God is Uncontrollable

When God acts in a surprising way that appears to contradict his own commands and Moses' authority, Joshua wants it to stop. The story from Numbers 11 reveals what happens when God defies our expectations and breaks the containers we try to put him in. Skye Jethani examines the defensiveness of Joshua, the humility of Moses, and how they apply to men at different stages of maturity.

Jon Houghton moderates a conversation between Kurt Ver Beek (Co Founder of Association for a More Just Society in Honduras) and Joel Hammernick (founder of a More Just Chicago) who modeled much of their plans from the effective work done in Honduras.

How we love one another with our time, talents, and treasure which is our witness to Jesus.

This talk examines Jesus's homecoming to Nazareth in Luke 4:14-30 to learn what it has to teach Christians about the danger of self-sufficiency over finding our sufficiency in Christ.

Spiritual maturity doesn't happen automatically. Scripture calls us to grow beyond spiritual infancy and become more like Jesus. But how do we actually grow? Building on Ephesians 4 and Hebrews 5, we'll explore how taking responsibility for our spiritual diet—going deeper in Scripture, engaging challenging ideas, and learning from different perspectives—helps us grow in wisdom, discernment, and humility. We'll also consider why spiritual maturity is developed in community and ultimately exists for the good of others.

What does it mean to become a spiritually mature Christian? Jon Houghton explores how learning to carry sorrow and hope together helps cultivate a durable faith and grows our capacity to love. Drawing on Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane and his own experience, Jon introduces two practices: lament and remembering God's faithfulness. Part one of a two-part series on developing spiritual maturity.

As modern people, we assume every problem has a knowable, formulaic, and predictable solution. When we apply this to our faith, however, we run into a problem—God is mysterious beyond our undestanding. Drawing from a story about Moses that challenges our definitions of success and failure, Skye explains the difference between having a mechanical and an agricultural understanding of our faith.

Moderated by Jon Houghton, panelists Charlie Dates, Paco Amador, Greg Lernihan, Steve Carter, and David Dillon have a candid conversation about what it takes for marketplace leaders, nonprofits, and churches across Chicago's socioeconomic and racial spectrum to work together for the flourishing of the city.

2026 Retreat Session 2

2026 Retreat Session 1