It's Better When You're Here!

The Summer at the Movies sermon series has begun, and it is always one of my favorites. It gives us the chance to dive deeply into our faith while also giving us permission to laugh, wonder, and hold lightly some powerful lessons. Sometimes the stories that seem the most familiar can help us see the truth of the Gospel in a fresh way. This week, we are stepping into the world of Toy Story and aski...

It's my privilege to serve as the summer pastoral intern here at Shepherd's. This season has given me the opportunity to learn and grow alongside our incredible staff, and it has also given me the chance to spend a lot of time with Michael LaBlanc. When we hear the word *piety*, we often think about personal spiritual disciplines—prayer, reading Scripture, fasting, worship, and personal devotion....

It's Father's Day, a day when we celebrate not only our dads but also one of the many ways Scripture speaks about God—as Father. But here at Shepherds, it's also Pie + Tea Sunday. Why Pie + Tea? Well, because one Sunday I wanted to preach about piety, and "piety" sounds a little bit like "pie and tea." That's the honest answer. But there's a deeper reason too. At Shepherds, we aspire to be slightl...

This week, we're excited to share a message from our guest preacher, Reverend Emily Hotho. As we listen, we pray that God will encourage, challenge, and strengthen us through His Word. So wherever you're listening from, let's lean in together and hear what the Lord has for us today. Passage: John 10: 11-16 CEB

Thank you for joining us. Today, we answer questions submitted by members of our church and community—questions about God, Scripture, faith, life, and what it means to follow Jesus today. While the questions may come from different experiences and perspectives, our goal is always the same: to seek biblical truth, offer Christ-centered encouragement, and help one another grow in faith. So let's ope...

Last week we talked about silence, and honestly, I've never felt more countercultural. As followers of Jesus, we often live in a tension. We are called to love the people of this world deeply while also recognizing that the way things are is not the way God intended them to be. We celebrate what is good, beautiful, and true, while also naming the places where our culture pulls us away from the lif...

Last week, we unpacked prayer and explored what it means to pray—and why our prayers matter. This week, I want us to lean into another spiritual discipline: silence. Now honestly, when I told someone I was preaching on silence, I immediately regretted it. I think my exact words were, “Why did I say I would preach on silence?!” And without missing a beat, she said, “Ah yes… silence. The thing you l...

As Annual Conference gathers the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church here in Lakeland, we are invited into a powerful theme: awakening to grace. In the Methodist tradition, we believe God meets us through the means of grace—through prayer, worship, communion, Scripture, service, and community. These practices are not just habits; they are holy pathways that awaken us to the presence...

As we come to the close of our series, Like a Girl, it feels fitting that we also gather to celebrate Mother's Day. Every one of us has a mother, and today’s story centers on two women whose lives show us the beauty of shared love and shared strength. Together, they offer us a vision of what life can look like when community matters more than self-interest. Their story invites us into a way of liv...

In a world captivated by the image of the lone, heroic leader, the story of Deborah reminds us that the greatest callings in our lives are never meant to be carried alone. As Gretchen learned in the Marine Corps, and as we discover in our everyday lives, we always go farther when we go together. Today, I want to remind us all that each of us leads somewhere, and that the best outcomes are often wa...

As we begin a new series exploring the often-overlooked stories of women in the Bible, it feels important to say this: it shouldn’t have to be a series—but it does. Women have always been central to our faith. Their courage, leadership, and witness are woven throughout Scripture. And yet, too often, their stories have been minimized while louder voices have tried to define their place. If those vo...

Join Reverend Michael LeBlanc at our Chapel Campus as we celebrate a full year of worshiping together every Sunday in this wonderful location. Be part of this special milestone and experience the joy of community, reflection, and faith. Passage: John 20:19-31 CEB

Friends, Lent is over. As a church, we’ve spent this sacred season wrestling with deconstruction—what it means to gently, honestly take apart a faith that may have been handed to us in pieces that no longer fit, and to begin rebuilding something more durable, more vibrant, more expansive. Not a faith rooted in fear, but one grounded in truth. Not something brittle, but something alive. And today i...

Join Reverend Michael at our Chapel Campus during our sunrise service on Easter morning. Passage: John 20:11-18 CEB

The joy of my life is to be— as a friend once named it— confetti for Jesus. Bright. Scattered. Alive with celebration. But tonight… Good Friday asks something different of me. It asks me to gather the pieces, to still the color, to quiet the joy. Because this night is not like the others. This is not a night for noise or lightness. Tonight, the world slows. The sky darkens. And we remember. We sta...

As we come to the end of our Lenten journey—a season where we’ve taken a hard, honest look at the faith of our youth, where we’ve dared to deconstruct and begin reconstructing—I want to invite us one step further down this road. We’ve spoken openly about deconstruction, trusting that together we are capable of rebuilding a faith that is durable, inclusive, and vibrant. A faith that can hold both o...

Join Lee Bradley as he brings the message to us this week. Passage: John 3:1-18 ESV, Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV, Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

A life of faith will require us to come to grips with the questions that life demands of us. These questions aren’t easy. As the old adage goes, the truth will set you free—but not until she’s done with you. Today, I want us to look at what it means to be honest in community and to choose growth together. At Shepherds, belonging doesn’t require you to become less of who you are. But it will requir...

Of all the things I love about Shepherds is that, as your pastor, I get to be very real with all of you. Today I want to share a part of my testimony and talk honestly about something many of us experience but rarely discuss—the connection between grief and doubt. Grief has a way of shaking us. It can stir questions we didn’t expect and doubts we never thought we’d have. But those moments don’t pl...

The concept of deconstruction has swept through the Christian world. More and more people who grew up in the church are taking a courageous, honest look at what they were taught—examining it, questioning it, and searching for new ways of knowing God. For many, deconstruction feels unsettling. For others, it feels necessary. And in many ways, it has become part of the lifeblood of Shepherd’s. So ma...

On this first Sunday, I thought it would be wise for us to talk about our walk. This series sets before us the intentions we will follow as a church. It invites us to move beyond words and into action — to take the faith we confess with our mouths and live it with our whole lives. Today, as we begin a season of preparation, my hope is that we would recognize something beautiful: this is the best k...

Join us with guest Pastor, Greg Rusch, while Reverend Michael LeBlanc is out this week. Passage: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 NIV

No one likes to be interrupted. Our day-to-day lives are filled to the brim with things competing for our attention—ads, social media, texts, the news—each one demanding a piece of us. Today, I want to offer a different way of being interrupted. An interruption that doesn’t steal from us, but frees us. One that makes space for God’s Kingdom to dwell among us as we allow the right things to interru...

Welcome to our new series, The Walk, where we explore what it truly means to follow Jesus in a way that shapes every moment of our lives. We don’t want a faith that lives only on paper—we want a faith that is lived, practiced, and embodied. We begin with the practice that brought us all here: sharing our faith. To share your faith with someone else is to step into the legacy of the saints who came...

Plenty of churches exist for themselves. Some churches, even whole constellations of them, exist primarily to serve their members or elevate their pastors. But as we wrap up our series on our mission statement today, we are reminded of why we exist. We exist to inspire the hope of Jesus Christ. This is not a passive hope. It is not a hope meant to sit still or stay comfortable. It is a hope that p...