Grassroots Church | Thunder Bay, Ontario

Using John Mark Comer's "multi-polar view" approach to understanding theodicy, Pastor Steve uses the 5 different wills that help us understand, at least in part, why evil and suffering exists in our world, conceding, once more that a perfect theodicy is beyond our grasp as humans. This message helps set up the final message in this series in which we seek to find meaning in our suffe...

Pastor Steve continues to develop a hopeful and robust theodicy by looking at the idea of God being "all powerful." Using a "theology of the cross," he looks at how God's strength and power is not revealed through control or domination but instead through the self-emptying and vulnerability we see at Calvary. This "kenotic" love is not just shown at the incarnatio...

The series in Theodicy continues with Part 4 as Pastor Steve begins to address the question of suffering with a loving God directly through beginning with a discussion on God's sovereignty. What is God's will? Does it always get accomplished? How much free will do we have? These and other questions are raised and discussed as Pastor Steve dives into theological waters discussing Calvinism...

Cory presents the next part in our series on theodicy. Using scripture, theology, psychology, and literature, he explores how suffering unravels our sense of order, plunging us into chaos. Yet, he argues, the biblical story holds both chaos and order in tension, showing us a God who enters the chaos through Christ’s suffering and redeems it through resurrection. Through Genesis, Job, and the wisdo...

Guest speaker Cory Hoogsteen continues our series on suffering. He looks at the calling for all Christians to address suffering with witness, lament, and solidarity. Then he looks at how one of the causes of suffering is the human need for loving relationships. This message was originally delivered on June 1, 2025.

As Pastor Steve begins a new series exploring the various ways we try to reconcile a loving, all-powerful God with a world of evil and suffering, he begins by confronting the hard truth that the answer to "Why?" is not what we most yearn for in our suffering. Download the Discussion Guide for this message.

The 3-part series on the politics of Jesus concludes with an investigation into Romans 13:1-7 - one of the most challenging passages of scripture concerning government and authorities and the believers' responsibility to submit to it. Listen in as Pastor Steve provides insight into what this looks like for those whose allegiance belongs first to the Kingdom of God. Download the Discussion Guid...

Pastor Steve continues Part 2 of the series on understanding the politics of Jesus by addressing the "powers and principalities" that Paul and others spoke often about. With help from an analogy by Tim Mackie of Bible Project, Steve shares how Jesus followers are to overcome and push against these spiritual forces in their in-breaking of God's Kingdom in our midst. Download the Discu...

Pastor Steve begins a new series discussing the politics of Jesus and what it means to practice these politics in our time. Part 1 sets the context by understanding Jesus as a deeply political figure who comes to lead a revolution of self-giving love as the Kingdom of God is revealed on earth as it is in heaven. Download the Discussion Guide for this message

Pastor Steve concludes the series on being confronted by Calvary by looking at the other side of the cross - the Resurrection. What traits do "Resurrection People" embody? When we've put to death those parts of our self that need crucifying, we rise to live out of love, not approval; out of courage, not fear; and to bring life, not to consume. Download the Discussion Guide

Taking a pause from the current series, Pastor Steve spoke on the expectations of those lining the streets of Jerusalem and the reality of who Jesus turned out to be as revealed by the cross. As a preparation for the business meeting that followed the service, Steve shared about how Grassroots Church understands the person of Jesus and how that is reflected in our ministry as we seek to shape brig...

The series on the cross continues as Pastor Steve looks at David's journey to carrying the ark back to Jerusalem. David's initial attempt is self-centered and is motivated by convenience. David must die to this and in doing so demonstrates that proper worship, proper obedience is costly. This pattern of worship and posture toward God is carried on in Jesus' own words when he asks us to...

Pastor Steve provides part 2 of the uncomfortable topic of being crucified with Christ, of dying to self, of, well, following Jesus to the cross. The process of moving from admiring to following Jesus involves the necessity to be disciplined and we do this through intentionally allowing life's experiences to shape us in the way of Jesus. Listen in... and be ready to get uncomfortable!

Pastor Steve begins the Lent season (albeit a few weeks late!) by focusing on the call of Jesus to "take up our cross." He asks the tough question: are we admirers or followers? And encourages us to move toward the hard call of following Jesus.

Pastor Steve concludes the series on the Bible by considering how Jesus followers are to understand the Old Testament in light of Jesus. To see how this is done, we read the New Testament--including Jesus himself--who applied a "hermeneutic" to his scriptures that looks very different than most modern day methods of interpretation would allow.

Pastor Steve continues the series on the Bible by exploring other ways of knowing outside of interpretation and study - namely, through meditation. Using the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, we explore how meditation can serve to open up the truths of scripture to our hearts and our souls. Tune in! (Notice: at the end of the message, Steve walks the community through a meditative practice on a p...

Pastor Steve Bill returns to continue his series on the Bible. In this sermon, he looks at the tools we can draw on to ensure we receive the messages God wants us to get from the Bible. He looks at reading in the Great Tradition, reading with thoughtfulness, reading in light of our lived experience, and reading in community. This message was originally delivered on March 2, 2025.

In this message delivered by guest speaker Scott Wiebe, we look at how we can use a Jesus lens to "read backwards" and see how the whole Bible can have meaning to us as Christians. Scott looks at the conquest of Jericho, the plague on the firstborn, Noah, and Abraham as examples of how this approach can help us read the Bible. This message was originally delivered on February 23, 2025.

Pastor Steve carries on the Bible series by asking how are we to discern the Holy Spirit's leading us into all truth when we read the Bible. There are tools, or even "lenses," that we should implement. This week, we explored how reading with the "Great Tradition" and reading with our own traditions is an essential part of this process.

The series on the Bible continues as Pastor Steve explores some of the pre-hermeneutical (interpretational) "veils" that hold us back from discovering what the Spirit has to say to us in the pages of scripture. Follow along as Pastor Steve names and describes two such veils - the "hermeneutic of suspicion" and the "hermeneutic of inaction."

The series on the Bible continues as we wade into the waters of biblical authority. Pastor Steve asks how we might consider maintaining a healthy understanding of biblical authority in light of the reality that "The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it" is not the reality of how we come to the text. Listen in as Steve suggests a way forward that honours scripture by ultimately su...

In this message from guest speaker Scott Baker, we look at how God can speak to us through parts of the Bible that we find weird. The online gospel synopsis Scott was referencing can be found here . You can see a few of the paintings that were included here and here . This message was originally delivered January 19, 2025.

Does the fact that the Holy Spirit breathed into the text of scripture necessarily mean the Bible must be inerrant? Do we need inerrancy in order to claim the Bible is trustworthy? This is a complicated topic and Pastor Steve dives in deep! Put your thinking caps on for this one :)

Christians are people of the book. We are meant to use the Bible to guide us in becoming more like Jesus and restoring all things. But the Bible is a dangerous book. It has been used in the past to support evil things. In this sermon, Pastor Steve Bill starts a series on how we should relate to this ancient, human, and divine collection of writings. This sermon was originally delivered on January...

Pastor Steve takes a look back at the year that was at Grassroots via a slideshow (you can view the slideshow here: https://youtu.be/PTLMN3tkDlQ and shows how God has been faithful to our community.... yet again before talking about what's in store for 2025 and giving a charge to the community out of Philippians 2.