Behind The Message

In this week's episode, Pastor Steve Mickel stops by to discuss how God is good, and that may or may not be tied to how circumstances play out in our lives.

Trusting God (or anyone else) is difficult in today's self sufficient culture. After a week off, Behind the Message is back with Pastor Steve Mickel to discuss what it means to really trust God with our lives.

Pastor Steve Mickel visits the podcast to discuss how God comes to our aid, why it doesn't always look like we expect, and the barrier of pride that stands in our way of receiving God's help.

Corey Parnell joins Ben and Evan to discuss the Psalms of Lament, and how the raw, difficult moments of our lives can bring us closer to the character of God.

Millennials get a bad reputation for acting entitled, but most of us get swept into consumerism, cynicism, and a sense that no amount of 'more' is ever enough. Pastor Steve Mickel discusses gratitude as shown throughout the Psalms as the effective defense against a corrosive sense of entitlement.

Casey Parnell joins Ben Fleming to discuss Evan's message on the judgment of God in the Psalms, and how we shouldn't see it as a negative.

Ben, Casey and Steve talk about the importance of remembering the past, and how that impacts how we live in our today and our tomorrow.

Bo Stern is back to discuss her message on worship and to discuss why worshipping with the community is quite possibly more important than time spent in personal prayer and devotion.

Steve Mickel joins Ben and Evan this week to talk about the book of Psalms and how it invites us to a new level of openness and honesty with God and ourselves. That openness leads us to places of quiet and safety.

Corey Parnell is back to reclaim his title of 'most listened to guest' on Behind the Message. We discuss the power of bringing back the Sabbath and Corey shares on the difference for him preaching vs. leading worship.

Bo Stern stops by to discuss how we talk to singles and married people, how our messaging on sex & singleness misses the mark, and the challenges of dating after marriage.

Ben, Steve Mickel and Casey Parnell go behind Casey's weekend message - Social Awareness. In this episode we discover how social awareness fits into our spiritual lives, awkward social interactions and what it means to "draw out the mansions in other people."

Ben and Pastor Steve Mickel discuss Part 2 of The Emotionally Healthy Life: Facing Your Shadow. Your shadow is the damaged, but mostly hidden, version of the person God created you to be. What are some practical ways that we can overcome blind spots? How do we know we're getting better as individuals and as the church?

Pastor Steve Mickel joins Ben and Evan to discuss why it is impossible to be spiritually healthy and emotionally unhealthy at the same time. Other topics of conversation include unnecessary separation of sacred and secular and how churches tend to skip over single people in our messaging.

This week, Ben and Evan officially launch Behind The Message. This episode explains what we'll be up to and how you can participate in the conversation.

Ben and Evan talk to Westside's Creative Arts Pastor, Casey Parnell, about what we do behind the scenes before and during the biggest weekend of the year.

After the death of her oldest son, Suzanne Mickel has spent months considering the reality of heaven. Ben and Evan sit down with her to discuss her message on life, loss and how to be present.

Is talking about evil and the devil in church taboo? Overused? Not talked about enough? What should we do with our doubts? Ben and Evan discuss Pastor Bo Stern's message on Ephesians chapter 6, "War this Way".

Pastor Corey Parnell stops by to discuss the top 10 (or more) worship songs of all time. Did we miss your favorite? Comment below.

Evan & Ben discuss a wide range of topics with youth pastor Spencer Schaber after he preaches at Westside's Third Wednesday service. Such as how God doesn't actually have a plan for your life and why his name means 'dirty tool' in German.