FOUNDRYcast

We all want to find something. Especially something of great value. I remember when a good friend called and told me he found one of my favorite vintage guitar amplifiers on the side of the road...and then gave it to me. I freaked out, lost my mind and many other explanatory adjectives. It was something I could never really afford on my own. And I lugged that GIGANTIC app into places it was never...

No one likes to fail. Failure means many different things. There are ways we can positively spin it, by learning what doesn't work and what we can't do, but failure is never an anticipated outcome. And for some people, forgiveness means owning failure and all the emotions that come with it. This week we are digging into a story of forgiveness that ends up growing and growing. It starts in the gosp...

What is your favorite story? We all have the ones we love to tell. The ones our friends know, the ones that tell about what's important to us, and the ones that tell stories about how we became who we are. Jesus taught in stories. He taught what was important and what was complicated in stories. We call them parables, but Jesus told stories that created a world we can identify with and find oursel...

Have you ever thought something was simply too much? What about too big? At Foundry, our vision statement is Jesus is Big Enough. But what exactly does it mean for us to live into this phrase? We all hit situations in life where things get rough. It can get easy to be overwhelmed. For others, we have a hard time letting Jesus be big enough. This week in worship we are talking about how Jesus navig...

Have you ever yearned for your grandmother's biscuits? What about the smell of your grandfather or another family member as they come home from work? I remember mine always smelled like oil, sanitizer, and gold bond. Yes. That's a little odd. But he was a steel worker and each of those smells was the fabric of life. Those smells made up my roots. Roots are important. They ground us. They help us u...

This week we are diving into one of the oddest, most controversial and downright WEIRD books of scripture. Revelation is a testy piece of scripture. It is full of obscure references, fantastical imagery, metaphors, political speech and visionary experiences with God. Many times, it is understanding how to read such a book that is opposite from a style of communication we are used to that keeps us...

I fixed a car one time with bubble gum and duct tape. No lie. I had a stem come off a vacuum line. It was good enough to get me home. It was incredible what missing that tiny little part could do to the engine of my 1993 Ford Explorer. Even wilder was what a bit of bubble gum and some excess duct tape (yes. It was totally pulled off something else) can do to remedy the issue. I learned tons about...

In his 1996 album, Willie Nelson tells the story of a regret filled soul in his song "Too Sick to Pray." Upon first listen, you instantly think this is a person making excuses for a life lived in disdain. After a few more spins, what the listener begins to hear is a person who recognizes who they are and recognizes exactly where and who they are. The person in question admits what many of us can't...

Have you ever known a person who was always trying to find a loophole? You know the type…kinda sketchy and things seem to always be in flux. These verses of the Sermon on the Mount are probably the toughest ones out there. They get straight to the bone. They are meant to be read and internalized together. They are in response to what Jesus just said earlier in his promise to "not destroy but fulfi...

Are you a details person? What about a big picture person? Both are necessary. Absolutely necessary. We can't live without each one and all of the in-betweens. In our passage this week, Jesus shares about why the big picture matters AND why the details matter. And it's pretty simple. You can sum it up with one quick statement. We can't waste what we've been so graciously given. Listen to these wor...

In the second week of our series week of our "Jesus's Greatest Hit" series Chad told us that the sermon on the mount was about expansion – about expanding our vision of the world to a Jesus-sized vision of the world. Our text for the week allows us to say that same thing in a little bit of a different way…. The sermon on the mount, especially the blessings of Jesus found in Matthew 5:3-12 are abou...

Have you ever stepped into a situation where you quickly realize someone was in control and it totally flipped everything upside down? This is exactly what Matthew is trying to communicate about Jesus. In two different sections, Matthew 5;1-2 and 7:28-29, Matthew tells the story of a new boss in town. And things will be different, but in ways totally unexpected. One day as he saw the crowds gather...

As a kid I loved music. I still love music. I ingest it like crazy. From what iTunes and Spotify (and my data plan) tell me, I listen to music around 4 hours a day. I have stacks of vinyl records I love to listen too as well. When I was a kid, if you wanted to listen to a particular artist, you had to be efficient with your money. The solution was buying a greatest hits collection. You knew the so...

All. It's a short word. It's a word we use often. But I am not sure that we fully appreciate its meaning when it comes to our lives and our lives of faith . Instead, we have the tendency to separate things, pull things apart and compartmentalize. This tendency is not new, but dare I say, a part of human nature. And therefore, a conversation about this reality of how we operate makes itself known i...

How do you handle things that stop you? Sometimes these are physical diversions. Like traffic, road construction or simply getting turned around. Other times, we all have emotional and mental things that can totally stop us in our tracks. We have fears, unknown outcomes or simple problems that can stop us. But we all also have that thing. You know…that one thing. If you want to stop me from going...

Do you ever get frustrated with things just not going the way they should be? What about a skill you just can't get done, no matter how easy it seems to others? I often find myself trying to figure out what a silver bullet would be…you know, that one part of the puzzle that should put it all together? Paul, one of the first Christian leaders, writes to a group of people to encourage them to finish...