The Locker Room

This episode is the first in a new series titled “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…”, where we celebrate organic stories of God’s Kingdom breaking out through the ordinary and mundane parts of life. This story is about how an Advent Bible study started with a simple nudge from God—and turned into something way bigger than expected.

Back in 2024, Maddy felt prompted to gather a few people to walk through Advent together. It was meaningful, life-giving, and didn’t feel finished. Then, months later on a summer run, the idea came back. Melinda would write a new Advent study, and Maddy would handle the logistics—sign-ups, groups, meeting spots, and making the whole thing actually happen.

Now there are 56 people, five small groups, a kickoff night, weeks of shared Scripture, a caroling and worship night, and one final gathering to close it all out.

This conversation is about small beginnings, shared leadership, and how God builds community through ordinary obedience. The Kingdom of Heaven is like… people saying yes and showing up together.

In this series of 3 special year-end episodes, we celebrate the stories of God’s faithfulness across three ministries that embody our core values.

Worship: Visible Church, a new church plant led by former Young Adults Pastor Gabe Hartfield, pursuing a community wholeheartedly centered on Jesus.

Community: Living Waters Ministry, walking intentionally with men coming out of incarceration through housing, employment support, discipleship, and true belonging.

Mission: Amiina Ministries in Uganda, where Kevin and Marcy Smith are restoring hope, rebuilding lives, and raising up a generation to break cycles of poverty and strengthen families.

As we reflect on how God has worked this year, we invite you to prayerfully consider partnering through year-end giving so these ministries can continue to flourish.

⁠⁠GIVE HERE

In this series of 3 special year-end episodes, we celebrate the stories of God’s faithfulness across three ministries that embody our core values.

Worship: Visible Church, a new church plant led by former Young Adults Pastor Gabe Hartfield, pursuing a community wholeheartedly centered on Jesus.

Community: Living Waters Ministry, walking intentionally with men coming out of incarceration through housing, employment support, discipleship, and true belonging.

Mission: Amiina Ministries in Uganda, where Kevin and Marcy Smith are restoring hope, rebuilding lives, and raising up a generation to break cycles of poverty and strengthen families.

As we reflect on how God has worked this year, we invite you to prayerfully consider partnering through year-end giving so these ministries can continue to flourish.

⁠GIVE HERE

In this episode, we look at Acts 12 and the two essential dispositions that make prayer powerful: “I have need, and I am dependent,” and “God, You are powerful and the only One who can change this reality.” As Peter sits chained in a prison cell and the church gathers to pray through the night, we see a picture of prayer that is both deeply humble and boldly expectant—people admitting their helplessness while trusting completely in God’s ability to break chains, open doors, and rewrite what seems impossible. But even when God answers, they're response is refreshingly human. This story invites us to recover a posture of prayer that is desperate, confident, and alive to God’s surprising interventions.

Preacher: Rod VanSolkema

Text: Acts 13

Sermon Link: ⁠HERE

In this series of 3 special year-end episodes, we celebrate the stories of God’s faithfulness across three ministries that embody our core values.

Worship: Visible Church, a new church plant led by former Young Adults Pastor Gabe Hartfield, pursuing a community wholeheartedly centered on Jesus.

Community: Living Waters Ministry, walking intentionally with men coming out of incarceration through housing, employment support, discipleship, and true belonging.

Mission: Amiina Ministries in Uganda, where Kevin and Marcy Smith are restoring hope, rebuilding lives, and raising up a generation to break cycles of poverty and strengthen families.

As we reflect on how God has worked this year, we invite you to prayerfully consider partnering through year-end giving so these ministries can continue to flourish.

GIVE HERE

In this Advent episode, we sit down with pastor and author A.J. Sherrill to explore his reflections on Zechariah from Rediscovering Christmas. Together we talk about how Zechariah’s long season of waiting, disappointment, and unexpected silence reveals the often hidden ways God forms us. A.J. shares why God’s delays aren’t denials, how silence can become a gift rather than a punishment, and what it means to rediscover hope when prayers seem unanswered. Many of us have lived in the tension between faith and frustration, and this conversation will invite you to slow down, listen deeply, and receive Advent as a season of quiet transformation.

Preacher: AJ Sherrill

Text: Luke 1

Sermon Link: HERE

God created us with desires—good and life-giving longings meant to draw us closer to Him and to one another. But when those desires are mishandled in marriage, they can quietly turn into demands that lead to disappointment and disconnection.

In this episode, Matt and Renee explore how our desires can become a place where God does His refining work. They share how to bring those longings to Him first, communicate them with humility, invite His perspective when disappointment surfaces, and allow God’s grace to transform both our hearts and our marriage.

This is a conversation about surrendering control, rediscovering gratitude, and letting God reshape our hearts so that our desires lead to connection, not division—drawing us closer to Him and to each other.

Discussion Questions:

1. When you hear the words desires and demands, what comes to mind in the context of your marriage?
2. What are some desires you brought into marriage that have changed or deepened over time?
3. What do you notice about yourself when a desire starts to become a demand?
4. In your relationship, which expectations tend to cause the most friction or misunderstanding?
5. What helps you reorient your heart toward gratitude and grace instead of resentment or entitlement?
6. Where might God be inviting you to release control and trust Him with a longing that hasn’t been fulfilled yet?

In this episode, we sit down with a local Calvin College football coach Lamar Bell whose journey—from discipling athletes on campus to serving kids at Crossroads —embodies the very heart of ongoing conversion. Using Acts 10 as our backdrop, we explore how true conversion is more than moral improvement or theological precision; it is spiritual rebirth where God’s kingdom breaks into everyday life. Through the stories of Saul, Cornelius, and Peter, we see how God transforms the religious, the powerful, and even seasoned leaders with lingering blind spots. Our conversation with the coach shows how this same transforming work continues today—in locker rooms, in children’s ministry, and across diverse communities.

Preacher: Rod VanSolekma

Text: Acts 10-11

Sermon Link: HERE

Grief touches every part of life — our hearts, our relationships, and the way we show up to one another. In this episode, Gary and Kathy Stowie share the story of a profound loss and how it shaped them individually and as a family. We’re also joined by Nancy Kingma, a counselor who walks with individuals and families through grief and trauma, offering insight into how couples can remain connected with compassion, patience, and grace. This tender conversation invites us to slow down, honor the weight of loss, and remember that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted.

Discussion Questions:

1. What stood out to you from Gary and Kathy’s story or from Nancy’s insights?
2. How has grief touched your life or the life of those close to you?
3. When you are hurting, how do you feel most cared for?
4. What might it look like to simply be with someone in their grief rather than trying to fix it?How can we become more comfortable creating space for grief—in our marriages, friendships, and church family?
5. Who in your life might be carrying grief quietly?
6. For those currently experiencing grief, what has been challenging and what has helped? Where have you sensed God meeting you?

In Acts 9, Saul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus marks one of the most dramatic transformations in all of Scripture — but it’s more than a story of conversion; it’s a story of being undone and remade. We explore how true conversion always begins with a personal encounter with God that shatters pride, exposes sin, and births new life.

We’ll trace Saul’s journey from zealous persecutor to humbled apostle, unpacking how his blindness became a symbol of spiritual death and resurrection, and how God’s grace pursued him even in rebellion. This conversation invites you to reflect on your own story of transformation — to ask where God may be confronting, humbling, or restoring you.

Preacher: Rod VanSolkema

Passage: Acts 9

Sermon Link:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠