Ecclesia Houston

What has technology done to us, and how do we live differently? Pastor Chris continues our series "A Faith for Today" by considering our relationship to an ever-evolving landscape of technology and faith.

In this message from our A Faith for Today series, Pastor Ericka reflects on Jesus' instructions to the apostles in Matthew 10 and what they might teach us about following Jesus today. As Jesus sends his followers out to heal, serve, and share good news, he also invites them into a life of trust, hospitality, and mutual dependence. Through stories of lost sermons, pet scorpions, music, and everyda...

You can read every book ever written about friendship and still not know how to be a friend. You can study grief without ever really understanding it. And you can know all the right things about Christianity without ever actually experiencing God. Pastor Chris is launching our summer series, A Faith for Today, where we explore why Christianity was never meant to be an ideology you study from a dis...

Pastor Chris invites us to show up as image bearers wherever we already are. Knowing the names of people who are struggling. Praying for your sick neighbor.

From the Tower of Babel to Pentecost, this message traces the arc of a God who doesn't abandon scattered people but keeps pulling them back together. Pastor Chris shares what's happening at The Hill, a building that Ecclesia is converting into affordable housing. The sermon moves into a guided spiritual formation practice that asks you to imagine exactly where you'll be at this time on Tuesday. Yo...

Mary Magdalene stood at an empty tomb, weeping, searching for someone who was already standing right beside her. In this message, Ericka Graham draws from John 20 to explore what it means to find resurrection hiding in plain sight, in the ordinary, in the everyday moments we're too busy or too grief-stricken to notice.

Mother’s Day carries many different emotions — celebration, grief, longing, joy, loss, gratitude, and everything in between. Ericka Graham reflects on motherhood, mercy, grief, community, and what it means to care for one another in a hurting world. Through stories of friendship, elephants protecting one another, and the parable of the prodigal son, Ericka invites us to consider how we might show...

What if the version of Christianity you inherited was designed to help you get in and out without touching anything or anyone? In this message, Pastor Chris explores the doctrine of incarnation, not as a theological concept, but as the living foundation of what it means to follow Jesus.

What does it actually mean to be a neighbor? In this message from the More Than Belief series, Pastor Marcelo Robles, a 20-year ministry partner serving in the shantytowns of Buenos Aires, Argentina, brings a powerful reflection on Luke 10 and the parable of the Good Samaritan.

What does it actually mean to follow Jesus — not just believe, but live it out? In this message, we explore a challenging truth found in Isaiah and the teachings of Jesus: that faith cannot be separated from how we live, how we love, and how we respond to the needs around us. Through the images of salt and light, we’re invited into a kind of spirituality that is deeply present — rooted in real rel...

What if the faith you inherited was incomplete? Not wrong, just missing something. In this message, Pastor Chris kicks off a new series called More Than Belief, exploring what it means to have an embodied faith for everyday life. Drawing from James chapter 2 and the theology of Latin American scholar René Padilla, he challenges the idea that faith is simply about believing the right things or secu...

This Easter, we gathered across our community to celebrate the hope at the center of our faith — the resurrection of Jesus. In this gathering, you’ll hear stories from people in our community and a message from Pastor Chris reflecting on what it means to experience new life, even in the midst of ordinary and complicated circumstances.

It's one thing to accept a supporting role. It's another thing to embrace it. guest preacher Tyshawn Gardner, looks to John the Baptist, a man with every credential to be the headliner, who chose to point away from himself instead. Through the stories of a college football recruiting trip, Andre Agassi living out his father's dream, and a Super Bowl moment most people forgot, we're reminded that t...

We are a community full of people with different cultures, contexts, stages of life, personalities, vocations, religious backgrounds, and capacities. As we all enter into Lent in our own unique ways, our pastoral staff is inviting us to join together in one Community Spiritual Practice—the Examen—to learn, practice, and grow deeper in with God. You can pray the Examen on your own, as a family, or...

What if God's interruptions are actually invitations? In this message, Ericka explores the story of Abraham and Isaac through the lens of emotionally healthy spirituality and discovers that the most disruptive moments in our lives are often the most sacred ones. From the Ignatian Examen prayer to the ancient Jewish Midrash about Abraham smashing his father's idols, this sermon traces a through-lin...

Faith isn't about having all the answers. It's about taking the next step even when you can't see the road. In this message, Pastor Chris draws from the story of Abraham to explore what it looks like to trust God through fear, uncertainty, and the mistakes we'd rather not admit. Through stories of migrant brothers and sisters walking thousands of miles toward hope, and the raw vulnerability that h...

In this message from our Lenten series on emotionally healthy spirituality, we explore the life of David through the lens of five hard spiritual truths: life is hard, you are not in control, your life is not about you, you are not that important, and you will die. These are not slogans for coffee mugs. They are the deep realities that shape mature faith. David teaches us how to name what is real,...

Lent isn’t about giving something up. It’s about becoming someone new. As we begin this Lenten journey, we’re exploring what it means to develop an emotionally healthy spirituality — because, as we’re reminded: “You can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.” Through the story of King Saul, we see what happens when insecurity, fear, ego, and unmanaged emotion go unchecked. S...

Lent is a season of reflection but it’s also a season about spiritual growth. In this preview episode, Pastor Chris, Pastor Rylea, and Pastor Ericka introduce our upcoming Lent series on Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and why emotional maturity and spiritual maturity can’t be separated. We talk about: Why anger isn’t the problem and what we do with it is Signs of emotional unhealth (overreacting...

As we head into Lent, we are invited to slow down, create space, and listen. In this message, we reflect on the Transfiguration in Matthew 17, the wisdom of Fred Rogers, and the tension between mountaintop moments and valley realities. We talk about why we are so tempted to stay on the mountain, why Jesus leads us back down into real life, and how prayer and fasting reshape our desires and our dir...

Pastor Chris sits down with Executive Pastor Ramon Huertas for a thoughtful conversation about Bad Bunny, art, and how followers of Jesus can learn to read culture with wisdom and humility. At Ecclesia, we believe formation happens not by avoiding the world, but by learning how to live in it with wisdom, courage, and grace. This episode is an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and learn how t...

What do you do when you want to be kinder, slower, and more loving, but real life keeps getting in the way? In this message, Pastor Chris explores why becoming the person we want to be is often harder than we expect, and how the way of Jesus and the example of Fred Rogers invite us into a different way of living. A practical and honest look at kindness, generosity, presence, and choosing love in a...

What if loneliness isn’t a personal failure but a signal that something sacred is missing? In this message, Pastor Chris explores why friendship may be one of the most holy and necessary gifts God gives us. Drawing from Scripture, cultural insight, and the life of Fred Rogers, this sermon invites us to rethink vulnerability, presence, and what it truly means to love one another well.

Pastor Chris contrasts the way of empires with the way of Jesus. Empires move fast, promise safety, and rely on fear and force. Jesus moves slowly. He notices. He draws near. He builds the Kingdom not through domination, but through love at eye level.

Ericka Graham explores one of the first questions Jesus ever asks: “What are you seeking?” Drawing from John 1 and the life and wisdom of Mr. Rogers, Ericka invites us to slow down, get curious, and reconsider what we are chasing in a loud, anxious world. Rather than offering quick answers, Jesus offers his presence. Rather than judgment, he invites questions. And rather than defining people by th...