Summit Podcasts: BACK40, Sermon Audio, and Leadership Night

Mel, Joel, and Michael sit down to unpack Week 1 of the Prepare the Way series — the message that set the theme for the entire year. Their conversation centers on a searching question: what does it actually mean to prepare the way of the Lord, not as a one-time event but as a daily practice? They talk candidly about spiritual seasons, the let-down of living only for the next big moment, and the un...

Throughout the month of July, Summit is rebroadcasting Prepare the Way — the series that set the theme for 2026. This year the rebroadcast comes with something new: for each week of the series, Pastor Mel, Pastor Joel, and Michael Baun sat down for an hour-long unedited conversation starting right where the sermon ends. These discussions have never been seen before and will premiere during the reb...

This week Pastor Mel preaches Romans 11, the climax of Paul's three-chapter argument about Israel — and he opens with the question driving all of it: has God rejected his own people? Paul's answer is immediate: of course not. God has not rejected the people he chose from the beginning. Mel uses the chapter to address a real fault line. He explains and pushes back on replacement theology —...

This week on the BACK40, Michael Baun sits down with Pastors Mel Masengale and Joel Maus for another round of "Asking for a Friend" — and they take on some of the hardest, most personal questions people are quietly carrying. Is same-sex attraction a sin? Can someone who is gay serve as a volunteer or worship leader? How does a person caught in addiction actually find freedom? And what sh...

This week on Leadership Night, Pastor Mel explores the leadership of General George Washington during the hardest year of the American Revolution — 1776. Recorded as the country approaches its 250th birthday and drawing on David McCullough's book "1776," the conversation looks past the marble statues to a leader staring down impossible odds: a ragtag army of farmers, shoemakers, and...

This week Pastor Mel preached Romans 10, picking up where guest Pastor Eran Holt left off in Romans 9. The question driving these chapters is a hard one: if God's promises are so good, why did so many in Israel miss their own Messiah? Mel answers it with a single picture — two roads to righteousness. Israel pursued being right with God by works, by keeping the law, and stumbled over the very c...

This week Pastor Aaron Holt preached Romans 9. If you have been following along with us in the book of Romans, you know that Romans 8 ends with one of the most powerful declarations in all of Scripture. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. And then you turn the page to chapter 9 and the mood shifts completely. Paul is in anguish. He is grieving. Because the question he is sitting with is...

In this episode we start with something I think is a real blind spot -- not just in the church, but anywhere there are people who need to be led. The problem is that we are drawn to charisma even when we know better. Even when there is clear evidence of poor character, the charisma wins. We talk through what makes someone charismatic. Warmth and competency are the two research-backed traits. But w...

This week Pastor Mel takes us through the second half of Romans 8. The sermon opens with a reframe that sets the tone for everything that follows. When Paul talks about glory in Romans 8, Mel argues he is not primarily talking about heaven. He is talking about God's Spirit tabernacling in believers -- the same dwelling presence that was in the wilderness with Israel -- and about the goodness o...

This is Part 2 of the Week 3 discussion on Romans, and I'm back with Caleb and Joel for another wide-ranging conversation that covers a remarkable amount of theological ground. We open with the Pharaoh question -- the quintessential hard heart story in Scripture. Caleb walks through the alternating pattern of Pharaoh hardening his own heart and God hardening it, and raises the provocative idea...

In this episode of the podcast we start off with a simple question that has a challenging answer. The question is this: how do you become more compassionate without just following your heart? What if compassion could be principled rather than emotional -- something you choose based on information rather than how you feel in a moment? I tried to draw a distinction between pain being objectively mea...

This week Pastor Mel brings us to Romans chapter 8 -- what he and many theologians consider to be the most important chapter in the entire Bible. Mel opens with the four most liberating words in Paul's writing: there is no condemnation. He unpacks what that actually means -- not that condemnation was abolished, but that Jesus took it on himself so we don't have to carry it. And he makes th...

In this episode we open with a question that sits right at the intersection of theology and everyday life: given what we believe about total depravity, how do you actually trust people? Mel and Joel work through why cynicism usually traces back to pain, why trust is hardwired into us by God as a gift for building community, and how to hold grace and wisdom together rather than collapsing into eith...

In this episode we discuss Romans week three. We started with something Paul says almost in passing -- that humanity not only sins, but invents new ways of sinning. That opens into a rich conversation about creativity, technology, and what it looks like when God's image-bearing gift of creativity gets corrupted. From there we move into what Caleb calls narrative reconstruction -- the idea that whe...

This week Pastor Mel continues the Romans series with Week 13, and he lands in one of the most personally honest passages in all of Paul's writing -- Romans chapter 7.The big question Paul is answering is one that every honest Christian has probably asked: if grace covers our sin, does that mean we can live however we want? Paul's answer is emphatic. Of course not. And Mel walks through ex...

Today we are back answering more of your questions from the Asking for a Friend series. In this episode we respond to some really substantial topics — how God speaks to people today and how to discern whether what you are hearing is actually from him, the purpose and meaning of communion and why it matters how we approach it, why the church still uses traditional preaching rather than open dialogu...

This week Pastor Mel continues our series through the book of Romans, picking up in the second half of Romans chapter 6 where Pastor Kim left off. Using the vivid historical reality of slavery in the Roman Empire — including an actual slave tag discovered in Rome — Mel unpacks Paul’s powerful argument that every one of us is a slave to whatever we choose to obey. He walks through what it means to...

In this episode we discuss more questions from the Asking for a Friend series. We talk about the age of the earth and creation, weighing young earth perspectives with evidence for apparent age, global floods, and faith amid scientific debates about dinosaurs and dating methods. The conversation addresses what happened to the torn temple veil, how to live biblically from the heart rather than mere...

In week 11 of our Romans series Pastor Kim teaches on Romans 6 showing the shift from what God has done for us to what He is doing in us. She unpacks our union with Christ in His death and resurrection, declaring that we have died to sin and been raised to new life so sin no longer rules over us. Kim uses powerful illustrations like the rope lowered into a well, the removal of Lazarus's grave...

In week three of our Asking for a Friend series Pastor Mel answers big questions about the will of God, exploring the tension between human free will and divine sovereignty. He unpacks why God created Adam and Eve knowing the fall would happen, examines angelic rebellion with Lucifer, and explains the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in Exodus through the lens of Romans. Mel contrasts the anxiety...

In this episode we discussed handling exhaustion in ministry, setting healthy boundaries with family and technology, and the difference between burnout and a lack of discipline. We explored high performance as a husband, father, and leader without sacrificing home life, the slow slide into burnout, and the tension between personal success and lasting legacy, drawing wisdom from Cain and Seths cont...

In this Romans Week 2 discussion we unpack the power of the gospel and the sobering reality of humanity's suppression of truth. The conversation dives into sharing personal testimonies of transformation, confronting willful sin like gossip, envy, pride, and resisting authority. We talk about how God sometimes allows us to reach rock bottom so we turn to His grace. We explore the communal natur...

Pastor Mel unpacks the stunning fall of Leicester City from unlikely Premier League champions to back-to-back relegations, highlighting how overspending on underperforming players, desperate decisions, high turnover, and eroding cultural standards created a downward spiral. In the discussion portion we explore sustaining success through consistent disciplines, avoiding snap judgments in crisis, ba...

In this episode we explored a timely question: what if the key to making the world better is to stop trying to fix the whole world at once? We made the case for narrowing our focus to local solvable problems in our homes, families, churches, and communities rather than getting overwhelmed by national politics. The conversation covers breaking down big challenges into manageable micro steps and rej...

In part two of our Asking for a Friend series Pastor Mel preaches about Heaven. He challenges popular misconceptions—such as an ethereal realm of clouds, pearly gates, mansions, or endless worship—drawing instead from Scripture to portray it as a physical, renewed reality where the new heaven and new earth merge. He distinguishes the temporary paradise believers enter upon death from the permanent...