by Andrew Beard | Jan 7, 2026 | Words from Pastor Andrew
Our kids wrapped up their Christmas break today, so we spent part of the day reflecting on the highs.
And there were a lot of highs.
Slow mornings and fun-filled evenings.
Time with friends and loved ones.
Sunsets on the beach and really great movie nights.
Meaningful family Christmas traditions and a few new ones.
An unbelievable Christmas Eve service with more than 3,000 of our closest friends.
A simple, beautiful Christmas morning.
Great food, an amazing trip with family, jumping into crystal-clear waters, swimming in natural pools, and hiking in the forest.
It was a great break.
But there were also lows.
Honestly, ours really was great, but as followers of Jesus in this body of Christ, we rejoice with those who rejoice and we also mourn with those who mourn. We don’t do life or faith alone.
People who call The Chapel home said goodbye to family and loved ones far too soon.
Too many people are sick and struggling.
Too many people are hurting.
Too many people I know and love are feeling lost and alone.
Too many trips to the doctor and the pharmacy.
And personally speaking…we had sickness that made us miss our first Sunday of the new year. As a fun bonus, one of our kids got both an inner and outer ear infection. He’s really an overachiever.
Awesome, right?!
by Andrew Beard | Nov 24, 2025 | The Tower
News from the Tower – 34
Explore this Tower to hear about our year, more about affiliate membership and new members, link to this years’ Advent Guide and get info on Christmas Eve.
by Andrew Beard | Nov 10, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
When I was a kid, I was super into David Copperfield. In case you don’t know who he is, he was the illusionist of the 80s and early 90s. My family would gather around the TV to watch him make the Statue of Liberty disappear, levitate over the Grand Canyon, escape Alcatraz, all with dramatic music and flowy 80s shirts.
He’s the reason my brothers and I got into magic when we were kids. We’d buy magic kits, learn card tricks, and even take illusion classes at the community college. But here’s what I discovered: once you pull back the curtain and see how the trick works, you realize it’s not actually “magic”, it’s just a series of thoughtful steps to achieve an outcome. Knowing how it works doesn’t ruin the wonder; it just deepens your appreciation.
That’s kind of how studying Scripture works.
by Andrew Beard | Oct 22, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
The other day I came home from work, and one of my sons was outside with wood and a drill.
I asked, “What are you building?”
He said, “I don’t know, but I need to build something.”
I went inside and told Sarah, “Did you see he’s building something outside? Where did that come from?”
She said, “He was watching videos of people building stuff and didn’t want to just watch other people do it; he wanted to build something himself.”
At The Chapel, we firmly believe that Jesus is God’s Son who showed us how to live and love, and then laid down His life so we could experience true life. He is our Lord and Savior, God and King, High Priest and Friend, and our Rabbi.
Now, in the Christian tradition, we don’t talk too much about Rabbis. But the idea is that a Rabbi is a teacher, someone who helps you wrestle with the Scriptures and grow in your faith and knowledge of God. To be a disciple means to be a student or apprentice under a Rabbi.
That doesn’t mean you show up to class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, listen to a 50-minute lecture, write a few papers, take a test, and call it a day. In Jesus’ time, you followed your Rabbi. You learned their ways. You wanted to be like them.
As I’ve said before, you want to follow so closely you’re covered in the dust of your Rabbi.
by Andrew Beard | Sep 30, 2025 | Words from Pastor Andrew
Recently, we were driving to drop our kids off at school in the morning, and out of nowhere—totally disconnected from what everyone else in the car was talking about—one of our kids said, “What if there were 3-D t-shirts?”
Well…technically, t-shirts are already 3-D…but I get the question.
This is completely normal in our home, and I’m guessing in most of our lives. One of the people in our family will just throw out a completely off-the-wall or bizarre thought that doesn’t seem to be rooted in anything the rest of us are talking about. I’m likely the most guilty of this in our home…Sarah can attest. I am sure you don’t do this…but you likely know someone who does, right?
Regularly, most of us are in our own thoughts instead of being fully present. We’re thinking something and, for some reason, we assume everyone else is thinking about the same thing or at least on the same page of curiosity as us or cares deeply about that seemingly random thing.
We are busy people with busy minds. And this scattered way of living isn’t just in our brains. We have busy and tired lives. We are constantly getting hit with an onslaught of information and misinformation, opinions and responses, push notifications, alerts, posts—the list goes on—that keep us from ever slowing our bodies and our minds down.
How in the world, will we ever be able to hear from Jesus if we never stop?
