The Door to Something New As we approach a new year, we're faced with so many new opportunities. But it seems each one of us has something holding us back. Past mistakes, failures, heartbreak, pain, loss, grief and more can keep us from stepping into what God has for us next. But Jesus came to bring freedom from all of these things. Jesus came to b…

Home for Christmas Each Christmas Eve we remember and celebrate that Jesus left his home in heaven. Jesus came to earth as a child to bring hope, love, joy and peace. He came to provide a way for every single person to return to their true home. Today, we remember that Jesus is standing at the door, waiting to welcome us home for Christmas. gingham…

The Innkeeper's Door Everyone is on a journey, and whether we like it or not, we will all face difficulties along the way. Mary and Joseph were just like us. They made a long and difficult journey to Bethlehem and when they arrived there was no room for them to stay, and nowhere for Mary to have her baby. They needed help. They needed to be welcome…

The Temple Door We spend a lot of time waiting: traffic, drive-thru, checkout, the doctor, and customer service. We also wait for more important things too - test results, grades, and promises to be fulfilled. In the Christmas story we meet two people who had been waiting for decades to become parents, with no answer. They had given up hope, but th…

Herod's Door During the Christmas season many things show up at our doors: deliveries, Christmas carolers and other visitors. Jesus showed up in many people's lives from the time he was born. Some people were even threatened by Jesus and how they responded shows a lot about who they really were. As we look at Jesus' visits in scripture, we'll be fa…

The Banquet Door This first week of Advent we're opening the first door of Christmas together: the Banquet Door. Jesus told many stories and made many promises, including that he would return one day. Jesus told his disciples no one would know the day or the time he would return, but they needed to be ready. Jesus' words still hold true for us toda…

Encountering God Around the Table Thanksgiving has become synonymous with two socially acceptable practices: gluttony and greed. We eat (and eat, and eat) and shop. Then we pause for a moment and then repeat these steps. But as we stop and examine our hearts and thoughts around Thanksgiving, we'll see that God has given us an incredible opportunity…

Most Important Our society is built on a "me first" attitude. We focus our attention on our own health and happiness. We want our priorities to be ahead of everyone else's. Life is all about ourselves. If it's not, we grumble, we argue, and we fight against it until we get back to making it all about ourselves. But as we examine the life of Jesus, …

Racing Through Life Every person is given a certain amount of time on earth. God alone knows the number of days and years of someone's life. But each one of us has the ability to choose what we do with the time we have been given. The way we choose to spend our time, and in turn our lives, speaks to what we honor and value most. ginghamsburg.org…

You Can't Out Give God Most items we purchase have a guaranteed weight. Breakfast cereals, canned vegetables, fresh fruit, and even toothpaste are sold by their weight. But centuries ago, it used to be the opposite. Items like grain were bought and sold by volume, determined by the basket or container. Usually the seller would make sure the buyer r…

Developing a Financial Plan God's plan involves putting God first, saving and investing for the future, and then living off the rest. It takes hard work. It takes faith and trust - but ultimately God is faithful and we can trust that God will provide for us. This week shows us how God's plan will help us in the short term but also for the rest of o…

"Agency" is the buzzword for this episode. What is artistic or creative agency? How do we keep good boundaries that prevent us from handing agency over without realizing it? When we let the machine to the art, is it still art? In this episode Dan, John and Jason talk about practical ways to use AI to enhance artistic agency and ask BIG questions fo…

This week, as we gather as one church family, we're going to worship together, honor those who serve here at Ginghamsburg, and look ahead to what God’S next for Ginghamsburg. God's got great things planned, but it's up to us to step up, join the movement, and see how we can help. ginghamsburg.orgOleh Ginghamsburg Church

Dan and John welcome A.I. early adapter Jason Moore to the conversation. Jason has several decades of experience helping the Church overcome her fears of new technology by utilizing a healthy ethical framework rooted in creative agency. For anyone looking for practical handholds on how A.I. can enhance ministry – and how to recognize the threat – t…

Order Your Desires The last commandment says “Do not covet.” But what does that mean? We don't use this word regularly, but we all do it. We want what other people have - more money, better job, nicer car, bigger home. These desires can lead to negative attitudes and move us away from God. But we see that coveting is at the heart of all the command…

The Truth About Lying We've been taught to always tell the truth. But if we're honest, we don't always do that. We use our words to lie, gossip, slander, and tear people down. Our words have power to build up or to destroy. Jesus modeled a better way. He always spoke the truth in love. Jesus never belittled or demonized anyone. He modeled it for us…

Dan and John continue their conversation with Emily Schulte and Chris Wingfield, producers of Ginghamsburg Church's new Christmas EP "Home for Christmas." This episode peeks behind the curtain and answers big questions about creativity and what it takes to overcome low confidence in pursuit of big ideas.…

Dan Bracken and John Whirledge are back to asking all the right questions. To kick off season two, Dan and John sit down for a conversation with Chris Wingfield and Emily Schulte. Chris and Emily are the frontrunners of the Ginghamsburg Church worship team, and have produced a four-song Christmas EP with two original songs, and two more well-known …

Respect Other's Property As humans, we love the idea of getting something for nothing, whether it's a gift, a surprise, or we choose to take it. The eighth commandment says "do not steal." This seems very clear, but if we dig deeper, we may find we all steal far too often. But there is hope, grace, and a chance to make things right. Jesus shows us …

Sex is everywhere - movies, television, social media, ads, and video games just to name a few, are filled with sexual content. So in a world so saturated with sex, how can we live differently? As we dive into the seventh commandment and the teachings of Jesus, we'll find an even deeper meaning to our sexuality and how we can live in a God-honoring …

Human life is precious. Each person is created in God's image and is valuable. We would never think of intentionally taking someone's life. This is why Jesus' different take on the power words, emotions, and thoughts have can be seen as a shock. This week we'll see how our words carry the power of life and death, encouraging us to use them to honor…

Honor Your Parents Each one of us has parents. Whether we have a great relationship with them or one that's not the best, we still need to honor and respect them. When we honor and respect those closest to us, those actions model a different way to the world. Jesus showed what this looks like, so we need to follow his example as well. Even when it'…

Remember the Sabbath Culture today demands that we’re available 24/7. It seems like we have to answer every call, text, or DM that comes our way. We've become slaves to our phones, schedules and busyness. As we've seen throughout the past three weeks, God has a better way. God gave us an incredible gift of rest, recovery and refreshment - a sabbath…

What's in a Name? Everyone needs hope and looks for it in different people, places and things. But hope can also be found in a name. The name of God has always been a source of hope, peace, safety, meaning and purpose. God's name matters. The world has devalued God's name, but as Christ followers we must choose to honor the name of the Lord in all …

Refuse to Reduce God In the twenty-first century, it feels like the world has become smaller. As our knowledge grows, we often lose sight of who brought it all into existence. As Jesus followers, we must refuse to reduce God and instead choose each day to acknowledge the Lord's place and role in everything. When we do this, we will see God clearer …

Honor God As God First revealed thousands of years ago, The Ten Commandments continue to be the building blocks for a good life. This week we start with number one: Honor God as God. So many things in life try to steal our attention, and steer us away from focusing on God first. When we make God our number one priority and give our attention to the…

Answering God's Call The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we realize that there is a constant call on our lives. It's a call to love everyone. It's a call to serve. It's a call to think higher of other people than we do of ourselves. Those things feel impossible - but again with God they're not. When we surround ourselves with the right…

Open Doors In Unexpected Places One way God moves and works in our lives is to provide opportunities wherever we look. Sometimes these doors open up in the most unexpected places. It may not be an opportunity we're expecting, but God has placed it in our path. As we step through these doors in faith and obedience, God will move in incredible ways a…

Many people are constantly running. Some run for pleasure and exercise, but many run from place to place, meeting to meeting, event to event, without slowing down or stopping. Some people are running so ragged, they want to give up altogether. As we look to the words of encouragement from the Bible, we'll see that we're surrounded by voices cheerin…

The tragic events of July 13 are resonating throughout the United States and around the world. There are so many questions about where we should turn and what we should do. But the answer is simple - we need to look to Jesus. Jesus models the life of a peacemaker and calls each of us to be peacemakers. So how do we respond to tragic and unsettling …

There's so much talk and focus on our physical health and beauty in our culture, but the church has shied away from it. Does God really care what we eat? The answer is yes, because God cares about the way we live and the way we take care of ourselves. This week we'll see what God says and learn how to honor God with what we eat and how we live. gin…

Our fast-paced, instant-gratification culture has changed almost everything about how we live - including our prayers. We expect an instant answer from God. We also expect an answer that's exactly what we want. God doesn't operate that way. God is much more focused on having a relationship with us. As we look at one of Jesus' teachings, we'll see t…

How often have you heard the question, “How are you?” only to hear the reply, "I'm busy." It seems that we all wear our busyness as a badge of honor - trying to be more productive and keep up with all of our family activities. We don't use our time off. We try to do more and more. But what if there's a simpler way and a better way? This week we loo…

Our world is more connected than ever, but personally we've never felt more isolated and alone. Health professionals have noticed and have declared we are living in an epidemic of loneliness. So what do we do? Where do we turn? The answer might surprise us. This week looks at how Jesus saw everyone, helped them in their time of greatest need and mo…

We don't like to admit it, but everyone is searching for something. So what is the best way to help someone in their search? How can we help them find the answer? This week we meet a man named Andrew. He was searching for something, found the answer in Jesus, and he quickly shared what he discovered with those closest to him. It's a powerful image,…

Toe-Dipping, But I'm Not All In Living out our faith is like going swimming. We're comfortable staying in the shallow end, where everything is familiar and we know all the answers. But Jesus invites us into deeper waters as we follow him. As we go deeper, we need community. We can't reach the deepest part of faith in Christ on our own. We need othe…

I Need Hope, but I'm Not Ready to Quit Living out our faith is like going swimming. We're comfortable staying in the shallow end, where everything is familiar and we know all the answers. But Jesus invites us into deeper waters as we follow him. Some people are ready to quit before they start. They're broken and want to give up, living without hope…

I Believe, But I'm Not Convinced Living out our faith is like going swimming. We're comfortable staying in the shallow end, where everything is familiar and we know all the answers. But Jesus invites us into deeper waters as we follow Him. In order to find the deep end of faith, we have to move from simply believing to completely committing and fol…

How do you make a difference in someone's life? How do you show up for them and encourage them? How do you help them become the person they were created to be? The answer is simpler than you might think. On this Mother's Day weekend, we're looking at a man in the Bible named Timothy. Timothy had an incredible heritage of faith, passed down from his…

See and Be Seen What happens when the celebrity we're so desperate to see turns and sees us? This is exactly what happened to a man named Zaccheus. He was so desperate to see Jesus that he did whatever he could to catch a glimpse. When Jesus approached, he not only saw Zaccheus, but the encounter changed his life. ginghamsburg.org…

Shine As followers of Christ we are told we are to be in the world, but not of the world. Many use this as a reason to simply stay out of the conversation. But what if we can be involved? What if there is a way to contribute to the dialog without demonizing or demeaning those with whom we disagree? This week we'll find out how to join the conversat…

A Campaign of Love Over Hate Jesus said that his followers would be known based on how they love one another. But over the years Christians have become more known for their hate. As we listen to Jesus' words and observe his actions, we see his love was a sincere love for everyone - regardless of their lifestyle or beliefs. This love is the foundati…

Kingdoms in Conflict We're divided over everything: politics, news, race, theology, even worship styles. We’re even divided over Chick-fil-A and Popeyes! But what if there was another way? We are called to live in harmony with one another. Love, unity and harmony are “the more excellent way.” This is how Jesus lived, and instructed us to live. Stan…

When was the last time you stopped to marvel at God's incredible creation? A total solar eclipse is a once in a lifetime event for many people. But for God, it's another opportunity to showcase his brilliance as a creator and his incredible love for every human being on Earth. As we worship, our attention is not on the sun, moon, and stars, but rat…

He is not here. He is risen! These words were spoken by an angel on the morning of Jesus' resurrection. On that day, Jesus' closest friends and followers were afraid. They were hurting. They were confused. They were lost. In one moment those emotions were shattered and replaced with comfort, peace and most of all hope! That's what Jesus does. Jesus…

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. Palm Sunday is also when we remember and honor Jesus as the coming King, the Messiah, and the Savior. But what truly marks how Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem was that he did so with humility. He didn't come with chariots and soldiers and great fanfare. Jesus came riding on a donkey, with his rag t…

We're diving into Outburst! This game is full of excitement, yelling and all around craziness! But there's another game known by its outbursts that we all play – the anger game. Anger can be channeled for good, but also for evil. Open the Bible with us and see how to manage our anger, reflect instead of react, and show restraint. ginghamsburg.org…

This week we're diving in to the Game of Scruples. This game is full of hypothetical situations, and at its core boils down to integrity. Every day we're faced with countless decisions, which can erode our integrity. As we look at the life of Joseph in the Bible, we'll see it's possible to live with integrity - doing the right thing in the face of …

We're conquering the world (or at least trying!) by playing the classic game, Risk! In this epic game you can manipulate the board and your opponents to your advantage. If we're honest, we all play the manipulation game. As we look to Jesus, we'll find there's a much better way to live - one with humility and grace. ginghamsburg.org…

This week we're performing surgery with Operation! Much like removing the funny bone in Operation, Jesus gave instructions for minor surgery with major effects. Jesus said we shouldn't be critical or judgmental, but how do we actually live that way in our current world? The answer is found in grace and love, as we'll see in the life of Jesus. gingh…