If you lead in any way, you are going to face criticism. Dealing with criticism is a part of leadership—period. One of the greatest weapons that the enemy uses for leaders is discouragement. Discouragement can often come from criticism. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, how much you care, how pure your motives and right your decisions are—critici…

By Pastor Ray Duerksen

We have a purpose far higher than the latest election. We have a mission far bigger than any political platform. We are called and commanded to love God and love people and if we will remain faithful to that mission God promises to strengthen us in the process.

Resentment and bitterness can infiltrate our lives in so many ways. Things that have happened to us beyond our control can darken our hearts and eat us up from the inside, negatively impacting our emotional and physical health, even affecting our relationship with Jesus. The enemy loves to capitalize on this too, because we as men sometimes struggl…

When the world moves towards chaos we can choose to move toward order. When everyone and everything is dividing and isolating we can choose to remain united. This means we have to choose harmony and listen well to each other.

By Pastor Ray Duerksen

Shame is a necessary emotion. Shame can be helpful. The way we feel about our wrong decisions and choices is meant to steer us towards God, towards repentance and towards healing. If we never feel shame, it means something is broken inside of us. There are things that we should be ashamed of, but with God’s help we don’t need to stay there. Satan t…

Our culture has taught us that whatever we feel is not only real, but should be expressed. The Bible teaches us to control ourselves and stay calm. We don’t know what is ahead, but we can choose ahead of time to keep our heads.

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

There are no harmless lies. They all have consequences. When we exchange the truth of God for a lie, there is a price to pay. Join us in the conversation as Scott and guest Greg Chandler drill down on five specific lies that the enemy wants us to believe and how we can counter each lie with truth from God’s word about who we are and what we are cal…

No one ever plans to be an addict. It happens incrementally as we indulge in unhealthy behaviors and repeatedly make bad choices. “I can handle it” is the lie we perpetually choose to believe. Eventually, we realize that we can’t handle it. Such is the roller coaster ride of addiction. This message will suggest ways to overcome rather than submit t…

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

God has hardwired all of us for biblical community. One of God’s greatest gifts are his people. It’s found in doing life with others. All men need this. Every man should experience this. We never graduate from the need for community and accountability. When we leverage the power of community, it helps us to deepen our faith, make us more like Jesus…

Few words elicit more emotion than the word “divorce.” We all evaluate it differently, but when we experience it, there are no words. In this message, we will learn how to help everyone involved in the emotional tug of war get to a place of healing.

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

Boundaries are easy to see in the physical world: fences to define property, lines in the road to define lanes, and boundaries at a sporting event to define what is in and out-of-bounds. Physical boundaries are for our good, and for the good of those around us. In our spiritual, relational, and emotional worlds, boundaries are just as real, but oft…

There’s a great story in I Kings where Elijah challenges a group of 450 false prophets to a “duel” of sorts and wins a resounding victory. In the very next chapter, we watch Elijah run 100 miles into the wilderness, where he sits under a tree depressed and begs God to take his life. In this message, we’ll learn how God can minister to us in the dre…

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

To follow Jesus is to fish. To say yes to Jesus’ invitation is to say yes to personal evangelism. To receive the gospel is to also share the gospel; the good news. Yet, there’s an awful lot of churches and there’s an awful lot of people who sit in the boat and they don’t fish. They don’t fish for all kinds of reasons. In this episode we will zero i…

“Fear.” Just the sound of the word brings a variety of emotions. It asks the question, “Fight or Flight?” Fear can unnerve us or empower us. Spur us on or hold us back. Everyone struggles with fear, and there are all kinds of fears to stare down in life. In this message, we’ll look at ways to pray away fear’s slimy grip on our lives.…

By Pastor Chris Carr

Today's culture is attempting to push us off the path Jesus walked, and instead onto a wide road of personal preference and, “living your own truth.” We are increasingly encouraged to choose tolerance-based values and strike down our conceptions of right and wrong about sex, gender and marriage. Even the definitions of words are changing. If we tak…

The level of fear, worry, and anxiety we experience is connected to the amount of time we spend staring at and scrolling through images on screens. What we’re looking for in technology can be found in God’s love for us and the joy it delivers when we surrender to it and train our minds to think about it throughout the day.…

By Pastor Chris Carr

The Holy Spirit is aware of what’s going on in our world. He can see things that we can’t. He knows us. He knows what we need. He partners with us to encourage us. He partners with us to challenge us and even convict us of sin. He partners with us because He knows best on how to use our lives to love and serve others. This week on Locker Room, we a…

In many ways, convenience has replaced common sense when it comes to our eating habits and our physical bodies pay the price. Instead of neglecting physical health, we should do everything we can to respect and strengthen what God has blessed us with.

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

When we accept the grace of Jesus and decide to follow him, God desires for us to turn from our own way of thinking and live Spirit-filled lives too. Yet many of us don’t. We meet Christians all the time whose lives could be summed up in two statements: One: “Nobody’s perfect. And two: “God understands.” There’s almost a despair about those two sta…

Our cultural mantra is, “If it feels good, do it.” We’ve compromised purity for the sake of pleasure. God loves us enough to give us sexual boundaries that are meant to protect us from emotional and physical harm. True sexual freedom is experienced in the safe confines of a committed marriage relationship.…

By Pastor Chris Carr

We’re kicking off a new series in season 13 of Locker Room, and it’s simply called Power. We’re going to look at some key aspects and opportunities God gives us to usher His power into and through our lives. This week we’re digging out the power of rest. Jesus invites us into a healthy rhythm, where we pour out our lives for the Kingdom: pouring in…

The laundry room is where we turn dirty clothes into clean clothes. The same is true in the church. It’s a safe family where we don’t hide our hurts, habits, and hang ups, rather we surrender them to the transformational power of Jesus.

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

In the construction world, a foundation has to be solid before anything can be built on it. The same is true with the Christian faith. Everything we believe is grounded in the reality that every word in the Bible is true because it’s author is trustworthy.

By Pastor Stefan Duerksen

By Pastor Martin Gunter

We often live as if doubt is the opposite of faith. But what if doubt is a gateway to greater faith? Today, we'll ask "What to do with doubt?" And discover, to struggle with one's faith is often the surest sign we actually have one.