Open Door Christian Church

06/15/2026

This Sunday at Open Door Christian Church — The Case for Christ, Part 4

You've heard the objection. Maybe you've even wondered it yourself.

The Bible was copied by hand for two thousand years — passed down, generation after generation, like one long game of telephone. So how can anyone be sure the words we read this Sunday morning are the words the eyewitnesses actually wrote? Hasn't it been changed somewhere along the way?

It's a fair question. And it deserves an honest answer.

This week we keep building our case — only this time we put the New Testament's manuscripts themselves on the witness stand. We'll ask three questions, the same three a skeptical reporter or a curious grandchild might ask you:

How many copies do we actually have?

How close are those copies to the originals?

And what about the differences between them — don't those prove the text was changed?

The answers might surprise you. It turns out the New Testament isn't some fragile rumor that barely survived the centuries. By the standards historians use for every other book from the ancient world, it stands in a category all its own — and the very things skeptics point to as weaknesses turn out to be its greatest strength.

Seven hundred years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah made a promise: "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever" (Isaiah 40:8). This Sunday, come and see how God kept that promise.

Bring your Bible. Bring your questions. And bring a friend who has a few of their own.

Join us Sunday — and don't miss the Bible study between services, where we dig deeper and take your questions.

Seven hundred years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah made a promise: "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever" (Isaiah 40:8). This Sunday, come and see how God kept that promise.

06/09/2026

The Case for Christ — Week 3: Testing the Eyewitness Evidence

In a real trial, the witness never gets the last word. After the prosecution finishes, the defense stands up — and the cross-examination begins. Because testimony that sounds convincing isn't enough. Honest people want to know one thing: does it hold up under hard questions?

Last Sunday we heard the case for the eyewitnesses. We saw that the Gospels were written by people who were there — or who interviewed the people who were — and written early enough that the story could not have been quietly invented. That was the prosecution laying out its evidence.

This Sunday, the defense gets its turn. We're putting those same witnesses back on the stand and asking the questions a hostile attorney would ask:

Were they actually in a position to know what they wrote about?

Did they have a reason to lie?

Do their accounts line up with one another?

Can anyone outside their circle back them up?

And here is the thing, church — we are not afraid of those questions. The good news of Jesus Christ has never been afraid of a hard look. The truth can be tested. The truth wants to be tested.

In fact, that is exactly the kind of person God commends. When Paul preached in Berea, the people there didn't just nod along. Acts 17:11 (NIV) says they "received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Scripture calls them noble — not for swallowing it whole, but for checking it out.

So come ready to examine the evidence with us. Bring your questions. Bring the ones your neighbor asks you, too. Because when you actually cross-examine the witnesses to Jesus, the testimony does not fall apart.

It stands up. It always has.

Join us this Sunday for week three of The Case for Christ.

Come ready to examine the evidence with us. Bring your questions. Bring the ones your neighbor asks you, too. Because when you actually cross-examine the witnesses to Jesus, the testimony does not fall apart.

06/01/2026

The Eyewitness Evidence

In any courtroom in this country, the most powerful evidence a prosecutor can put on the stand is an eyewitness. Somebody who was there. Somebody who saw it with their own eyes.

So this Sunday, as our Case for Christ series steps into the courtroom, we have to ask the first honest question: when it comes to Jesus, do we have any eyewitnesses? Anyone who heard him teach with their own ears, who saw the miracles, who stood at the foot of the cross, who looked into the empty tomb?

“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
— 2 Peter 1:16 (NIV)

That’s not a fairy tale. That’s a man saying: put me on the stand.

This week we’ll put three questions to the test — the same questions a skeptic, a co-worker, or a curious grandchild might ask you one day:

Who actually wrote the Gospels?

When were they written?

What did the very first Christians believe?

The answers may surprise you. The Gospels are not legends that grew over centuries. The evidence puts them close enough to Jesus — while the eyewitnesses were still alive — that the story could not have been quietly invented.

Come ready to take notes. Bring your questions. And if you do one thing this week, memorize 2 Peter 1:16 — because somebody is going to ask why you believe, and we are getting ready to answer.

Join us this Sunday at Open Door Christian Church. Worship together, and let’s keep building the case.

05/26/2026

We’re starting fresh this Sunday with our new schedule. Here’s how the morning lays out:

🌅 8:30 AM — Fellowship Time (Chapel)

Coffee, breakfast foods, and good fellowship to start the day.

🚗 9:00 AM — Drive-In Service (Garden, FM 87.9)

Worship right from your car. Roll the windows down, tune in, and let the morning come to you. Pajamas welcome. Coffee in hand. Kids in the back seat. No dress code, no pressure — just worship under the Florida sky.

📖 10:15 AM — Bible Study (Chapel)

Bring your Bible, your questions, and an open heart.

⛪ 11:00 AM — Indoor Chapel Service (Chapel)

Our full worship service in the air-conditioned chapel — hymns, communion, prayer, and the message. The same sermon as the drive-in, so come whichever way fits you best.

Come for one. Come for all. However your Sunday morning works best, we’ve got a place for you.

And There’s More!

This Sunday is also the kickoff of our new sermon series — The Case for Christ. Why do you believe what you believe? When somebody asks, what would you say? Over the coming weeks, we’re going to walk through the evidence — the same evidence that turned an atheist newspaperman into a follower of Jesus. Bring a notebook. Bring a friend. Come ready to investigate.

See you Sunday - Open Door Christian Church

05/25/2026

Today, we pause to honor the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our nation. Their sacrifice purchased freedoms that we often take for granted, and we remember them with gratitude and humility.

As we gather with family and friends this Memorial Day, may we never forget those who laid down their lives for others. Their courage reflects the words of Jesus:

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
— John 15:13 (NKJV)

At Open Door Christian Church, we pray for the families of the fallen, for our active military members, veterans, and first responders, and for God’s continued blessing upon our nation.

May we live lives worthy of the sacrifice they made.

05/19/2026

Greater Love: A Memorial Day Sunday Invitation

A frozen mountaintop in Afghanistan. A combat controller who refused to leave a teammate behind.

A cross outside Jerusalem. A Savior who refused to leave us behind.

What do they have in common?

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." — John 15:13 (KJV)

Join us this Sunday as we remember the fallen — and the One whose sacrifice gives every sacrifice its meaning.

Can't make it inside? Worship from your car.

Memorial Day weekend usually means somewhere to be — family in town, the grill going, the lake calling. We get it. That's why our 8:30 AM Drive-In Service is the easiest yes of your weekend.

Pull into the lot. Tune your car radio to our 87.9FM broadcast, and the whole service comes right through your speakers — music, prayers, scripture, and message. Roll the windows down and feel the breeze, or stay cool with the A/C running. Bring the kids in pajamas. Bring the dog. Bring the coffee. No dress code, no rush — just you, your family, and a service that meets you exactly where you are.

Memorial Day Sunday | May 24, 2026 | Open Door Christian Church, DeLand

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05/14/2026

Today is one of those days the church family lives for.

This evening at Open Door Christian Church, we had the joy and privilege of witnessing Cesar Luna confess his faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God and be baptized by immersion for the remission of his sins. Heaven rejoiced. The angels celebrated. And so did we.

There is no greater moment in a life than this one.

Buried With Him, Raised to New Life
When Cesar went down into the water this evening, it was not a ritual. It was not a performance. It was an obedient response to the gospel. A public declaration that the old has gone and the new has come.

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." — Romans 6:4 (NIV)

That is what we saw today. A man buried with Christ. A man raised to walk in newness of life. A son of God, washed clean, sealed in the love of the Father, and welcomed forever into His family.

The apostle Peter, on the day the church was born, told the crowd what to do when their hearts were stirred by the gospel:

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." — Acts 2:38 (NIV)

That promise is not for one generation or one kind of person. It is for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Today, it was for Cesar. And what a beautiful thing to behold.

Have You Made That Decision?
Maybe you are reading this and something is stirring in your heart. Maybe today is your day too.

If you have never confessed Jesus as Lord and been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, we would love to talk with you. There is no decision more important. There is no day more worth celebrating than the one when heaven welcomes you home.

Reach out anytime. Stop by on Sunday, or come see us during office hours — Tuesday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Call. Message us. We would consider it a sacred privilege to walk that step with you, just like we did with Cesar today.

Welcome to the family, Cesar Luna. We love you. And we are so glad you are home.

— Open Door Christian Church

When Cesar went down into the water this evening, it was not a ritual. It was not a performance. It was an obedient response to the gospel. A public declaration that the old has gone and the new has come.

05/12/2026

"What's the point?"

It is a question that gets asked quietly. In a parked truck at the end of a long day. Over coffee on a Monday morning. In the silence after one more disappointment that did not make any sense.

If you have ever asked it, you are standing in a very, very old line.

Twenty-four hundred years ago, the people of God were asking the same question. They were tired. They looked around and saw the people who did not care about God doing just fine — and they said out loud what a lot of us have only thought. "It is futile to serve God. What do we gain?"

This Sunday we are opening the book of Malachi together — the last word from God before four hundred years of silence — and discovering that the questions never change. The complaints never change. But neither does the God who has been listening the whole time.

Some things never change. Come Sunday and find out which ones.

Open Door Christian Church • DeLand

We hope to see you Sunday morning. Bring a friend.

What's the point? If you have ever asked that question, you are standing in a very, very old line.

05/11/2026

Why do you believe?

It's a simple question. But it's the one many of us struggle most to answer. We know what we believe. We've believed it for years — some for their whole lives. But when a co-worker asks, or a grandchild asks, or a neighbor asks over the back fence, the words don't always come. We change the subject. We say "I just believe it." And we walk away wishing we had something more to say.

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." That's not a suggestion for seminary students. That's a command for every Christian in every pew. And the word translated "answer" there is the Greek word apologia — a courtroom word. It means a defense. A reasoned case. Peter is telling us that every Christian should be able to make a reasoned case for what they believe.

Starting Sunday, May 31, we're going to spend the next several months getting ready.

Our new sermon series, The Case for Christ, walks through the book by Lee Strobel — the atheist newspaperman from the Chicago Tribune who set out to disprove Christianity using the investigative skills he had honed as a legal-affairs reporter. After nearly two years of interviewing scholars and weighing the evidence, Strobel came to a verdict he never expected: the case for Jesus Christ was overwhelming. He gave his life to the Lord.

Over the course of this series, we'll examine the same evidence Strobel did. Can we trust the Gospels? Were they written by eyewitnesses? Is there evidence for Jesus outside the Bible? Does archaeology back up what the Bible says? Did Jesus really claim to be God? Did he really die on that cross? Was the tomb really empty? Did people really see him alive again?

The goal isn't to win arguments. The goal is to be ready — so that when somebody asks why you believe, you have answers. Honest answers. Thoughtful answers. Evidence-based answers. Answers offered with gentleness and respect.

A reminder about our new Sunday schedule, also beginning May 31:

8:30 AM — Fellowship Time (Chapel)

9:00 AM — Drive-In Service (The Garden, FM 87.9)

10:15 AM — Bible Study (Chapel)

11:00 AM — Indoor Chapel Service (Chapel)

Bring a notebook. Bring a friend. And come ready to investigate. The truth holds up under examination — and we'll be examining it together.

Our new sermon series, The Case for Christ, walks through the book by Lee Strobel — the atheist newspaperman from the Chicago Tribune. After nearly two years of interviewing scholars and weighing the evidence, Strobel came to a verdict he never expected: the case for Jesus Christ was overwhelming....

05/09/2026

Pastor Stephen Presley serves Open Door Christian Church in DeLand, Florida — a calling forty years in the making.