A new series in Acts. A new question for the congregation: if the people around you asked you to be a busboy, would you be honored or offended? The person they asked in Acts 6 was Stephen. He started at the tables. He ended in the streets, speaking with a wisdom and courage no one could withstand. That’s the invitation.

In the series finale of The Church, Pastor Adam Stadtmiller arrives at the fourth and final purpose — Mission — and immediately reframes what that word means. Mission isn’t the program or the outreach event or the sandwich line, though it can include all of those. Mission is something far larger: the Church functioning as God’s masterpiece on display, making His manifold wisdom known to every power and authority — seen and unseen — through the transformed lives of ordinary people.

James asks whether a faith that produces nothing can save anybody. Pastor Harry takes it without flinching — and lands somewhere unexpected: if nothing is being produced, the problem is not a works problem, and a list of nice things will not fix it.

Acts 4:13-22 and verse 20 — we are not able… read more

John 4:27-30 and the power of a testimony: what happens… read more

John is handed a measuring rod and told to leave the outer court out of it. Pastor Adam does the hard background honestly, then brings it home: you are the temple now, and some courtyards in a life need excluding.

The Greek for “together” carries proximity, not just agreement — they lived near each other. Pastor Adam handles the verse everyone flinches at carefully, then refuses to let the caveat do all the work: do you actually want to be part of a church like that?

Jesus goes looking for one man by name. Pastor Adam builds on that, borrows a line from his daughter about churches that treat people like Instagram followers, and admits he has no idea what happened under the fig tree.

John says four words — look, the Lamb of God — and two of his own disciples walk away after Jesus. He does nothing to stop it. Pastor Adam builds the message on the freeing part of that: you are not responsible for the encounter.