Summit Podcasts: BACK40, Sermon Audio, and Leadership Night

In the first message of our series called Win By Losing, Pastor Mel makes the case for reorganizing what you prioritize as valuable. Jesus said, "If you cling to your life you'll lose it, but if you give up your life for me you will find it." Our world teaches us to make sacrifices in an effort to win, but Mel explains why winning by itself is an improper motivation. Preaching throug...

Special guest Pastor John Nuzzo joins us for an encouraging message called Pick Your Punctuation. John explains how inflection points in our lives can either drop a "period" or a "comma" in our stories. He makes the case that a "period" can be devastating because we allow terrible moments to define us. If we look to Jesus and trust in Him, then we can find power to tu...

Mel, Todd, and Michael open the discussion with an esoteric inquiry into the nature of conscience. Next they talk about whether or not it's a good idea to hire the family of current staff members. What are some things that impress Mel in a job interview? What are some red flags to look for when interviewing applicants? The episode finishes with a conversation about which of the biblical precep...

In the second session of his three part series on Purpose, Dr. John Stanko teaches us how to define our purpose. The first step in defining our purpose is to seek God. Proverbs chapter 2 instructs us to cry out to God for discernment and lift our voices for understanding. Scripture teaches us that discerning the fear of the Lord leads to discovering the knowledge of God. Dr. Stanko also explains w...

In the sixth and final message of our series on The Temple, Pastor Mel teaches how to cultivate an overcoming worship. What happens to your faith when trouble comes? Preaching through Revelation chapter 4, Mel explains how a durable faith requires worship, and how this kind of worship relies on a revelation of God. The less you know about God the less you will want to worship, while the more you k...

In a special edition of Leadership Night, our guest speaker Dr. John Stanko teaches how to identify your purpose. Teaching through Acts 6, John explains how being effective means being full of power to achieve results. He goes on to make the case that in order to be effective you must know your purpose. Dr. Stanko supports his claim by walking us through the personal purpose of several key figures...

In the fifth week of our series called The Temple, Pastor Mel examines seven different Hebrew words which are used in the scripture to describe worship. Working primarily through the Psalms, Mel explains the reasons why we worship the way we do. Raising hands during worship is an expression of surrender to, vulnerability towards, and dependence on God. Being physically expressive in your worship o...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss how to identify nominal christians within the Church. A nominal Christian is a person who is christian in name only. How should pastors interact with such people? They also talk about hierarchies between believers and whether some christians are more valuable than others. Part of the discussion of hierarchy leads to some ways to protect yourself against disappointmen...

In the fourth week of our series called The Temple, Pastor Mel preaches about the ark of the covenant which was stored in the innermost sanctum of the temple - the holy of holies. The holy of holies was a place only accessible by the Israelite High Priest, and even the High Priest did not enter lightly. Teaching through Leviticus 16, Mel describes these particular parts of the temple and he explai...

In the third week of our series called The Temple, Pastor Todd supplies a teaching on the altar of incense. The altar of incense was the last pass before entering the holiest part of the temple. Todd walks us through the Levitical process of sacrifice and explains what it means for our worship today. He talks about why God emphasized certain placement of the altar when designing the structure of t...

In the second week of our series on The Temple, Pastor Mel teaches all about the symbolic significance of gates and how they translate to your relationship with God. Gates serve a variety of purposes including protection, authority, and control of access. Psalm 100:4 teaches that we should, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his n...

In this edition of Leadership Night, Mel explains the hallmarks of a high-capacity leader. A high-capacity leader is someone who understands the vision. This kind of person advances the vision because they take ownership through their own expectations rather than from expectations set upon them by a manager. A high-capacity performer will draw the best out of his peers and knows how to win in a he...

In the first message of our series called The Temple, Pastor Mel gives a thorough explanation of what the Temple was, its layout, functions, and rules. He explains how the structure of the Temple was used to denote the holiness of God and our restricted access to God before mediation through Jesus Christ. Preaching through Ephesians 2, Mel goes into detail about how the gospel of Jesus Christ reco...

In the final installment of our Jesus Over Everything series, Pastor Jake Schwertfeger from Overland Missions preaches on the sufficiency of Jesus. He presents a thesis that one of the greatest deceptions plaguing the body of Christ today is that we are begging God to receive what Jesus has already freely given and established in us. His message is one of encouragement to embrace what Jesus has al...

In the third message of our series Jesus Over Everything, Pastor Mel explains what it looks like when the Church is in submission to Jesus. When we put Jesus over everything as a church, conflict decreases, health increases, and God's kingdom advances. Mel teaches why the key to healthy relationships is to love sacrificially and resolve conflict biblically. He points out how church health is m...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss common pitfalls associated with prosperity. How can a church enjoy prosperity without becoming corrupted by it? What about for an individual? Staying hungry and maintaining a sense of urgency is crucially important to keeping a proper perspective. They wax esoteric with a deep theological question concerning the difference between God's will and man's will in...

In the second message of our series Jesus Over Everything, Pastor Stef preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on Colossians 3:1-4. She recalls some of the lessons Mel unpacked from the previous two chapters, and then makes the case for why Jesus should be Lord of our lives. Stef presents a practical dichotomy of what an earthly minded person might say and think over against what a heavenly mi...

"Jesus Over Everything" is our theme as a church for this year. In the first message of our series Jesus Over Everything, Pastor Mel makes the biblical case for the supremacy of Christ. He argues that Jesus is supreme over our lives and over all creation even if we don't accept that He is. Through exposition of Colossians chapters 1 and 2, Mel teaches how Christ is the head of the Ch...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss whether it's appropriate to pretend certain things around people in order to gain influence with them. They also talk about whether consequences for sin can be permanent in this life, and whether those consequences can invalidate you for specific leadership roles. The conversation turns to a question of whether it's tempting to listen to peers instead of list...

In this episode of Leadership Night, Mel walks us through a handful of important lessons we've learned from one of history's great leaders - Martin Luther King Jr. He talks about the wisdom of taking action even when fear makes inaction seem rather tempting. A good leader is a leader committed to both intellectual and character growth. Effective leadership involves reading and learning on...

Preaching through Matthew 11:28-30, Pastor Gilbert teaches us how we can find the deepest form of rest. Rest for our souls comes from doing God's work and daily presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice for His purposes. Doing God's work involves surrendering yourself to the yoke of Jesus Christ and learning from Him. If we try to arrive at spiritual rest without Jesus we will come up emp...

In the most challenging message of this series, Pastor Mel brings a short sermon on Christ as the suffering servant. It's human nature to want to be powerful and even if we don't seek prestige most of us still want the freedom which comes from being in control. Teaching through selected scriptures, Mel explains how the Christian life is about downward mobility rather than upward mobility....

In the third message of our series "It's a Wonderful Life", Mel discusses the human desire to be seen. Using selected scriptures including the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4, he teaches why it's better to honor God than seek glory for yourself. Mel explains what it means to be a servant of Christ and reminds us that we are a slave to our source. Towards the end of the message,...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss the wisdom of focusing on a select number of projects at one time. Is it too late for you if you've taken on more than you can handle? How do you manage the chaos and arrive at a productive conclusion? They also talk about the importance of pastoring your team and what this pastoring should look like. Then the conversation deepens with the idea of preaching about...

In the second part of our series called It's a Wonderful Life, Pastor Mel looks at the worldly perspective on wanting to be rich. Generally, the desire for material wealth stems from either wanting to live a life of leisure or not wanting to worry about money. Mel makes the case that what we're really after is freedom and we try to acquire freedom through wealth. It's very common for p...