The latest on 'Life at Metro'

Join us this summer as we explore the opening of the book of Proverbs, leaning into practical wisdom for daily life and learning how a right relationship with God's wisdom, on display through Jesus, changes everything.

Multiple churches serving under the name of Christ and partnering with the city and local businesses is a testament to the power of Christ's unifying gospel.

Scripture contains stories that help us navigate through life's challenges and learn from the lives of individuals documented in it. Through faith, we can experience the true triumph of all time, and discover that God's work within us is far from over, no matter what season of life we are in.

We have the privilege of leading a multi-generational, maturity-diverse congregation. Like you, we want God to be glorified in our congregation and community through our homes, workplaces, and campuses.

In this final post in our local mission update series, we look at our partnership with several other local churches. We also have some exciting upcoming opportunities for mission together!

This is the second post in a 3 part series on our local missions. We have partnered with a new local ministry that exists to mourish bodies and souls with dignity and grace by providing low-cost groceries to ALICE families.

This is the first part in a 3 part series updating our church on our local missions. This post focuses on our Pre-born and Family ministries.

We pray for an increase in lives saved, dignity affirmed, and the hope, not of a better life, but of eternal life shared.

Looking for a great new read? We've got some updated suggestions in our Connect Room for you—here's a preview of what's new!

We would like to take a moment to say a heartfelt ‘Thank you!’ to all of you. Your generosity allows us to extend our mission to Love, Grow and Share as we are seeing lives transformed through the gospel. We’re grateful for each of you as you are doing your part, not only in giving but in serving and participating in the community that makes up Metro Life Church.

We gathered at the end of April to review a few items related to the life of the church - including what it means to be a transformational church in the years ahead - you can review that meeting here

Making Sense of God, a CHURCH PICNIC, Gather (a new event for women), Neighbor 2 Neighbor, and more - Take a look at what's happening this month at MLC!

Not just things to do, our bulletin offers ways to get involved, find fellowship, grow or even use the gifts God has uniquely given you - take a look at what's happening this month at MLC!

Here is an update related to our current response to COVID-19 throughout our gatherings and facility. We hope that this helps you and your family make the best decision for your needs.

Advent is possibly one of the most mysterious and simultaneously misunderstood traditions in the Christian faith. But what is it, and why do we celebrate it?

Some of the sweetest times for small groups/gatherings or families are when they can participate in the Lord’s Supper together. The Bible stresses the importance of unity in Communion, which is why taking Communion with those you do life with on a regular basis can be powerful.

Love for others will continue to be our overarching priority as we return. To that end, and in keeping with our local government guidelines, we will continue to practice physical distancing in the building. Masks are required as you enter, in the lobby, and while moving within the building. Additionally, we ask that all conversations take place outside of the building. If you or a loved one have a significant medical condition, we encourage you to continue to join us remotely through our video and web opportunities.

Some of the sweetest times for small groups/gatherings or families are when they can participate in the Lord’s Supper together. The Bible stresses the importance of unity in Communion, which is why taking Communion with those you do life with on a regular basis can be powerful.

It can be easy to say "be on mission" or "love your neighbor" at times like this, scripture tells us to be ready to give a "defense for our faith" (I Peter 3:15), but where might we even consider staring? Here are some practical ways you can be equipped to respond when most helpful, it's a "round-up of resources" so to speak. Let's begin with Prayer...

Our aim here is to provide clarity to the definition and expression of the Gifts of the Spirit at Metro Life Church. This will help both in right belief, teaching and practice of the gifts in all expressions throughout the church.

Ladies, this fall we've got additional ways for you to find community together. These groups meet weekly, bi-weekly, every other week, monthly...whatever will serve the group in carrying out the purpose, vision and mission of the group for a 6 week to 4 month period of time. Click here to find out more

This year, the Metro Young Adults are going to take this time away together for time in God's Word as well as extended fellowship at Passion 2020. Find out more here

A deeper look into the biblical connections of Hebrews 10:19-25 to 10 other verses in Hebrews and 11 through the rest of scripture including the references.

A behind the scenes look to see and understand some of the work of our design team and process in putting together resources for our series. I’m grateful for a church that values creativity as a part of the way that we display the Glory of God, our creator!

God has a purpose for us on this earth. That calling is to be on mission for God where He has placed us. And since many people spend the majority of their waking hours on the job, we have to stop compartmentalizing life into “spiritual activities” and “work activities.” How are we living examples of the gospel while we work?

We are grateful that the resolve that God has for His own Glory is far greater than our resolutions will ever be! Here are the songs that we sang on Sunday to reflect on that truth...

Here's a collection of resources for further study on rejection of worldliness and the blessing of repentance

Shane gives us a glimpse into the summer of 2017 and the plans that Alive Youth Group has together

The past several summers have been a great time fellowshipping together, spending time in God's Word and going all out transforming whatever location we were going to for our teens to have an experience they'll never forget. As we were praying through plans for this year one thing we considered was how we can best minister to teens based on where they were at in life. We didn't want to have two totally separate camps but it did seem like it was time to take time with Middle and High Schoolers separately.

This past Sunday we considered what it meant to be a conquerer, but I wanted to share this helpful resource with you all to help us consider this more deeply from a Theological standpoint. I trust this will be helpful for your personal Bible study and encouragement this week. -Chris

The point this past Sunday was for our students to understand the role Jesus played in physically demonstrating God’s glory on this earth, and that they would evaluate what effect truly “seeing” Jesus’ glory has or could have on their relationship with Christ. Read more from our latest Alive Middle School Meting Here

Through Jesus and the work of the Spirit, God would establish a new covenant and give lasting life to his people in the new heavens and new earth. Jesus is the One through whom all of these promises find fulfillment, first in his sacrificial death as a necessary and just payment for sin and then in his victorious resurrection and reign as King.

God’s glory can be one of those “church” words students think they understand. Until they actually try to define it. Then, they realize they really don’t have a good grasp on what God’s glory is. After this study, they won’t have any problem knowing what God’s glory is, and how it affects their lives.

God created a kingdom, and he is the King, but he made human beings to represent him in that kingdom. Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death. But God promised to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman, who is also the seed of Abraham. Through Abraham’s family, and specifically Judah’s royal seed, David, the covenant blessings would come to the world. Because all people were guilty and deserved death, the sacrifices of the Mosaic law revealed more clearly their need for a substitute

THE STORY SO FAR God created a kingdom, and he is the King, but he made human beings to represent him in that kingdom. Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death. But God promised to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman, who is also the seed of Abraham. Through Abraham’s family, and specifically Judah’s royal seed, David, the covenant blessings would come to the world. Because all people were guilty and deserved death, the sacrifices of the Mosaic law revealed more clearly their need for a substitute

THE STORY SO FAR God created a kingdom, and he is the King, but he made human beings to represent him in that kingdom. Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death. But God promised to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman, who is also the seed of Abraham. Through Abraham’s family, and specifically Judah’s royal seed, David, the covenant blessings would come to the world. Because all people were guilty and deserved death, the sacrifices of the Mosaic law revealed more clearly their need for a substitute

In order to finally defeat sin God would not send an animal sacrifice. Instead He would send a suffering servant and the Lord would lay on this servant the sin of all his people.

We are halfway through our 16 verses series and our 8th stop brings us to King David. While there are many things about his life that are commonly recalled such as his days as a shepherd, triumph over Goliath, Kingship, sin and repentance there is one aspect of his life that can commonly be overlooked. His desire was to build a temple as a permanent place for the presence of God to dwell. David would soon find out that while this was not the plan of God for him there was a much greater promise being made for the Glory of God.

We are working on summer plans for Alive and I’ve included a calendar for your family to help you all stay informed of what’s coming up. Our hope is to give opportunities for fellowship while schedules are a bit more flexible with school being out for the summer, to create environments where we seek to be more identified as in Christ than we do by our school, sport, academic or artistic endeavors. We’re seeking to do all of this with families in mind.

God created a kingdom, and he is the King, but he made human beings to represent him in that kingdom. Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death. But God promised to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman, who is also the seed of Abraham. Through Abraham’s family, and specifically Judah’s royal seed, the covenant blessings would come to the world. Because all people were guilty and deserved death, the sacrifices of the Mosaic law revealed more clearly their need for a substitute.

God created a kingdom, and he is the King, but he made human beings to represent him in that kingdom. Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death. But God promised to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman, who is also the seed of Abraham. Through Abraham’s family, and specifically Judah’s royal seed, the covenant blessings would come to the world.

Even as He concluded His condemning words to the serpent, God gave a hint at what He planned to do for the human race. He would not leave then without hope. And, in these words of hope, we find a pattern for the conflict that will continue until the new creation comes.

Genesis 3 is one of the most heartbreaking chapters in the entire Bible, because in it, we see God’s good creation turn rotten. In it, we see Adam and Eve, whom God made to love and trust Him, and to rule on His behalf, turn their backs on Him. And the saddest part of all is that every one of us can see ourselves reflected in Adam and Eve.

We want to see the Kingdom of God built in Casselberry and surrounding areas. This is the location that we’ve set down roots as a church family and we want to serve our community well. More than that we have a vision for something far greater than the name of one church in the area, to that end Metro Life Church, Church Together, Willow Creek PCA, New Covenant Assembly of God & Herzing University along with several other organizations are partnering with one another for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt.

John Calvin wrote that almost all of our wisdom consists of knowledge or God and knowledge of self. Last week we learned something about God and His creation and rule of the world. As we move to the second week in our series, we will get a glimpse of some truths we must know about ourselves. So, before we leave the creation week behind, we need to back up just a bit to look at the important description of God’s creation and commission of the human race.

We wanted to give you all a way to know what's been happening in our Alive meetings, here's a recap from our time together last night.

We are excited for the opportunity to host several tents at the upcoming "Halloween Spooktoberfest" with the city of Casselberry. We need your help and here's how!

Throughout our history we’ve enjoyed celebrating the Autumnal season together through events like Fall festivals, community outreaches, etc. This year was shaping up to be like so many we’ve previously enjoyed as we were planning for a Trunk-or-Treat style event. That was, until a few weeks ago when I had the opportunity to meet with the event planners for the City of Casselberry. In that meeting we were presented with the opportunity to join the efforts of a city-wide event already in the works for the exact same time frame.

This Christmas we're going to celebrate the Advent season together (read more about Advent here) and we're putting together a couple of opportunities for your family to participate in choirs to add your voice to the declaration of Emmanuel, God with us!

Good Morning! Here is a brief recap of some of the songs that we used to worship God through this past Sunday, as well as some of the scriptures that inform them. We hope you are encouraged and uplifted as you read and watch below!

As I type this it’s late into the evening the night before a youth retreat and this is one of my favorite nights of the year! There’s great anticipation and our group of leaders met this afternoon for a time of training as well as buttoning up the final details preparing for your teens tomorrow morning. It was like Christmas morning seeing all of the details coming together and the things that worked… or didn’t, so much fun together as a team of leaders! In the midst of all of that business I wanted to take a moment to communicate a few final details to you all… here goes, the 5 things you need to know heading into this week!

May we be less consumed with the diagnosis of our heart and more overwhelmed at the triumphant prognosis that Christ brings to our human condition as we consider these things, pray through them, asking God to change our hearts.

A recap of the recent Death Valley series in Alive emphasizing the words LORD, MY, and SHEPHERD from Psalm 23, detailing how God takes care of his children.

Here's a brief taste of what is in store for our teens at the upcoming Re:NEW youth conference!

An update about the new D-group of leaders who are working alongside Chris Jessee in Alive, including their roles in the youth ministry and a little bit of the heart behind why they've chosen to invest in the young people of MLC.

Last night was the last lesson of our study on God’s glory. Entitled “Glory To God Through Us.” The point of the lesson was that our students would understand that God is given glory as they live out their everyday lives, especially during tough times, and that they would accept the challenge to be more identified with Christ through their daily actions and interactions.

Did you notice what was embedded in the questions Chris asked this past Sunday? Explore something that was in each one of them and serves as our friendly signpost for life as Milton Vincent would say

We want to see the Kingdom of God built in Casselberry and surrounding areas. This is the location that we’ve set down roots as a church family and we want to serve our community well. More than that we have a vision for something far greater than the name of one church in the area, to that end Metro Life Church and Church Together are partnering with one another for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt.

In this update on Alive, our ministry to students in middle and high school, Chris introduces us to a group of individuals who are seeking to make a difference in the life of our teens. D-Group (short for Discipleship Group) leaders want to break down walls as students walk in so they don’t have a chance to feel lonely, scared, or bored. Our goal in Alive is an engagement with truth and practical application of God’s word to life everyday. We want to let them know that we care about them, that they are walking into a safe place, and we want to have fun with them.

I was watching the Lorax by Dr Seuss the other night with my daughter and an interesting scene played out, it went something like this: The Lorax: Which way does a tree fall? The Once-ler: Uh, down? The Lorax: A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.

We want our eager anticipation to be well informed by the scriptures as well as tradition. We’ll do this over the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and on Christmas Eve. Here’s what will be involved each week: We’ll make use of the simple advent wreath as a visual aid in our celebration which includes an evergreen wreath and 5 candles.

In God’s awesome plan, only after Jesus’ purpose on this earth was fulfilled would the Holy Spirit permanently come to live in all Believers. We took look at how Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit’s new role in the lives of all those who would come to a saving faith in Christ. Jesus gave a ton of insight into this new way of interacting with the Spirit, a new relationship that would empower and enlighten all of God’s children from Pentecost until now. By looking at Jesus’ words regarding the Spirit, we were challenged to see our interactions with the Holy Spirit in a new light.

Good morning! Here is a brief recap of some of the songs that we used to worship God through this past Sunday, as well as some of the scriptures that inform them.

We will soon begin a new study called “elements: Holy Spirit” that I pray will make a big impact on your teenager’s understanding of the Holy Spirit and the impact having Him in us and with us each day makes on his or her lives. Over the course of this study, your teenager will understand who the Holy Spirit is and what His presence in his or her life signifies, the role Jesus played in ushering in a new way of relating to the Holy Spirit, and what exactly the Bible means by the “fruit of the Spirit.” More importantly, it will help your teenager see how this impacts his or her lives.

Good morning! Here is a recap of the songs that we sang and through which we worshiped God while gathered this past Sunday. We hope that these, along with the scriptures that go along with them, are an encouragement to you this week.

From Chris: This week we wrapped up our Element’s study on God’s Word. This final sermon was entitled “The Word And Us.” Its purpose was to help our students would understand that as Christ-followers, God’s Word must be at the center of our lives. We were challenged to discover (or re-discover) a joy for encountering God in His Word.

From Chris: Good morning, Here is a brief recap of the songs that we used to worship God through as well as some of the scriptures that inform them. I've also included an extended devotional based on the Matt Redman song: 10,000 Reasons. Enjoy the goodness of our Father God as you consider these passages and songs together

Malcom Gladwell says “it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field.” (crazy when you think about it, that’s 5 years at a 40 hour per week pace). In a given week we’re each only given 168 hours, no matter what you do or who you are, President of the United States or a homeless man on the street. There are many opportunities before all of us as a part of any given week, from clubs to sports, ways to prepare for the next stage of life to simple recreation and entertainment. All of these can be good things of course … but the question is: Are they the opportunities God wants us to be taking advantage of?

Good morning, Here is a brief recap of the songs that we used to worship God through as well as some of the scriptures that inform them.

This week we continued our study on God’s Word. This message was entitled “The Word In The World,” and its purpose was to help our students see that Jesus’ person, ministry, and teachings represent the fullness of God’s word to us. We tried to help them see how they are to be communicating God’s Word in their day-to-day lives.

Good morning, Here's a brief recap of the songs that we used to worship God through as well as some of the scriptures that inform them. I hope this encourages your personal worship throughout the week as well! - Chris

The story of Jesus healing a boy with an unclean spirit is one of the most powerful encounters recorded in Mark's Gospel. Found in chapter 9, the writer tells us about a violent spirit that has tormented a young boy since birth. The account is graphic, and it's difficult not to read the story and feel compassion for the disturbed boy.

Last night at ALIVE we started our three-lesson study on God’s Word. This first lesson was entitled “The Word At Work,” and its purpose was to help us gain a more full understanding of what we mean by God’s Word, as well as challenging us to evaluate our own attitudes toward the Bible and the role it plays in our lives.

We tend to hear “God’s Word” and think of our Bibles. Of course, we know that the Bible is indeed God’s Word. But a good understanding of God’s Word goes deeper than just the words on our favorite Bible app.

During Aron Osborne’s message on Noah this past Sunday, I was reminded of the following devotional I had written a while back. Aron pointed out so well the mercy of the Lord (He provided for Noah and his family; He pursues us; He is the initiator of our salvation!) and how the Lord’s mercy enables us to respond in faith-filled obedience. My short writing below focuses on trusting the Lord in times of waiting and how He mercifully develops contentment in us. I hope it encourages you.

Dear Lord Jesus, as with all the Scriptures, ultimately, these verses make me think of you. There’s no one more filled with kindness and gentle answers than you; no one with a wiser, loving, healing tongue than yours. You ever live to use your words to pray for us, bless us, and sing to us of your great delight in us, and irrepressible affection for us. Hallelujah, many times over.

I hope your week is beginning by being warmed by the grace given to you in Jesus Christ! What a thought... God wants me to grow (uh-oh, that sounds like a work)…in grace! God's good intention for me and for you is to go deeper in the experience and knowledge of what we have been given in Jesus.

What makes a good church? Good preaching, outstanding musicians, awesome youth ministry, good coffee, multiple and short services? Maybe a good church is one that runs a soup kitchen for the needy, supports missionaries overseas, or has a partnership with a local crisis pregnancy center.

My name is Daniel, and I am really glad to share with you what the Lord has been doing in my heart, as of late.

Be encouraged today to be a bold witness through the response of the Samaritan woman. She left the very jar she came to the well to fill so that she could go and tell of this man who is the promised Messiah [John 4:28-30] - what a wonderful portrait of preoccupation!

Our church has experienced the deaths of close friends and family members recently. One in particular inspired this post. Steve Ballinger and his wife Peggy have been members at Metro Life Church from the very beginning. They raised their children here together and taught them what it means to live a life sold out for God. Steve passed away a few weeks ago after a long illness. His daughter, Noelle, declared at his memorial service that we are not like those who grieve without hope.

We just studied Matthew 5:21-26 together on Sunday. What a passage. What a hard passage! When Jesus said our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees he wasn’t kidding! It is a hard passage, because it humbles us in seeing that what Jesus is really building in us by His Spirit are a people who don’t just refrain from external acts, but who are literally changing from the inside out. I want to be the kind of follower of Jesus who does not grow indifferent to a passage like this, because it really is a demonstration of the Gospel’s power in us. Relationships are plain hard work. As fellow Christians we are all redeemed works in progress. We are fully forgiven and righteous, yet we change by degrees (1 Corinthians 3:18).

2 Corinthians 12:9 says “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” What wonderful news! I’m hoping I can talk Emily into following me around and reminding me of this truth on a daily basis (or weekly, whatever works with her schedule).