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Heart Problems: When Money and Power Corrupt the Church

What happens when our relationship with wealth gets out of whack—especially in church?

The Rich Kids We All Knew

Remember being a kid and knowing which families had “made it”? Maybe it was the house with the U-shaped driveway (fancy!), the yellow Schwan’s delivery truck in the neighborhood, or that friend whose fridge dispensed ice AND water. For some of us, wealth meant indoor plumbing or electricity. For others, it was name-brand clothes from the actual mall—not the thrift store.

But as Bob Marley famously said, “Some people are so poor that all they have is money.” Growing up means realizing that behind those facades of wealth often lies emptiness. The big house nobody has time to enjoy. The fancy clothes covering broken hearts. The convenient meals replacing family dinners around the table.

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The Little Things: How Small Gifts Can Change the World

What if the most powerful gifts aren’t the expensive ones, but the small ones given with great love?

When Little Things Make Big Differences

Early 1900s New Orleans. A beat-up old cornet in a pawn shop window. A struggling teenage boy walks by it every day, dreaming of making music but unable to afford it. His employers advance him a few dollars from his paycheck, and he finally buys that worn instrument.

That boy was Louis Armstrong.

Or consider a poor family in Northern Mississippi who saved up to buy their son an old six-string guitar. That gift helped launch the career of Elvis Presley.

Then there’s the 10-year-old girl who begged her mother for a typewriter so she could write her stories. Her mother hesitated—what 10-year-old would actually use it long-term? But she bought it anyway. That girl, Octavia Butler, grew up to be one of the most influential science fiction authors of our generation.

The right gift given to the right person at the right time can change the world—no matter how big or small it is.

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Hold On Loosely: Breaking Free from the Grip of Money

From a sermon by Darrin Chastain, August 17, 2025.

“Giving away our possessions is the ultimate way to break their hold on us.”

We all wrestle with questions about money and giving: Should I tithe 10%? Does my giving have to go to my church? Will God bless me for giving or punish me for not giving? What if I’m barely scraping by?

While I have opinions on all these questions, today I want to focus on the foundational question: Why should I give my money away?

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The Money P.I.T.: When Your Wallet Becomes a Trap

“Americanism is using money you haven’t earned to buy things you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.” – Robert Quillen, 1928, Detroit Free Press

Sound familiar? We’ve all heard variations of this quote, yet somehow we keep falling into the same trap. We throw money into what I call “The Money P.I.T.” – and no, I’m not talking about that house that needs endless repairs or the boat you swore would bring you joy (though boat owners, you know what I mean about those two best days!).

We Have a Problem

Let me hit you with some sobering statistics:

  • American households carry $18.2 trillion in debt – that’s $53,000 per person
  • Over 11 million children in America live below the poverty line
  • Over 20 million U.S. adults are problem gamblers
  • Americans spent $264 billion on gambling in 2023 alone
  • Among problem gamblers, suicide rates are 15 times the national average

Our relationship with money isn’t just unhealthy – it’s literally killing us.

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Who Owns Your Stuff? A Kingdom Economics Perspective

Starting a new series on Kingdom Economics—and yes, we’re talking about money. But this isn’t about guilt trips or fundraising schemes. This is about discovering a theology of wealth that flies in the face of the American dream and get-rich-quick schemes.

From Street Rat to Saint: The George Mueller Story

Picture this: Europe in the 1800s. Mugshots of children—boys in suits, girls barely teenagers—arrested for stealing food, money, anything to survive on the mean streets. One such child was born in Germany around this time. His mother died when he was 14, and he turned to a life of crime, even stealing from his own father.

But this young man, George Mueller, encountered something that changed everything: the Word of God. Through a Bible study group at university, Scripture got hold of him and transformed him from the inside out.

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Live Your Legacy: Making the Most of Your “Dash”

What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

As I’ve entered my mid-to-late thirties, I find myself doing more reflection. There comes a point in life where you attend more funerals than weddings, and funerals have a way of capturing the essence of a person’s life. They make you think about what really matters.

If you’ve ever walked through an old cemetery, you’ve probably noticed something: almost every tombstone has two dates with a dash in between. That little dash represents all the time we spend alive on earth. The question is: what are you doing with your dash?

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Finding Forgiveness: When the Church Hurts and Grace Still Heals

From a sermon by Daniel Lee and Lucas Johnson

The Foundation of Forgiveness

We’re all walking around wounded and hurt. Pain alerts us that something’s wrong—whether it’s the “good pain” of growth or the sharp ache of genuine injury. We all know we’ve done things that are wrong, and we’ve all been wronged by others. So how do we find wholeness? How do we break the vicious cycle of guilt, shame, and woundedness?

The answer comes down to one word: forgive.

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“Your Proud Waves Stop Here”: Setting Healthy Boundaries

Part of our “Becoming Whole” series exploring identity, purpose, and belonging

The Foundation of Boundaries

Who am I? Why am I here? Where do I fit in? These fundamental questions of identity, purpose, and belonging follow us through every stage of life. As Christians, our framework for answering them should be rooted in the greatest commandments: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

But here’s what many of us miss—that little phrase “as yourself.” We’re called to love ourselves too, which means setting healthy boundaries.

God’s Blueprint for Boundaries

Boundaries aren’t just good advice—they’re baked into creation itself. In Proverbs, wisdom declares: “I was there when he set the limit for the sea, so that the waters would not violate his command.” In Job 38, God says, “You may come this far, but no further, your proud waves stop here.”

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How to Slow Down: Reclaiming the Gift of Sabbath

“I’m in a hurry to get things done, oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”

Those lyrics from Alabama’s classic hit capture our modern reality perfectly. We’re all rushing around, feeling perpetually behind, yet we can’t quite explain why. We’ve become slaves to busyness, to our devices, to everyone else’s agenda for us. Sound familiar?

The Ancient Wisdom We’ve Forgotten

The concept of Sabbath isn’t just an Old Testament rule—it’s baked into the very fabric of creation. Genesis tells us that after six days of creating, God rested on the seventh day and declared it holy. This wasn’t because God was tired; it was because He was establishing a rhythm for humanity.

We were not made to go 24/7, 365 days a year.

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When Your Faith Feels Like It’s Falling Apart: A Guide Through Deconstruction

Sometimes we feel like there are just missing pieces. Sometimes we feel like we don’t have it all together. What happens when the foundation you’ve built your life on starts to crack?

The Deconstruction Zone

You’ve built a life for yourself—a solid identity, what you thought was an unshakeable foundation. Then something happens, and it all starts to come apart. The cracks begin to show. There’s a word for this that’s become increasingly common: deconstruction.

Continue reading → When Your Faith Feels Like It’s Falling Apart: A Guide Through Deconstruction