Grace City Eugene

Every person matters to God. So we protect life, release revenge, and overcome evil with good. Most of us hear the commandment “You shall not murder” and think, “I've got this one covered!” But what if this commandment goes deeper than simply taking another person's life? What if Jesus is calling us to examine the anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, and contempt we allow to grow in our heart...

What does it really mean to honor your father and mother as an adult? And how do we navigate the complicated transition from childhood obedience to adult independence while still honoring God's design for family? In this week's episode of The Extended Cut, Pastor Chris Zauner sits down with Pastor Casey Olsen to go deeper into Casey's sermon, "The Weight of Honor," from our W...

What does it really mean to honor your father and mother? Is the fifth commandment simply about children obeying their parents, or does God have something much deeper in mind for every stage of life? In Week 5 of our Words To Live By series, Pastor Casey Olsen explores Exodus 20:12 and the true meaning of honoring our parents. While many of us grew up understanding this commandment as a call to ch...

What does it actually mean to rest? And is it possible that our struggle to find true rest has just as much to do with how we work as it does with how we Sabbath? In this week's episode of The Extended Cut, Pastor Chris Zauner and Pastor Casey Olsen dive deeper into Pastor Chris' Sunday sermon, Room to Breathe, exploring the Fourth Commandment and God's design for work, Sabbath, and bi...

Have you ever finally sat down to rest, only to realize your mind is still racing? Between work, responsibilities, expectations, and the pressure to keep producing, finding true rest can feel impossible. But what if God never intended us to live that way? In Week 4 of our series, Words To Live By, Pastor Chris Zauner shares a powerful message titled "Room To Breathe," exploring the Fourt...

What does it really mean to take God's name in vain? Is the Third Commandment simply about the words we say, or does it speak to something much deeper about how we live? In this week's episode of The Extended Cut, Casey Olsen sits down with Pastor Chris Zauner to unpack his sermon, "You Carry His Name," from Week 3 of our series, Words To Live By, at Grace City Church in Eugene,...

When you call yourself a Christian, you carry the name of Jesus. But what does your life communicate about the One you claim to follow? In Week 3 of our Words to Live By sermon series, Pastor Chris Zauner shares a powerful message titled "You Carry His Name," exploring the deeper meaning of the Third Commandment in Exodus 20:7. Most of us understand "You shall not take the name of t...

Who or what is sitting on the throne of your life? We all worship something. The question isn't whether we worship, but what has our worship—and whether we've truly surrendered every area of our lives to Jesus. In Week 2 of our sermon series, Words To Live By, Pastor Chris Zauner explores the first two commandments in Exodus 20:1–6 with a powerful message titled "No Other Gods."...

What if the Ten Commandments aren’t primarily about rules, but about learning how to live in the freedom God has already given us? In “Brought Out, Brought Near,” Pastor Chris Zauner kicks off Words to Live By, a new sermon series exploring the Ten Commandments and what they mean for followers of Jesus today. Beginning in Exodus 19–20, we discover an important truth: before God gave Israel His com...

What does real faith look like when prayer feels unanswered, people wander, and following Jesus requires persistence? In this episode of The Extended Cut, Casey Olson sits down with Grace City Church Lead Pastor Chris Sonner to put a bow on our series through the book of James and unpack the final verses of James 5 that didn’t make it into Sunday’s sermon, “When Faith Gets Real.” James 5:17–20 giv...

What does real faith look like when life gets hard? In When Life Gets Real, Pastor Chris Zauner closes out our Show Me Your Faith series through the book of James with a powerful message about enduring faith, honest repentance, prayer, healing, and staying anchored in Jesus when life doesn’t go according to plan. Throughout the book of James, we’ve been confronted with one consistent challenge: fa...

Who really owns your life? This week on The Extended Cut, Pastor Casey and Pastor Chris go behind the scenes of Chris’ sermon, “Whose Life Is It Anyways?”, as we continue our journey through the book of James. We have far less control than we often think. Our lives are brief, our possessions are temporary, and even our best-made plans can change in an instant. So what does it look like to faithful...

Who really owns your life? In Week 8 of our Show Me Your Faith series through the book of James, Pastor Chris Zauner challenges us to examine how tightly we hold onto our plans, possessions, future, finances, and sense of control. Teaching from James 4:13–17 and James 5:1–6, this sermon confronts the temptation to live as though we are ultimately in charge. We make plans, build careers, save money...

What if the conflict around you is revealing something deeper within you? In this week’s episode of The Extended Cut, Chris Zahner and Casey Olson dive deeper into Chris’ sermon, “The War Within,” from Grace City Church’s series through the book of James. James 4 confronts us with an uncomfortable reality: the battles we experience in our relationships, circumstances, and everyday lives often reve...

What if the conflict happening around you is revealing a deeper conflict happening within you? In “The War Within,” Pastor Chris Zauner continues Week 7 of our “Show Me Your Faith” series through the book of James, teaching from James 4:1–12 about the desires, passions, pride, and divided loyalties that can quietly wage war inside our hearts. James asks a confronting question: “What causes quarrel...

What kind of wisdom is shaping your life? In this episode of The Extended Cut, Pastors Chris and Casey go behind the scenes of Chris’ sermon, “What Kind of Wisdom Is This?” from James 3:13–18. They explore the contrast between earthly and heavenly wisdom, why something can appear effective without being godly, and how the condition of our hearts becomes visible through our relationships, reactions...

What kind of wisdom is shaping your life? In Week 6 of Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner continues through the book of James with a powerful message from James 3:13–18 about the difference between worldly wisdom and the wisdom that comes from God. Throughout James, we see a consistent challenge: real faith becomes visible. Faith isn't simply something we profess with our mouths—it produc...

What do your words reveal about your heart? In this week’s episode of The Extended Cut, Casey sits down with Pastor Chris Zahner to go deeper into Sunday’s message, “Watch Your Mouth,” from James 3:1–12. We all know words matter. They can encourage, heal, guide, and give life—but they can also wound, divide, and leave an impact long after they’ve been spoken. James compares the tongue to a bit in...

Words are never just words. In Week 5 of Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner teaches from James 3:1–12 about the incredible power of our words and what they reveal about our hearts. James compares the tongue to a bit that directs a horse, a rudder that guides a ship, and a spark that can set a forest on fire. Though small, our words can build trust or destroy it, give courage or take it away,...

What does it actually mean to have a living, saving faith ? Is believing the right things about Jesus enough—or should genuine faith produce visible fruit in the way we live? In this week’s episode of The Extended Cut , Pastor Casey and Pastor Chris go behind the scenes of Week 4 of our series through the book of James and unpack the challenging question from James 2: “Is your faith dead?” James g...

In Week 4 of our Show Me Your Faith series, Pastor Chris Zauner walks through James 2:14–26 and asks a question with eternal significance: What kind of faith actually saves? James makes it clear that confidence alone does not make something true—and simply saying we have faith does not necessarily mean that faith is alive. A person can know Christian language, believe correct theology, attend chur...

In this episode of The Extended Cut, pastors Chris and Casey go behind the Sunday sermon and dig deeper into James 2:1–13, exploring favoritism, human dignity, mercy, and what it really means to love people like Jesus. Building on the message “Forbidden Favorites” from our church's Show Me Your Faith series, they wrestle with questions like: Does your relational world look like Jesus’? What do...

What does our faith in Jesus reveal about the way we value and treat other people? In Week 3 of our series, Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner teaches from James 2:1–13 in a message titled “Forbidden Favoritism.” James gives the church a direct command: followers of Jesus must not show partiality or assign greater value to people based on wealth, influence, appearance, status, background, or...

What does it really mean to hear God’s Word? In Week 2 of Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris teaches from James 1:19–27 and challenges us to move beyond simply hearing Scripture to actually living it. James says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” It’s possible to know the Bible, take notes, attend church, and still walk away unchanged. Genuine faith receives God’s Word with humility, res...

Week 1 of our new series, Show Me Your Faith, Pastor Chris Zauner begins our journey through the book of James by exploring one of the most challenging commands in Scripture: "Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds." When life changes in an instant through loss, suffering, disappointment, or uncertainty, it's natural to ask questions like, "God, where are You?&qu...