Listen to the July 5, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

"We're going on a bear hunt. We're not scared." If you've ever read that book to a kid, you remember the refrain — every obstacle met with the same answer: can't go over it, can't go under it, gotta go through it. This message takes that simple childhood story and pairs it with the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians, written while he was chained eighteen inches from a Roman soldier, waiting two years for a trial that could end in his execution. Somehow, from that circumstance, Paul wrote one of the most joy-filled letters in the New Testament. This message unpacks how he did it — by asking three questions in the gap between what happens to us and how we respond: where is my focus, what is my identity, and who are my people. Whether you're in a season of grief, uncertainty, or just trying to find your footing, this one offers a real, practical way through.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the June 28, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

The average visitor to the Grand Canyon makes two stops and stays for a total of 20 minutes. They look over the edge, say "that's cool," take a picture, and drive away. John spent four days on the Colorado River and hiked nine miles — one vertical mile — out of the canyon. The difference between those two experiences, it turns out, is a pretty good picture of the difference between a life of faith that stays at the surface and one that goes deep. Drawing from his whitewater rafting and hiking adventures, this message offers ten lessons that map onto the spiritual life in ways that are honest, practical, and at times quietly convicting — from packing lightly and replenishing yourself along the way, to being gentle with fellow travelers who are carrying heavier loads than they appear, to the simple invitation to stop standing at the rim and actually join the adventure.

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Listen to the June 21, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

A four-year-old boy once grabbed the wrong man's pants leg in a crowded room, confident he was holding onto his dad — until he looked up and realized his mistake. This Father's Day message starts there and asks a deeper question: where did your picture of God the Father actually come from? For most of us, it's tangled up with our picture of our earthly father — good, absent, complicated, or somewhere in between. Using Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, this message paints a strikingly different picture: a father who lets his son walk away, who never stops watching the horizon, and who runs — undignified, ankles showing, completely unconcerned with what the neighbors think — the moment his son turns toward home. Whether your relationship with your own father is a source of comfort or something you're still working through, this message offers an honest, gentle invitation to consider what it means to be held by a Father who never gives up.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the June 14, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

In March 1965, a group of voting rights marchers tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and were met with horses and bullwhips. The nation watched it happen on the evening news. Within days, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put out a call for help — and a classroom full of seminary students in Boston had to decide whether to answer it.

One of them was a second-year student from South Dakota named Kent Millard.

He boarded an overnight bus to Selma not knowing if he'd come home. He marched to the courthouse steps, surrounded by hecklers and state troopers, paired up with a woman from Selma who looked at his face and said, "You march with me and you'll be alright." And then, before they marched, a pastor asked everyone to bow their heads — and pray for the people across the street who wanted to hurt them.

Twenty-five years later, Rev. Dr. Kent Millard told that story to a room full of Alabama pastors. Afterward, a man came up to him in tears. He had been one of the highway patrolmen that day. And he wanted to explain what had happened to him since.

This Sunday's message, preached at Zionsville UMC during Pastor Dave's sabbatical, is Rev. Millard's firsthand account of what it actually looks like to take Jesus seriously when he says to love your enemies and pray for those who are against you — not as a nice idea, but as the only thing that has ever truly changed a hardened heart. In a country that often feels just as divided now as it did then, this one is worth sitting with.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the June 7, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

A volunteer stopped at Starbucks on her way to VBS and sparked a conversation about faith that was still going when she left. A little girl went home and told her mom they thanked God every day for Cheez-Its. These are the kinds of stories that come out of a week like this one. This Sunday's message recaps Rainforest Falls VBS at Zionsville UMC — not just the highlights, but the heart behind why we do it in the first place. Because faith in kids doesn't work like a light switch. For some it's an alarm clock, one moment of sudden clarity. For others it's a sunrise, slow and steady and just as real. Either way, what children need most are caring adults who show up, share their own stories, and create space for questions. Oh — and the kids raised $4,300 for Mission Guatemala. Not bad for a week's work.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the May 31, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

A man once called his worship pastor not to complain about the music — which apparently does happen — but to ask for a recommendation for a voice teacher. Not because he wanted to join the choir. Because he wanted to become a better worshiper. That story opens a message that takes a serious and surprisingly practical look at what worship actually is, why it matters, and what gets in the way. Drawing from the book of Revelation's glimpses of worship in heaven, this message walks through what it looks like to worship with focus, with passion, and with the kind of generosity toward others that sets aside personal preference for the sake of something bigger. Whether you've been going through the motions on Sunday mornings or genuinely want to go deeper, this one gives you something concrete to work with.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the May 24, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

Almost everyone knows the story of Jonah and the whale. Fewer people know how the book actually ends. It ends with God asking a question — one the author never answers. And that, it turns out, is entirely the point. Youth Director Zach Cheeseman walks through the complete book of Jonah, from the cowardly prophet running to Spain to the pagan sailors who showed more faith than the man of God, to a city of enemies who repented in sackcloth — cattle included — to Jonah sitting outside the city, furious that God was too merciful to do what Jonah wanted. What emerges isn't a tidy lesson about second chances. It's a layered, surprising story about loving your enemies, the danger of having your faith all figured out, and why the questions we're embarrassed to ask might be exactly where God meets us.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the May 10, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

There's a moment in nearly every hard season of life when you realize you can't get through it alone. This week's message weaves together two stories — the biblical account of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth during two impossible pregnancies, and a personal story of a grandmother who dropped everything and moved across the country to care for a family facing terminal illness. What emerges is a conversation about the kind of relationships that actually carry us: the ones that show up without being asked, that remind us of God's faithfulness when we've lost sight of it ourselves, and that speak into our lives from a place of hard-won wisdom. If you're in a season where you're running low and need to be reminded that you're not alone, this one is for you.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the May 3, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

There's something worth paying attention to when teenagers stand up in front of a congregation and talk honestly about feeling disconnected from their faith. This week's message was delivered entirely by five high school students for Youth Sunday, and it might be one of the most grounded takes on Matthew 6 you'll hear. They're not pretending they have it figured out. One of them admits she sometimes can't remember the last time she prayed. Another wrestles with a question his dad was once asked by a man in Haiti — a man with far less than most of us, who somehow had more trust. The message moves through worry, busyness, hope, and what it looks like to believe that God provides — not because life is easy, but because God is present in it anyway. Whatever stage of life you're in, this one is worth your time.

https://www.zumc.org/sermons

Listen to the April 26, 2026 Sunday worship service from Zionsville United Methodist Church in Zionsville, IN.

Most of us don't stop until we have no choice. We push through, we give more, we tell ourselves the right moment to rest is just around the corner. And then one day we end up under the broom tree — exhausted, depleted, and wondering what went wrong. This message draws on one of the Bible's most surprisingly human stories: the prophet Elijah, who pulled off one of the greatest spiritual victories in the Old Testament and then immediately fell apart. God's response wasn't a pep talk or a to-do list. It was a meal, a nap, and a still small voice. Using Elijah's story as a backdrop for a pastoral sabbatical sendoff, this message asks a question worth sitting with — are you living an obedient, listening life, or an absurd, noisy one? And what would it actually take to slow down enough to hear God again?

https://www.zumc.org/sermons