McGregor Podcast

What does it actually mean to be thankful for your country without loving it more than you love the Kingdom of God?
In this Journey Together Summer teaching, Pastor Russell Howard marks the nation's 250th birthday with four specific reasons for gratitude: God's sovereign hand over the rise and fall of nations, the principle of religious liberty born out of a Baptist conviction, America's unmatched missionary heritage, and the everyday common grace God has poured out on this country. He closes with a challenge from Philippians 3:20, that every citizenship a believer holds is layered, and the highest one never fades.
Whether you find it easy to celebrate the Fourth of July or complicated, this teaching gives you a clear, biblical way to hold gratitude for your country and greater devotion to God's kingdom in the same hand.
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.comThere's a place for you here. Plan your first Sunday at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

What did the location of Peter's great confession reveal about what Jesus was claiming?
In this Beyond the Notes episode, Pastor Russell Howard goes beyond his notes from Sunday's sermon on Matthew 16 to explore the geography and archaeology of Caesarea Philippi. He traces the city's history as a center of pagan worship, explains the significance of the cave known as the Gate of Hades, and unpacks the petros/petra distinction Jesus drew between Peter and the rock on which he would build his church.
The geography does not complete the text. But for anyone who has ever read Matthew 16 and sensed there is more beneath the surface, this episode brings the setting into focus in a way that makes the confession of Christ land with full weight.
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.comNew to McGregor? Plan a visit at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

The King Has Come
"The Great Confession"(Matthew 16:13-20)
The world is full of people who think well of Jesus. Every major religion has something generous to say about him. Most people in your neighborhood, given the chance, would call him a great teacher or a profound moral leader. But in Matthew 16, Jesus makes clear that a high opinion is not the same as the right answer.
In this sermon, Pastor Russell Howard works through Matthew 16:13-20 from Caesarea Philippi, a city built for idolatry at the northern edge of Jesus's earthly ministry. There, surrounded by temples to false gods, Jesus asks his disciples the one question that cuts through every polite comparison: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter's answer, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," is not something he reasoned his way to. Jesus is clear: the Father revealed it. That distinction matters for every believer. Faith in Christ is not a conclusion you earned. It is a grace you received.
Pastor Howard also addresses one of the most misread verses in the Gospels: "on this rock I will build my church." He traces the difference between petros (the name given to Peter, a small stone) and petra (the bedrock of the confession itself), showing that the church stands on the truth that Jesus is the Christ, not on any man. From there, the sermon moves to the certainty Jesus gives his church: that she belongs to him, that the organized forces of darkness will not prevail against her, and that she carries the responsibility of faithfully reflecting the Kingdom in how she receives and releases members.
Sermon NotesJune 28, 2026Pastor Russell Howard • Lead Pastor
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.comNew to McGregor? Plan a visit at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

The moment you hear a sermon about handling life's interruptions is often the moment the interruption arrives.
In this Around McGregor, Mark Bricker, Tamar Miller, and Christian Miller close out the first half of summer before the show's annual July break. They cover the July 1st celebration of God's faithfulness in Fellowship Hall (dinner at 5 p.m., program at 6:30), the summer Wednesday night series "How to Handle Life's Interruptions" returning July 8th with Pastor Russell Howard, the Faith and Fitness Retreat on July 18th, a family mission trip to Arizona, and the full July dinner calendar. They also introduce Sheila Ponds, McGregor's new Administrative Assistant for Student Ministries, whose story runs from Havana to Miami to Fort Myers through generations of faithful ministry.
Anyone wanting to stay connected to the McGregor family this summer will leave this episode with dates, details, and a reason to show up. Around McGregor returns August 2nd.
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What do you do when everything you counted on suddenly comes apart?
In this opening Journey Together teaching, Pastor Russell Howard draws from the life of Joseph in Genesis 37, 39-41, and 50 to walk through the things every believer needs to learn in the light, before the dark arrives. He covers seven specific realities: the world is broken, people are fallen, your days are numbered, deserve is a dangerous word, a refining process is part of following Christ, you are not home yet, and on your best day and your worst, God is sovereign. Alongside each of these truths, he traces Joseph's biography from favored son to forgotten prisoner to prime minister of Egypt, showing how each disruption in Joseph's story was navigated not by good luck but by settled conviction.
The episode lands on three takeaways from Joseph's perspective: obedience and faithfulness kept mattering through the ruin, bitterness feeds on the gap between expectation and reality, and the names of Joseph's sons (Manasseh and Ephraim, forgetful and fruitful) map the path from surviving a collapse to living beyond it. This teaching is for anyone facing an interruption they did not plan for, and for anyone wise enough to prepare while they still have the chance.
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.comNew to McGregor? Plan a visit at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

The Pharisees and Sadducees look like a unified front in the four Gospels. They were not.
In this Beyond the Notes episode, Pastor Russell Howard traces the distinct origins, beliefs, and social roles of these two first century Jewish parties. The Sadducees controlled the high priesthood under Roman favor but rejected the resurrection, angels, and miracles taught in the Old Testament. The Pharisees were the devout cultural anchor of Jewish life and held the trust of the common people. Their rivalry was deep enough that when the Apostle Paul exploited it in Acts 23, a formal council meeting turned violent.
What unites groups that agree on nothing? Opposition to Jesus. Pastor Howard draws from Matthew 16 and Acts 23 to show that this pattern did not end in the first century and helps listeners read the Gospels with fresh eyes and a clearer framework.
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The King Has Come
"Doubt and Discipleship"(Matthew 16:1-12)
In this Sunday sermon, Pastor Russell Howard examines two contrasting responses to Jesus in Matthew 16. The Pharisees and Sadducees arrive demanding proof, but their problem is not a lack of evidence. It is a resolved commitment to protect the sin their doubt allows them to keep. Jesus gives them a single answer: the sign of Jonah, pointing to his death and resurrection as the only sign that will be given.
Then the scene shifts. The disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee and realize they forgot to bring bread. When Jesus warns them about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they assume he is talking about lunch. He is not. He points them back to the two miraculous feedings they witnessed firsthand and calls them to interpret their own experiences through what he has actually said, not the other way around. Pastor Russell walks through what the leaven of the Pharisees (adding to God's Word) and the leaven of the Sadducees (cutting from it) look like in the life of a believer today, and why the only stable ground is this: God's Word is authoritative, and God's Word is enough.
Sermon NotesJune 21, 2026Russell Howard • Lead Pastor
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.comThere's a place for you here. Plan your first Sunday at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

What does a full week of God at work actually look like? VBS just wrapped, a mission team is on the ground in Austria, and summer at McGregor is officially in motion.
In this episode, Christian and Tamar recap VBS Rainforest Falls, including a peak nightly attendance of 433 children, 266 volunteers, and $6,569 raised for Go Tell Stories missions. They walk through the Journey Together Wednesday night series launching this week with Pastor Russell Howard, covering topics like fear, betrayal, failure, and delay. They also share details on the Faith and Fitness Retreat for women on July 18th, and end with a live call to Rosa Martinez, one month into her new role at the McGregor front desk.
Whether you want to stay connected to what God is doing at McGregor this summer, or you're just getting to know the church, this episode covers the week in about twelve minutes.
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026
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Were the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 the same event? Some scholars say yes, and they use that claim to cast doubt on the reliability of the Gospels and the whole of Scripture.
In this episode of Beyond the Notes, Elder Peter Finch walks through the specific differences between the two miracles: the location, the crowd, the season, the amount of food used, the length of time the people had been with Jesus, the Greek word for "basket," and the crowd's response afterward. He also examines Matthew 16, where Jesus himself references both feedings by name, and considers why Christ would repeat a miracle of this magnitude.
The answer has less to do with the bread and more to do with who Jesus is feeding. His provision is not reserved for one people group, one season, or one kind of person. He is the bread of life for Jews and Gentiles, for the familiar and the stranger, for those who have come to church for years and those who have never walked through the door.
Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.comNew to McGregor? Plan a visit at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

The King Has Come
"Thy Compassions, They Fail Not"(Matthew 15:29-39)
In Matthew 15, Jesus moves through Gentile territory with the same compassion He showed Israel. He heals the lame, the blind, the crippled, and the mute, then feeds a crowd of 4,000 with seven loaves and a few small fish. Elder Peter Finch walks through both of these moments to show what compassion actually means. Not a polite feeling, but a God who sees pain, suffers alongside it, and acts to relieve it. He also addresses the disciples' tendency to forget what God has already done, a tendency that is easy to recognize because it is our own. The sermon closes with a direct call to anyone who has not yet come to Christ: God's patience toward you is itself an act of compassion, meant to draw you to repentance.
Sermon NotesJune 14, 2025Elder Peter Finch
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