We were honored to have Pastor Michael Martin join us last Sunday. He planted Learning To Live Fellowship, (LTLF) in Inglewood, California and served on the pastoral team at Oceanside Christian Fellowship (OCF) in El Segundo, CA. He now serves at Senior Pastor at Stillmeadow Church in Baltimore. Michael has had significant involvement in the work of church health and church diversity both while serving locally as a resource and nationally in denominational work with our denomination, the EFCA.
As a recording artist, Pastor Michael has been fortunate to have music he has written heard in a variety of venues in Christian and secular formats. He considers music an amazing means of speaking truth and joy into any life. His current project is JOY lifeStories vol. 2
He is proud of the fact that Gail, his wife of over 35 years, still seems to like him. They have a daughter, son, son-in-law and 3 grandsons. Raised in a large, loving, extended family in Flint, Michigan; his upbringing in the church has shaped many of his values and commitments today.
We long for true revival – that the Spirit of God will move in power and use the Church as witnesses to the resurrection and hope of Jesus Christ. Redemption Hill will speak the gospel as the words of life and hope that it is, calling all people to turn to Jesus in belief and repentance, praying that God will turn people’s hearts and ignite their passions for His glory.
Pastor Michael Martin preached out of the book of Philemon, working to ignite a passion to reach people in our own city. We can entrust ourselves and our safety fully to God, knowing that He has many in this city who are His own. This sermon will help people work out some of the fears or hesitancy they have when it comes to evangelism and help them see their place in God’s work of saving people.
Evangelism & Gospel Witness
Philemon
July 17, 2022 • Pastor Michael Martin • Philemon, John 13:34–35
Hopes for Redemption Hill Church
August 28, 2022 • Pastor Bill Riedel • Jeremiah 29:4–14
Last Sunday, Pastor Bill talked about his hopes for the church as we look ahead. Our church is heading into a new season together. Now that we are over a decade into this work, Redemption Hill is not a church plant, we are a church. Even more, Redemption Hill has had the privilege of investing into other church plants and planting efforts. Coming through a few difficult and tumultuous years together has shaped everyone of us, and our church as well. On Sunday we returned to a text that has been very familiar through the planting and establishment of Redemption Hill Church, Jeremiah 29:4-14. We saw what God's people are called to in whatever place they find themselves.
The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way
August 21, 2022 • Pastor Bill Riedel • Acts 1:9, Matthew 28:18–20
This Sunday we will continue our Roots & Fruit series as we look at what it means to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. We talk a lot about church as a family and a community. There is more to being a church, though. We are called by God to be His people, carrying the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ into this world, empowered and led by the Spirit to good witness and work. Way too often, though, serving in a church can start to lose its lustre and feel like a grind, or we feel the draw to sit back and enjoy without much personal cost. Jesus is building His Church, and we get to join Him. Let's make sure we do it His way.
The Importance of the Local Church
August 14, 2022 • Pastor Jon Parks • Titus 2:11–14
Jon Parks is a Pastor of Village Church East Belfast. Pastor Jon was involved from the very beginning of the plant, though not as its pastor. His brother Lucas was the planting pastor. Over time, though, God called Jon into pastoral ministry and the church affirmed his gifts and qualification for that ministry role. In summer 2020, Lucas moved away from Belfast and took a new role in a different church. Pastor Jon has continued as a key leader and pastor for Village. Redemption Hill has supported the work in Belfast for over a decade through financial support and many other ways that we have partnered together. It is difficult not to be consumed by ideologies and perspectives that surround us, allowing other thoughts to take precedence over the gospel in our lives. DC is our culture’s Athens, where people “spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). 90 minutes of church per Sunday, on its own, is not going to reshape our lives. And yet, the church is essential to shaping our spiritual lives and perspectives. Pastor Jon will help us see the importance of prioritizing our local church. He will highlight the difference between empty moralism and gospel transformation, setting a vision for the importance of our local church in helping us to keep Christ at the center as we stumble toward maturity together. In some ways, this sermon will serve as a capstone for all that precedes it in this series, emphasizing the rhythms of worship, community, and mission that are all centered on, shaped by, and driven by the gospel of Jesus Christ.