Veronica Springs Church

10/18/2026

Veronica Springs Church

07/19/2026

This is the first sermon in a new series titled "When God Says Go" at Veronica Springs Church, delivered by Pastor Graham immediately following the church's 40-day season of consecration. Using the story of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-37) as his primary text, Graham frames the sermon around a simple but profound metaphor borrowed from his faith hero Jackie Pullinger — missionary to Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City — that the Christian life is like breathing in and breathing out. He argues that mountains in Scripture consistently represent divine encounter (Eden, Sinai, Carmel, Pentecost), and that the Transfiguration was not primarily about Peter, James and John's feelings or experience but about two things: the affirmation of Jesus's identity ("This is my Son, whom I have chosen") and the commandment to listen to and follow him. Peter's instinct to pitch tents and stay on the mountain, Graham argues, mirrors a common tendency in the Western church to hold onto the "breath in" of spiritual encounter without breathing out into mission and service. He draws a contrast between those who only inhale (spiritual consumers who feel stuck) and those who only exhale (burned-out servants who never replenish), calling the church to learn the natural rhythm of both. He illustrates this with extended personal stories from his five years running Alpha ministry in Dallas — starting with a disastrous first launch where 11 of 12 leaders cancelled, through Covid destroying everything, to a breakthrough chain of salvations that still ripples today through a self-sustaining Alpha. He closes with a call to obedience after encounter, an invitation to an Alpha training on July 25th, and communion as the act of coming back to receive Jesus before going out again.

This is the first sermon in a new series titled "When God Says Go" ...

07/12/2026

July 5, 2026 marks the celebratory close of Veronica Springs Church's 40-day season of consecration, falling on the July 4th weekend and coinciding with the church's 152nd birthday. Pastor Bob opens with congregational testimonies from Dan and Sharon, who share how consistently showing up for two hours daily to the prayer sets transformed their prayer lives, freed them from idols and distractions, and gave them a fresh sense of God's love — Sharon in particular describing a prophetic vision of Jesus taking her picture in a flower-filled meadow and calling her "the masterpiece," which broke her pattern of striving for God's approval. Kent and Kimi (noted as attendees) briefly share about the Friday night prayer burns as a highlight — experiencing freedom, improvisation, and learning to let God lead rather than striving. Pastor Bob then delivers the main message, titled "Living a Consecrated Life: Going from Striving to Abiding," sharing his own personal journey through the 40 days in which God replaced his intense, performance-driven spiritual disciplines with a simpler, more intimate rhythm of just saying "I love you, God" and "I trust you" — and hearing God respond in kind. Drawing on Zephaniah 3:17 ("He will rejoice over you with singing"), the Hebrew concept of a "new song" (sheer kadesh — fresh revelation), and the 17th-century monk Brother Lawrence's classic "The Practice of the Presence of God," he encourages the congregation that consecration is not something you achieve through striving but something you already are in Christ, and that the invitation is simply to abide in Jesus (John 15:4-5) as a lifestyle rather than an event, closing with communion as the ultimate expression of that consecrated life.

This service marks the celebratory close of Veronica Springs Church...

07/02/2026

On June 28, 2026, Pastor Graham focuses on the deep biblical and theological significance of communion (the Lord's Supper). Graham traces a narrative arc through Scripture showing that food has always been the primary means of spiritual connection — from Adam and Eve's consumption of the forbidden fruit, to Cain and Abel's food offerings, to the Israelites eating the Passover lamb after sacrificing it. He argues that this pattern culminates in Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper, where bread and w**e become the means of connecting with His body and blood. Graham challenges the common evangelical view that communion is merely symbolic, tracing that belief to the 16th-century reformer Zwingli and arguing it is rooted in secular dualism — a worldview that artificially separates the physical from the spiritual. He contends that for 1,600 years the church universally believed Christ's presence was encountered in the Lord's Supper, and that recovering this reverence is essential. He closes with a personal story of a teenager who choked while mocking communion, later gave his life to Jesus, and returned to take it with genuine faith — then leads the congregation in taking communion together, encouraging them not to examine their own sin beforehand but rather to examine their belief in Jesus as the perfect, spotless lamb.

Delivered by Pastor Graham at Veronica Springs Church during the fi...

06/22/2026

On Sunday, June 21, 2026 this Father's Day sermon, delivered by guest speaker Chad Dedmon (alongside his wife Julia) of Catch the Wave Ministries, centers on knowing God as a loving Father rather than a distant authority figure, illustrated through Chad's "Monks of Stoke" street evangelism ministry — where his team wears colorful robes to minister at secular festivals like Coachella and Santa Barbara's Summer Solstice, using "celebration tosses" (tossing people in the air after praying for them to release pain and receive healing) that have led to testimonies of physical healing and deliverance from suicidal ideation and self-harm. Weaving in his own journey of maturing from dependent to "co-laboring" sonship with God, his evolving relationship with his earthly father, and the importance of forgiveness, Chad closes with a video story of a paralyzed father being carried into the ocean to surf with his sons before his death, using it to model sacrificial love as the truest representation of God's fatherly heart, then leads the congregation in prayer for the "spirit of adoption" and freedom from trauma blocking their relationship with God.

06/16/2026

On Sunday, June 14, 2026, Pastor Bob of Veronica Springs Church delivered a sermon centered on the truth that God's presence is not something believers must strive to attain, but a reality they already inhabit through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Drawing from Acts 17:28, John 14:20, and Colossians 1:27, he emphasized that Christ in us is the hope of glory, and that practicing the presence of God is simply the intentional cultivation of awareness of what is already true. He shared deeply personal testimonies — from a spiritual awakening during a yoga retreat in Denmark, to a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit on a rainforest trail in Kauai, to ultimately surrendering his life to Christ at age 30 — illustrating how God relentlessly pursues people regardless of where they are spiritually. Inspired by the 17th-century monk Brother Lawrence and his classic book The Practice of the Presence of God, Pastor Bob encouraged the congregation to replace religious striving with simple, frequent prayers like "Jesus, I love you" and "Jesus, I trust you," as a way of staying rooted in God's presence throughout the day. The message was delivered during Veronica Springs Church's ongoing season of consecration.

On Sunday, June 14, 2026, Pastor Bob of Veronica Springs Church del...