You need a band of brothers (or sisters) 

That's what many felt at as hundreds gathered at the Men's and Women's Nights this week. This was powerful and special moment, but the question is what do we do with it? 

In this bonus podcast episode Nolan recaps the night, acknowledges what many of us are feeling, and then challenges us with what to do with the fire we're feeling from the night. 

***Small correction of technical theological language from Nolan: “I slipped in using around the Trinity. I meant ‘the three persons of the one Godhead.’ Timestamp 19:49-50

Relevant links:

YOUTUBE EPISODES
YouTube Episode: "Apologetics For Your Kids" (Monday)

YouTube Episode "Most Christians Can't Explain What They Believe" (Thursday)


FIND YOUR PEOPLE
Find a Group

Exploring Community event to find a group

Find a Team


LEAD PEOPLE
Group Leader's Interest Party (8/21)

Apply to Lead a Group

Apply to Lead a Men's or Women's Group

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

📖 What does it actually take to change a city?

In Acts 17, Paul and his team enter Thessalonica and Berea with one unchanging message, Jesus is the Christ. But they don’t move thoughtlessly. They reason, persuade, give evidence, endure opposition, search the Scriptures, and courageously proclaim another King, Jesus.

In this message, we look at five things it takes to win cities: strategy, money, bravery, theology, and ultimately, Calvary.

🏙️ Strategy: Paul understood where God had positioned him and intentionally brought the gospel into influential places. You don’t need a microphone to make an impact. God has already positioned Christians in homes, businesses, schools, firehouses, neighborhoods, and communities.

💰 Money: The gospel has always advanced through ordinary people strategically leveraging their resources for God’s Kingdom. From the prominent women who supported Jesus’ ministry to Christians who funded and distributed Bible translations, generosity gives the gospel wings.

🔥 Bravery: When the gospel advances, opposition often follows. Paul and Silas were accused of turning the world upside down because they proclaimed that there is another King, Jesus. Christians don’t retreat when resistance comes. We courageously continue the mission.

🧠 Theology: The Bereans didn’t blindly accept Paul’s teaching. They eagerly examined the Scriptures daily to see whether what he said was true. Christianity doesn’t require you to turn off your brain. Skeptics are invited to investigate, Christians are commanded to know what they believe, and every idea should survive biblical scrutiny.

✝️ Calvary: At the center of Paul’s argument was one shocking truth, “it was necessary for the Christ to suffer.” We couldn’t have the King without the cross. At Calvary, God’s justice against sin and His mercy toward sinners meet. Jesus suffered, died, and rose again so that God could remain perfectly just while justifying everyone who places their faith in Christ.

Whether you’re a business owner, firefighter, parent, student, employee, skeptic, or ministry leader, God has strategically positioned you somewhere.

Your first city might be your house. Your mission field might be your workplace. Your opportunity might be sitting across the dinner table. You don’t need a platform to move a city. You need to recognize where God has already positioned you.

Cities change when changed people strategically live where God has placed them.

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

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YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
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🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
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Spotify: Listen Here

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

⛓️ Your chains don’t stand a chance against King Jesus.

Acts 16 is a collision between bondage and freedom. A demonized girl is delivered. A corrupt business model collapses. Prison doors shake open. A suicidal jailer finds salvation. An entire household is transformed. And through it all, Jesus proves there is no spiritual force, cultural system, family pattern, or prison strong enough to resist His authority.

This message is for anyone who feels trapped, stuck, haunted, or convinced they’ll never change. Jesus doesn’t merely manage your chains, He breaks them.

🔥 He reigns over the spiritual realm, your work, your freedom, your family, and your home.

Freedom is closer than you think.

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

🔥 God is moving in the West Valley. The question is whether you’ll recognize it before you miss it.

In Acts 16, God closes doors, redirects Paul’s mission, prepares unlikely soil, and opens the heart of a woman named Lydia. What begins at a quiet riverside becomes the first church on European soil and a launching point for the gospel across an entire continent.

This message reveals five signs of a genuine move of God: He directs the mission, prepares the soil, opens hearts, transforms lives, and expands His territory.

God is still moving in unlikely places, opening impossible hearts, and inviting ordinary people to offer their homes, resources, and obedience.

⚡ Don’t watch from the sidelines. Are you in or are you out?

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here

🤝STOP BEGGING FOR VOLUNTEERS
🔥SCALE WITHOUT LOSING CULTURE
😅WHY YOUR KIDS MINISTRY IS LIMITING GROWTH
🪖HIGH STANDARDS ACTUALLY WORK

Rocky High stepped into a kids ministry that was turning families away every weekend—not because they lacked space, but because they lacked volunteers and healthy systems.

Today, their church serves approximately 1,200 kids with a team of around 500 volunteers.

In this conversation, Rocky explains why recruiting from the stage often fails, why he released 30 volunteers while desperately needing more help, how they make every child feel known by name, and how clear expectations can actually attract stronger leaders.

Whether you lead kids ministry, students, volunteers, operations, or an entire church, this conversation is a master class in building teams, protecting culture, and scaling ministry without losing what matters most.

JOIN US FOR THE NEXT EVENT:

https://vision-arizona-473523.churchcenter.com/registrations/signups/3730345

PLANT WITH US! 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.visionarizona.com/&ved=2ahUKEwjXlJ7w9viVAxXELkQIHRAeNzMQFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2i1Tv6ijpz7NYfS4ULk_Rc

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

We all face huge decisions. The same questions arise: Are we making the right decision? Are we building our lives the right way? Even people who are unsure about God still long for guidance. So where do you turn when the biggest decisions of your life feel beyond you?

Through Paul’s second missionary journey in Acts 16, this message unpacks eight practical principles for hearing the Holy Spirit. Don’t drift into empty functional atheism or vague and demonic spirituality. Instead, learn who the Holy Spirit is, how He guides, and what to do when He seems silent. Acts 16 offers deep theology that will give you confidence to move forward.

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

🤡 We live in a clown world—but Jesus is calling serious disciples.

Our culture is great at entertainment, outrage, and distraction, but starving for truth, holiness, and purpose. In Acts 15–16, we get a behind-the-scenes look at how the early church didn’t build shallow followers—they built mature disciples through God’s Word, high standards, sacrificial leadership, and costly disciple-making.

This message challenges the casual Christianity that dominates our culture and calls us into something deeper. Following Jesus isn’t about taking yourself seriously—it’s about taking Him seriously. Salvation is free, but being sent comes with a cost.

⚔️ Stop settling for comfortable Christianity. Step into the serious, joyful mission of making disciples who change the world.

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

🔥 It’s easy to tear things down. It’s much harder to build something that lasts.

In Acts 15, the early church faces one of its greatest theological crises. The solution isn’t compromise, tradition, or opinion—it is the Word of God. As barriers fall, Jesus isn’t dismantling His people; He’s rebuilding His Kingdom, bringing Jews and Gentiles together through grace alone.

This message is a call to stop merely deconstructing and start building. Whether you’re called to lead, disciple, serve, encourage, host, pray, or go, God is inviting you to join what He is building in the West Valley and beyond.

🌅 After darkness comes light. The question isn’t whether God is building His Kingdom. The question is: Will you help build it with Him?

***Note from Pastor Nolan:
"I misspoke at 35:57 using a reference to the metaphorical concept of a "thin space" between heaven and earth in the Old Testament. There is no such thing as a thin space in the Bible. This is actual a pagan concept. My point was to use a word picture for what it would look like if "Heaven broke in" metaphorically speaking. I still think it's a beautiful analogy but need to clarify it's not a reality.  I need to clarify there are no thin spaces biblically."

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

🔥 What would you be willing to die for?

William Tyndale gave his life so ordinary people could read one life-changing truth for themselves: we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. In Acts 15, that same gospel comes under attack as some insisted Jesus wasn’t enough—that salvation required something more. But the apostles refused to compromise, because adding anything to Christ doesn’t improve the gospel… it destroys it.

This message unpacks one of the most important doctrines in Christianity: justification by faith alone. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’ve done enough, been good enough, or cleaned yourself up enough for God, this message is for you.

✝️ Jesus + anything = no gospel. Jesus alone is enough. Receive His grace, lay down your burden, and walk in the freedom He purchased for you.

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here

🌱🗺️🌵Take Ground: Pray with us and consider giving toward what God is building.

Give here 👉 https://thegardenaz.churchcenter.com/giving

The battle isn’t just against people. It’s against a spiritual resistance that has opposed Jesus from the very beginning.

In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas face rejection, false worship, persecution, and violence, yet the gospel keeps advancing. Why? Because the same spirit that rejects Christ recruits others, magnifies people instead of God, and swings from idolizing leaders to tearing them down. But God’s mission cannot be stopped.

This message exposes the spiritual forces behind opposition, challenges us to raise bold—not merely safe—disciples, and reminds us that the church exists to make, mature, and multiply followers of Jesus. Don’t build your faith on personalities. Build it on Christ.

⚔️ The world may reject Jesus, but the Church must keep proclaiming Him with courage.

🌎 Learn More: www.thegardenaz.com
🕒 Sundays at 8:00 AM | 9:30 AM | 11:00 AM 

📲 Stay Connected:
Instagram: @thegardenaz

YouTube: @TheGardenChurchAZ
Facebook: The Garden Church

🎙️ Skeptics & Saints Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here
 

📖 The Garden Church Sermon Podcast –
Apple: Listen Here
Spotify: Listen Here