Damascus Road Community Church

The Wild Ride continues as we look back at the book of Acts and how it is changing our future! This Sunday we will ride the DeLorean back to the beginning of the early Christian church as we first take a deep look at who the Holy Spirit is and the power it gives to those who have it, and secondly the life change and unbelievable unity that the Holy Spirit brings to people from every culture, race,...

You couldn't miss it when you walked in the room… Some would say it smelled earthy. Frankly, it just stank of body odor and worse. Peter had no doubt stepped in it again.    Each man in the room was wondering where the servant was who was going to wash their feet. After all, they were certainly too important to even consider stepping up!   Just when the tension in the room reached a breaking point...

There is one word that keeps showing up to describe people’s reaction to Jesus – they were amazed! They were amazed at His words, His actions, and His approach to life and offer of forgiveness to all who would come to Him. Then the unthinkable happened one Friday. Jesus was crucified, hope was lost, and the disciples were confused, scattered, and afraid. But everything changed again on an early Su...

Dear Friends and Family,   When Jesus comes to town, the most unexpected things happen. You never know where He’s going to go. You never know what He’s going to do, and there is always an unexpected turn of events. This Sunday marks a very important day on the calendar in the life of the global Christian church! It’s the first day of Holy Week, also known as Palm Sunday, which commemorates the tri...

Dear Family and Friends, It hardly seems possible that I preached my first sermon at our church in 2001. I hope you can join us this Sunday as I will be preaching my last sermon at DRCC. While Erika and I feel deep sadness, sadness isn’t the only emotion we feel. We are grateful for the many kingdom stories we have been privileged to be a part of. I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak to...

Just because a storm comes doesn't mean we aren't going to get to our destination. What we can count on is Jesus will show up in the storm and be enough to get us through!

Dear Family and Friends, Many of us wrestle with the gap between feeling like we are not enough and our dreams, between who we are and who God says we are meant to be. So many times we feel like we have messed things up, or, in some ways, have not measured up, so we end up asking, “Why Me?”. We are not alone in this; Moses, Gideon, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Peter all felt this way, that they were not...

Dear Family and Friends, This week kicks off our new Why? series. Any of us who have been around a three-year-old are very familiar with this question! Sunday, we start with, Why Pray? Over the next five weeks, we will look at the why question from five different angles that will help each of us take our next right step in our walk with Jesus. Come listen, learn and experience God as we seek to he...

Dear Family and Friends, This Sunday, we will conclude our series on the book of Judges by taking a closer look at the life of Samson. By many accounts, he is the worst of all the judges. His life is full of deception and scandal, and his moral failures are too many to count. A man chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines… but yet he made a series of foolish choices with real l...

Dear Family and Friends, Over the past several weeks, we have been looking at some of the stories in Judges of people who God used to rescue and bring relief to Israel in times of oppression. We've already seen that God doesn't choose leaders based on human calculations - and that is good news for all of us. In fact, the further we get into the Judges, the clearer we see that the real hero is God...

Dear Family and Friends, This Sunday, we will continue our series through the book of Judges by looking at the story of a very unlikely hero, Gideon. When God calls him to accomplish something great and amazing, Gideon reminds God of his inadequacies. When God calls him by a new name, Gideon struggles to see himself as God sees him. When God calls him to fight a great battle, Gideon wonders about...

Dear Family and Friends, We continue our series on the book of Judges this Sunday, looking at the powerful story of Deborah, a remarkable leader God raised up who was not just a judge, but a prophet and a woman. Way back around 1200 BC, God was sending a powerful message when He chose a woman to serve in a position of national leadership. We’ll meet a colorful cast of characters – Deborah, Barak,...

Dear Family and Friends, We will be launching a new sermon series this weekend on the book of Judges titled Unlikely Heroes. The book of Judges has been described as one of the most thrilling, colorful, and disturbing books of the Bible. It has themes of great faith, lies, political intrigue, violence, idolatry, power, uncommon heroism, love and death. More than anything, it portrays God’s repeate...

We conclude our series Unstuck this week. Many of us often get stuck facing moments in our lives when our spirits are crushed. These moments can sap hope, kill dreams, and rob us of the life we were meant to live. God, in reality, has great concern and compassion for those whose spirits are crushed. He wants to speak life into us and lighten our burden. Join us this weekend as we dig into Scriptur...

Dear Family and Friends, We will continue our series Unstuck this Sunday, living out what Scripture tells us in Galatians 5:1 – “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” I have invited a dear friend of mine, Theresa Noye, to bring the message this weekend. Theresa is one of the most uplifting people I know. She has spoken extensively on multicultural issues, special needs, and how we can al...

Is there an area in your life where you feel stuck and can’t seem to move forward? Cluttered calendar, same old routines, relational breakdown, malaise, and meaningless rhythms? You are not alone. A nationwide survey revealed that a large segment of the American population feels stuck—stuck in routine, relationships, finances, job, career, or spiritual walk. Over half admitted they feel they are l...

Dear Family and Friends, Happy New Year! A new year brings a sense of anticipation. We dream a bit, we hope, we make resolutions. Join us this Sunday, January 1st, as we look at God’s faithfulness in the past and offer the coming year to Him in what will be a special worship service as we look at a memorable story from the Old Testament with powerful lessons on how to step into the future with God...

Dear Family and Friends, Scripture tells us, on that first Christmas Day, God came to be with us! If you have ever felt lonely or isolated or left out or betrayed, you will want to meet Jesus. He is not somewhere else in the universe, beyond the galaxies—distant, disengaged, disavowed—but here on earth, dwelling among us. This is God in flesh—breathing, talking, walking, eating, sleeping, laughing...

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep; ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;   The Wrong shall fail;   The Right prevail; With peace on earth, good-will to men.’”   So ends, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Christmas Bells, written at a dark period in his own life, and the life of America – written in a time when his own personal darkness reflected the darkness around him and threatened to ov...

We continue our Christmas series, “I Heard the Bells.” It is the title of a Christmas carol written by one of the greatest American poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This week, we will dig a little deeper into parts of his life that felt dark and hopeless. His world was not unlike ours. Hope, peace, and joy seem to be in short supply these days. Hope has been replaced by weariness, peace has been...

The movie "I Heard the Bells" is based on the life of one of the greatest American poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He had achieved considerable success in his lifetime when tragedy struck. Facing intense personal heartbreak in the middle of the bloodiest war in American history, his life was overcome with grief, disillusionment, and a deep sense of hopelessness. How do you find hope and healing...

401 years ago New England colonists and Native Americans sat down together to celebrate a Harvest Festival of thanks. Both cultures had traditions of giving thanks to God for the provisions in their lives. While Thanksgiving would not become an official American holiday for more than 200 years, the inspiration of that moment of fellowship and thanksgiving has reverberated down through our collecti...

We continue on to week 7 of our series, Immerse, where we are immersing ourselves in the words of the New Testament. This week’s readings will take us through the book of Hebrews. Although we do not know who wrote the book and when exactly it was written, Hebrews calls us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and to not give up in the face of hardship and persecution. The book is a wild ride of sorts, t...

Our journey through Immerse (New Testament) will take us through the book of Matthew next week. As we learned earlier in the series, the four Gospel accounts provide a rich and unified picture of Jesus. Matthew is perhaps the strangest choice for a Gospel writer. A tax collector by profession, Jewish by birth, Roman by employment, yet called by Jesus to be a disciple. He offers a deeply textured p...

We continue our journey immersed in the New Testament this week in the gospel according to Mark. I have invited a college friend of mine to share what it means to take the gospel and live it out in a way that impacts our world. Shane Claiborne and I first met at Eastern University in the nineties, shortly before he left for Calcutta to intern with Mother Teresa. Shane is the founder of The Simple...