The ECC Podcast

As we close the  “Being Human”  series ,we take one final look at the life of Jesus and his followers. We find his followers arguing over who should be the greatest when Jesus sets up his kingdom.  In other words:  Who will his right hand man be?   His response certainly surprised them and caught them off-guard.  Jesus’ response may surprise us too.

How do we find real rest and renewal in our demanding world?  Sabbath, that ancient practice, has particular relevance for us today.  In this message, Dan Russell will lead us as we consider Sabbath in 2025: Rest & Fun, Resistance, and Worship & Renewal.  It is an amazing gift from God to us all.

We are all called to make disciples of Jesus. This task can often seem burdensome, like an extra "activity" in our lives. Often, we relegate such a "sacred" task to those we consider more "sacred". Come and discover an ancient way of living that God invites us into that will begin to help us all walk in the calling to make disciples of Jesus. Guest speaker: Allen Chan...

In this message, Elaine will be looking at how being human entails a worldview that sees caring for creation as part of the Christian calling. Looking at the creation narrative in Genesis, we will see that from the beginning, God envisioned the flourishing of both humanity and the rest of creation, together.

God calls us to be with Him and then to work with Him as He fulfills His purposes in this world. Seeing God and how He has uniquely crafted each one of us not only helps us understand what our calling is, but also gives us the confidence we need to believe that it is possible... and to actually step out and walk with Him in it.

Andreas will explore the questions: Why work? How did God originally design us for work? Will there be work in heaven? What does this all mean for me today?  

Using the 2 big ideas of  work  and  rest , Ken will share with us this Sunday how we should bring “God-stuff” into both of these areas of our world as we live our life.  These are 2 areas in which we spend the majority or all of our time in... and we should not leave God out of any of these (or any areas of our life for that matter).

In this message, we will have the privilege of hearing from Jeff Golby and be updated with what's been going on with the Acts for Water ministry.

Join us for a reflection on the nature of fear and how it shapes our lives. Through the paradox of holding both fear and hope, we’ll discover through looking at  Romans 15:13  how God meets us in our fears and the importance of actively increasing our sense of hope. Together, we'll learn to pause, reflect, and actively work toward further understanding fear through faith as we cultivate hope i...

One may be thinking of Asian cultures or Muslim cultures when “shame culture” is mentioned. And you would not necessarily be wrong. But, shame is alive and well in our very own culture, no matter our religious affiliation or ethnicity. Whether we are living in our own culture of shame or we encounter others who experience this, one no longer needs to keep up appearances, or hide from their communi...

The Gospel offers us freedom from guilt and from the burden of guilt. In the Gospel, we learn that Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins through His death on the cross. But sometimes, even though we know He has forgiven us, we can still  feel guilty .  In this message, Gray Poehnell will explore not only how the Gospel frees us from our guilt , but also how it can free us from our feelings of gu...

Is there a place for doubt as I journey with Jesus? Am I even allowed to challenge things? If I doubt, does that mean the next logical step is to stop following or believing? Does God’s “silence” during my seasons of doubt mean God is absent. There are so many struggles we have as we seek to hold on to God when it seems He isn’t holding on to us. 

Life is full of seasons—times of joy and ease, and times of struggle and hardship. No matter where we find ourselves on that spectrum, the invitation remains the same:  to fix our eyes on Jesus.  Why is this so important? Because circumstances, whether good or bad, are temporary. They shift and change like the weather, but Jesus remains constant—our rock, our anchor, and our hope.

Our circumstances (marriage problems, illness, death, etc.) are not an indicator of God’s absence. In the story recorded in John 11, we see Jesus actually engineer a situation in life in order to teach someone, something about God.

Jeff Golby will explore the concept of grace and truth as lived realities, asking: What does it mean today that God became human? Are these verses (John 1:14-18) - and the message of Christmas itself- just a historical account, or is it a present-day reality? A reality where we can still encounter the Word made flesh in our midst.

There have been incredible journeys by famous (and not so famous) people over the centuries. Maybe you are familiar with a more recent (1980) one: Terry Fox’s journey across Canada? But nothing has ever changed our world like the journey Jesus made from heaven to Earth. Not just from heaven to earth, but from eternity (without time) to our time, our clocks. From a heavenly being to an Earthly body...

We observe the start of the Advent Season by lighting the first candle on the advent wreath, the candle of Hope.  We live in a world that is in desperate need of hope. But is hope just the feeling that things will turn out for the better? Is it the same as optimism or a positive outlook?    Reflecting on Isaiah 9:1-7, Dwight will share about the special hope we celebrate at Christmas - a hope that...

We conclude our year-long journey exploring what it means to be "Shaped by Jesus" by reflecting on His challenge to be true followers. In Matthew 7, Jesus delivers a thought-provoking and sometimes controversial teaching that invites us to examine what truly defines a follower of Christ. Our goal is to get to the heart of this vital question.

Joy is this inner condition of the heart of Jesus that we take on in our own heart as we are shaped by Jesus. Our relationship to joy isn’t just passive, it’s also active.  Joy isn’t just something we feel; we DO feel it, but joy is something we also choose.  In this message we will look at Paul’s advice for choosing joy in our life from Philippians 4.

The Christian life is often likened to a walk, a journey of faith. We are told, as Christians, to “walk by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7). Our faith journeys can have times of wonderful blessings and other times of confusing struggle. A full understanding of faith is something that enables us to keep walking no matter what life throws at us.

Self-control joins the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Many would agree that self-control is something to be prized in athletic training, but would many agree that self-control is a good thing to have personally? In this message, we will consider self-control from a decidedly Christian worldview and hopefully come to an appreciation for the vitally important role self-control...

The goodness of God is seen throughout scripture and experiencing it on our own lives lead us to praise. He's very generous with His goodness. How can we be people who are generous with our  goodness? Join us as we continue in our Fruit of the Spirit series and listen to stories of goodness from several folks in our community.

Peace is a word packed full of emotion. All of us want peace in our life and all of us struggle to have it. In fact, quite often we find peace elusive.  Not only for us personally, but for our community and for our world. Does scripture have much to say about peace?   Let us take a peek at Scripture and see what we can learn about personal peace and peace in our community.

We live in an impatient world characterized by convenience and immediate gratification. So it’s no surprise that patience is an increasing challenge in real life. But the Fruit of the Spirit reveals the way to cultivating patience. In this message, Gray continues our  “Fruit of the Spirit”  sermon series as he takes a deeper look at patience and how we can go beyond just feeling guilty about it to...

What's the first attribute that comes to mind when describing Jesus? For most of us, it's not gentleness. But when Jesus describes His heart, He says it is "gentle and lowly." This was radical in that day, and it is today as well! Join Andreas as he looks at Jesus' gentleness and how we can are invited to emulate Him in that.