In this message, Pastor Doug tackles one of the most universal struggles in relationships: the gap between what we say and what people actually hear. Using marriage as the primary lens, he makes clear from the start that these principles apply to every relationship in our lives — including our relationship with God.

The heart of the message centers on a simple but convicting truth: Jesus Christ is both the pattern and the power for how we're called to communicate. Drawing from 1 Peter 2–3, Pastor Doug shows that before Peter ever addresses husbands and wives specifically, he points to Jesus — his silence under pressure, his refusal to retaliate, his selflessness — as the model we're all meant to trace.

He walks through six problems that distort how we speak and how we listen:

• Lack of Communication Skills — We react instead of respond. We say "you always" and "you never." We hear questions as accusations. Unskilled listeners fill in the blanks with their worst fears.

• Self-Centeredness — Most communication problems are ego problems. We filter everything through our own needs, form our rebuttals before we've finished listening, and often care more about winning than resolving.

• Bitterness — It's a root, so you don't see it — but you see the fruit. Old wounds become ammunition. We bring up the past to wound rather than heal, and we carry bullets that weren't even loaded for the person in front of us.

• Busyness and Distraction — When we're distracted, conversations become functional instead of relational. Half-listened-to words get misremembered and misapplied. Peace doesn't find you — you have to pursue it.

• Different Temperaments — God put opposites together not to torture us, but so that together we can be complete. Misunderstanding starts when we speak our own language and wonder why they don't understand.

• Insecurity and Fear — The deepest one of all. Fear makes us indirect, suspicious, and impossible to truly know. We perform the version of ourselves we hope is lovable — and in doing so, we make real intimacy impossible.

The closing challenge is simple and memorable: Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:19)

In a world moving faster than ever, it’s becoming harder to tell what’s real, what’s true, and what’s shaping us.

This week’s message dives into the tension between technology, culture, and our spiritual lives—challenging us to recognize how easily we can become “tethered” to things that were never meant to define us.

Through powerful biblical insight from Revelation and Daniel, we’re reminded that while the world may be shifting toward confusion and control, God’s plan is still unfolding—and He is still sovereign. The enemy’s strategy isn’t always force—it’s often subtle, gradual, and deceptive. But no matter what rises in this world, the Lamb has already overcome.

This message calls us to live with awareness, not fear—to examine what we’re connected to, what’s influencing us, and who truly has access to our hearts and minds. Because while the world offers connection, Jesus offers something deeper: true abiding.

When we are fully rooted in Him, there’s no room for anything else to take hold.

AI is replacing jobs faster than most people realize — and not just on the factory floor. White collar workers, doctors, lawyers, educators, coders — the shift is already here.

But before you panic, there's something more important than your career that needs to be settled first: who are you when the machine can do what you do?

In Week 2 of The Hybrid Age, Pastor Doug Bell tackles the identity crisis that's quietly building beneath the surface of our AI-driven world. Drawing from Genesis, the Psalms, and the ancient Hebrew concept of Avoda — where work, worship, and service are one — this message challenges the lie that your worth is tied to your output.

In this message, you'll discover:

• Why 40% of companies plan to replace roles with AI by end of year

• The difference between AI as a tool vs. AI as an agent — and why it matters

• What Scripture has always said about what makes you irreplaceable

• The Avoda Principle and why work was always meant to be worship

• Why the Sabbath is the most countercultural act you can take right now

The machine is coming for your tasks. But it cannot take your soul, your presence, or your purpose.

You were a child of God before you ever sent an email — and you will be one long after the last server is powered down.

We don’t talk about Saturday enough.

The quiet day.

The in-between.

The space where prayers feel unanswered and hope feels buried.

The disciples didn’t know Sunday was coming.

All they could see was loss.

All they could feel was silence.

And maybe that’s where some of us are right now.

Waiting. Wondering. Holding on.

But just because God feels quiet doesn’t mean He’s absent.

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean He isn’t working.

Saturday isn’t the end of the story.

It’s where God does some of His deepest work.

So if you’re in the waiting—hold on.

Keep praying. Keep trusting.

Sunday is coming.

What do you do with a past you can't outrun? In Part IV of This Is My Story, we step into the life of Saul of Tarsus — a man who was passionate, convinced, and completely wrong. His story isn't just ancient history. It's a mirror.

From Acts 7 to Acts 9, we trace how God doesn't disqualify the most unlikely people — He redirects them. Saul didn't just get a second chance. He got a whole new story. And so can you.

In this message, we look at what happens when a real encounter with Jesus doesn't just adjust your life — it overturns it. We'll sit with 1 Timothy 1:15-16, where Paul calls himself the chief of sinners, not out of shame, but out of awe. Because grace doesn't improve a life. It rewrites it.

You don't graduate from grace. You grow deeper in it.

Paul Medlin grew up in church and spent decades running from God.

Between a Pentecostal mother and an atheist father, conflicting religion confused him at 12 years old and pushed him further and further away. What followed were years of chasing adrenaline, building success, breaking his marriage, and waking up angry that he'd woken up at all.

But on a hillside in Athens, Greece — sitting on top of Mars Hill where the Apostle Paul once preached — God asked him a question he couldn't shake:

"Paul... who is your God?"

This is the story of a man who had tried religion over and over again, only to discover that God never wanted his religion in the first place.

He just wanted his heart.

In this powerful testimony, Ashley and Hayden McCormick share their testimony of growing a family and how God's faithfulness got them through such a dark time in their lives.