Sin doesn't start in the field. It starts in the heart — long before anyone gets hurt.

The first story outside the garden isn't just about murder. It's about worship, comparison, and what happens when pride goes unchecked. Pastor Anthony opens Genesis 4 with a 4am knock on his door in Antioch, California — a moment of pure fear that frames the whole message: what do you do when something dangerous is crouching at your door?

Cain and Abel both show up to worship. But one brings his best and one brings some. God's response reveals a truth that cuts both ways — he sees the quiet faithfulness nobody applauds, and he sees when we're just going through the motions. When Cain's offering is rejected, comparison turns to rage, rage finds a door, and the door leads to a field. The progression is the point: sin conceived in worship, tolerated at the altar, opened at the door, acted out in the field.

Jackson and Michael close with a conversation on where sin actually begins — and a big announcement: Jackson is planting a new church on the west side of Bend in January.

Key topics: Heart posture in worship | Comparison as a tool of the enemy | The doorway before the sin | Why hurt people hurt people | "Am I my brother's keeper?" — the biblical answer

Church of the Cascades | Bend, Oregon | Genesis series

Your testimony isn't about what you've done. It's about what God has done in you.

Pastor Dan — who led Church of the Cascades for 40 years — returns to the pulpit with a message built around one idea: his story has to become your history. Drawing from Joshua 4's stones of remembrance, he walks through what it actually means to have a testimony, why hope is more than wishful thinking, and how God uses your hardest seasons to build something you can give away.

Along the way he shares three stories that put the theology on its feet — a pulmonary embolism the doctors called a "widowmaker," a deathbed prayer with a man who woke from a coma to say yes to Jesus, and a young woman who became the first in her Buddhist family to follow Christ. Anthony, Jackson, and Jillian then unpack what it looks like to share your story in everyday life — elevator pitch or no pitch at all — and why asking someone else for their story first is often the most powerful thing you can do.

Key topics: Stones of remembrance | Testimony as God's story in you | Hope built through suffering | Fear vs. the sound mind God gives | Why proximity matters more than polish when sharing your faith

Church of the Cascades | Bend, Oregon

What happens when we decide we know better than God?

Pastor Michael opens Genesis 3 not as an academic exercise, but as a mirror — because the same question Satan asked Eve in the garden ("Did God really say?") is the same question we wrestle with every day. In this week's Cascades Conversation, Anthony, Jackson, and Michael unpack the fall of man and trace it straight into modern life: the doubt, the shame, the hiding, and the rescue plan God had in place before we even knew we needed it.

From Michael's own story of looking for belonging in the wrong places, to the slow work of sanctification, to why obedience starts with love and not performance — this is a conversation about the gap between who we are and who God made us to be, and what it looks like to close it.

Key topics: The serpent's tactic of doubt | Shame and hiding from God | Why sin separates us from relationship, not just blessing | Sanctification as direction, not perfection | Communion and God's rescue plan through Jesus

Church of the Cascades | Bend, Oregon

This week, the series through Book of Genesis continues with a closer look at Genesis 2 and the deeper meaning behind creation, purpose, work, relationships, and humanity’s connection with God.

The conversation unpacks the difference between simply existing and truly living with intention, while exploring why God designed people for relationship—not isolation. From the Garden to everyday life, this episode highlights how the foundations laid in Genesis still shape the way we live, work, love, and pursue God today.

Simple on the surface, but packed with depth, Genesis 2 reminds us that God’s design for our lives was always meant to be personal.

In this episode, we kick off a brand-new series through Book of Genesis—the book of beginnings.

From creation and humanity to purpose, failure, faith, and God’s plan unfolding from the very start, this series explores the foundational stories that shape the entire Bible. The team unpacks why Genesis still matters today and how these ancient moments continue to speak directly into everyday life, identity, relationships, and faith.

Whether you’ve read Genesis a hundred times or barely know where to start, this conversation lays the groundwork for a series that’s all about understanding where it all began—and what that means for us now.

This special Mother’s Day episode features multiple women from our church sharing honest stories, encouragement, wisdom, and the different ways God has moved through their lives and seasons of motherhood.

From laughter to vulnerable moments, this conversation highlights the strength, faith, sacrifice, and impact that women carry every single day—often in ways that go unseen. Whether you’re a mom, have a mom, miss a mom, or are simply navigating a difficult season, this episode is filled with real conversations meant to encourage and remind you that God works powerfully through ordinary people willing to trust Him.

In the final part of the “EMPTY” series, the conversation turns to one of the biggest battles most people face quietly—the mind.

This episode digs into mental exhaustion, negative thought patterns, stress, anxiety, and the everyday struggle of trying to stay healthy mentally in a world that constantly pulls your attention in a hundred directions. The team talks honestly about what Scripture says about renewing your mind, taking thoughts captive, and learning how to recognize the difference between truth and the lies that slowly drain you.

Real, practical, and deeply personal, this conversation is about more than positive thinking—it’s about learning how to let God reshape the way you think so you don’t keep living empty.

In Week 3 of our Empty series, Pastor Jackson walks us through one of the most overlooked gauges in our lives: our physical health. It's easy to ignore the warning lights and just turn the music up louder — but your body isn't just a vehicle for getting through the day. It's the vehicle God gave you to live out your calling.

This week we're diving into 1 Corinthians 6 and Galatians 6 to explore what Scripture says about caring for the body, breaking free from habits that hold us back, and why your physical gauge affects everything else — your relationships, your mental health, and your spiritual life.

Plus, Michael shares a powerful personal story about a wake-up call that changed his trajectory — and why the decisions you make today are writing the story of where you'll be five years from now.

Whether your physical gauge is running on empty or you're just looking for that one next step, this episode will challenge and encourage you to move forward.

Series: Empty — Checking the RPMs of Your Life (Relational · Physical · Mental · Spiritual)📖 Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6 | Galatians 6🎙️ Speaker: Pastor Jackson

New to Church of the Cascades? We're a community rooted in Jesus, based in the Pacific Northwest. Join us every week as we dig into what it looks like to follow God in real, everyday life.

This week, the conversation shifts to something most people don’t think about until it’s already off track—your relational gauge.

Building off the “EMPTY” series, this episode dives into why real growth doesn’t happen in isolation and why the relationships around you matter more than you think. Looking at moments from Genesis, Mark, Proverbs, and John, the team unpacks how even Jesus built a circle—not just a crowd—and what that means for how we live today.

From the difficulty of real change without accountability, to the slow drift into isolation that most people don’t even notice happening, this conversation gets honest about the kind of relationships that actually shape your life.

Because the truth is—no one drifts into healthy, life-giving relationships… but drifting into isolation? That happens real easy.

In this episode of the Church of the Cascades podcast, the team keeps the conversation going from Sunday’s message, diving into what it actually looks like to stay spiritually hungry in everyday life. From morning routines and favorite quiet places to real talk about drifting, burnout, and rebuilding that hunger, this one feels more like sitting in on an honest conversation than a polished production.

They also unpack the tension between conviction and shame, share personal seasons of feeling empty (and what pulled them out), and talk through the challenge of keeping your spiritual, mental, physical, and relational “gauges” healthy.

It’s real, it’s a little chaotic, and it’s exactly the kind of conversation that doesn’t end when church does.