Downtown Community Church

God commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Generally, many Christians would be able to tell you that we are commanded to do so-- but who is our neighbor? How do we love them in the way that God commands us to? Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Luke 10:25-37 to examine Jesus’ conversation with a Jewish religious leader about how to love those around you-- and the unfortunate fault in the man’s thinking.Send us a textSupport the show

A fundamental of Christianity is that God tells us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But how many of us truly do that? Is our performance conditional to the amount of acceptance we believe we will receive from God? Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in our study of 1 John 4:19, 9-10 to unpack how perfect love casts out all fear and what that means for us in our faith walks.Send us a textSupport the show

Jesus died for YOU, regardless of your status as a Jew or as a Gentile. We are united under the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is for everyone. However, in the early church, tensions arose when the Gentiles were serving God in a different framework than the Jews were used to. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Acts 15:9-16:3 to study the simple Gospel and how it unites brothers and sisters in Christ.Send us a textSupport the show

The Bible tells us over and over again that we are saved by grace through faith; it is not our own doing, but the Lord's. So why do we keep feeling like we have to do good things to be loved by God? If the Gospel feels like shackles to you, you may not fully understand it. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in our study of Acts 15:1-20 to examine the fact that God loves us for us, and what that means for our faith walks.Send us a textSupport the show

Where in your life do you need to speak the Gospel? Encouragement is vital to our community and spiritual walk but it starts when we, as believers, model it. Join Pastor William Colle in our study of Acts 14:19-26 to study how Paul and Barnabas encouraged the early church, and how we can set the standard of encouragement.Send us a textSupport the show

What are the areas in your life that you need to be unashamed of the Gospel in? How do you respond when people don't respond well to you? Join Pastor Shannon Butler in Acts 14:1-18 and the book of Romans to study Paul and Barnabas and the power of the Gospel. We are always desperately searching for meaning and purpose, but the Gospel will always be and will only be the provision we need for the thing that we're most desperate for.Send us a textSupport the show

When the Gentiles were told about the message of Jesus, they worshiped and rejoiced. To the Jews, the message of Jesus was a threat to their kingdom. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Acts 13:13-52 to examine how the greatest threat to our sanctification is that we push Jesus out when we feel that the kingdom we've built with our lives is threatened.Send us a textSupport the show

Why do followers of Christ obey God? Why do we practice spiritual disciplines? The Gospel, lived out, is attractive and intriguing enough for onlookers to want to know why those sharing it are different. Join Pastor Shannon Butler in Acts 13:1-13 to examine the never-failing mission of God and our opportunity to carry it out.Send us a textSupport the show

Many followers of Christ have lots of questions about the Holy Spirit, such as how the Holy Spirit speaks or His purpose. At His core, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, comforts us, guides us, gives us spiritual gifts and a desire to obey God, and enables us to pray and to understand God's word. Join Dylan Nielander in Acts 13:1-4 to study the Holy Spirit and how the church interacts with Him.Send us a textSupport the show

Last week, we established that we want to partner with God as He moves. But how do we achieve that partnership? Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Acts 12 to study how partnering with God begins with praying to God. What are you praying for? Are you praying prayers so bold that you may not even believe it when your prayer is answered? We hope that as you consider these questions, you will be encouraged to pursue intimacy with God through prayer.Send us a textSupport the show

Evangelism is the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness. How did the early church share the good news of Jesus after He left Earth? How should we think about evangelism in our culture today? Join Dylan Nielander as he opens Acts 11:19-30 and teaches on evangelism and encouragement. Send us a textSupport the show

Throughout the Old Testament, Scripture tells a story of one God for one people - God's chosen people, the Jews. So when He encountered a Gentile one day, it wrecked the Jewish theology. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer as he teaches through Acts 10:1-11:18 and the first encounter of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles. How can we practice showing God's love to those who don't look like us?Send us a textSupport the show

To begin our new series Church History, its imperative that we know what is church?  What did Jesus teach us about how the "church" should operate before He left Earth? Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer as he teaches on Matthew 16:13-18 and the fascinating truth about how Jesus never used the word "church" as a building but an "ekklesia."Send us a textSupport the show

How do we think about grace and truth in terms of ourselves? We need to never forget our need for forgiveness. Join Dylan Nielander in John 1:14-18, the Book of 1 John, and Luke 18:11-14 to study God's faithfulness to forgive and what that means for us in our walks with the Lord.Send us a textSupport the show

Eternal life in Christ Jesus is the free gift of God. Period. And yet, so often we try to earn our salvation, as if it's at all possible for us to do that on our own. But with God, all things are possible. What is God prompting you to let go of? What does He want you to release control of? Join Pastor Shannon Butler in our study of Mark 10:17-28 to examine the story of Jesus‘ confrontation with a rich man and how to practically apply the principles of these verses to our lives.Send us a textSupport the show

How do we serve our enemies? How do we serve those in sin without affirming their sin? In every context and situation, our thoughts should not be about ourselves but about how we can serve those in our vicinity. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Mark 10:32-45 to study the servant-hearted Spirit that is in Jesus and is now in us, enabling us to lead well.Send us a textSupport the show

This is the last Sunday at DCC before the current semester ends, so we want to encourage you with a summary sermon! In a life transition, it is so easy to wish you could go back to the “good days” but God has called you to the here and now. Your season of spiritual struggle is just as formative as your season of spiritual success! Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Matthew 14:13-33– which is the story of Peter having doubts while walking on water with Jesus– to learn how we can apply Peter’s experience to our walks with the Lord.Send us a textSupport the show

Looking at almost every religion, they have rules. Generally, they're a means to an end, such as "if you ___ then you may ___." But Jesus just wants us to be His children. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in John 8:1-11 to examine why we can't obey and the decision Jesus made to pay the price for our disobedience.Send us a textSupport the show

In thinking of the woman who poured her jar of alabaster on Jesus' feet, we think of the event as an extravagant form of worship. But what led her, a prostitute with great sin (leading to greater forgiveness), to do this for Jesus? Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Luke 7:36-50 to examine this story from Jesus' perfect perspective of grace and truth, especially in the presence of the self-righteous Pharisees.This week, we want to ask you: who is the person in the room that you mentally belittle because you somehow think they're more unworthy of Jesus' affection than you are? Are we in the right heart posture to be in the room with Jesus? How would you react if Jesus walked into the room?Send us a textSupport the show

In tough situations, we tend to favor either giving grace to others or giving truth to others. However, it's important that we balance both because they are equally important. Jesus, who is full of both grace AND truth, provides a blueprint for how to live. If we're going to look like Jesus, we need the Gospel to fully penetrate our hearts. Join Pastor Ben Kaempfer in Luke 6:43-44 and John 1:14-17 to  study why grace and truth should be the overflow of our hearts.Send us a textSupport the show