Summit Podcasts

November 1, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Luke 9:23–25 — Week 2

In the second week of The Cost of Discipleship, Pastor Kyle Hammond, a longtime friend of Mel and Kim who leads a church in Columbus, Ohio, preached Luke 9:23-25. Jesus says His disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross daily, and Pastor Kyle reminded us that the cross was a symbol of death, not jewelry. Following Jesus will cost you something, but not following Him will cost you more. From Matthew 6:21, he showed that your heart follows your treasure, and that two of the most valuable things God has entrusted to us are our time and our talents. He asked whether God is worth one percent of our time, about five hours a month. He closed with the story of a man whose life was changed because people held a door and found him a seat.

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November 1, 2026 • The Back 40 Leadership Podcast

Episode 133 — Saving Society, Pearls Before Swine, Fallen Preachers

Mel, Joel, and Michael discuss being salt and light, and how many righteous people it takes to spare a society from God’s wrath. They talk about why things may not be as bad as they feel, and why change starts in the home. Then they ask whether the swine in Matthew 7 are lost people or entrenched religious people who think they know the answers. From there they talk about trusting God with the things we can actually control. They say knowing God well means we don’t have to pray about every decision. They close on fallen preachers — whether true teaching from an unclean vessel still honors God, why gifting is not the same as character, and what real repentance looks like.

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October 25, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Luke 14:25–33 — Week 1

In the first week of The Cost of Discipleship, Pastor Mel preached Luke 14:25-33, where Jesus turns to the crowd following Him and tells them to count the cost before they begin. Jesus asks for a love so supreme that every other love looks like hate by comparison. He asks us to carry our own cross and to give up everything we own. Pastor Mel confessed that the church has sometimes sold salvation like a product on sale, and he told the story of surrendering his own dream at youth camp. He named the things we’re sure God would never ask us to give up. He closed with Bonhoeffer’s call to come and die and with Jim Elliot’s words: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

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October 23, 2026 • The BACK40 Leadership Podcast

Episode 132 — Privacy, Honesty, Medicalizing Evil

Mel, Joel, and Michael discuss privacy — whether valuing it is righteous when God sees everything, why “God knows my heart” is no defense for bad behavior, and how to hold firm moral lines without becoming a Pharisee. Then honesty: why it does not mean saying everything to everyone, why love is the filter for truth, and why loving is not the same as nice. They close on spiritual malignancy and mental illness — how much of human evil has been medicalized, why the spiritual and the mental are both real, and why pastors should not hand every struggle off to clinicians.

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October 18, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Romans 16:1–27 — Week 26

In our final week in Romans, Pastor Mel showed that the list of names in chapter 16 is the unified church Paul spent the whole letter describing. Phoebe, a deacon and patron, carried the letter to Rome; Priscilla, Junia and the women Paul commends served beside the men; and the household of Herod and the son of the man who carried Jesus’ cross came to faith. When our primary identity is anything other than son or daughter of God, walls go up. Most division comes from people talking about someone instead of to them, and the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet.

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October 14, 2026 • Leadership Night

Right Affections, Right Rhythms

Pastor Mel brings 28 years of ministry to a talk for pastors at an ARC gathering at Victory Church in Cranberry, Pennsylvania. Most leaders don’t burn out in a headline moment. They wear down under the slow drip of hurts, disappointments and unmet expectations. What sustains them, Mel says, is their rhythms, and every rhythm is driven by an affection. He walks through the right affections in order (Jesus, your spouse, your kids and God’s people) and the wrong ones that quietly take their place: success, applause, control and comfort. Along the way: a VIP section that didn’t sit right, a six-figure giver who wanted more hymns, and why quantity time with your kids leads to quality time. He closes with 2 Corinthians 4 and a prayer for every leader in the room.

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October 11, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Romans 15:14–33 — Week 25

In our next-to-last week in Romans, Pastor Mel showed Paul reminding a divided church of what it already knew, then opening his heart about his calling: to bring the good news so he could present people to God as an offering. The only thing we can take to heaven is people, and it isn’t our job to save them, only to tell them. Paul took no credit (we are just a hammer in the hand of the master craftsman), kept going from Jerusalem to Illyricum while there was still work to do, and expected the church to be generous. The Macedonians were very poor but rich in generosity, because generosity is about sacrifice, not volume, and it starts with a plan. He closed by asking who we are praying for.

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October 8, 2026 • The Back 40 Leadership Podcast

Episode 131 — God’s Repentance, Disbelief in Hell, Resilience

Mel, Joel, and Michael discuss what Summit would do if a new plague brought back the questions of COVID — why the church would keep its doors open, and what it means to lead when every decision applies to everyone. Then the repentance of God in Genesis 6: the Hebrew word behind the Lord being sorry he made man, and how God can grieve while his plan never changes. Next, why some people say there cannot be a hell — the belief that people are basically good, and reducing God to love while forgetting his holiness. They close on resilience in ministry and marriage — why it is a daily choice and a muscle, why our rhythms follow our affections for Christ, and why you prepare for the storm before it hits.

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October 4, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Romans 14:1-15:13 — Week 24

This week Pastor Mel preached Romans 14:1-15:13, where Paul addresses a church divided between Jewish and Gentile believers over food and holy days. His answer is unity: “Accept other believers who are weak in the faith and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.” Weak here means immature, not inferior, and the mature are the ones called to give grace, because too often “we want to be right more than we want to be righteous.” Paul then sets a higher standard for Christian freedom. The question is not only whether something is allowed, but whether it will cause another believer to stumble. A mature believer lays down what they have the right to do for the good of others, because “Right relationship is greater than being right.” Paul closes by calling the church to accept each other just as Christ accepted us, so the world would know God’s love.

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September 27, 2026 • Sermon Summary

Romans 13:8-14 — Week 23

This week Pastor Mel preached Romans 13:8-14, where Paul turns from governing authority to the people inside the church. His call to a divided church is love — not a starry-eyed feeling but a sacrificial practice. It’s the only debt worth carrying. Paul sums up the commandments against adultery, murder, stealing, and coveting in one line from Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and Mel shows why love is the antidote: it is hard to sin against someone you truly love. He is clear that this is “not this call to like each other. It’s a call to love each other,” even when we disagree fiercely. Then Paul adds urgency — time is running out. We must throw off dark deeds like dirty clothes, including quarreling, jealousy, and gossip, and clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, making no provision for the flesh.

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