks l...

We're scrolling more than ever and feeling less connected than ever. That's not an accident. The algorithm was designed to deliver dopamine, not wonder, and we've lost our capacity for the very thing we're craving. In this sermon, Pastor Doug opens Ephesians 3 and reveals something extraordinary: God is displaying His manifold wisdom through the church — every nation, tribe, and tongue gathered as...

What does baptism really mean, and why does it matter for your faith journey? On this Baptism Sunday, Pastor Leonce breaks down Romans 6:3-4 to reveal how baptism is not a religious ritual but a bold public declaration of faith, symbolizing the burial of your old life and resurrection into new life through Jesus Christ. Whether you're considering baptism, watching a loved one take the plunge, or e...

What if the most powerful being in the universe chose to become powerless...for you? Pastor Léonce unpacks John 1:14, Philippians 2, and Romans 5 to reveal a King who humbled Himself, served before He saved, and pursued us in our mess with undeserved grace. If you've ever felt too far gone or unsure about Jesus, this sermon is your invitation to stop reducing Him to a religion and surrender to the...

What does true obedience look like when the world tells you to answer to no one? Pastor Leonce dives deep into John 14:15 and Romans 6 to reveal that biblical obedience isn't about religious duty. It's the overflow of a heart genuinely transformed by God's grace. If you're ready to move from selective surrender to whole-life allegiance, this powerful message will challenge everything you thought y...

Are you attending church… or actually belonging to one? There's a difference, and it changes everything. In this powerful message, Pastor Leonce Crump confronts one of the most subtle spiritual dangers of our time: treating the church like a subscription service instead of a family. If you've been watching from the sidelines, church-hopping, or quietly drifting away from community altogether, this...

Why bother with the Bible in a world overflowing with content? In a culture where we’re overfed on information but starving for truth, this message challenges the idea that Scripture is just an optional supplement and reveals it as the living voice of God that teaches, corrects, and sustains us. Looking at Jesus’ response in the wilderness, we’re reminded that even He relied on Scripture at His mo...

Discover why true purpose isn't something you create — it's something you surrender to. Pastor Leonce unpacks Colossians 1:15-20 and Ephesians 2:10 to reveal that Jesus is the foundation of all existence, and that you are God's poiema — a poem intentionally crafted with meaning already written into you. If you're tired of carrying the weight of self-made purpose, this message will challenge you to...

What if death isn't the end of the story? This Easter Sunday, Pastor Leonce delivers a bold, compelling message on the claim that changes everything — the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 15, Pastor Leonce confronts one of history's most extraordinary events with raw honesty and compelling logic: if the resurrection didn't happen, Christianity is sentimental fiction....

In this final message from The Jesus Revolution, Pastor Léonce explores how Peter’s withdrawal from the Gentile table — under social pressure, not theological doubt — nearly fractured the early church. And how the Jerusalem Council’s response didn’t just settle a debate. It built a culture. This sermon explores: Why inconsistency is more dangerous than opposition What it looks like when decisions...