Metro District Podcast

The Deeper Life, Season 7 — Chapter 1 of Renovate: The Heart Made New: Renovating the Heart Recovers Your God-Given Identity.What actually makes your life go — and what could make it go the way it ought to?In this opening teaching of The Deeper Life, Mike Plunket begins with Proverbs 4:23: guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life. We live from our depths, and most of those depths we don't fully understand. That's why our greatest need isn't better behavior, but a renovated heart, with Christ formed in us (Galatians 4:19).Mike shows why trying to act loving without becoming loving leaves us frustrated, and why real change works from the inside out. Drawing on Dallas Willard and Tony Evans, he walks through the "U-turn" of repentance and its three marks: confession, godly sorrow, and fruit you can see.He closes with a question worth sitting with: if Jesus were living your life, what would it look like?*The Deeper Life is a teaching series from Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance.*Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

What if your mission field was right outside your front door? Dry Bar comedian and author Jonathan Weibel starts with the Great Commandment and what he calls the "theology of place" in Acts 17: God has put each of us where we are on purpose. He also shares how he came to faith at 19 through next-door neighbors who kept inviting him to dinner.Jonathan widens "neighbor" into three circles: the people next door, the global church, and the affinity groups we share work, hobbies and interests with. He then walks through three rhythms for living out the Great Commandment: Pray First, Love All and Invite Often. Along the way he offers practical tools, including a simple grid for praying for your closest neighbors by name and four kinds of invitation, from your table to the life of Christ.BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

Should a church focus on sending its people out, or on giving people a reason to come in? Brian McMillan, Director of Church Planting, argues for both. He draws on 25 years at CenterPoint Church on Long Island, which he planted in 2002 with little more than a sense of calling and his parents' minivan, and which now has seven campuses.Brian makes the case that reaching people far from God has to be part of a church's DNA, not just a slogan. Being missional means training people to see themselves as missionaries, through proximity, posture and patterns of speech, while the church itself serves its community. Being attractional means being "seeker conscious, not seeker sensitive": fully yourself on Sunday, while warmly bringing guests along.He closes with two questions for pastors and church leaders: what is one change you can make in how you train your people, and one change in how you welcome those who come?BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

Many Christians want to talk about their faith but quietly leave evangelism to the "experts." Jennifer Chan of City to City New York, who trains churches in evangelism and disciple-making, offers practical ways to help a whole congregation grow more confident in spiritual conversations.She begins by naming three forces shaping our cities: migration, post-secularization and digital life. She then looks at how Jesus engaged people in John 1, John 4 and Luke 10. From there she shares simple ways to form warm connections, along with "beginner and stretch moves": share your life, ask and listen, pray by name, and invite. These include a "four H's" listening exercise (history, heart, hurts and hopes) and a way to pray for friends through beauty, brokenness and hope in Christ.The session is built for pastors and leaders who want tools they can pass on to their people.BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

In 1926, a West Texas couple close to losing their land learned they had been sitting on one of the largest oil fields in North America all along. Rev. Jonathan Schaeffer, D.Min., President of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, uses the Yates family's story to ask whether many believers, leaders included, live like spiritual paupers when Christ has made them spiritual billionaires.Working from 1 Corinthians 6:17-20, Jonathan traces "the biggest change of address in all of history." It runs from the cloud and fire over the tabernacle in Exodus 40, to Jesus' promise in John 14 that the Spirit would live in us, to the tongues of fire at Pentecost. As he puts it, "Jesus in you is better than Jesus with you."He draws out what it means to be the temple of the Holy Spirit: constant fellowship with Jesus, belonging fully to him, and carrying his authority wherever we go. The session closes with Jesus' invitation in John 7 for anyone who is thirsty to come and drink.BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

"The one who wins souls is wise." Proverbs 11:30 sits at the center of this opening session. District Superintendent Rev. Michael Plunket, D.Min., calls the Metro District to make soul winning its focus again, as a Spirit-filled "charismatic community of prophets."Drawing on Charles Spurgeon and 1 Corinthians 9, Mike reminds us that no one is argued into the kingdom. Souls are won through Spirit-empowered love, prayer and plain speech, and they are contested ground. He tells of a veteran missionary in Mexico City who saw fifty people come to faith within weeks of learning to "pull the net." He also recalls a shaky Four Spiritual Laws conversation on Daytona Beach that led a young man to Christ.Mike names what qualifies a soul winner: being saved, being settled in God's love, and genuinely loving the people you hope to reach. He offers a simple pattern for preaching toward decision (mind, heart and will) and closes with a challenge: say yes to the first nudge of the Spirit.BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

Jesus sent his disciples out with an unusual order: "Heal the sick who are there, and tell them the kingdom of God has come near to you" (Luke 10:9). In this closing session, District Superintendent Rev. Michael Plunket, D.Min., calls the church to step into the spiritual authority Jesus has given.Mike begins with a story from 1993, when, as a struggling Presbyterian church planter, he cried out, "Heal me or take me home." He then teaches that a believer's authority is delegated, exercised in obedience, and backed by the One who sends, drawing on Matthew 10, Exodus 14 and Genesis 24. From there he explains binding and loosing, the spheres where God assigns authority, and the pattern in Jeremiah 1:10 of uprooting before planting.Drawing on John Wimber's Power Evangelism, he closes with stories from evangelistic campaigns in Uganda. His challenge is to step into your authority and activate your faith, because "a steering wheel is useless on a parked car."BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

What does a missionary encounter look like in a post-Christian place? Rev. Dr. Stanley John, lead pastor of Sound Hope, begins with Lesslie Newbigin. After four decades in India, Newbigin found England harder ground than anything he had met there. He spent his retirement pastoring a struggling 20-member church across from a Birmingham prison.Stanley argues that Newbigin's overlooked genius was the local church. In our context, he says, missionary encounter will happen most often through pastoral faithfulness. From Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he draws three marks: proclaiming the whole counsel of God in public and from house to house, embracing shepherding as the defining verb of ministry, and serving with a pastoral heart, even with tears.He tells of weekly visits with an elderly congregant, and of a funeral where a guest who had never set foot in a church asked him to teach others how to do this. It's a word from the trenches, not the mountaintop, for anyone tempted to measure ministry by scale.BOLD 2026 was the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance conference, held October 12-13 at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, NJ.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

What does it take for a church, a family, or a whole district to be ready for a fresh move of God? In this complete series of Blueprint for Revival, Mike Plunket lays out God’s blueprint for renewal across nine teachings. He draws on Scripture and on his study of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, and Tim Keller.The series opens with three words, Resistance, Renewal, and Resilience, then moves through Isaac re-digging his father’s wells, the real community of Acts 2, and the twelve stones of Joshua 4 that help us remember what God has done. Mike shows how “Jesus plus nothing” transformed Saul into Paul, what happens when the Spirit falls on a church, and what it means to worship in spirit and truth. It ends with the proactive compassion of the Good Samaritan and an invitation to approach God as Father, not landlord.Along the way, Mike shares personal stories, from a near-fatal bout of malaria in Uganda to his young son giving away his allowance in Costa Rica.Blueprint for Revival is a teaching series from Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.

Jesus doesn't teach us to pray to a king, a judge, or even a friend. He teaches us to pray to a Father. In the final episode of Blueprint for Revival, Mike Plunket unpacks that one word — Father — and how it changes everything about how we approach God.Mike draws out the difference between two ways of living in the same house: a tenant, whose place rests on a contract and whose currency is performance, and a child, whose place rests on relationship and whose currency is belonging. He shows how this reshapes not just what we can ask God for, but why we'd ever expect to be heard — because a child doesn't have to convince a Father who already knows and already loves.Mike closes with Corrie ten Boom's story of trusting her own father even amid the fear of Nazi-occupied Holland, and a simple, personal challenge: are you praying like a tenant tracking your performance, or a child who already belongs?Blueprint for Revival is a weekly teaching series from Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance.Metro District Podcast is the voice of the Metro District, Christian and Missionary Alliance — resourcing and connecting churches across NY, NJ, and PA.🌐 Learn more: https://metrocma.org📧 Contact: [email protected]📍 2 Denman Ave, Clark, NJ 07066📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metro_cma/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrodistrictcmaSubscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it.