Big House Church Podcast

Kristi Ruckel, director of Harbor (our women's ministry), shares some powerful perspective on the silence of Zechariah when he is muted in doubt and restored with faith. If you're in a season of silence, be encouraged that can God can form you for the moment He will speak again - and when He does, your voice can carry a new anointing that will prepare the way of the King. Don't be afraid to make r...

Matt Ruckel takes us deeper into the story behind Christmas and focuses on the joyful receiving heart and life of Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, who would give birth to John the Baptist in her old age - a glorious promise fulfilled! Through waiting, suffering, and with rebellious hope - Elizabeth shows us the supernatural and proven joy of the Lord and how it centers us on the things and really, the On...

For the first week of our advent sermon series, Ian Thornton takes us into the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, and her "Yes" to God. Her obedience even without fully understanding God's will shows us the beautiful way of fearing God and loving Him, expressed through trust. Our desire is to give the same prayer of Mary, "Lord, I am your servant. Let it be done unto me according to Your will." We ma...

Ian Thornton shares a powerful message on one of our core values which is to live a life of worship that the Father is seeking - in Spirit and in truth. We dive directly into John 4 and explore the beautiful desire and longing of God to receive us through the power of Holy Spirit and with total honesty with nothing hidden. It's time to put away performance and the tendency for hiding the ugly part...

One of our elders, Steve Elliott, ties up our Royal Priesthood Series with a bow as he identifies what Big House as a people really is - a dwelling place for God. He reminds us that each of us are a living stone added to the building of this house, but also THE house of God - His body, His church, His dwelling place. Big House Church is cultivating a community of passionate worshippers who partner...

For a special combined service, we hosted Vision Sunday on November 9, 2025 at the Chesapeake Conference Center. Our heart is to give our church family a picture of settling into a new building, stepping into a vision that matches this season of preparation, and inviting everyone to take ownership through service, generosity, and faith. To give or learn more about our Time to Build: Finish Well bu...

Heinrich Titus of Shofar Christian Church in South Africa joined us this Sunday to beautifully complete our Royal Priesthood Sermon Series this fall. With joyful encouragement, he took us to the place that will be our final destination every day - the feet of Jesus. He shows us as priests what it looks like to carry things on our heart before God, but never forsake returning to our place of need f...

As we finish our series on the Royal Priesthood, Pastor Matt Ruckel invites our new Outreach Directors, Josh and Ashley Pope, to share their testimony of how God has sent them into the Harvest from a place of priesthood. Filled with dreams, prophetic words, and confirmations, the journey that the Lord has had the Pope family on is one of radical transformation. May your hearts be stirred to give H...

Pastor Matt Ruckel brings us into the "practicals" of what it looks like to be a priest of God in our everyday lives. It's important to build a life around God and not the other way around. Pastor Matt takes us through the steps of creating a priestly PLACE, a priestly PACE, and developing a priestly PICTURE with Holy Spirit, so that our lives look more like a living sacrifice and temple of the Lo...

Fresh off his sabbatical, Pastor Ian Thornton continues our series on the Royal Priesthood by diving into the history of biblical priesthood, and contrasting it with what personal priesthood looks like for us. Our perception of royalty and priesthood may be skewed by images of ancient priests and even modern royalty, but we are called to imitate Jesus, our Great High Priest King. May our hearts be...

A friend of the house from South Africa, Louis Kotzé, continues our series by diving into what it means to be consecrated unto the Lord and how to approach the communion table through that lens. Consecration may seem like a weighty word, but it begins with the simple revelation that your life is not your own, and every time we partake in communion, we are recommitting ourselves to Him. May this wo...

Scripture tells us that we are more than believers—we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, set apart to carry God’s presence into every part of life (1 Peter 2:9). Pastor Matt Ruckel begins this new series that was born out of a revelation in Acts 13 where the believers were not simply singing songs, they were ministering to the Lord as priests. Join us throughout the month of October as we pr...

Pastor Matt Ruckel continues in Ephesians 4, talking about the importance of having the mind of Christ, and aligning ourselves with HIS truth. Pulling out simple and practical ways from this Scripture to help us renew our minds daily, Pastor Matt encourages us from the Word and personal experiences about how we can apply Paul's teaching to our lives to walk in righteousness and holiness. Big House...

On the first weekend of our bi-annual Small Group Sundays, Pastor Matt Ruckel teaches on the necessity and power of being a part of the body of Christ using Ephesians 4:1-4 as the blueprint. If you haven't had a chance to join or desire to lead or host a small group, go to bighousechurch.com/bhgroups. Big House Church is cultivating a community of passionate worshippers who partner with Jesus to c...

Pastor Matt Ruckel ends our summer series honing in on the lasting impact of David's life on the generations to come. He highlights the essential act of "passing the baton" to the next generation through living a life of consecration. May our prayer be, "Lord, find us on the threshing floor. Burn away what doesn't belong. Let the harvest of our lives feed the generations to come." Find each week's...

This week in our Life of David series Pastor Kristi Ruckel takes us into the brutal story of David and Absalom throughout 2 Samuel 13 - 18. Despite the mess and raw humanity in this story, Kristi helps us see the cautionary tale through the responses of a father and son and ultimately to look to our Father in Heaven who gave His perfect Son for us. This sermon is an invitation to humility and tota...

In this sobering but highly encouraging message, Pastor Matt Ruckel reflects on the story of David and Bathsheba and what we can learn from it to create a life with no footholds for the enemy. The path of sin only leads to death, and the enemy will throw all he has to take you down the path of destruction. We must be diligent in guarding our hearts and asking the Holy Spirit for his help in every...

Pastor Jacob Dyer takes us into the heart of 2 Samuel 6 where David plans and prepares a procession for the ark of the covenant, which hosted the presence of God in that day, to Jerusalem to create a resting place for Him to reign. David shows us what costly worship looks like - thousands of Levites, instruments, bull and fattened calf offerings, and finally a spontaneous celebration of God throug...

Elder of our house, Pat Trompeter, finishes 1 Samuel by looking at how three key characters, David, Saul, and Jesus, approached times of despair and distress. When going through hardship, we often ask the Lord for a solution to the problem we're facing, but the lives of each of these characters show us that it is our history with God that will determine our path forward. Plan on reading with us we...

Amy Lancaster, owner of We Will Go Ministries and a missionary with Iris Global, joined us this Sunday visiting from Jackson, Mississippi, and shared a convicting and empowering word to our community about being the hands and feet of Jesus to our local cities. Reading from Jeremiah 29 and speaking from many personal testimonies, she called our body into a higher level of service to our own neighbo...

Long-time friend of the house, Pastor Ranjit Abraham from Christ for India, brings an encouraging word to our body about the power of the potential within you. You may think that you are not significant or don't have much to offer to the world, but there is much potential inside of you for more than you think because of Jesus. Sharing from personal testimony, Pastor Ranjit affirms us that because...

Stepping into a role of leadership can feel daunting at times, but did you know that David was only 20 years old when he began to lead his company of men in the wilderness? Pastor Matt Ruckel shares some key points from David's time in the wilderness that can help us step into a new level of authority, no matter our leadership role. And the best part is, the qualifications for becoming a good lead...

Pastor Ian Thornton continues our summer series on David by diving into 1 Samuel 18 and highlighting the different relational paths Saul and Jonathan began to take. Each of their heart postures towards David led them respectively to life and death - Jonathan demonstrating a life laid down for his brother, and Saul walking towards torment and destruction. With help from Holy Spirit, may we glean fr...

Steve Elliott, one of our elders, takes us into one of the most well-known moments in the life of David when he faces and defeats Goliath, the Philistine giant who taunted and intimidated the people of Israel for 40 days. Steve shares the "formula" for Davids ability to not only face the giant enemy, but to win victory. His identity rooted in the Lord and years of preparation brought him to this m...

This summer, we're diving into the Life of David! We will look at his relationship with God, his friends and enemies, and the deep wrestlings of his inner life. Pastor Ian launched this series with an introduction for how we should approach reading the scriptures on David's life, the way in which to receive his testimony, and his specific anointing among all his brothers and mankind. Plan on readi...