Generations Community Church

Life is full of reversals. There's the seemingly perfect marriage that plods along for 25 years only to be ripped apart by an affair and divorce. There's the uber-successful brother-in-law who purchases a vacation home and get promoted every year - only to suffer bankruptcy and the loss of everything. And then there are the other kind of reversals - the quiet friend at school who wasn't involved i...

In the Middle East today, when a car accident happens (the fender-bender kind), everyone stops. Everyone gets out of their car. Because they might KNOW one of the people involved, and they might ALSO know someone at the police department (or hospital, or justice center). And they have an OBLIGATION to be a "friend" to their acquaintance involved in the wreck. We really don't have a word in English...

In 1998, things hit the fan for then-president Bill Clinton. His two-year affair with 24-year-old Monica Lewinsky was made public. Setting aside the politics of it, most of us, had we been Monica's parents, would have felt that the president abused his power and mistreated our daughter. And so it is with presidents, kings, comedians, CEO's, pastors, and other people in positions of power and autho...

In our November InterGen, Pastor Max retells the account of Joshua, Caleb and the twelve spies. Twelve spies were sent into the (promised) land to scout it out, map it, and report back what they had seen. Ten spies were afraid. Two spies were not. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to do what you should do (even when you're afraid).

All of us at one point or another are afraid. And sometimes, those fears are warranted. And sometimes, they aren't. But in those moments of fear, we are presented with a choice: Can we live in faith when we are afraid? In this message, Brian Hull connects the call of Moses with the Apostle Paul's command to offer ourselves to God. The good news? God knows us, and God is with us.

Americans walk away from freedom click by click, decision by decision, decade by decade, so much so that by the time they’re 40-45 years old, they’re stuck in a job they hate (but can’t leave), because they’re making payments: house, student loans, cars, credit cards. And coincidentally, our smartphones and smartwatches and smart-devices are accelerating these steps away from freedom through the u...

Why is it that some people are extraordinarily generous while others are exceedingly stingy? Why does the world have the likes of a Ronald Read and Sylvia Bloom and (also) the likes of a Montgomery Burns and Mr. Krabs? What does it mean to actually TRUST God with everything? And why is it that LOVE always involves a form of risk? In this message, Max Vanderpool, revisits the larger ideas of scarci...

If you've ever worked on a thousand-piece puzzle, you know that the lid (or the picture) is critically important. Without it, you have little chance of successfully putting the puzzle together. And yet, many people are trying to do just that when it comes to faith and life. In this message, Brian Hull comes to the "faith" part of our series Fear and Faith in Uncertain Times. And he wonders if mayb...

We might not always understand why we face seasons when we need grit. But we can trust that God is with us and will give us what we need to keep going.

Social media has become social comparison, and we do it ALL the time. You take a family vacation to see family. Your Instagram friend takes a Disney cruise and goes snorkeling. They win. You lose. THEIR life is better. You break up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, because it isn't healthy. Your Instagram friend gets engaged and announces a destination wedding. They win. You lose. THEIR life is bett...

85% of Americans own and use a smartphone, and the "smart" part of smartphone means that it's really a hand-held computer that can also make phone calls. And we use these smartphones. A LOT. While driving, while using the bathroom, and before going to bed (and some of us sleep with our phones). But what if these devices are actually ramping UP our fears? In this message, Max Vanderpool walks throu...

There's a LOT going on in Genesis 18 when Abraham and Sarah are told that God will FINALLY deliver on what he promised - and that Sarah will deliver a baby some time the following year.

Often, in the face of loss and change, people want to go back. They want to go back to the way things were when mom and dad were together, when things were simpler, before the internet, when things seemed safe. But the problem is NONE of us can (really) go back. Because those worlds (and sets of circumstances) no longer exist. We can only go FORWARD.

We often think of peace as simply the absence of conflict, so that when Jesus tells us he gives us peace, we tend to think of a conflict-free life or conflict-free set of relationships. But the word Jesus (actually) used meant (and means) something different, something MORE. In this message, Charlotte Lacy, unpacks what SHALOM means and why what Jesus offers is better.

The earth takes roughly 24 hours to rotate on its axis. And the earth takes roughly 365 days to circle the sun. These facts are constant and unchanging (as it is with time). You cannot store up time for later. And when you kill time, it doesn't come back from the dead. In Psalm 90, we have a Psalm of lament - from of all people - Moses, "the" man of God. So what can Moses tell us about how to live...

In the famous Disney film "Frozen," Ella gives voice to a song that, at its core, is a song of lament. It's why Disney wouldn't allow Elsa to be the villain in the film. How could the character that sings that song BE the villain? Interestingly so, Americans (and the American church) don't know HOW to lament. Our spirituality is filled with victory chants, songs of praise, and hopes for deliveranc...

Singing is amazing if you think about it. Somehow, we humans are able to push air up our throats over some sort of flexible fleshy membranes that vibrate a different speeds, changing the pitch of the sound we're producing (which we intuitively know how to do) all the while shaping our tongues, lips, and mouths to form words while making this happen. And the songs we sing over and over again (someh...

Celtic Christians had a word to describe places where the boundary between heaven and earth had been collapsed. They called it "a thin place." Thin places are those places and spaces where it's EASIER to encounter God, EASIER to hear His voice, EASIER to sense the leading of God's Spirit. In this message, Max Vanderpool unpacks the broader meaning behind the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) and w...

People under the age of 18 are the most vulnerable, the most teachable, and have the potential to live the longest among any other age demographic. What we do (or don’t do) with and for people under the age of 18 impacts our future…impacts everything. In today's message, Pastor Max reminds us that we must pass the history and reality of our faith into the next generation. You might call it our nex...

Here's the teaching time from our July (2022) InterGen worship that continues our 2022 summer focus in our children's area on the Fruit of the Spirit.

When we talk about a grandmother's love, we're talking about a particular kind of love...one that's over-the-top, a bit spoiling, and tremendously accepting and encouraging. When we say that no one loves you like grandma does, we're saying something about the QUALITY of that love. The Bible, and The Psalms in particular, are FULL of metaphors (like a grandmother's love). And Psalm 23 is the most f...

I'll be happy when... I'll be happy when I'm finally finished with school. I'll be happy when we have a bigger apartment/house. I'll be happy when the kids are older and not so much work. And the list goes ON. Americans spend incredible amounts of time and energy trying to get happy or make themselves happy. And it often ends in disaster. Why? Because pursuing happiness NEVER results in being happ...

When we were kids, we handed out 18, 25, 30 or more Valentine's Day cards. A holiday built around the idea of love, and we give away cards like candy. When it comes this particular fruit of the Spirit (love), God wants us to be generous. God wants us to know that He loves us completely, He isn't going anywhere and won't abandon us, that we can love others, because He will constantly resupply us on...

When you're free to live your true self, your relationships have a better shot at being at their best. But FEW Americans know how to do this well. We see it all the time on Instagram...we post things that will get affirmed and liked, but we hide (the things that are TRUE about us) for fear we will get judged or condemned. Jesus shows us a better way. Jesus lived a life FREE from the control of the...

Christians often confuse peace-MAKING with peace-KEEPING. Jesus was a peace-MAKER. That means that he didn't ignore tensions or differences. In fact, Jesus wasn't afraid to disagree with people. Peace-KEEPERS, on the other hand, tend to appease, avoid, and defer to others when tensions arise. True peace will NEVER come by pretending what is wrong is right. In this message (taken from Peter & Geri...