Chicago Fellowship Talks

Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, but Lazarus was not transformed. He was still mortal, subject to the curse, and destined to die again. In other words, Lazarus was resuscitated; he was not truly resurrected. This message contrasts the difference between being rescued by God and being reborn, and asks whether we have accepted a lesser gospel of mere resuscitation when the life we are called to is one of transformation possible through the power of Christ's resurrection.  

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it was his most public and spectacular miracle ever. But why were most of his miracles before this marked by secrecy and subtlety instead? In this message, Skye explores the role spectacles play in our faith, why we are so drawn to them, and why they usually fail to foster a transformative, sustainable love for God.

Every man has a calling. Not every man counts what it costs the people closest to him. Through the forgotten story of Obadiah, we examine the hidden price families pay when a man runs hard after purpose and never looks back.

In a world that can seem hopeless at times, God promises to fill us with hope! He helps us move forward by looking back at the receipts of his faithfulness through the Bible, through our lives and through the lives of others.

In this session, Rev. Dr. C.E. Campbell shares his personal experience with political polarization, how it has impacted his church, and lessons he has learned while seeking to engage those who are given over to it.

Patrick Fisher opens up Luke 10 and Classical Greek literature to explore how Jesus satisfies our hunger for immortality, transforming self-focused heroism into a life reflecting God's glory as a saint.

Believing God about his future and his presence allows us to accept God's invitations with living faith.

Dallas Willard said, "A mature follower of Jesus is almost impossible to offend." If that's true, why are so many Christians offended so often? By examining several scenes surrounding Jesus' arrest, Skye outlines three reasons followers of Jesus are offended, how each reveals our immaturity, and a spiritual practice to help us grow beyond offense.

Worship translates our day-to-day circumstances by acknowledging God's transcendence, exalting God's attributes and actions, and proclaiming God's supremacy.

Jon Houghton and Austin Carr have a candid conversation about the pursuit of Godly ambition.

There is much for followers of Jesus to endure in this life but sometimes our endurance can distract us from our love for one another. Jesus invites to return to the "love we had at first."

Jon Houghton teaches us how to turn our "right belief" that all people are created in the image of God into "right action"

Collin Hansen Editor in Chief at The Gospel Coalition shares lessons learned from the life of Tim Keller.

We now live in a world where thousands of businesses are competing every day for our most finite and valuable commodity—our attention. Skye Jethani examines the biblical concept of the Sabbath and why rest is more than a practical discipline for rejuvenation. It's about where we direct our attention to shape our lives.

Drawing on brain science, Skye Jethani explains why Jesus avoided making his communication and his community too easy, and why we need more resistance to grow as his followers.

The recording begins about 7 minutes into the talk due to a recording error—we apologize for any inconvience.   We love efficiency—but there are areas in life where we actually need redundancy. Skye Jethani explains why redundancy used wisely can build communities and save lives.

How do we avoid leading in our own strength? In this talk, Jon Kelly reminds us that the stewardship of leadership should flow from our intimacy with Jesus. This is the distinguishing mark of a godly leader.

We confess that Jesus is Savior by faith by recognizing grace, rejecting fear, and responding to God.

Jon Houghton describes the three-step cycle of the Christian life: identity as God's Beloved, formation into Christlikeness, and working for the flourishing of others.

Pastor Paco Amador shares stories of 37 years of ministry in Little Village including reflections on recent stories with ICE agents in the neighborhood.

In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul warns about choosing teachers and mentors with impressive religious credentials. Spiritual maturity, he says, is not revealed by what he calls "flesh"—education, heritage, natural abilities, and visible symbols like circumcision. Instead, we should look deeper and follow those who may not appear impressive externally, but who have a genuine inner communion with Christ.

Jon walks through six common deflection techniques and two dismissing strategies we too often use to avoid truths that could help us become who God has created us to be.

Continuing our study of the Apostle Paul's view of circumcision, this week focuses on Galatians 6. To perpetuate a popular view that certain groups were inferior to others, some Christians required others to be circumcised.  Paul believed this was so contrary to the gospel, and he took the issue so seriously, that he wrote this part of his letter himself with extra-large letters. So, why don't we take discrimination within the church as seriously as Paul did? Why do we passively participate in the prejudice of others?

Generosity leads to God's abundant life by rejecting arrogance, reflecting hope, and redefining wealth.

We all have the potential to be toxic. We have to grow our maturity to keep from creating toxic environments. In this presentation you will learn three types of enemy mode, and how it affects the way we look at people. You will learn the relationship between shame and narcissistic behavior and how Rare Leadership is the antidote to the enemy mode and narcissism that create toxic cultures. 

In the first of three messages based on the Apostle Paul's view of circumcision, we look at the common problem of defining our value and spirituality based upon our life circumstances. Too often, we think our relationship or vocational status must change in order to truly experience the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul argues strongly that the fullness of the Christian life is available to anyone, anywhere. Therefore, when we think certain circumstances are more sacred or valuable to God, we are missing the gospel and drifting into a dangerous form of idolatry.

Victor Bourtros, Founder and CEO of Human Trafficking Institute shares their inspiring story of working upstream to end global human trafficking of the most vulnerable.

Hypocrites! No one wants to be seen as one. While most people claim to hate hypocrisy, does our hatred of hypocrisy take our attention from more bald-faced sins? And could a certain kind of hypocrisy be a stepping stone away from other sins and toward virtue? Skye dives into hypocrisy and gives the antidotes for twin errors that hypocrisy creates.

Chicago Fellowship Board member and Together Chicago Co Founder Dave Dillon  interviews three key leaders from Together Chicago and hearing their life stories.  Lavonas Troupe, Charles King and Laprentiss Flowers all have past histories in different "tribes" in Chicago and were on very opposing sides of various conflicts on the streets of Chicago.  By God's grace they amazingly all now work collaboratively at Together Chicago to help end the violence on our streets.  God has been at work in each of them and we were blessed by their stories and by hearing about the progress that has been made in bringing down the level of violence and by learning more about what the real issues are now on our streets.

God's salvation sounds like joy because it has the power not just to cover or cleanse our sins but to create new hearts in us, because it is big enough to deliver us from personal sin and societal injustice, and because it spreads from our personal testimonies throughout our communities.

Jon Houghton moderates a panel that includes Skye Jethani, Joe Baker and Austin Carr about how Steve's messages will hit the ground in their lives. 

Steve Carter challenges us attendees to pursue excellence in both their craft and their character.

Steve Carter teaches through 2 Timothy 2:3 and asks who is your commanding officer? What is your playbook? And what harvest are they producing? 

Chicago Fellowship Executive Director Jon Houghton describes why exclusively left brain discipleship (truth, doctrine, beliefs) and doesn't lead to the character formation we desire and how we can invest in full brain discipleship in order to become the kind of person who does, easily and routinely what Jesus said and does it without having to think much about it.

Our Director, Jon Houghton, spoke about "Simple but Radical," which was a great message about focusing on the positive and following Jesus. 

Jarrett Stevens shared a powerful message about focusing on changing the paradigm about how God sees us and why we are here in this world.