Damascus Road Community Church

In the fall of 2013 I had prayerfully come to the conviction that God had equipped and positioned Rajendra to someday be our next Senior Pastor. I began a quiet dialogue about this conviction with our Trustee Chair, Lori Ermi and our Lead Elder, Paul Foss. The dialogue continued with successive Elder and Trustee chairs for two more years, until we asked Rajendra to prayerfully consider this callin...

The initial vision of Jesus, in the final book of the Bible, pictures Him (“One like a Son of Man”) walking AMONG the seven lampstands (Revelation 1:12-13). Then we are told the seven lampstands are the seven churches (1:20). Where do you find Jesus now? You find Him among His churches. He declared His long-term agenda to His own disciples: “I will build MY church…” He declared His oneness with Hi...

What kind of mental image forms when you hear someone described as “a holy person,” or even “a really holy person.” Is your mental picture the first person you want to invite to a party? Is the picture in your head who you really want to become? Maybe not. Perhaps because we tend to think of holiness far more in terms of subtraction instead of addition. But what if holiness is the fullness of love...

This weekend I begin my final three messages as Senior Pastor before we celebrate together Rajendra’s installation as our next Senior Pastor on November 3. I pray these are NOT my final messages at DRCC, but they are the last in my current staff role. So for these three messages I chose the three core themes of my teaching ministry; then realized they mirror the same three themes of my first three...

From the start, as a church we have always placed premium value on training and discipling the next generation. This weekend, join me along with Roger Record and Michael Yudt as we share details of a multi-year planning process we are rolling out for our children and youth ministries. This is an indescribably important investment for us and one that we believe will bring a rich harvest for the Kin...

If you want to scare Christians, tell them to “evangelize”—just get out there and lead someone to Christ. Even those who are sold out to Jesus, who know the Bible pretty well and who have a beautiful testimony of His work in their lives still get nervous. Maybe because the idea of us all heading out as individual ‘evangelizers’ is not really how Jesus intended it to be done in the first place, or...

There are a few regular drumbeat themes at DRCC, but no two are more important than: 1.) the Cross of Christ as the lifeblood of our faith and 2.) the identity and the power of a community of ordinary people functioning together as the Body of Christ. Our focus on these two themes is a reflection of the New Testament’s focus. With just five messages left as Senior Pastor, I want to spend one campi...

Unselfish serving sucks the cynicism out of seekers. We all sense it—the beauty of someone doing something that requires some sacrifice for someone whose need is real and who can’t repay. We see in it a hint of the Cross, and sense in it the smile of God. We see the kind of heart that kind of serving forms in people who consistently live to give—and not just get and get and get until they arrive a...

Easter morning has happened. The tomb sits empty. Some women report to have seen Him alive. The disciples are confused and afraid. Now it is late Sunday afternoon. Where is the risen Christ? What is He up to? What are His top priorities, post-resurrection? This weekend begins a four week series exploring the key life-disciplines that move us down the PATHWAY to maturity in following Jesus—step by...

A note from Pastor Richard... In preparing for our series: The Elephant in the Room, I have been so grateful for the counsel and perspective of Michelle Rader, our Lead Elder. As much reading, reflecting and listening to folks as I have tried to do, looking at issues and ideologies current in the LGBTQ community, Michelle has done more. And always with a Christ-centered grid. I have asked her to f...

Community. A common unity. Of what? Of people, all kinds of people, with all kinds of hurts, habits and hang-ups (to borrow a phrase) bond together by a commitment to know and follow Jesus as LORD. People doing life together. At the heart of this community are circles of authentic friendships in small groups. So if you have ever considered helping run a group, please come to our Small Group Leader...

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life Ezekiel 37:5 Have you ever found yourself in front of a large group of people doing something you are not at all good at? NO!!!! That would be RECKLESS!!! I'm sure all of us have had that dream and were really glad to wake up. This weekend, men from 20+ churches in the area, are coming to D...

Jesus embodied the fullness of both grace and truth always, equally, in every situation. Grace—and truth. Not sometimes one and sometimes the other. Grace and truth perfectly blended, perfectly united. We need both, equally, to follow Him: His grace gives us our relationship with God. And by His truth we are set free to flourish. God’s truth frees us to flourish. But only through the Bible can kno...

This weekend we’re beginning a new 4-part series called “The Elephant in the Church.” My hope is this series will help us build bridges with our LGBTQ friends. Far more than abstract questions about how to relate to some group “out there,” we are talking about neighbors, co-workers, close friends and family members who identify as LGBTQ—each a precious and unique individual with her/his unique sto...

We continue our series on Grace this week (if you missed church last weekend, you can catch up on our web site). John Stott rightly observes, “The Gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving. The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.” Many Christians have an easier time being saved by grace than they do living in grace and thereby extending grace to others. However, God...

What is grace? It is a word we use a lot, but for many of us, grace remains a vague concept, disconnected from our daily lives. But a true knowledge and experience of grace offered to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ can free us from the tyranny of a performance-based faith, it can open our eyes to the reality of God’s power at work in and through us, and it can rewire our understanding of wh...

Whose shoulders do you stand on today? What male influence is in your life right now that you can thank for steady support, wisdom, encouragement and sometimes correction? Bring them to DRCC this Father’s Day weekend where they will be honored and encouraged. You won’t want to miss it! Click the link below to watch the video of Derek Redmond mentioned in the message.

Last weekend, we launched our series The Pursuit of Happiness and looked at the true and only source of lasting joy (if you missed it, you can catch up on our app or web site). But we are not meant to be just passive recipients of lasting joy. It manifests itself in certain lifestyle changes and behaviors that result in a life of deep meaning. Join us this weekend as we explore the topic of happin...

One of the most famous lines from the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Everyone wants to live a happy life, but what does happiness exactly mean? What does happiness look like? How can...

The Day of the LORD! “On that day,” for every redeemed person in Christ, and for every square inch of His once “teeming with life” creation, God will do exactly what He did for Jesus at His resurrection on that first Easter morning. The resurrected Jesus is our model of the new, powerful, eternal and fully united to heaven and earth life that we wait for—when “the time comes for God to restore eve...

End of time and post-apocalyptic films have been a dominate factor in the movie industry for two decades—and they are increasing. The books are legion which claim to predict in a complex series of events the way human history on this side of eternity ends. To date, their cumulative batting average is .000. People are confused: rapture, tribulation, multiple judgments, temple rebuilt, antichrist re...

At times life feels topsy-turvy, confusing, misguided; in desperate need of rescue and solid go-to Mom advice! In Jeremiah 29:12-14 the Lord says, “Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Our first instincts can...

At the renewal of all things, God will do for our entire planet and for every person in Christ, exactly what He did for Jesus on that first Easter Sunday morning. It will be the re-union, the complete restoration and re-uniting of heaven and earth, of God and man, of body and soul. It will be a healing in which everything you were created to do best and everything you want to do most will merge in...

Christians should care more about ecology than anyone else. Join us this weekend to learn why as we begin a new series, "The Late, Great Planet Earth Renewed" with Dr. Richard Fredericks and guest speaker, Dr. Clay Peck, of Grace Place outside of Denver, CO.

Everything can change in one moment. Earlier that weekend, Jesus was dead, hope was lost, and the disciples were confused, scattered and afraid. But everything changed on an early Sunday morning two thousand years ago, when the disciples looked inside an empty tomb. The stone was moved, the darkness lifted and Jesus rose from the dead. Join us this Easter weekend as we look at how everything chang...