MCC Podcast

This week Craft sits down to talk with Mike and Rich about the context of Luke and Acts and how to understand the biblical context!

This Sunday Mike will conclude our Future/Past series. Last week I got to honor and encourage our graduates, and not just them but all of us, about the future and the traps that can catch us and negatively impact our future. This week Mike will help us look back. Just as important as it is to look forward, it’s equally important to have moments where we look back. We’ll see why. And we’ll look bac...

This week, as we celebrate our graduates, we kick off our new series, Future/Past, where we will be looking at what God has for each of our futures as well as why it’s important to remember our past. There are a few times each year where it naturally makes sense to look ahead to the future: January when a new year begins, May when students are graduating, and August when students head back to scho...

You’ve probably heard this before but Abraham Lincoln said, “The greatest lessons I’ve learned were at my mother’s knees.” Perhaps you too. But we also want to acknowledge something about this Sunday right out of the shoot. Mother’s Day is not an easy day for everyone. For some because you agree with Abraham Lincoln, your mom was great, but she is gone. Maybe this is your first Mother’s Day withou...

This Sunday we will be taking a look at a red hot topic: Justice. Notice I didn’t say social justice? There’s a huge difference between the two. We live in a time that cultural pundits change the meaning of words/phrases. If you don’t define the terms, we could be misled or even worse, you could confuse the people that you are asking God to help you influence. What is God expecting us to do? How c...

We seem to be living in an Age of Outrage. Everybody seems mad, and it’s not getting any better. It feels like we’re living in the Divided States of America. And in America these days, Christians are often seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If we aren’t careful, we can get sucked into the mayhem, and we’re just one more angry voice. Is it possible to say that sometimes t...

If I asked you to name 3 of your friends, who would come to mind? By the way, Mike is going to ask you that question this weekend. And then he’s going to ask you, “Why do like them? Similar hobbies? Same interests? Personalities? Good sense of humor? Easy going?” Maybe you’ve just always been friends. You know how he asks questions to set up the question he really wants you to think about? That’s...

This weekend we are taking what we started last week and turning a bit of a corner with it. Last week we were talking about how we can be Just Like Jesus. This week we’re going to begin a look at how Jesus was just like us. And what that means. And why it's important. And what difference it makes to our culture to hear that He Gets Us. Can this help our culture, which doesn’t know much about J...

This week we turn a corner in our Just Like series because as we celebrate Easter, we will see how we are Just Like Jesus. Or, at least, how we’re supposed to be just like Jesus. Part of what we will look at this weekend is 1 John 4:17 which says, “In this world we are like Jesus.” What does that mean? The corner we will turn is we will spend several weeks working this out in our He Gets Us series...

When I graduated from college, I was invited back to my home church in Columbus to serve as the Student Pastor. I would actually be the first full-time Student Pastor Norton (now Eastpointe. There is a whole story about the old and new name of my home church. I was actually part of the team who led the church in changing it. But that’s for another time. Or not). I served as the Student Pastor for...

This week we are continuing our series called Just Like where we’re looking at characters in the Bible to see how we are just like them. This weekend, our Student Pastor Eric will be walking us through the story of Joshua.   Just like Joshua, we have a choice to be bold in our faith and trust in God or to walk away scared. That tension is where a majority of us live. Scared of the battled ahe...

This week we are beginning a new series called Just Like and we’re going to be looking at characters in the Bible to see how we are just like them. That what is true of them is true of us as well. And that can be encouraging. Or we’ll at least see what we’re up against.   Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at how we are Just Like Rahab Joshua Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo Judas  ...

What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten on marriage? (Men, be careful how you answer that. A joke may be on the tip of your tongue but it is most likely best to leave it there.)   I wonder how many of us would say it was a book they have read. According to Cosmopolitan, the best book to read is The Five Love Languages. If you’ve never read that, you should. If you’re not married, you still...

This week Eric and I will be team-teaching what the Bible says about dating. You might be surprised.   And we have intentionally timed our Real series about relationships for February because, whether you love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day makes almost everyone think about romance. I wonder if you realize how big of a deal the day we just celebrated is. It is a day recognized around the worl...

This Sunday I will be talking about friendship in general and how to be a good friend (which also tells you what to look for in those you call “friend”).   And you already know why this is important. Friendship is good for our soul. Friends can make the ordinary, extraordinarily fun. And good friends ease our pain and lighten our heavy load.   But not only are friends good for the soul,...

This week we conclude our Streaks series by being reminded, because I think we all know this, that we are not meant to do our faith journey alone.  We are born to belong.   We are created for community.   And whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we spend our whole lives trying to fit in, get in, and stay in. It almost doesn’t even matter what “in” is; we just want to belong some...

This week, Jason Beaver continues our series Streaks by focusing on the habit of Generosity. Jason walks us through the importance of making generosity a regular habit and how it will push to a deeper level of faith when we commit to a plan of regular generosity.

This Sunday we look at a conversation Jesus had that speaks about a 3rd streak we need to be shooting for that is the biggest catalyst for those who are younger disciples. By the way, I don’t mean your age or how long you’ve been following. As a matter of fact, you may have been following Jesus for years or decades and still be a young disciple. And if this habit is not part of your walk, you will...

Streaks are something that you want to do (or not do) intentionally and consistently because it gets you somewhere you want to go. They are not something someone or something can do for you. You actually have to do it. It’s not something that can be set on autopilot. It requires action on your part.   Last week we began with the disciplines that surround scripture. By far, the number one cata...

This weekend we will begin a series called Streaks. The idea for this series is that there are habits or disciplines that, as disciples of Jesus, we need to develop that will have their greatest impact on our lives if we do them consistently and often.  Daily is what we should be shooting for.  Hence - streaks.   During this series we’re going to look at what God uses in our lives s...

As we start our year I want to remind you that when we say disciple at MCC we mean someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus.   So this Sunday I want to talk about chairs.   Have you ever played musical chairs? Probably when you were younger, maybe at a birthday party? Everyone is in a circle and there is one less chair then there ar...

We will remind ourselves what Jesus has brought into our lives and still offers to people today, a message of hope.   This year we will have 3 Christmas Eve services:  December 23 at 7:00pm  December 24 at 5:30pm and 7:00pm   I’d like to ask a favor. When you determine the service you intend to be part of, please RSVP.  There are 3 ways you can do that:  - our website...

This Sunday Rich will continue our Ugly Christmas Sweater series talking about “the blues.” Christmas can be a time seasoned with disappointment. Perhaps you have heard me say that Christmas is the Great Exaggerator. Whatever you are feeling the rest of the year - at Christmas time - the volume gets turned up.

This year we are approaching the Christmas season through a series that we’re calling Ugly Christmas Sweaters. Now, while ugly Christmas sweaters are funny, we know that Christmas brings with it, for many people, an ugly side of life. We try to bury it with colored lights and music and Christmas specials and Hallmark movies that begin in October, but people, maybe your friends, maybe you, deal wit...

Family gatherings are always stressful. Each time we gather together we are bringing in both our expectations and our brokenness. But what if our family gatherings could look different. This week we will look at scripture to see how putting Jesus at the center of our families can actually change the way we view our gatherings and how we treat each other.