First Houston United Methodist Church

The gang fields a question about how John Wesley treated confession, and how the church treats it today. It turns out to be a fertile topic, featuring some wide-ranging stories from everyone's experience, and a very specific callout of a certain church nearby. Send us a question or a comment, and help shape what the next episode of the show could be. You can reach us at fmhouston.com/streets .

Look at the flowers of the field - God will take care of them, God will take care of you. If we trust Him with everything that we’ve got, we’re invited to another life altogether. Jesus invited Peter to get out the boat and join him. How do we get out of the boat, too? Matthew 6:28-34 fmhouston.com

This week, the group has a question to wrestle with, as they explain what Jesus was doing when he changed the use of the word "blessed" in the Sermon on the Mount. Along the way, the group debates whether Jordan's opinions are going to ruin her chances of being ordained. Ask us a question! fmhouston.com/streets

As Amanda looks back at the early days of the pandemic, she thinks of an example of something she learned from the a visit to the San Jacinto Monument: Look out not just for the big moments, but the smaller ones. John 14:15-20 fmhouston.com

As we get back to basics, Andy focuses on what he finds most crucial: love of God and love of neighbor. It helps us to do the right thing, which is not always easy to know. On the eve of MLK Jr. Day, Andy reads from Charles Allen’s autobiography, as he came to terms with the racism he encountered in every day life, and the ways he needed to grow to be able to fight it. We are still a church that f...

With cases on the rise, the group heads back to recording remotely. It's the first time for our newest hosts, and it takes some getting used to. Meanwhile, Andy locks himself out of his apartment. Ask us a question! Since the season began, we have yet to get a single new question. Help us fix that. fmhouston.com/streets

The spark for Andy’s sermon today came from a book by Charles Allen, one of First Methodist’s most famous voices. And in the opening pages of the text, Andy finds himself brought back to the basics of our faith. Genesis 1:1-5 fmhouston.com

Andy finishes the Christmas season. fmhouston.com

The podcast starts off with Ken finally revealing what, exactly, took place at the Coneby Christmas Barn, before the group talks about the ways that 2021 surprised them, changed them, and made them look at the world differently. We are taking your questions! Visit us at fmhouston.com/ama for more episodes and to send us a question or a topic you'd like to hear more about.

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With Christmas upon us, the group talks about what things they do to find the Christmas spirit each year, and what traditions their families have kept to make Christmas Eve feel like an actual celebration of the birth of Christ. What they mostly find is that everybody has some pretty weird traditions in their family. Ask us a question! We're still taking questions at fmhouston.com/ama, and we'll g...

Andy discusses a passage where God sends us out to bring peace to the world - something that's important because, as he notes, “We’re not very good at creating our own peace.” And a lesson he learned from a 91-year-old friend about how God gets him out of bed in the morning. Micah 5:3-5a fmhouston.com

The group talks about how to get your family into the correct Christmas spirit, and accidentally spoils the secret that Santa isn't real (beware of listening with your kids around!). As a result, we get some unorthodox Christmas traditions, and the story of the time Ken successfully caught Santa Claus. We're still looking for your questions! Send us a question at fmhouston.com/ama and we'll includ...

We're back! After a long pause and some retooling, the podcast has returned, with a new vision and title that's easier to find on web searches. "Ask Me Anything" is now "You Can Hear Us In The Streets" (for reasons explained in the podcast), and we use our first episode to introduce one of our new cohosts, Jordan Czichos, and talk about how to prepare your heart for Christmas during a difficult Ad...

The words of the prophets are often unpopular. But they help us get back on course. “Wherever we’ve been off course, we can get back on," Andy says. “At the end, you and I have to make a decision to love, to hope.” There’s always a way for us to respond. Luke 1:41-45 fmhouston.com

The light of God is powerful. Who is God calling you to seek out and be the light for? Luke 1:76-79 fmhouston.com

Today’s scripture is a common Advent passage - a passage about a time when God called Israel to follow the path he laid out for them. That path is still before us. Andy asks us to take it. “Put aside the things that divide us, and take a good look at the road Jesus has for us.” Isaiah 40:3-5 fmhouston.com

Luke 14 15-21 fmhouston.com

Amanda grew up with an open table - Thanksgiving was a time for all people, no matter how tangentially connected, to have a place. It reminds her of the covenant God invited us to: to love each other as ourselves, and invite them to the table. 2 Samuel 1:9-10 fmhouston.com

Andy discusses the importance of making an invitation to others by pointing out the way Jesus did just that: he ate with every kind of person. His table was always open. What’s a way that you could do the same? Luke 22:7-20

Does anyone really believe we can have world peace? Kristen sums up our Missions series by exploring the many meanings of the word “shalom” in our world, and showing us what true peace on earth would really look like. Isaiah 9:6

When William Shatner went to space, it left Andy thinking about what it’s like to get a true overview of the world, and what God is doing in it. Those things need action behind them. Andy talks about the ways God is calling us to take His hand and walk forward with Him in faith. John 17:20-23 fmhouston.com

As we kick off this year’s missions series, Amanda emphasizes God’s requirement for us to take action in order to bring justice to the world. We are to invite the world in to experience what we are experiencing, to discover grace and mercy. fmhouston.com

As we spend one more week closely looking at the Lord’s Prayer, Jordan talks about the way the prayer continues to look different to us each time we look at it. Prayer is an act of faith, but it is also work - good, faithful work. God needs us to be Kingdom-bringers. And the holiest work we can do is ask for God to bring His Kingdom down.

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