Conversations At The Table

We’re back in Exodus…and after going through the 10 Commandments a couple weeks ago, there’s one that Dave focuses on today that could be the foundation of where the rest of the Commandments start from. REST. In our Modern, Western culture today, we’ve almost forgotten what it means to rest. Some of us might have been smacked right in the face with the idea of rest during this quarantine. So what does the Commandment of Rest really mean for us and how can we apply it to our lives in a way that helps us better connect ourselves to God.

With everything that’s happened in the last week surrounding the George Floyd tragedy, we didn’t feel right continuing in our usual rhythm this week with the Exodus series we’ve been in. On Sunday, during our online gathering, Dave and I discussed some of the situation and what that means for us individually and as a church community. If there is one thing we clearly understand from the example of Jesus, is that we are to stand and seek God’s justice for those who are oppressed. But to do this, we have to LISTEN. It seems like an easy thing to do, but are we listening to sit and mourn with the oppressed, or are we too busy sharing opinions and offering solutions? What would it look like for us to LISTEN.

Hello and welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. In This Episode: Dave is back in Exodus, this time in Chapter 20 - the famous 10 Commandments. They have been talked about, debated, taken too far, and not taken serious enough. But when we understand how to read the commandments and what they meant to the ancient culture receiving them, instead of reading a bunch of rules on how to live a good life, we see evidence of God’s love and blessing on us…And that takes us from law to love.

It’s been a few weeks with some guest speakers and Easter, all which have been amazing, but we’re back to our series through the book of Exodus. Today, Dave takes us through part of Chapter 19 and talks about how critical it is that we believe, and I mean actually truly believe the love that God has for us. Especially important to believe it in times like these.

Today we’re bringing you part 2 of a 2-part conversation Dave had with his good friend, Jen Murphy. Jen is the Manger of Leadership Development, Training & Pastoral Care Team at The Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. There she’s responsible for creating and managing systems of pastoral care and leadership development for potential and current leaders. In a recorded Zoom conversation a couple weeks ago, Jen talked about how we can walk through this season of our lives while holding onto hope in the midst of trauma. If you didn’t get a chance to hear part 1, do yourself a favor and check out Episode 44…some great stuff there that will set up part 2 that we’re bringing to you today.

We’re honored to hear from another good friend, Jen Murphy. Jen is the Manger of Leadership Development, Training & Pastoral Care Team at The Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. There she’s responsible for creating and managing systems of pastoral care and leadership development for potential and current leaders. Dave sat down with Jen in a recorded Zoom conversation this week and talked about how we can walk through this season while holding onto hope in the midst of trauma. The conversation was so good that we wanted you to hear the whole thing…so we split it up into two parts, and we’re bringing part one of that to you today.

Hello and welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Thanks for joining us this week! We’re honored to have our good friend Tim Sutherland bringing the message to us, right from his kitchen where he lives in Knoxville, TN. Tim was supposed to be with us in person, but obviously that couldn’t happen, so we asked him to video record a message for us to play on our live stream last Sunday…but due to some technical difficulties, that didn’t happen either. Well, we worked out the bugs, we were able to play it on the live stream this week, and are finally able to bring it to you today. But first, I’m going to sing a few songs and our hope is that you join in on the worship and singing and the message - right there at home, with whoever you’re there with -  and that it makes this time a little bit lighter for you. Alright…let’s star

Happy Easter everyone! Welcome to a special episode of Conversations At The Table. Well, here we are at Easter - and we’re still quarantined because of the coronavirus. I don’t know about you but I’m finding it hard to get excited this year whenever I think about the situation we’re in. But then when I start thinking about the Easter story, I realize that the followers of Christ in those days also faced fear, isolation and uncertainty during and after His crucifixion. They went into hiding into their homes and thought they had been abandoned by Jesus. But then Sunday came. Praise God. New life. New hope. That could never be killed again. And that’s what we’re going to celebrate this Easter morning. Right from our own homes. I’m going to sing a few songs from my basement and then Dave is going to give the message from his living room. We hope you can lift your heads, your hearts, and hopefully your voices right where you’re at, with whoever you’re with. We hope you enjoy this Easter episode of Conversations At

Hello and welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other.  We’re continuing with our podcast series that has replaced our Sunday Morning gatherings temporarily. With the recent quarantine placed on us because of the coronavirus, we’re all having to readjust our lives and look into an uncertain future. And as a church, we’ve talked about how our dream is to be much more than a community centered on Sundays for one hour. So just as each of you have the opportunity to use this time to take a breath, slow down, and dream about what this new future could look like in your lives, as a church, we’re going to use this opportunity to live and love in a new way as Jesus leads us to do. So Dave is going to continue our look at the book of Exodus and then I’m going to sing a few songs and our hope is that you join in on the conversation and s

Hello and welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other.  Seth Mercer and Dave Richa will be your hosts and we’re continuing with our podcast series that has replaced our Sunday Morning gatherings temporarily. With the recent quarantine placed on us because of the coronavirus, we’re all having to readjust our lives and look into an uncertain future. And as a church, we’ve talked about how our dream is to be much more than a community centered on Sundays for one hour. So just as each of you have the opportunity to use this time to take a breath, slow down, and dream about what this new future could look like in your lives, as a church, we’re going to use this opportunity to live and love in a new way as Jesus leads us to do. So with that…Dave is going to continue our look at the book of Exodus and then I’m going to sing a few song

Hello and welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other.  We’re in our second week of having to do things a little different than normal for our Sunday Gathering. With the recent quarantine placed on us because of the coronavirus, we’re all having to readjust our lives and look into an uncertain future. And as a church, we’ve talked about how our dream is to be much more than a community centered on Sundays for one hour. So just as each of you have the opportunity to use this time to take a breath, slow down, and dream about what this new future could look like in your lives, as a church, we’re going to use this opportunity to live and love in a new way as Jesus leads us to do. So with that…Dave is going to continue our look at the book of Exodus and then I’m going to sing a few songs and our hope is that you join in on the conve

Today, we’re doing things just a little different than normal. As you are aware, the coronavirus outbreak has many of our regular gatherings postponed or cancelled. We at The Table have decided not to gather for our usual Sunday gathering this morning as well. As a church, we’ve talked about how our dream is to be much more than a community centered on Sundays for one hour. We’re going to use this opportunity to live and love in a new way as Jesus leads us to do. So we asked our Worship Team who was scheduled to play this Sunday and a few others to join us for this episode to sing a few songs and join in on the conversation, and that you - at home, in your car, in the shower, or wherever you are -  can worship and dive into scripture right along with us.  Alright, let’s start the conversation.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the 10th plague that happens in Exodus chapters 12 and 13. The 10th plague, of course, is the killing of the first-born sons of Egypt as a result of Pharaoh not responding to the previous 9 plagues. Because of the violence, the blood-shed, and the huge culture gap, reading this in scripture can be hard…especially when we’re trying to seek God’s character in the Old Testament. But if we don’t lean in and live in the difficult portions of Scripture like this, we’ll miss the resounding command from God to REMEMBER. Remember where He’s brought you out of. Remember that you are free. Welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Our hope is that you’ll join us in these conversations and that what comes from them encourages and speaks life to all of us in our spiritual journeys….We’re happy you’

In today’s episode, we continue in Exodus Chapter 5 with the first of many showdowns between Moses and Aaron against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Moses is requesting that the Israelites be allowed to go into the wilderness to make their traditional sacrifices, but Pharaoh is reluctant to let them leave. In fact, he makes things harder for the Israelite slaves! In the middle of Pharaoh resisting, the Israelites grumbling, and even Moses complaining to God, we see what happens when shalom is trying to be brought into an anti-shalom environment. Sometimes that’s outside us, sometimes it’s internal - either way, how do we continue to bring God’s message of peace and love where it’s not wanted? Welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Our hope is that you’ll join us in these conversations and that what comes from them encourages

In today’s episode, we explore a bizarre story found in Exodus Chapter 4 about Moses, his wife, and one of his sons. It’s bizarre because of the detailed description of a circumcision taking place by Moses’ wife. At first glance, we might skip over a story like this to get to something we interpret or understand better…but if we put this story in the context of Moses’ life and calling to lead Israel out of slavery, and then in the even bigger context of God’s redemptive story for us, we can find ourselves relating to this story more than we might think. We may begin a part of our spiritual journey with such fire and passion, but soon we find ourselves “burned out” or having a hard time trusting God’s promises. So the question becomes ‘How do we approach the burn out and rekindle our passion and trust     to following God’s calling on our lives?’. Welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitali

In today’s episode, we look at a famous story of Moses and the burning bush found in Exodus chapter 4. So many times in our lives when trying to seek God’s will, we run into the problem of doing our own thing and inviting God to what we’re    doing. We can also believe the lies we tell ourselves that we’re “not good enough” or “don’t have what it takes” to do what we feel God is calling us to…sometimes we even just tell God to just “find someone else”…I know I’m guilty. Today, Dave and I explore what it looks like to make ourselves available to join in God’s work already taking place around us and how to overcome self-doubt when responding to God’s calling on our lives.       welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Our hope is that you’ll join us in these conversations and that what comes from them encourages and speaks li

In today’s episode, we continue our intro into the book of Exodus as Dave and I dive into the last half of Chapter 1 and into Chapter 2. There we find the story of Moses’ birth. And what we’re really focusing on today is how many times Pharaoh used his power to snuff out the growth of the Israelites. In the midst of a genocide, God’s plan for a Moses to grow up and literally walk His people out of slavery just could not be stopped. And what we find in this incredible story is that, just like Moses, God takes what the enemy meant for evil and uses it for good. Welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Our hope is that you’ll join us in these conversations and that what comes from them encourages and speaks life to all of us in our spiritual journeys….We’re happy you’re with us as we have these conversations at The Table.

In today’s episode, we begin a new journey through the book of Exodus. After an entire year in the book of Acts and learning how the early church conducted itself, we want to understand the story of Israel - the laws, the slavery, the wilderness - and what it means for us. When we pull back the stories and unpack them in the context of today’s culture, we find an ancient culture that reminds us of our own lives as we pursue our own Promised Land. Today specifically, Dave breaks down the first 14 verses of Chapter 1 as an introduction to this incredible book. Welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Our hope is that you’ll join us in these conversations and that what comes from them encourages and speaks life to all of us in our spiritual journeys. We’re happy you’re with us as we have these Conversations At The Table.

In this episode, Dave and Seth look back on the last decade and reflect on where God has taken them, both individually and as a church community. They also take a look forward as they attempt to ask the question, “What does it look like to be an Innovator of the Good News?”. How can we be on the forefront of what it means to love God, each other, and the world we live in? And most importantly, how do we do that without getting out in front of what God is doing? -- Welcome to Conversations At The Table; a podcast where we continue the ongoing dialogue of what it means to build Christ-centered community through radical hospitality and an irrational commitment to the well-being of each other. Our hope is that you’ll join us in these conversations and that what comes from them encourages and speaks life to all of us in our spiritual journeys….We’re happy you’re with us as we have these conversations at The Table.

IN THIS EPISODE: After spending almost a full year going through the book of Acts, Dave and Seth dedicate this podcast to sharing reflections, both from different folks at the Table community and themselves, of what they gained insight on, felt God speaking to them about, or just learned for the first time. Looking at how the Church first started and what they did to continue the Kingdom of God can teach us so much about the Church we need to be today. The Table is a community committed to loving God and loving others. We love God by seeking Truth through prayer, worship, and studying His Word to help us return to everything He created us to be. We love others by having an irrational commitment to the well being of each other and living out a radical hospitality to the community we are in. We follow the example of Jesus Christ to help develop disciples according to the natural talents and abilities given to each of us.