Open Door Christian Church

10/21/2026

🦋 LADIES, MARK YOUR CALENDAR 🦋

On Saturday, November 7, Open Door Christian Church is hosting "The Baggage We Carry!" — a one-day women's retreat from Toolbox Ministries.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." — Matthew 11:28

Every one of us carries something: worry, grief, regret, the weight of caring for everyone else. This is a day set apart to lay those burdens at the feet of Jesus, rest in His presence, and pick up practical tools for your daily walk with Christ.

The day includes morning worship, an opening devotional, two breakout workshops of your choice (five to pick from), a Fall Harvest lunch, and a closing time of praise and worship. Nine women will be teaching and leading throughout the day.

📅 Saturday, November 7, 2026
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
📍 Open Door Christian Church, 1700 S. Clara Ave., DeLand
🎟️ $25 per person

Register at toolboxministries.org

Think of a friend, a daughter, a sister, or a neighbor who could use a day of rest — and invite her along. We'll see you November 7!

10/20/2026

Next Sunday at ODCC
Clothe Yourselves · Sermon 5 · Colossians 3:13–14 · Sunday, October 25, 2026

Paul has just finished calling the church at Colossae God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved.

And in the very next verse he writes, "if any of you has a grievance against someone."

Paul was not naive about church. He knew that chosen, holy, dearly loved people still step on each other's toes. Not always on purpose. But it happens, in a small church in a small town, and it happens here.

The Greek word he uses for grievance means a complaint. A charge. A case you could make against somebody. Paul uses that word exactly once in the whole New Testament, and he uses it about church people.

He does not say the grievance is imaginary. He says here is what you do with it.

Colossians 3:13–14 gives three commands in two verses. Bear with each other. Forgive one another. And over all of it, put on love.

This Sunday we are going to take them one at a time.

"Bear with" is for the person who has not sinned against us. They just wear on us. They do it differently than we would. They talk too long. Paul does not tell us to forgive that person, because there is nothing to forgive. He tells us to hold up under it. Jesus used the same word about the people around Him, and then He healed the boy anyway.

"Forgive" is for the person who has actually wronged us. Paul's word for it is built on the word for grace. It means giving somebody something they have no right to. And Paul does not leave us to decide how much. He gives us the measure: "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." All of it. Before we asked. At the cost of the cross. Jesus told a story about a man who was forgiven more money than he could earn in two hundred thousand years, and what he did next.

"Put on love" is verse 14, and the word Paul chooses for what love does is the word for a ligament. The thing that holds a joint together when the weight comes on it. You do not notice your ligaments until one tears. A church without love does not come apart on a good Sunday. It comes apart on the hard one.

Some of us will walk in Sunday carrying a grievance against somebody in the room. A real one. Paul says it is real.

He also says what to do with it.

Join us this Sunday, October 25, at Open Door Christian Church in DeLand.

10/19/2026

The rain came and went all day Saturday, and so did the people. About 300 guests joined us for the Open Door Christian Church Fall Festival on October 17, and they kept coming between the showers.

We watched the forecast all week and wondered whether anyone would come. Saturday dawned gray and stayed that way. The clouds never broke, and the showers came and went all day. The first families pulled in anyway, and they did not stop. When the rain picked up, people ducked under cover, waited it out, and went right back to the games and the food line. Nobody seemed to mind. A little rain was not going to spoil a good day with neighbors.

By the end of the afternoon it was clear that DeLand had shown up for us, and we are humbled by that.

Fifty volunteers, some from beyond our walls
About 50 volunteers made the day happen. They arrived early, set up tents and tables, stocked the grills, ran the games, watched over the bounce houses, greeted every car, and then stayed to break it all down in the rain.

Some of those volunteers are not even members of our church. They heard what we were doing, showed up with their sleeves rolled up, and served our neighbors right alongside us. That is one of the things we will remember most about this festival. The community did not just come to be served. Part of the community came to serve.

We are grateful for every one of them.

Good food, full plates
The BBQ pork and brisket were the talk of the day. The smoker was fired up Friday morning and did not stop until the end of Saturday, and the line that formed when the meat came off told us everything we needed to know. The chicken sliders went nearly as fast, and the hamburgers and hot dogs kept the grill busy from the first guest to the last.

Plates were full, seconds were common, and more than one guest asked who did the cooking. Nobody left hungry.

Games and three bounce houses
The kids had the run of three bounce houses and a full lineup of games, rain or no rain. The showers never once emptied the bounce houses. The kids bounced right through them, and by mid-afternoon there were plenty of tired, happy, slightly damp children being carried back to their cars.

The games gave the older kids and more than a few adults something to compete over, and the laughter carried across the grounds all day.

Our first responders came too
The DeLand Fire Department brought a fire truck, and Volusia County EVAC brought an ambulance. For a lot of the kids, climbing up to look inside a real fire truck was the highlight of the day, and the firefighters and EVAC crew were patient with every question. We are grateful they gave up part of a Saturday to spend it with our community.

The Orange City Police Department cadets directed parking all day. With 300 guests coming and going between the showers, that was no small job, and they handled it with professionalism well beyond their years. Cars moved, nobody got stuck, and our guests could get right to the fun.

Forty years of pictures and history

For the grown-ups, one of the quieter corners of the festival turned out to be one of the busiest. We put out photographs and history from 40 years of Open Door Christian Church, and many guests lingered there far longer than we expected.

People pointed out faces they knew. They found themselves, their parents, and their children in pictures they had never seen. They told stories about the years when those photographs were taken, about the people who built this church, and about the Sundays and seasons that shaped it. Some of our guests had not been inside these doors in years, and the pictures brought them back.

Forty years is a long time for a church to keep its doors open. Saturday reminded us how many people have walked through them. Some of those stories are now part of ours. Thank you to everyone who shared one.

The food that was left went where it was needed
When the last guest headed home, there was still food on the tables. All of it went to The Bridge in DeLand to help feed the homeless in our community.

That felt like the right ending. A festival meant to serve our neighbors closed by serving the neighbors who needed it most. Nothing was wasted, and food that fed a crowd on Saturday fed people who had nowhere else to eat afterward.

Thank you
To the volunteers who cooked, set up, ran games, handed out gift bags, and packed up in the rain: thank you. You gave a full Saturday, and much of the week before it, so that our neighbors could have a good day. To the DeLand Fire Department, Volusia County EVAC, and the Orange City Police Department cadets: thank you for serving alongside us.

And to the families who found us for the first time on Saturday: the door is open every Sunday. Our name comes from Revelation 3:8, where Jesus tells a small, faithful church, "See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." That is still our hope for this church, 40 years in. Come see us again. We would love to have you.

About 300 guests joined us for the Open Door Christian Church Fall Festival on October 17, and they kept coming between the showers.

10/14/2026

Calling All Junior Chefs: The Jr. Chili Cook-Off Is This Saturday

👉 Sign up your young chef here: opendoorchristian.church/chili-cookoff

Think your chili can take the crown? This Saturday, October 17, Open Door Christian Church is handing the ladle to the next generation. As part of our FREE Family Fall Festival, young cooks ages 7 to 19 will go head-to-head in the Jr. Chili Cook-Off — and the whole community gets to taste and vote.

How it works

Competitors cook in two divisions: ages 7–12 and ages 13–19. Bring your finished chili to the church by 11:45 AM, ready to serve. Tasting and voting open at noon and run until 2:00 PM, or until the pots run dry — whichever comes first. The favorites in each age group will be decided by the people who matter most: everyone who shows up hungry.

Spots are limited, so register your chef now to guarantee a table. Walk-ins are welcome Saturday morning as space allows — just come a little early so we can get you set up.

Make a day of it

The cook-off is only one part of the day. The festival runs from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at 1700 South Clara Ave. in DeLand, and everything is free: smoked brisket, pork, and chicken with hot and cold sides, plus bounce houses, face painting, co****le, ladder ball, hopscotch, Jenga, and more for every age.

We’re also celebrating 40 years of Open Door Christian Church. Walk through four decades of photos, milestones, and ministries, and see the people and moments that built this church. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning, drifted away over the years, or have never set foot on the property, you’re invited.

So sharpen your knives, simmer your best batch, and come find out whose chili reigns at ODCC. We’ll see you Saturday.

Jr. Chili Cook-Off — Quick Facts

Saturday, October 17 · 1700 S. Clara Ave., DeLand

Ages 7–12 and 13–19

Drop off chili by 11:45 AM

Tasting & voting: noon–2:00 PM (while supplies last)

Free admission, free food, free fun

Sign up: opendoorchristian.church/chili-cookoff

10/13/2026

Clothe Yourselves — Sermon 4 │ Colossians 3:12 │ Sunday, October 18, 2026

Last Sunday was about what comes off.

This Sunday is about what goes on.

We have come to the verse this whole series is named for.

Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Five things to put on.

Most of us can read that list and feel the gap by the second word.

We know we should be more patient. We know we should be kinder. And most of us have tried. We made up our minds on Monday morning and it was gone by Tuesday afternoon.

But Paul does not start with the five. He starts with three names. Chosen. Holy. Dearly loved.

Before Paul tells us what to wear, he tells us who is getting dressed.

Those three names are older than the church in Colossae. Sunday we will see where Paul got them, and who they belonged to first. We will also see why the order matters. The names come first. The clothes come second. If we get that backward, this verse turns into one more list of rules we cannot keep.

Then come the five. They cover three people.

The first is the person in need. Compassion and kindness go together, and we need both. One is what we feel. The other is what we do about it.

The second is the person in the mirror. Humility sits right in the middle of the five, and the other four do not work without it.

The third is the person who is hard to love. Gentleness and patience are for the people who are wrong, or slow, or who have hurt us. Most of us already have somebody in mind.

Along the way we will look at why the Greek word behind "compassion" has more to do with the gut than the head. We will see why "humility" was not a compliment in Paul's world, and why Paul told the church to wear it anyway. We will find out what "patience" has to do with last week's word for rage.

And we will see who wore all five of them first.

That is the part that changes this verse. Paul is not handing us five new rules. He is describing Someone.

Join us this Sunday, October 18, at Open Door Christian Church in DeLand.

If you are reading this before Saturday, come to our fall festival too. It is Saturday, October 17, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Then come back on Sunday.

This week's memory verse is Colossians 3:12.

10/12/2026

One last Saturday of work
Saturday, October 10 was our final workday before the fall festival, and Open Door showed up ready to work.

There is a particular kind of joy in a church workday. Nobody is on a stage. Nobody is keeping score. People simply find something that needs doing and do it. By the time we finished, the place looked like a church expecting company.

A workday like this is really an act of hospitality. The fall festival brings neighbors onto our grounds, some of them for the first time. What they find when they get here says something about how much we wanted them to come. Saturday was our way of saying "we are glad you are here" before a single guest has arrived.

What got done
Here is what I saw:

Decorations went up.

Gift bags were filled.

The fellowship hall was cleaned from one end to the other.

The drain on the fellowship hall kitchen sink was repaired.

Sticks and trash were picked up across the grounds and burned.

Years of pictures were sorted and put into albums.

That last one deserves a second look. While some of us were getting ready for the next few weeks, others were quietly taking care of the last several decades. A church's photographs are its memory, and somebody sat down and put ours in order.

Look at that list again and notice how different the jobs are. Fixing a drain takes know-how and the right tools. Sorting pictures takes patience and a good memory for faces. Hauling sticks to a burn pile takes a strong back and a willingness to get dirty. Filling gift bags and hanging decorations takes an eye for what will make a guest feel welcome.

No one person could have done all of it, and no one had to. Everybody brought what they had, and together it was enough.

The work no one ever saw
I am sure that list is incomplete. A workday is full of jobs nobody announces: a floor swept, a shelf straightened, a box carried to where it belongs. If you did something Saturday that I did not see, thank you. It was not overlooked by the One who matters most.

There is something freeing about work like that. It is done for the Lord and for the people who will walk through the door, not for credit. Most of our festival guests will never know who picked up the sticks or who cleaned the hall. They will only know they felt welcome.

A workday also does something for the people doing the work. You get to know a brother or sister differently when you are carrying the other end of the table. Conversations happen over a trash bag that never happen in a pew. We came to get the church ready, and the work drew us closer to one another while we were at it.

Nehemiah knew what a workday looked like. When he led the people in rebuilding Jerusalem's wall, the work was hard and their neighbors mocked it. Still the wall rose to half its height, and he tells us why:

"...for the people worked with all their heart." (Nehemiah 4:6)

Later in the same chapter, the builders all went back to the wall, each one to his own part of the job (Nehemiah 4:15). That is what Saturday looked like at Open Door: different people, different jobs, one heart.

Thank you to everyone who gave up a Saturday for this. The grounds are clean, the hall is ready, and the bags are filled. Now comes the good part. Come to the fall festival, and bring somebody with you.

Fall Festival: Saturday, October 17, from 9:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon, at Open Door Christian Church, 1700 S Clara Ave, DeLand.

10/07/2026

Clothe Yourselves — Sermon 3 │ Open Door Christian Church

Last Sunday, Paul told us where to look. This Sunday, he tells us what has to go.

And he does not stay general. In seven verses Paul names ten things, five in one list and five in another, and tells us to get rid of every one of them.

Colossians 3:5–11 (NIV)

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

The first list is about what we want. Most of it happens where nobody can see it. The second list is about what we say. All of it happens where everybody can hear it.

Most of us read right past the last word on that first list. Paul calls greed idolatry. Sunday we will see why that word belongs on the list, even for people who would never bow down to a statue. And we will meet a man in the Old Testament who shows exactly how the first list works, one step at a time.

The second list starts with one small word: “also.” It was written for the people who read the first list and thought, “Well, I’m fine.” The verb Paul uses there shows up again somewhere you would never expect, on one of the darkest days in the book of Acts. And anger and rage turn out to be two different Greek words. One of them is the same word Paul used for God’s wrath just two verses earlier.

Then, right in the middle of the passage, verse 9 changes everything. Without it, Colossians 3:5–11 is just another list of rules. With it, it is good news.

Before Sunday, read Colossians 3:5–11 and ask yourself two questions. What is on my list that nobody sees? And what comes out of my mouth that everybody hears?

Sunday morning, October 11, at Open Door Christian Church.

Last Sunday, Paul told us where to look. This Sunday, he tells us what has to go.