Pastor Emily describes baptism as a gift from God, like a beautifully wrapped package containing many smaller gifts that remind us we are seen, loved, and claimed by Him. Reflecting on Genesis 1, she highlights how God brings order and life out of chaotic waters, offering a hopeful counterstory both to ancient Babylonian myths and to today’s pressure to create and define ourselves. Baptism, she says, grounds our identity not in self-creation but in receiving the truth that we belong to a good Creator who continues to bring life out of chaos in us.

On the Pastors Cut podcast, Joe McDonald reflects on returning to staff and preaching the final message in the “Invited” series, centered on Revelation’s closing invitation, “Come, Lord Jesus.” He shares how a vision of a diverse multitude worshiping Christ and the concept of “spiritual martyrdom”—a humble surrender of self so Christ can live through us—shaped his message and challenged listeners to follow the Spirit’s daily nudges.

In this episode of Pastors Cut, Petey Crowder reflects on his sermon about Hebrews’ invitation to “come boldly to the throne of grace,” emphasizing Jesus as both our great High Priest and King, whose primary mission is to save and reconcile us to God. He discusses common misconceptions about Jesus—reducing him to a social service provider, political culture warrior, power confronter, or personal genie—and argues that these distortions distract from Christ’s central saving work.

This sermon centers on Hebrews 4:14–16, presenting Jesus as the great High Priest who fully understands human weakness and invites us to come boldly and honestly before God to receive grace and mercy. It challenges distorted views of Jesus by emphasizing that his primary work is healing human brokenness through his once-for-all sacrifice, not merely affirming us or fixing others.

This episode of Pastor’s Cut features host Melissa Schaser in conversation with Emily Hamilton, who reflects on her sermon from John 11 and Jesus raising Lazarus, emphasizing how Jesus is Lord over death and invites the community to participate in making space for new life. Emily and Melissa explore how spiritual growth often requires honest community, naming “grave clothes” that still bind us, and helping one another respond to Jesus’ call into life.

This sermon reflects on Jesus raising Lazarus to show that human beings are ultimately powerless before death, but God fiercely opposes death and has authority over it. By connecting this story to present-day suffering, it emphasizes that death is not just physical but a destructive power at work in the world, one that Jesus confronts with compassion and resurrection life. Jesus invites his community to participate in this work by “removing stones and grave clothes,” calling believers to costly, communal action in word and deed that anticipates God’s life-breaking-through even now.

This episode on Pastor's Cut centers on how recent violence and unrest in Minneapolis reshaped Petey Crowder’s sermon, calling the church to bring both personal and communal burdens to Jesus in a time of fear and anxiety. Petey and Melissa reflect on the church’s role as a discipling community that forms people to follow Jesus with humility, prayer, and love for all made in God’s image, rather than taking political sides. The conversation concludes by highlighting spiritual practices like silence, Scripture, and everyday faithfulness as ways to embody the Gospel as good news in ordinary life.