Church of the Open Door

Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Gen Pastor | Lent 2021 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | Lent 2021 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | Lent 2021 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Lent 2021 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | Lent 2021 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Speaker: Jolaina Falkenstein | Ash Wednesday | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

Amidst Paul’s call to unity and living as citizens of heaven, in Philippians 4:2-9, we find an invitation for how to move through conflict, focused on Christ. Even the most devoted leaders can face conflict. Where do you notice disagreement in your life with a person, people, community or group? With our minds set on things of the kingdom, there is always hope for forgiveness and someday, reconciliation in Christ. What is your invitation? Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Gen Pastor | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

We’re entering into a new year with a detour from where we left off before Advent, in Acts 16. Paul had started the first church in Eastern Europe, the Roman colony of Philippi, and we’re going to take a look at the vision Paul casts in his letter to them, about what it looks like to live as citizens of heaven while here on earth. These four brief chapters offer such potent words of encouragement, wisdom, and worship. We’ll be spending time together over the next seven weeks, anchoring ourselves in these Kingdom realities. Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | Philippians | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Dave and Stefanie Brickey | Christmastide | www.thedoor.org

Luke 2:1-14 is one of the most familiar passages in all of scripture: the story of Caesar Augustus’ call for a census, with Joseph and very-pregnant Mary journeying to Bethlehem, where “she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” Angels announced the birth of this Holy Child to shepherds, “keeping watch over their flocks by night,” and the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem as angels filled the air with shouts of “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people of good will.” Tom Johnson takes us into the Story this Sunday, wondering about the peace of which the angels sang and that the Prince of Peace brings. Is it just internal peace, or might there be an external aspect to this that affects relationships around us? Let’s ask the Spirit for refreshed eyes and ears; and let’s wonder, too, as we read Luke's familiar words again. How is God inviting us into His purposes? What is our role in this kind of peace? Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Advent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Kati Beasley takes us into the third Sunday of Advent, still in the Light of Isaiah 9:2 and, this week, the Everlasting Father in Isaiah 9:6 and Luke 1:67-80. In Zechariah’s prayer and praise, and the blessing he gives to his newborn son John the Baptizer, Kati sees a beautiful picture of God as Father with His people. Zechariah has spent the nine months of his wife’s pregnancy without speech (and possibly without hearing), and in that protracted silence, capacities grew within him that would create the kind of love, blessing, and parenting out of which John would grow strong in spirit, to become the prophet of the Most High. It is worth spending time in the psalm Zechariah uttered when his speech was restored. As phrase adds upon phrase, there’s a growing weight and depth and brilliance to Zechariah’s prophecy of the mercy, grace, compassion and caring heart of God for His children who are in such need of rescue and restoration. Especially now, in the circumstances of our own time, it is good to root ourselves in that Larger Story, to sit in “the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us” and let God “guide our feet into the way of peace.” Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | Advent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Time has never felt more like the in-between, or as we say around here “liminal space”. As we enter into the text in Isaiah 9:2,6, we hold onto the promises of a Messiah who has already come, and we wait for the promises yet to be fulfilled. In the waiting time we are given a Wonderful Counselor who comes as the human-mind-baffling wisdom of God for us to lean-on, hope in, trust and surrender to. As the people of God we can learn from Mary's response to an invitation from God in Luke 1 and trust God to be with us in our questions. Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Gen Pastor | Advent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Dave preaches from John 15, the Abiding passage, inviting us to root, to remain, to stay “fixated on Jesus as our northstar” in this season Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | www.thedoor.org

A meal surrounded by friends or even adversaries has long been a way to bring reconciliation, restitution and harmony. The Bible offers many examples including Acts 16 where Paul and Silas share a meal with their captor. The Lord’s Table is the consummate example. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

A particularly timely word for us today, Dave Brickey picks up in Acts where Kati Beasley had brought us two weeks ago: “We will not break fellowship.” Division is rampant right now, not only across the country, but also in our churches. "This is the most divided we’ve been since the Civil War,” yet Jesus’s prayer for us is for unity – so how do we followers of Jesus walk this out with one another? We lift our eyes above the street-level view to the Bigger Story that unifies us. Division exists only when we’re focusing on the small stuff and we don’t see “big enough.” Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

This is our annual Novembering service where we take time to be with one another as we mark the passing of family and friends of those in our body. We also desire to acknowledge together the many other losses people have experienced in this past year, loss of health, jobs, community, independence, and many other forms of losses. We hold these special services to honor and remember those we love, invite God’s healing presence into those tender places of grief and loss, and be reminded of the solid assurance and hope of Heaven. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Novembering | www.thedoor.org

Kati Beasley takes us to the meeting of leaders in Jerusalem who were faced with the divisive issues of their day around what it meant for Gentiles to follow Jesus. Did they need to observe Jewish practices given by God in the Torah – or was that not a necessary precondition for following Jesus and being welcomed into the community of faith? And how might the apostles’ and elders’ “becoming one mind” and “coming to one accord” give us guidance and encouragement to live as Kingdom people in the discord and divisiveness of our current time? Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

As we move to the end of Paul and Barnabas first missionary journey in Acts 14, there is a strange thread of freedom that weaves through this seemingly chaotic story. Where does it lead? What is the source of this strange freedom? How do the answers to these questions reveal God's invitation to us...today? Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Paul and Barnabas, following the Holy Spirit’s lead, travel by ship and across land, are deserted by one of their companions, preach the gospel and are begged by their listeners to continue to speak these words of life; but then jealous leaders contradict them, persecute them, drive them out … and in all of these circumstances, they are “continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

The early church took seriously Jesus’ mandate to go and share the message of God’s love and grace with everyone. Communities sent and people went at the direction of the Holy Spirit. The mandate remains, it hasn’t changed. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Back in Jerusalem, the apostle James is arrested and killed by Herod. Peter is also arrested by Herod, but an angel releases him. James and Peter both lived with open hands to the work of God. One is not “rescued;” one is“rescued.” Meanwhile, Herod and the Jewish people, grasp for power and control, holding on tight to what they know, but all that comes is death. When we live a surrendered life, God can use our living and our dying to advance the God’s work. Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Gen Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Dave Brickey brings the message, of the Holy Spirit’s whispers that led Dave, Stefanie, and their children to this point, to this place, at this time. Teaching Pastor: Dave Brickey, Lead Pastor Candidate | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Barnabas dared to follow God across cultural and religious lines, bringing his gifts of faith and encouragement to nurture and strengthen what God’s grace had brought to life. It’s an apt topic this week as we bless our students, parents and educators and seek to partner with God out in the actual world. His grace is at work all around us! Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Do you have any idea what Shark Week has to do with the Peter/Cornelius story of Acts 10-11? Kati Beasley sees the connection and will share that with us this Sunday! Scientists assisting the birth of shark babies offer a potent parallel to Peter’s holding space for what God wanted to do, even when Peter didn’t know at the outset what that would turn out to be. Peter’s obedience, openness, and willingness to be awake and let God do the work is a great invitation for us, a reminder that God is at work in so many places, and we’re called to pay attention. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

n keeping with the summer study in Acts, Maureen Pranghofer shares some of her life journey. She opens up about growing up with major physical challenges; and how the twists and turns of life brought her to a place of forgiveness and healing. Teaching Speaker: Maureen Pranghofer, Guest Speaker | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Luke puts dramatic demonstrations of power (a divine healing and a miracle) in context. Powerful displays like these are included in the “everything” in Matthew 28:20; and are to be part of the “normal” Christian experience. However they also can take attention away from the really big deal, a person coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Is anyone beyond the reach of Jesus? Should we ever give up hope on anyone? Today in our study of Acts we come to one of the most dramatic conversion stories in all the Bible. It reminds us to hold out hope for everyone and how to pray for and walk with those we might think are beyond the reach of Jesus. Acts 9:1-22 Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Today we hear the story of how God used a waiter named Phillip to bring the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth. Phillip did so by using a simple principle Jesus taught – look for and lean into people of peace. Maybe if we practice this principle, God can use us to bring the good news of Jesus to the ends of our worlds too. Acts 8:26-40 Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

From the large-scale stories of earlier chapters, with thousands of people coming to faith, the focus narrows in chapter 8 to a single individual, Simon the sorcerer, and his heart’s deep needs for attention, affection, and approval. Peter’s rebuke sounds harsh, but it actually offers hope – to Simon and to all of us who are still have those captive and bound places within us. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

After the stoning of Stephen, a great change occurred in the early Church as they were sent out and shared the Good News wherever they went (Acts 8:1-4). What does it mean to be sent out and scattered? How can we see ourselves as sent while serving, in conflict, in running errands, having family time, at work, in traffic and in these chaotic times in history? The good news: We are sent into the ordinary by the extraordinary Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit...and God's work is not done! Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Generation Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

What is our mindset about the sacred. Where do we believe God is at work and to be worshipped? At the church building? Everywhere? If we say, “everywhere,” then why do we gather for collective worship? Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor and Joel Hanson, Worship Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Seeing needs and inequities when they occur, then responding in ways that remedy those difficulties, is a significant characteristic of God’s people. The young church in Acts 6 offers us a model for meeting practical needs with care and sensitivity as they addressed the discrimination and neglect of a vulnerable population within their congregation. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

As we are forced to be the church without walls during Covid-19, how do we sustain a focus on bearing witness with our words and deeds? Today we learn about the accountable relationships that lead the earliest church to bear witness… boldly. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

A potential silver lining in the Covid-19 pandemic is that the church in North America has been forced to be the church without walls: in homes, in neighborhoods, in back yards, on the streets, with our hands. But what happens when churches go back into their buildings again? Will the silver lining end? Or, will the silver lining become the playbook? Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

In our country’s time of reckoning for failing to face up to and fix racial injustice, how should Christ followers bear witness to the good news of Jesus? Today we continue in our study of the book of Acts and watch two of Jesus’ disciples bear witness in such a way that its’ result is actual good news. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

That first church in Jerusalem, seeded by the Winds of Pentecost, was marked by courage and a commitment to radical community. Miracles, prayer, study, worship, and open-hearted hospitality characterized their fellowship even as persecution loomed, and their extraordinary generosity, “holding all things in common,” meant that no one among them was in need. They are models for us, in this time, of the generosities the Spirit can grow in us to meet the needs around us. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Tom points us to the purpose of Pentecost, which is to empower us to be witnesses of jesus and carry on His mission in the world. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

As individuals we find ourselves between the Covid 19 shut down and the opening back up. Church of the Open Door finds itself between a former pastor and a new pastor. What should we do when we are waiting for what is next? Today we look for an answer from Acts 1 and what the earliest Christians did between Jesus’ return to heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A New Way | www.thedoor.org

Singing. Laughter. Gladness. Joy. These are not natural feeling in a pandemic. But, is there something about God that should cause us to feel them even in a pandemic? Let's find out together as we wrap up our Pandemic Playlist with a selection from Psalm 68. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | A Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

The Psalms give us the permission to be fully ourselves. They provide a healthy framework to work out our emotions and relationship with God. In the midst of a pandemic, Psalm 66 invites us to feel the reality of our circumstances and the reality of a loving and generous God. Even though we may be tested and burdened, He brings us to a place of great abundance. If you are struggling with the words and emotions of praise and thanksgiving, listen in and borrow what you need. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Pastor of Formational Life | A Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

In Psalm 31, we can identify with the up-and-down of life and our journey of faith as we see David’s gratitude for the fortressing refuge of God, desperation, confidence, and pleas for deliverance. Sitting in verses 1-8 and 14-16 with David we see we actively have the choice to cling to the Rock of Refuge and entrust ourselves fully to God’s hands or give up. Can your commitment say “my times are in His hand” despite any circumstances? Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Gen Pastor | A Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

We’re in the midst of a teaching series in which we are looking at a playlist of songs from our scriptures that can help carry us through this pandemic. Today we come to a favorite song on the list: Psalm 23. What does it mean for my present and my future if, “The LORD is my shepherd…”? Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

Continuing into Eastertide and the season of Resurrection, our “Pandemic Playlist“ of Psalms on Repeat brings us to Psalm 116 and its vivid reassurance that our prayers are heard, that Someone is straining an ear to hear our cries for mercy. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

Whether infected or not infected, we have all been affected by the Covid-19. Deeply affected! With this message we kick off a teaching series in which we allow God to shepherd our souls as we listen to a selected playlist of songs/psalms from our scriptures. Today's is Psalm 16 and an invitation to feel safe. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | Pandemic Playlist | www.thedoor.org

Ever feel like everything has changed? Ever feel like everything that has changed, is changing again? That first Easter morning everything changed. But grasping that change didn’t come all at once for John, whose Easter story you will hear in this message. So, John helps us see what Jesus is inviting us to do when everything changes, and changes again. Teaching Pastor: Dale Durie, Interim Pastor | Easter | www.thedoor.org

Tonight, as friends of Jesus, we gather together to keep watch and wait with him. www.thedoor.org

Ronn Johnson takes us back into Lent with Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1-45). Ronn has some good tools to help us use our imaginations while reading the narratives of Lent, especially valuable as we keep company with Jesus on His journey to Jerusalem, the cross, and resurrection. It’s vital, in this season of so many headlines telling the story of this current crisis, that we also stay anchored in the Larger Story to which we belong and which holds onto us in the storms. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | Lent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Mark is camping out in Isaiah 41:10, "Do not fear, for I am with you." Over and over, God says, "Do not fear." There's nothing He can't handle, nothing too big. These are good verses to memorize; they're anchors and solid footing to cling to and declare as truth in our lives. And the reason we don't have to fear is because the Lord is our shepherd. The beautiful provisions of Psalm 23 are ours to rest in. So do not fear, little flock. We are the sheep of His pasture and, above the roar of the storms, we can both listen for His voice in these times and call out to Him for ourselves and for others. Teaching Speaker: Mark Collier, Guest Speaker | wwwthedoor.org | Lent 2020

Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Lent 2020 | www.thedoor.org

Ronn Johnson takes us deeper into the theme of Lent that began on Ash Wednesday: "Unless a seed falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Ronn sees that reality embedded in the scriptures for this week: blessing, life and resurrection come from death - it's part of the story, even in the face of suffering. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

We began our journey through Lent on Ash Wednesday with Jesus’s warning (and promise) that unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself, alone; but if it does die, it bears much fruit. Today, Tom Johnson continues the counter-intuitive Kingdom message as we join Jesus in his 40 days of desert wilderness and temptation. Our natural tendency is to want to rush past suffering; but when Jesus, and Paul after Him, surrendered obediently to the struggles they were strengthened in God – to which Tom asks: “So how do we deepen our roots in those dry places?” Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | www.thedoor.org

We’re in Epiphany, the season of “unveiling” and revelation about Jesus and the ways of His Kingdom. Becca Erickson shares her family’s journey with God over the past several years: “You can spend all your time in analysis, or you can come to love what God reveals to you in these hard places.” Becca, a member of Open Door with her husband Ryan and three children, is the co-founder and executive director of Emerge Mothers Academy, a Twin Cities non-profit whose goal is to equip single mothers to emerge as confident women and caring moms. Emerge Mothers Academy is one of our supported partners through Missional Life. Teaching Speaker: Becca Erickson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Continuing from Kati’s beatitudes of the upside-down gospel last week, Ronn Johnson takes us to Paul in Corinth as he walks out the countercultural and Spirit-dependent ways of the Kingdom: I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in human wisdom but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5) In Ronn's words, “Paul was repeating, maybe not in word but in action and in thought, the same gospel Jesus brought, that ‘with loud cries and tears, Jesus met the Father.’ Wherever you are – low, defeated, sad – know that Jesus comes to you and says, “Blessed are you; you’re not on Plan B.’” In our weakness, loss, discouragement, God is strong and God is for us. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

We come to Communion in the midst of our real lives, with their unexpected turns and uncertainties. Though we resist not being in control, that is the normal state of things, and that’s where God shows up in powerful ways – when life is hard and intense. In our worship together, in Kati Beasley’s message, and in coming to the Table, we will bring all the challenges facing us and lean TOGETHER into the One who is steady, who says “Blessed” and pronounces His favor on us. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Interim Pastor of Formational Life | www.thedoor.org

Mt 4:12-23, this Sunday’s Lectionary passage, Jesus inserts an interesting teaser as He calls people to follow Him: “I will send you out to fish for people.” Kathy Collier, our NextYouth Associate, proposes that, in the language of this metaphor, Jesus might be calling us to use a different lure as our culture changes. It might be scary, she admits; and it also might be that God is working in a way we’ve not seen before. Kathy, along with three of her young friends – Jonny, Gabby, and Nadine – will challenge us to look at things differently, to see what God might be up to. Teaching Speaker: Kathy Collier, NextYouth Associate | www.thedoor.org

Rose is the Associate Pastor of Formation for our sister congregation, Sanctuary Covenant Church in North Minneapolis. Rose’s talk – “Three Unlikely Virtues for Kingdom-Building Disciples” – springs from Exodus 1:15-22, the Hebrew midwives’ disobedience to Pharaoh, our faith’s ancient foundation of standing against oppression. Teaching Pastor: Rose Lee-Norman, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

These next seven Sundays encompass the season of Epiphany, Jesus' increasingly being made known to the world, revealing what kind of Gift God has sent to us so that we might understand what God is like and receive His life and love. This first Sunday of Epiphany, Tom Johnson takes us to the Jordan River as Jesus approaches John the Baptizer and asks to be baptized. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Ronn Johnson brings us to the Lord’s Table, that expansive and inclusive place of Jesus’ love and unity. Teaching Speaker: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

This is our annual Novembering service where we take time to be with one another as we mark the passing of family and friends of those in our body. We also desire to acknowledge together the many other losses people have experienced in this past year, loss of health, jobs, community, independence, and many other forms of losses. We hold these special services to honor and remember those we love, invite God’s healing presence into those tender places of grief and loss, and be reminded of the solid assurance and hope of Heaven. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Novembering | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Speaker: Scott Volltrauer, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

On this final Sunday of Advent, anticipating God’s putting on human flesh to dwell among us, we’ll experience first-hand some of the fruits of that incarnation. Filled with the Presence of this indwelling God, members of our congregation will offer us gifts that have sprung from their own Spirit-saturated creativity. In addition to Mark Collier’s message about shepherds and joy, inviting us to “make space for wonder and awe and running across muddy fields to meet our Savior,” Spencer Grimes has composed a song for us, Paul McLellan brings a faith story, Bob Stromberg will do the reading, and the entire McLellan family will light the final Advent candle. Our entire service this Sunday is a demonstration of Revelation’s promise that “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among humankind, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,” filling and equipping His people for His mission of joy into the world. Teaching Pastor: Mark Collier, Guest Speaker | Advent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Tom Johnson brings us to the magi. We know the “wise men” chose to follow the star, present their gifts, and elude Herod on their way home. We don’t know how their story ended, though – whether they ultimately chose to follow the Way of Jesus, or not. Tom points out the human struggle in having to make that decision, and every one of us has been there: Do I obey, do I not? Do I choose what may feel like death but is really Life, where God is, where Reality is? –or do I choose what looks like life in this world but results in death? This is definitely NOT “Christmas Lite” – but it is good news!! Frederick Buechner declares “that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all.” Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Advent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Kati Beasley brings us to the second Sunday of Advent with a meditation on the Innkeeper of Luke 2:7. Fredrick Buechner’s The Magnificent Defeat takes us a bit deeper into the thoughts of this character in the Christmas narrative: explaining that he’d been so harried by all the details of life, “lost in the unenchanted forest of a million trees,” a million tasks to be accomplished, the Innkeeper laments, “When the baby came, I was not around, and I saw none of it... When he came, I missed him.” Missi McKown will join Kati to offer a person reflection, and Kati will create some space for us to notice God in the unexpected places of “the unenchanted forest of a million trees, a million things to be done.” Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Formational Life Associate Pastor | Advent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

This is the start of Advent, and we have a beautiful series of services to take us into the waiting and the watching for what God is bringing forth. Our Advent series is inspired by four excerpts from Fredrick Buechner’s book, The Magnificent Defeat, with each passage taking us deeper into the thoughts of some of the central characters in the Christmas Story narrative. Our hope is that this series will invite us into a season of remembering that we are God's people and that something new is being born among us! Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas | Advent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

This Sunday, which is “Christ the King Sunday,” marks the end of the traditional Church year. Peggy wraps up the story of God that we’ve been in over the past year, and revels in the perfection and beauty of this King and His Kingdom. It’s SO different, so counter-cultural to our human ways of power and dominance. The truth, however is that it’s God’s King and God’s Kingdom that will endure forever. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Tom Johnson and friends are with us to close out our Missional Life Week of seeing and celebrating what God is up to. Nate Ussery, one of our supported partners, spoke last Sunday about the astonishing and gratifying growth of the Church worldwide. This week we get ring-side seats to God’s work that is happening among us locally, in the lives of Open Door folks we rub shoulders with regularly. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Nate Ussery, one of Open Door’s Missional Life Supported Partners, will give us a peek into what God is up to in other places that we might not be aware of. “We hear so much bad news going on in the world; we hardly ever hear the good news of the kingdom of God around the world. On just about every continent, there are so many encouraging stories. God is at work!!!” Teaching Speaker: Nate Ussery, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Our “Novembering” service, when we take time to be present to the experiences of loss and grief that come with being human. In our culture, we don’t always know how to deal with what we’ve lost. So during our Novembering service we intentionally make space to remember and enter into these places of pain, both in the company of our community of faith, and in the presence of Jesus, who carries our sorrows and bears our griefs. We learn together how to grieve and how to hold Hope for ourselves and for one another. Teaching Pastor: Bob McKenna, Care Pastor | Novembering Service | www.thedoor.org

Jason Dyer, who is typically found volunteering on Wednesday nights as a coach with our NextYouth students and mentors, will instead find his way to the platform, to explore with us Jesus’ parable of the pharisee and the tax collector (Lk 18:9-14). Jason sees in this parable that God cares more about the orientation of our hearts than our accomplishments and our posturing. And his question then is, “How do we reorient our lives, our hearts, to this way of being?” –because our heart’s orientation affects how we see and interact with God, with ourselves, and with others. Teaching Speaker: Jason Dyer, Guest Speaker | Luke 18:9-14 | www.thedoor.org

Continuing through Luke, we come to the parable about the widow and the unrighteous judge, Jesus’s teaching that we’re “to pray always and not to lose heart.” Taking us into the passage and their own experiences of God during their long journeys in prayer at Open Door will be Scott Volltrauer and Maggie Kelly. Scott and Maggie know the patience and persistence of prayer because they know the God with whom they’re conversing. Teaching Speakers: Scott Volltrauer and Maggie Kelly, Guest Speakers | www.thedoor.org

Amanda Svensk continues in Luke 17:11-19, the cleansing of ten lepers, and one who returns to fall at Jesus' feet in gratitude. Amanda finds her heart captivated by Jesus' offer of healing, wholeness, and salvation, and the choice we have as to how fully that captures us and how much a part of our very existence it becomes. Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Generation Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Our teaching team – Sonia Malmquist, Rose Larson and Taylor Bongard – have landed on the 2 Timothy 1:1-14 option, where Paul instructs young Timothy to guard the treasure that has been entrusted to him, to own, protect, tend, cultivate and live out the life of God that has been deposited in him. This past August, Sonia, Rose and Taylor experienced this God-life powerfully on display in the Minnesota-Camp folks with disabilities. In Taylor’s words, “The three of us have been destroyed by the life of God these campers give us. We’re there to serve them and give them the best week of their life, and it turns out to be the best week of OUR life. They just have this complete faith and trust in Jesus, where we have to TRY to live that way.” Teaching Team: Sonia Malmquist, Next Gen; Rose Larson, Missional Life and Taylor Bongard, Community Life. | From: 1 Timothy 1:1-14 | www.thedoor.org

Tom Johnson will lead us through Psalm 84, anchoring us in God’s goodness and provision and His longing for us to join in His mission of restoration. Appropriately enough, embedded among the psalm’s worship stanzas, there’s even a prayer we can pray for our leaders Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Steve Wiens joins us to tackle what many commentaries refer to as one of Jesus' hardest parables to understand, Luke 16:1-9. The Pharisees have been grumbling about the people Jesus hangs out with, so Jesus tells this story to stir the pot really hard. Steve hold that the shrewd manager is actually a picture of the scandalous grace of the Gospel, and that (Steve's words) "The brilliance of this parable is that while we're objecting, 'Yeah, but this guy's dishonest! How could he possible be a hero?!" that's the point: the gospel is THAT scandalous and will continue to disrupt our ways of thinking if we let it in" Teaching Pastor: Steve Wiens, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Mark Collier preaches from Luke 15:1-10, Jesus’ parables about a coin and a sheep that were lost and sought and found, stories that show us a God who is always searching for us. God’s relentless pursuit of His beloved creatures makes Christianity unique in all the world – a God who reaches for us, not the other way around. But even though we’ve been found, we are still “prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love.” Mark sees in these parables the invitation to turn around, to let go of the things we’ve grabbed onto, which is simply another way of saying “repent.” Teaching Pastor: Mark Collier, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker

Teaching Pastor: Taylor Bongard, Community Life Associate Pastor

Tom Johnson, Pastor of Missional Life, speaks along with Amanda Svensk, Open Door’s Pastor of Next Generation. While they both acknowledge that we are indeed in a place of waiting right now, they’ve also seen how very busy God has been – in Slovakia, at AWOL, and right in our midst – and if we’re simply waiting for someone to come or something to happen, we will miss out on what God has for us in this season. The lavish goodness and beauty of God’s kingdom ways have been set loose among us!!! Teaching Pastors: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor and Amanda Svensk, Next Generation Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Congregational Meeting with Ops Task Force and Governing Board

Al is a former Open Door pastor and currently serves as Executive Director of Beyond Our Door Global. Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Dr. Ruben Rivera, pastor, history professor and chief diversity officer at Bethel University, will continue the themes Drew Pederson unfolded for us this last Sunday. He recalled for us Jesus’ invitation to “be rich in the things of God” (Lk 12:21); this week, in Luke 12:32-40, Ruben takes us to Jesus’ declaration that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” These are familiar, learned-them-in-Sunday-School words – but do we really know our own heart and what it actually treasures? We like to think we know. We like to think that our treasure truly resides in the Kingdom of God, but most of us are such mixed bags. That’s why we need to pray! Lord, show us ourselves. Help us examine that gap between ideals and realities, between the old, unregenerated me and the new me in Jesus. Let’s soak our souls in the first verse of the Luke passage: “Fear not, little flock, for the Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom.” (Lk 12:32) Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ruben Rivera, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Drew Pederson, one of our governing elders, brings us to Luke 12:13-21, Jesus’ invitation to be “rich in the things of God,” a contrast to His warning to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” For Drew, this posture of being rich toward God is an open-handedness and generosity in every area of our lives – not just dollars and cents, but all of our decisions regarding such things as use of time and resources, and the amount of control we attempt to exert over things we think we ought to be able to influence. This is where the Kingdom of God collides with – and offers such hearty and life-giving alternatives to – the distorted, constrained, and small kingdoms of this world. Teaching Speaker: Drew Pederson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Yau Stillone, one of our governing elders, continues with our next passage in Luke. We’ve come to the question asked by Jesus’s disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1-13). Jesus’s answer gives us deep assurance that God indeed is a good God, that we can approach Him, and that He hears and answers. Whatever our experiences and understandings of prayer, we can enter in wherever we are, and the Lord will meet us there. Teaching Speaker: Yau Stillone, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Amanda Svensk, our Pastor of Next Generation, shares Mary and Martha’s story (Luke 10:38-42) from her own very-full, new-mom-and-also-a-kids-and-youth-pastor life. She declared emphatically on Tuesday that “When our yokes are heavy, God is who we are supposed to turn to – not our task list.” Mary and Martha's story is not a one-and-done, learned-about-this-in-Sunday-School lesson, but one of ongoing dependence and intimacy with Jesus. Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Next Generation Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Ronn takes us future into the story of Luke 10 with Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan and Jesus' uncomfortable question, "Who, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" Ronn maintains that what Jesus was asking the teacher of the law was, "Are you actually going to love the person you're uncomfortable with?" Loving God/loving others had been the Jewish scriptures for millennia; it was not a foreign concept - just very, very challenging for them then, and for us in 2019. We who struggle to love the "other", that person or class of people of whom we disapprove or dislike - we're not alone. Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Having earlier sent out His 12 disciples to preach and do miracles, then James and John wanting to call down heaven's fire to blast a village that wouldn't receive them, Jesus now sends out a much larger number of His followers to heal people and bring messages of peace and the availability of God's kingdom. When they report back in, Jesus' responses give us a breathtaking view into God's heart for His beloved creatures and what He is up to -- not only "back then" in His earthly ministry, but also right now, among us. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 | www.thedoor.org

Kati describes Luke 9:51-62 as "one of the super-aggressive teachings of Jesus." One individual offer to follow Jesus, to which Jesus replies that though foxes have holes and birds have nests, He has nowhere to lay His head. To another person who wants first to bury his father, Jesus replies that the dead should bury the dead. And to the third who wishes first to say goodbye to his family, Jesus declares that "if your hand is on the plow but your eyes are looking backward, then you're not fit for the Kingdom of God." Luke doesn't describe any kind of response from these three people. and Kati wonders whether those empty spaces in the narrative might be an invitation for us to pause, to examine what we wrap our lives around, to consider the freedom Jesus offers, and not to be fearful of following Him. Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Adult Life Associate Pastor | Luke 9:51-62 | www.thedoor.org

Mark Collier speaks from Luke's account of Jesus' asking His disciples that question. Mark explains that, just as for Jesus' first disciples, this question is the turning point for us too. Our answer to that question will require further response on our part. Do we believe He's the Messiah? Will we accept His gift of grace and forgiveness?And then there's His third invitation/requirement, to take on His character and live as He does: "Whoever wants to be My disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23 This is so countercultural, so counter to our instincts of self-preservation and self-determination. Added to the mix are the spiritual realities that oppose God's Kingdom and want to hold us back from surrender and obedience. The only answer is to relinquish our power and control, by the help of the Holy Spirit, in order to enter more fully into that Abundant Life Jesus died to bring us -- for ourselves and for the whole world. This IS the Good News from our good and beautiful God, who longs to redeem and restore all things. Teaching Speaker: Mark Collier. Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Becca Erickson takes us to Luke 7 where a "sinful woman who has been forgiven much" dares to enter a pharisee's house to pour out her grateful love and tears onto Jesus's feet. As Jesus confronts the pharisee and defends this woman from his contemptuous judgement we too find ourselves sheltered in His astonishing forgiveness. Teaching Speaker: Becca Erickson, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

This Pentecost Sunday Tom Johnson doesn't want us to miss that people were in Jerusalem "from every nation under heaven". In other words when those disciples tumbled down the upper-room stairs and into the streets, God had just sent them out into the whole world, equipped with the capacity to tell that whole world of the plan God has for all people, all nations, everyone. And God's heart hasn't changed. Tom's words: "We don't have to discern that. What needs discerning is how God wants to use us, how the Holy Spirit will move us into that stream." With Tom is Paul Bradley, a member of Open Door's Missional Life board, who a year ago started a nonprofit as God moved his heart to assist destitute individuals, families and communities. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Our scripture passage this week is John 17:20-26 a small clip from Jesus' longer "high-priestly prayer", we're permitted to listen in on Jesus' talking to His Father -- about US! This short snip of a passage is only seven verses, but it is LOADED with truth, grace, glory, and mystery as Jesus lets us in on the dreams He has for us and those who will follow after us. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Scott Volltrauer, Amy, and their now-grown children have been part of Open Door since the “old days” in Robbinsdale, and they’re one of our Missional Life Supported Partners, working with TreeHouse in the metro area. TreeHouse’s mission is to help teens learn to know God’s love, in order to end the hopelessness that threatens to swamp these young people. John 14:23-27, from which Scott will be teaching, is Jesus’ promise to give us his supernatural peace in the midst of our everyday, actual lives – a gift greatly needed by kids who face engulfing hopelessness, and by all of us as we contend with the struggles of life outside Eden. Teaching Pastor: Scott Volltrauer | www.thedoor.org

This week's passage is probably quite familiar - John 13:31-35, where Jesus gives the "new commandment" that we're to love one another, and that this is the mark by which others will recognize us as Jesus-followers. As Anne-Marie was preparing for this talk, she was caught by the shocking ordinariness of how Jesus showed His friends the full extent of His love: He washed their feet. This task was so common in that culture - people were always washing their feet; but it was an utterly menial task for servants or slaves, certainly not a rabbi, who would have held a position of honor. Jesus' kind of self-emptying, of serving another, giving preference and honor to another in these ordinary, familiar places, is quite radical and upside-down. Holy Spirit, work among us. Help us learn this Love. Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | www.thedoor.org

Kati Beasley takes us to Psalm 23, where she sees as an invitation to utter trust in this Shepherd who knows each of His sheep so thoroughly. In her words, “Maybe God really does know me that well, and maybe I could actually lie down and be at peace if somebody like that had my back.” Kati points out too that “what this Shepherd does for us, we’re then able to do for others, a gift to daily lives that are typically a rat-race.” Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Adult Life Associate Pastor | Psalm 23 | www.thedoor.org

Dr. Ruben Rivera takes us into Jesus' conversation with Peter on the shore: "Simon, son of John, do you love me? -- Feed my lambs. -- Tend my sheep. -- Feed my sheep. Our love of Jesus will propel us outward toward others as bearers of that shalom that Taylor spoke of last Sunday. In Ruben's words being "heavenly minded" -- loving Jesus -- will produce "worldly good" as we tend and feed, nourish and sustain others. Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ruben Rivera, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Taylor Bongard, our Associate Pastor of Community Life, takes us into the first Sunday of Eastertide, the 50-day feast of celebration from Resurrection to Pentecost that gives us space to rejoice in the life that comes to us from Easter. The gospel passage for this Sunday is John 20:19-31, Jesus’s appearing to the disciples as they’re huddled in fear behind locked doors. With a message so important that he says it three times, Jesus pronounces peace to his fearful friends, and to us Teaching Pastor: Taylor Bongard, Associate Pastor of Community Life | www.thedoor.org

Tom Johnson takes us into the wonderfully mysterious, fantastic ways Jesus personally encountered His friends after His resurrection. As you too encounter Jesus in the events of Easter may you hear Him calling your name, as He spoke to Mary. May your heart burn within you as you too recognize Him traveling with you in the confusing and despairing places of life. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Easter Sunday | www.thedoor.org

Palm Sunday: branches, processions, a donkey. And Hosanna! Some think our hosanna songs are another way of saying hallelujah. But hosanna means to beseech, to cry out for salvation, to plead for rescue -- hosanna is a human and utterly fitting way to enter Holy Week and the journey to the Cross and Resurrection. Peggy Lang and Greg Bunce invite us into the Story to find ourselves in the narrative, to see (again!) our own need for rescue, and to encounter in Jesus the grace and forgiveness we need. Remember, worship and enter into these events as if we ourselves had been present that day, that week, in Jerusalem. The whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (Luke 19:37-39) Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor and Greg Bunce, Guest Speaker | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Congregational Meeting with Governing Board

Mark takes us into John 12:1-8 and Jesus' upside-down (or as Mark believes, actually right-side-up) kingdom. Mark sees in Mary's anointing Jesus with her rare and costly perfume an example of what it means to love like Jesus loves. Jesus poured Himself out for us and calls us now to incarnate that same kind of extravagant and costly love to others. Teaching Pastor: Mark Collier, Guest Speaker | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Dr Ruben Rivera contends what "If we have been saved through Christ, adopted even though enemies of God, something remarkable should emerge from that." We are God-for-us people, called to partner with God in extending that "for-ness" beyond ourselves, offering the world a remarkable alternative that is quite at odds with the way things are. Teaching Pastor: Ruben Rivera, Guest Speaker | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Dr. Ronn Johnson takes us into the 2nd week of Lent with a rich exploration of Genesis 15 and God's promise to Abraham to give him a son. Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ronn Johnson, Guest Speaker | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

We've turned the corner from Epiphany and we now move into the weeks of Lent to follow Jesus to the cross and ultimately, resurrection. This past week we gathered for our Ash Wednesday service and Kati Beasley's beautiful introduction to the rhythms and reasons for this season. Peggy continues with those themes speaking on Jesus' time of testing in the desert and the goodness of God that Jesus held onto as He withstood the devil's temptations. We start the trek from Epiphany's brilliant unveilings to Lent's harder road toward Jerusalem. God is good; God is with us; and God is for us. And on that harder road to which Lent invites us, we can learn from our companion Jesus to anchor into the goodness that is the Kingdom of God. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Adult Life Associate Pastor | Lent 2019 | www.thedoor.org

The final Sunday of Epiphany, Amanda Svensk, our interim Pastor of Next Generation, will be speaking. Epiphany’s theme is the unfolding revelation of Jesus as the divine Son of God; and this week’s passage from Luke 9, the Transfiguration, is the culmination of this unveiling, as Peter, James and John get “up close and personal” with God’s glory. Teaching Pastor: Amanda Svensk, Pastor of Next Generation | www.thedoor.org

Peggy starts off with "love your enemies" then progresses through "do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you" This is SO not human nature - but it is most definitely God's nature, who desires that all would flourish and thrive. Love is of God, John the Apostle said. So our efforts to follow Jesus' way must start with God, learning and growing in the beauty, truth, strength and mercy of His heart. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Prayer Ministries Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Vince Miller, author and founder of Resolute, speaks on Jeremiah 17:5-12 the Old Testament passage in the lectionary for this week. Jeremiah lays out such a clear contrast between our pull to trust in our own strategies for power, esteem and security and the life God offers as we relinquish our own schemes and root ourselves deeply into Him. Teaching Pastor: Vince Miller, Guest Speaker | Jeremiah 17:5-12 | www.thedoor.org

Tom Johnson and Prince Cole share the pulpit. What does the Beloved Community look like and how do we practice some of the practical ahava Joel described last week -- God 's kind of love, shalom, the Kingdom. This week we'll look at where the power comes from and how we access the power of Jesus' resurrection in daily Life. We sense God wants to release, heal, deliver and welcome ALL of us in this community we call Open Door. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor and Prince Cole, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Joel speaks on 1 Corinthians 13 and because this is such a well-known passage, Joel is intent on helping us get past our cliched familiarity with these words. Joel shares a beautiful practice that'll help us to align increasingly with God's kind of love. Teaching Pastor: Joel Hanson, Worship Pastor | What's Love Got to do With It? | www.thedoor.org

Jesus' reading the scroll in Nazareth's synagogue, proclaiming such ROBUST good news that is able to carry the world's troubles and struggles and not be overwhelmed by them. His statement that "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" was a pivotal point in history, a declaration that Salvation had indeed come among them - and now among us. The restoration He brings is something we then participate in and extend outward to the world around us. Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | www.thedoor.org

Paul the Apostle saw the Beloved Community as so organic, so connected, he needed the physical metaphor of the human body and its arms and legs to describe the significance of our attachment to one another. We all comprehend in our own bodies that when one limb is injured, every other part of the body suffers as well. In the Beloved Community Body of Christ, we have work to do to acknowledge and heal the pains and injuries in our limbs; and to do that, we need the illumination of the Holy Spirit to guide us in God's ways. Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ken Young, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Dr. Young sets before us this vision of The Beloved Community. Teaching Pastor: Dr. Ken Young, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Tom speaks on the arrival of the Wise Men. The story of the Magi was Matthew's confrontation on the learned Jewish scholars who knew where Messiah was to be born but failed to act, as those pagan Magi did. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Matthew 2:1-12 | www.thedoor.org

Luke 2:41-52 is the only account of Jesus as a boy, amazing the religious leaders in the temple with His answers to their questions. This is a pivotal point in Jesus' life: He's coming into His identity, awakening to the truth of who He is. And for all their amazement, the religious leaders don't see what was going on right in front of them. What are we of Open Door awakening to? As we look throughout the room and the story of our church on this last Sunday of 2018, what is growing? What seeds have been sprouting that we can notice, water, and call out as a gift God has given us? Teaching Pastor: Taylor Bongard, Adult Life Associate Pastor | www.thedoor.org

What an amazing story we're in, and what an almost-unbelievable piece of it we're getting ready to celebrate!!! The God Who Comes--not just to the burning bush, to Mt. Sinai, to the Holy of Holies --THIS God puts on flesh and blood and moves into the neighborhood with us!!!!! We're celebrating with carols, candles and some thoughts from Anne-Marie Finsaas to help us see more clearly what kind of God our God is, that after 400 years of silence, the first thing God says to humanoid is, "Fear not" to Zacharias, to Mary, to the shepherds. Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | www.thedoor.org

This third Sunday of Advent, Kati brings us to Luke 3:7-18, the Gentile physician's account of John the Baptist as he interacts with the crowd. John has just delivered some dire warnings, and people are asking, "So what ought we do???!!" Kati finds comforting simplicity in John's answers. Soldiers, tax collectors, people in the crowd--all receive similar responses, which Kati boils down to, "Don't overthink it! Just move toward others in love." Teaching Pastor: Kati Beasley, Adult Life Associate Life Pastor | Advent 2018 | www.thedoor.org

Drew describes this Genesis story of God's covenanting with Abram as "anchoring us in the place where God has done and is doing everything that needs to be done in order for us to respond. He is always making a way for us to pursue hope and faith and love." Teaching Pastor: Drew Pederson, Governing Elder | Advent 2018 | www.thedoor.org

Peggy speaks on the God Who Comes - not just for the long-ago Christmas Birth, and then ultimately His glorious, shaking, end-times return - but the God who right now, over and over and over, moves toward us, fills us, then send us toward one another with gifts of grace, truth, healing and love. Teaching Pastor: Peggy Lang, Pastor of Prayer Ministries | Advent 2018 | www.thedoor.org

We have been fed so richly from the Word of God that Pastor David Johnson has spoken to us over the decades. It is our privilege to celebrate and honor David and Bonnie, and to do what that Hebrews passage directs: to "remember, bring to mind, rehearse, make mention of and be mindful of" David's faith-filled and Spirit-dependent words that have so consistently proclaimed to us the grace and truth of Jesus' Gospel. Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor and Guest Speakers | www.thedoor.org

This is David's final message as Open Door's Lead Teaching Pastor. This Sunday will continue the flow of Deuteronomy 4, where Moses, said "Don't forget the things your eyes have seen and ears have heard...and remember." Remember that as "John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day", what he saw was Jesus, right in the middle of the church - which means He was with them right in the middle of the mess, the confusion, and the fear. So whatever else we need to see in this transition, what we need to see most is Jesus, right in the middle of it all, WITH US! Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Anne-Marie Finsaas takes us to the Lectionary's Old Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Kings 17:8-16. Elijah, at God's direction, has prophetically pronounced a drought upon Israel because of Ahab and Jezebel's apostasy; then God command Elijah: "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon (Jezebel's homeland!), and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you. What miraculous provisions and interventions might we see as we walk out the obediences of both Elijah and the widow?? Teaching Pastor: Anne-Marie Finsaas, Pastor of Formational Life | Ordinary Time | www.thedoor.org

This is our Novembering service when we gather as a community to remember those who are no longer among us and invite God into our places of loss and grief. The context for our remembering is the Communion Table, the gift from our flesh-and-blood God who struggled, like we do, with death and separation, yet surrendered in obedience and love in order to bring us back to God and make all things new. In our culture, we don’t always know how to deal with what we’ve lost. So on this Sunday we intentionally make space to remember and, again like Jesus, enter into these gardens of struggle in the company of others. Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | www.thedoor.org

David bring us back to Moses and the Israelites preparing to cross the Jordan River and enter the land God had promised them. But things like that don't always come easy; and it wasn't until they were willing to step into the deep waters of a risky obedience that God made a way for them. There are so many lessons for us in the account of God's dealings with His people! May we respond with the faith of the priests who stepped obediently into floodwaters (probably with wobbly trust!) and created dry ground for others to follow. Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | www.thedoor.org

David takes us to Deuteronomy 4:9 for a significant sermon series between now and November 25. In this passage, the children of Israel are preparing to enter the Promised Land. Moses, knowing that his own departure is imminent, urges them: Do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. What have our eyes seen in these last 38 years? What have we experienced of the grace, truth, power and goodness of God that must not slip from our hearts? Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Mark 10:17-31 shows us the love Jesus had for the rich young ruler even as he was struggling with what Jesus had told him he needed to do. Teaching Pastor: Tom Johnson, Missional Life Pastor | Ordinary Time | www.thedoor.org

This is Al Schuck's last Sunday with us as a Pastor on staff here at Open Door. From here on, the scope of his pastoring broadens considerably, spanning to include Haiti, Kenya and Uganda. Al share's with us a bit of his story from transitioning from Open Door to Beyond Our Door Global, inviting us all into the bigger story of what God is doing in us and in the world. Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Community Life Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Chris speaks on friendship in the margins, the simple radical, countercultural incarnational practice of presence that can bring reconciliation and healing to our broken world. Chris Heuertz, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Jeff VanVonderen, Guest Speaker | www.thedoor.org

Jesus’ first question to His disciples, as they’re on the way to Caesarea Philippi, is, “What’s the word on street? What do you hear out there? Who do people say that I am?” What David sees here is that Jesus really doesn’t care what people say about who they think He is, because the penetrating question is, “Who do you say that I am?” While most of us resonate with Peter’s “You are the Christ, the son of the living God,” we sometimes forget. The extraordinary nature of who He is becomes ordinary, and the familiar things that we truly do believe become unfamiliar. We forget that He really is the Christ, the Son of the Living God; and that He really is “the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation… that all things were created by Him, through Him and for Him… and in Him all things hold together.” Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Who Do You Say That I Am? | Ordinary Time

Jesus' stern response to the Pharisees' criticism that His followers didn't adequately follow Jewish rituals of cleansing, contending that "it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly; all these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." Jesus confronts the temple system that excluded people of poverty who couldn't afford the requisite external washings; and He confronts our own religious propensities to put on a good show while our heart grows cold and we simply go through the motions -- of marriage, job, church -- and ignore the heart that He longs to warm and cleanse. Jesus' statements like this occur throughout the Gospels and have been foundational for Open Door for years, inviting us to "get out here what's inside" and to pay attention to the interior "heart work" rather than "polish the outside of the cup and of the dish" while the inside remains "full of robbery and self-indulgence." Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Ordinary Time | www.thedoor.org

At the beginning of John 6 Jesus was at the top of His game, thousands following Him wherever He went. They were already singing His praises when He added to their astonishment by providing food for them all with five loaves and two fish. But when He clarified to them what He really came to do and what He really came to offer (not physical, but spiritual bread), they did what the crowd often does; they withdrew from Him. David wants to explore with us the relationship Jesus had with the crowd. He really did care for them; He taught them about the Kingdom; He healed them; He fed them; He had compassion on them. But He never chased them, He was never enamored with them, and He never softened His message to become more attractive to them. We need to study Jesus here and learn from Him. Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Ordinary Time | www.thedoor.org

David is preaching from John 6:51-58, with the Jewish authorities – and even those who’d followed Jesus – balking at His words, ““Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Jesus’s odd words that invite us to take in this Living Bread, to absorb Him into ourselves and thereby come to life. Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Lead Teaching Pastor | Ordinary Time | www.thedoor.org

Al Schuck takes us deeper into John's story of Jesus in John 6:35, 41-51. What we see in this passage is that Jesus is God, the only one who leads to life - but we get sucked into believing in so many other gods and try to fill our hunger and thirst with so many other things. But Jesus is the true Bread of Life, and it is Jesus who shows us what the Father is really like. Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Community Life Pastor | Ordinary Time | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastors: David Johnson, Senior Pastor and Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | Lent 2016 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent 2016 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent 2016 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent 2016 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Acts | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner, Teaching Pastor | Series: Acts | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson | Series: Acts | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastors: David Johnson, Senior Pastor and Tom Johnson, Teaching Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner, Teaching Pastor | Series: Advent 2015 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner, Teaching Pastor | Series: Advent 2015 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Advent 2015 | www.thedoor.org

David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Advent 2015 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastors: David Johnson, Senior Pastor and Peter Kapsner, Teaching Pastor | Series: Advent 2015 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Samaria | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Samaria | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Bob McKenna, Care Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Samaria | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Samaria | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From Acts 10 & 11 | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastors: Al Schuck and Taylor Bongard, Next Steps

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor and Peter Kapsner | Series: Samaria | www.thedoor.org Acknowledging the Samaria -- Matt 28 & Acts 1:8

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Samaria | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Brian Houts, Next Generation Pastor | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Vicki Degner, Spiritual Development Pastor | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Looking Back as We Look Ahead | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Steve Hanson, Beyond Our Door Global | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Vicki Degner, Spiritual Development Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastors: Brian Houts, Sara Richards, Ministry Teams and Participants

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Easter | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | Series: Lent | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent | www.thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Nina Barnes, Board Chairperson | Series: Lent | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Lent

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect and Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect and Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Discover, Connect and Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect and Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect and Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect and Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Vicki Degner, Spiritual Development Pastor | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Advent | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Advent | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Advent | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Advent | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Vicki Degner, Spiritual Development Pastor | Series: Novembering | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Peter Kapsner | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Vicki Degner, Spiritual Development Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | Series: Discover, Connect & Serve | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 13:1-3 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 12:1-23 | thedoor.org

Guest: Dr. Ruth Haley Barton - Founder of the Transforming Center transformingcenter.org/in/about/ruth-bio.shtml#.U_IO1kiVEj6 | From: Luke 24:33-49 | thedoor.org | transformingcenter.org

Guest: Nina Barnes, Chairperson and President - Church of the Open Door | From: John 17:1-21 & 1 Corinthians 13:4-7| thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Vicki Degner, Spiritual Development Pastor | From: 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, 3:2-3, 5:20 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 11:1-18 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 10:1-43 | thedoor.org

Guest: Kent Carlson, Senior Pastor - Oak Hills Church in Folsom | http://oakhills.org | From: Genesis 2:15-3:10 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 9:32-42 | thedoor.org

Guest: Peter Kapsner | Series: Acts | From: Acts 9:17-18, John 3:1-10 & 2 Corinthians 4:16 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 9:19-31 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 9:1-31 & 2 Cor. 5:17 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 9 & Phil. 3 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: David Johnson, Senior Pastor | Series: Acts | From: Acts 9:1-19 & Phil 3:7-9 | thedoor.org

Teaching Pastor: Al Schuck, Next Steps Pastor | From: John 16:16, 20-22 & 33 | thedoor.org