Summit Podcasts: BACK40, Sermon Audio, and Leadership Night

This message features Pastor Jim Hennesy, who leads a vibrant church in Cedar Hill, Texas. Jim explains what it looks like to step up and be bold in your identity as a follower of Jesus. Repentance is an indispensable step in the process of overcoming sluggish faith. Jim teaches about the mysterious biblical character Melchizedek and reminds us that he was both a priest and a king. To be a priest...

In a special edition of Back40, listen to Pastor Jim Hennesy deliver a message on optimizing your spiritual well-being so that you can foster growth as a leader. Jim discusses why displaying beauty is better than supplying information when it comes to correcting others. We admire what we find beautiful and so we strive to imitate beauty. Being a role model is more effective than being a judge. He...

In the final week of our series called Origin Story, Pastor Mel walks us through the major moments in Paul's life and ministry. The apostle Paul is broadly considered the most significant contributor to Christianity apart from Jesus himself. The biblical account of Paul begins before his conversion when he is named Saul and is a high-ranking member of the Pharisees. During this stage of his li...

In week 3 of our series called Origin Story, Pastor Mel examines the life of Hannah - who was the mother of the prophet Samuel. In week 2 we learned how Samuel lived a life of faithfulness, and this week we see that his mother was faithful as well. Hannah struggled with infertility and chose to take her suffering to the Lord. God granted her a son, who she then surrendered back to God by taking a...

Week 2 of our series called Origin Story explores the life of the prophet Samuel. The name Samuel means "heard of God" which is appropriate considering Samuel's position as a prophet. Samuel lived a life of faithfulness which provided stark contrast to King Saul's record of disobedience. The prophet obeyed God in the anointing of Saul as king of Israel, and he continued to obey G...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss the do's and don'ts of planting a multi-site campus church. What defines a multi-site church? How are these churches different from traditional church plants? What pieces need to be in place before making moves to start a new location? What are the advantages of the multi-site model? They also talk about how to handle mistaken teachers who are leading small g...

In the first message of our series called Origin Story, Mel walks us through the story of King Saul. Mel explains how Saul was everything the people thought would make for a good king. The prophet Samuel told Saul he was the hope for all of Israel. Despite this fantastic start and these royal qualities, Saul disobeyed God and this disobedience undermined his authority and caused him to lose the ki...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss the biblical rationale for why megachurches are a good thing. The megachurch is often unfairly maligned when in reality many of the same problems which arise in megachurches also trouble smaller churches. They also talk about whether there are any honorable reasons for desiring a large following. Are we certain we're treating Christendom's most influential sh...

6 for 6 is a fun set of mini-sermons preached by a rotation of our pastors here at Summit Church. Each preacher has 6 minutes to deliver his or her sermon and if they are not done when the timer hits 0:00, a buzzer sounds and they must walk off stage. While it was sometimes a frantic speed and not all of our communicators finished, expect to learn about the core values which define us as a church....

Pastor Mel preaches a special message on Pentecost Sunday about the power of the Holy Spirit and how this power enables every life to be made different. At Summit Church, the central focus of all our core values is to see every life made different. Mel explains the history behind what occurred on the day of Pentecost and why it matters for us today. Preaching through Acts 1 & 2, as well as oth...

Mel, Todd, and Michael explore the question of whether the Church should function as the primary sense-making apparatus for Christians in our world. Should the Church help explain what's taking place in the political sphere? Should the Church address current events and help Christians understand them, or is there a better way? Next they talk about whether poverty is virtuous in the Christian f...

Pastor Kim Masengale preaches a special Mother's Day message about being made whole. Spiritual healing is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Preaching through John 5:1-15, Kim explains why many of us come up with reasons and excuses for resisting spiritual healing. Being a victim can feel safe because we're no longer responsible for our own shortcomings. At the pool of Bethesda, Jesus he...

Pastor Mel Masengale and Dr. Jon Chasteen discuss their transitions into leadership roles, focusing on overcoming negativity and rejection by fostering a positive mindset, humility, and servant-leadership. They emphasize the importance of nurturing team relationships, soliciting trusted feedback, and embracing imperfections to build genuine connections. The dialogue also covers effective change ma...

In the final message of Paul's letter to Titus, Pastor Mel teaches through chapter three. This chapter is prescriptive for what the Church should do when a person is acting on malevolence. Someone doing bad in this context might be subversive, divisive, or quick to engage in petty arguments over secondary issues. Mel encourages us to do good by explaining how doing good is not the same as not...

In this edition of Leadership Night, Mel recounts various situations from his 25 years of leadership experience and teaches us the lessons he's learned. One of the main themes of this lecture is that a career in leadership seldom turns out how you expect it to. A good leader with a lot of experience will have endured incredible amounts of stress, the pressure of stewarding his or her employees...

Mel, Todd, and Michael discuss strategies for finding and keeping good employees. Summit Church is known for its low turnover and excellent staff retention. In our world today it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain good people in the workplace. Why is this? What can we do to make it better? The conversation moves to the topic of death-anxiety and whether it's okay for Christians to fe...

In the second week of our series covering Paul's letter to Titus, Pastor Mel teaches through chapter two which discusses wise living. Wise living entails a positive ambition for godliness, rather than a mere avoidance of sin. This chapter specifically addresses older men, older women, and then later younger men and younger women. Mel talks about the importance of older men exercising self-cont...

This sermon was preached live by Pastor Collin McKnight to the congregation at Summit Blairsville. While Collin was preaching on the same text as Pastor Mel for week 1 of our series on Titus, Collin's sermon is entirely distinct from Mel's. In this message you should expect to learn some of the history behind Paul's letter to Titus, as well as what it means to be a bondservant of Chris...

In the first message of our series on Paul's letter to Titus, Pastor Mel preaches an expository sermon on chapter 1. This chapter is all about which virtues to embrace and which vices to avoid as a proper Christian. Paul encouraged Titus to appoint elders who lived a blameless life. The elder's own house must be in order if he can expect to be a shepherd in the house of God. An elder must...

In the final message of our series called Win By Losing, Pastor Mel teaches about the value of being bold about your faith. Jesus said, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels." The key to being bold about your faith is to understand that God has not given us...

Mel and Michael discuss how Summit Church handles the Easter holiday. They talk about strategies which include services both before and after Easter weekend that are designed to supplement the Easter celebration. Having both easy on-ramps and tools for retention are critical to maintaining momentum before, during, and after Easter. The conversation turns to whether or not pastors should care about...

In part three of our series called Win By Losing, Pastor Mel interviews special guest Sgt. Shilo Harris. Shilo survived an IED blast in 2007 that left major burns on his body. Three of the five soldiers in Shilo's Humvee were killed in the explosion. Throughout the interview Shilo tells a story of resilience and dependence on God as he overcame seemingly impossible odds. So much of life, espec...

On Leadership Night Mel often presents information on how you might lead others well, but in this episode he teaches us how to lead ourselves. He explains why being a good leader requires that you own your mistakes. He talks a little about how to foster an atmosphere where leaders and employees aren't afraid to admit their mistakes. Being an effective leader also requires that you establish go...

In the second installment of our series Win By Losing, Pastor Mel walks us through the four things we must lose in order to follow Jesus. Using selected scriptures, Mel argues that being faithful requires us to lose our minds. Romans 12:2 admonishes us not to copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we will learn God's will for us,...

In the third part of his lecture series on Purpose, Dr. John Stanko teaches us why it's important to face reality when trying to discover your purpose. While we should be courageous and ambitious, it's important to accept honest feedback when others provide it for us. In the pursuit of purpose we should be prepared to embrace change. The apostle Paul experienced radical change when he enco...