Our Christmas Eve Service has Jennifer Mikels reading a Christmas story to the kids, the band playing some upbeat Christmas carols, and Pastor Jeff bringing a message on what it means to be people of the light.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: John 3:19-21

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The first step to a larger heart is developing compassion. The second step to a larger heart is to act on that compassion. When a heart grows the third size larger, something has to break.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: John 3:16

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We are all guilty as Grinches for our envy and selfishness, but there is hope in the message of Christmas to enlarge our hearts. In the last message, we learned the first step of growth is developing a heart of compassion. In this message, Pastor Jeff talks about putting our compassion into action.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: John 3:16

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Our ideas about God’s love are weak because our ideas of love are weak. In this message we learn that enlarging our heart starts with compassion. Pastor Jeff shares three ways to build compassion.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: John 3:16

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In this message, Pastor Jeff uses the story of the Grinch to illustrate the point of Christmas. As we learn through this message and John 3:16, the birth of one baby 2000 years ago changed everything.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: John 3:16

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In this message, we consider the complete turnaround of the apostle Paul from one who sought to destroy the church to become its most ardent defender.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Various

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Sometimes it takes a wake-up call in the form of a crisis before we think seriously about our relationship with God and fully submitting our life to Him. In this message Pastor Jeff uses the life of Manasseh to help us see this process. Manasseh had to encounter his own crisis before he fully submitted his life to God and acknowledged that God is God.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: 2 Chronicles 33:1-20

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Is partial obedience the same as disobedience? In this message Pastor Jeff uses the life of Saul to answer this question. Through disobedience or apathy, the voice of God can be silenced, but the opportunity for change is always there.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: 1 Samuel 9-28

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We will never be able to handle change until we can handle it in ourselves. Are you confident in God’s power to handle any obstacle in your life? Are you passionate about God’s honor above all other things? In this message Pastor Jeff uses the life of David to address these questions.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Various

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Do you desire to change something about yourself? Have you tried and struggled to successfully make that change? In this message Pastor Jeff completes the Mastering Change series by offering tools to help maximize our talents and skills.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Romans 6-8

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Saying good-bye can be difficult. At times we need to say good-bye to things in our life that hinder us. In this series we learned the first core principle of mastering change is that every change is a crisis, every crisis is an opportunity, and every opportunity is a gift. The second core principle is that every change is a good-bye, but there is hope in God. Pastor Jeff continues with part two of when you have to say good-bye.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Exodus 14:11-12

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Everyone at some point in their life has had to deal with a difficult good-bye. In this message Pastor Jeff helps us understand that whatever we carry with us affects our future relationships. Every change is a good-bye, but there’s hope with God.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Exodus 14:10-12

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Many things bring you to your moments of change, but in every one, God is there to walk you through it. In this first message of this series Pastor Jeff teaches about the core principle in mastering change.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Exodus 14:1-31

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In our final message in this series, Pastor Jeff walks us through some very deep thoughts from the apostle Paul about how to determine your level of spiritual depth. Three principles rise to the surface in Paul’s concluding points. Have you ever wondered how deep your spiritual life is? Then use these principles as your own personal measuring stick.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Colossians 3:17-4:6

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How deeply into God can you go? It’s a big question for sure! In this third message of our series Pastor Jeff challenges us with the thought that we are already as deep into God as we can be, but that three forces in our lives have the power to pull us away from God. If you want a deeply personal connection with God, you need to put these principles into practice.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Colossians 3:1-17

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Do you ever long for greater depth of spiritual experience? This series is all about connecting people with God on a deeper level. Pastor Jeff begins the series and challenges us to reconsider how deep the human soul really is by thinking about how deep Jesus is.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Colossians 1:15-27

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In this concluding message, Pastor Jeff addresses directly something we\’ve been assuming all along. How can we trust that the red words in our Bible are the actual words Jesus spoke? How trustworthy is the Bible? and should we pay attention to the non-red words?

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Many people are fascinated by the Bible’s teaching on the “end times” but few know what Jesus had to say about it. In this message we discover that Jesus is far more concerned that we endure till the end than that we know all the details of the end.

Speaker: Jeff Mikels :: Passage: Matthew 24

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You only need to concern yourself with four things! In a world filled with all kinds of noise, how do we focus ourselves on what’s truly important? What IS truly important anyway? In this message, we look at the four central commands of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Four things he emphasized repeatedly are the things we should consider “non-negotiable.” Listen up and figure out which one is your next point of growth.

Our sixth message finds us dealing with one of the most fearful of human encounters… personal conflict and confrontation especially in cases where one person has wronged another. Pastor Jeff brings Jesus’ words to life as we explore the truth that we cannot predict or control how others will act, think, or feel, but we can do what’s right on our side of things.

Our fifth message in this series takes us to the middle of the Sea of Galilee where the disciples encounter a storm and fear for their lives but Jesus sleeps in the back of the boat. How do fear and faith relate, and what are the keys to alleviating fear or at least making sure it doesn’t control us? Pastor Jeff pulls lessons out of the words of Jesus to encourage us in our efforts to overcome any fears in our lives.

In this message, we look at a person Jesus commends as having greater faith than everyone else in Israel! If that doesn’t get you interested, then perhaps nothing will. Nevertheless, we will see that the key element of this man’s “great faith” is his confidence in the overwhelming authority of Christ!

In this third message, Pastor Jeff closes out the Sermon on the Mount by summarizing Matthew 6-7 under the theme of stability. Did you know that Jesus taught us what he did so that we could have stability in our lives? It’s true. Listen up.

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For our second message, Pastor Jeff takes a look at Matthew 5 and draws out for us the issue of approval. How much of our lives do we spend looking for approval? Is it possible that our pursuit of approval is misplaced? Jesus claims that we can receive approval from God if we live our lives so others approve of Him!

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This is the first message in our Project Red series, and it is our first week as a church to meet in the Long Center as we prepare to launch into what we are calling Phase Two of the life of our church. Listen in as Pastor Jeff explains something Jesus said that caused most of his followers to leave him.

People don’t often think of marketing as a spiritual exercise, but in this final message of our Envision series, Pastor Jeff outlines the spiritual principles necessitating marketing in our world today and shows how we will be applying them in this church.

Jesus is Superman! We can be too.

In this message, Pastor Jeff talks about the fact that our church will be changing its name from the perspective of Biblical events when someone’s name was changed.

In this second message of our Envision series, Pastor Jeff takes us on a journey around the world and far into the past to see how the message of God has always been a message on the move given to people on the move. As Lafayette Community Church plans to make a move to the Long Center, we need to rethink the spiritual value of mobility. Are you mobile?

In this first message of a new series, Pastor Jeff starts us on a journey through the changes our church is about to face in the future in light of God’s work in the distant past. It’s going to be a vibrant experience of the Old Testament and a motivating look at the future of this church.

This is the concluding message for our series titled, “The Broken Made Whole.” In this concluding message, Pastor Jeff challenges us with the thought that in order for our own Wholeness to be complete we have to go all the way and pass on our good news to others. It’s a message about “Evangelism,” but it’s probably unlike any message you’ve heard on evangelism ever before, and it’s most certainly unlike your previous notions of what “evangelism” is all about. Listen for yourself.

In this incredible message, Chip Neuenschwander quotes for us the entire Sermon on the Mount as Jesus might have delivered it and then reflects on its significance for us today as well as the general power of committing passages of the Bible to memory.

With 6 steps under our belt, it comes time for us to address what it takes to maintain the changes that have come about in our lives. Of course, maintaining change is generally more difficult than making changes, but as Pastor Jeff reveals, that’s because we have the idea of maintenance backward. In order to keep any change, you must invest in your soul. Pastor Jeff challenges us to put the simple practice of daily time with God into our lives so that God can work change in us that lasts.

In this our sixth message in this series, Pastor Jeff talks about the first truly active step in our process of recovery. It is the step of reconciliation through the practice of offering forgiveness and making amends. There is perhaps no more important thing to the heart of God than when broken relationships are reconciled. Learn how this powerful truth can take you one step further on your path to wholeness and holiness.

How difficult is it to change a character defect? Nearly impossible! But that is exactly what God wants to do in our lives. In this message, Pastor Jeff addresses the spiritual power behind effective inner change. Listen to this week’s message to hear how being hungry can lead to a changed life!

In this fourth message of our series on finding wholeness and holiness in our lives, Pastor Jeff explains how a simple biblical practice might be the only thing standing between us and our freedom.

Hear how taking an honest moral inventory might be just the thing to help you experience the freedom God created you to have. It’s a simple practice, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or pleasant. In fact, this might be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but the benefits are worth it.

Our goal for this series is that we would be people who work the steps to achieve wholeness and holiness. One of the hardest lessons Jesus teaches in the sermon on the mount is the concept that meekness is desirable by God. With our society praising aggressiveness, achievement, upward mobility and such, it is terribly difficult to live meek lives if we even understand what that really means. In this message, Pastor Jeff makes the meekness concept straightforward, practical, and a little surprising.

Our goal for this series is that we would be people who work the steps to achieve wholeness and holiness. In this message, Pastor Jeff discusses the second step we need to work in light of the second beatitude of Jesus.

In this first message of our new Spring series, Pastor Jeff discusses the first principle of Jesus’ most well known teaching to show that our healing and wholeness come only when we acknowledge our spiritual poverty before God. The message concludes with a powerful modern-day parable.

Easter Sunday, our First Anniversary as a church, what an incredible day it was! In this message, Pastor Jeff encourages us to recognize the all-encompassing importance of the resurrection of Christ. Nothing in Christianity is as important as this truth, but if it is true, it changes everything!