Menlo Church Podcasts

This week, Brett steps in as host while Matt is away on a trip, joining Phil to wrap up the Beyond the Ballot series following the election. Together, they explore how to navigate the post-election landscape, process political outcomes, and guard against letting political outrage define our faith and identity.1

Key Discussion Points:
Casual Intro & Catching Up: Brett open with some lighthearted banter about fall fashion choices, celebrate the Milwaukee Brewers' World Series victory, and share obscure sports they'd pursue, from equestrian riding to fencing.
Why Post-Election Processing Matters: Exploring why it is vital for Christians to take time after an election to process results, grieve well if things didn't go their way, and avoid pulling away from church or community.
Politics as a "Club Sport": A deep dive into the sermon illustration comparing political engagement to recreational, high school, and club sports. They discuss the dangers of living in constant "club-level" politicking—where politics becomes our primary identity, outrage never heals, and character compromises are easily justified.
Spotting Unhealthy Political Engagement: Identifying warning signs of over-indexing on politics, such as consuming exclusively political media, bringing political outrage to the family dinner table, or being driven by social media algorithms.
Navigating Work & Family Tension: Practical wisdom for responding to co-workers and family members making polarizing comments—leading with non-anxious curiosity, empathy, and grace rather than taking the bait.
Trading Anxiety for Peace: A look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians (Philippians 4), addressing how to bring real-world societal concerns to God in prayer rather than succumbing to panic and fear-driven news cycles.
Stay tuned for next week’s special bonus episode, where they will dive into more submitted ballot box questions!

Next Steps
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Download this week’s sermon study guide: 

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When allegiance is settled, the news cycle cannot rule you.

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Welcome back to the Menlo Midweek Podcast and Week 3 of our series, Beyond the Ballot. In this conversation, Brett (Mountain View Campus Pastor) and Matt Summers examine where we place our ultimate hope during an election season and what happens when we ask political leaders or outcomes to save us. Together, we discuss the limits of earthly authority, why Jesus doesn’t fit neatly onto any political side, and how grounding our allegiance in the Kingdom of God shapes how we respond to headlines and love our neighbors in everyday life.

Next Steps
Looking to take your faith journey deeper? Here are some great next steps:

Need Prayer or Have Questions? Text us at (650) 600-0402.
Download this week’s sermon study guide: 

Support Hope for Everyone
Thank you for your generosity! Support Menlo Church’s mission to reach 3% of the Bay Area with the message of hope in Jesus. Learn more or give at: http://www.menlo.church/hope.

Get Connected
We’d love to connect with you and help you get plugged into Menlo Church. Visit http://menlo.church/connect and fill out a quick form so we can reach out.

The human appetite for political solutions to spiritual problems has been with us since 1 Samuel 8. Every empire since has been some version of that demand. Every election cycle reactivates the temptation. We want a king. We want a savior in office. We want someone with power who is on our side.

Voting is participation, not salvation. Power is stewardship, not savior. Hope is anchored beyond the outcome.

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Welcome back to the Menlo Midweek Podcast and Week 2 of our series, Beyond the Ballot.

In this conversation, Peter Sherman and Matt Summers explore what our reactions reveal during an election season and how Jesus invites us to carry our convictions with a different posture. When our identity feels threatened, fear or grief can quickly turn into contempt. Together, we discuss how to move past defensive reactions, embrace a servant’s posture, and practice grace in our everyday conversations—from the family table to our friendships.

Next Steps
Looking to take your faith journey deeper? Here are some great next steps:

Need Prayer or Have Questions? Text us at (650) 600-0402.
Download this week’s sermon study guide: 

Support Hope for Everyone
Thank you for your generosity! Support Menlo Church’s mission to reach 3% of the Bay Area with the message of hope in Jesus. Learn more or give at: http://www.menlo.church/hope.

Get Connected
We’d love to connect with you and help you get plugged into Menlo Church. Visit http://menlo.church/connect and fill out a quick form so we can reach out.

Stay Connected with Menlo Church
Kids (Preschool–Grade 5): https://menlo.church/kids
Students (Grade 6–12): https://menlo.church/students
Explore All Ministries: https://www.menlo.church/ministries

 

The current cultural script on Christian political engagement is some version of be nicer, be humbler, be more curious, be more restrained. All of that is true, and almost none of it lands anymore because the room has heard it ten times. The sharper move for Matt is to reframe posture as diagnostic.

The way you react to a headline tells you what is forming you. The instinct to caricature is not a personality trait. It is a sign of what you have been consuming. The habit of moral superiority is not a quirk. It is a spiritual condition. The appetite for contempt is not an attitude. It is the gospel of your feed working in you.

Posture is not etiquette. Posture is the diagnostic that tells you what is forming your soul.

James says be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Philippians says have the same mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who emptied himself. Matthew says blessed are the peacemakers. None of those are politeness instructions. They are formation instructions. The shape of your political reactions is the shape of your formation.

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In this opening episode of our new series Beyond the Ballot, Phil EuBank and Matt Summers sit down to unpack Sunday’s message following Baptism Sunday. Rather than jumping straight into policy debates, voting guides, or party platforms, we are getting underneath why political disagreement feels so intensely personal.

Why does a difference of opinion feel like someone is touching something deep inside us? And how do we care deeply about real-world issues—like housing, schools, and justice—without letting politics carry the heavy weight of our ultimate identity?

In This Episode:

The Stakes Are Real: How to hold onto the importance of penultimate issues without letting them quietly become ultimate things.

Political Formation vs. Conviction: Examining how our daily media feeds shape our reflexes, anger, and fears.

An Identity You Don’t Have to Defend: Exploring what changes when we realize a secure identity in Christ frees us to participate without needing the outcome to prove our worth.

The Headline Practice: A simple, 60-second spiritual rhythm to pause, reflect, and pray before reacting to the next political news cycle.

Next Steps
Looking to take your faith journey deeper? Here are some great next steps:

Need Prayer or Have Questions? Text us at (650) 600-0402.
Download this week’s sermon study guide: 

Support Hope for Everyone
Thank you for your generosity! Support Menlo Church’s mission to reach 3% of the Bay Area with the message of hope in Jesus. Learn more or give at: http://www.menlo.church/hope.

Get Connected
We’d love to connect with you and help you get plugged into Menlo Church. Visit http://menlo.church/connect and fill out a quick form so we can reach out.

Stay Connected with Menlo Church
Kids (Preschool–Grade 5): https://menlo.church/kids
Students (Grade 6–12): https://menlo.church/students
Explore All Ministries: https://www.menlo.church/ministries
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Notice what the feed has been forming in you. Most of us did not consciously choose our political reflexes. We absorbed them. The contempt for the other side. The certainty about what kind of person votes a certain way. The reflex to define ourselves by who we are against. None of that is formed by the gospel. It is formed by hours of consumption that no one was tracking.

Then re-anchor. Identity in Christ is received, not achieved or defended. Colossians 3 says your life is hidden with Christ in God. Galatians 2 says I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 1 Peter 2 says you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Those are not slogans. They are the actual ground beneath the room.

Before we talk about how to engage, we ground people in belonging.

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On the series finale follow-up of Repentance for the Rest of Us, host Matt Summers sits down with Lead Pastor Phil EuBank to confront the exhausting distance between the person we are and the person we try to convince everyone else we are. Closing out the fourth week of our series under our year-long focus, Reclaiming The Way of Jesus, this conversation moves past polished filters and curated vulnerability to explore the liberating truth that God has never met the fake you.

Together, Matt and Phil unpack Psalm 51, David’s unedited story of exposure and grace, and why managing multiple versions of ourselves costs us our peace, our joy, and our ability to be truly loved.

Tune in as they break down:

Admired vs. Known: The critical difference between genuine, wise privacy and carefully curating an "authentic" performance that attracts fans while leaving the real person feeling isolated.

Truth in the Hidden Places: Why we can’t sanitize Psalm 51, and what David’s story reveals about moral blindness, abuse of power, and how exposure can actually be an expression of grace.

Create, Don’t Renovate: Why David asks God for a new heart rather than an improved mask—and how to stop bringing God the answer we think He wants and give Him the honest one instead.

Struggle Stories as Witness: How our weaknesses create hope where our successes only build admiration, and how to share our stories wisely without oversharing or centering ourselves.

Beyond the Ballot Teaser: Why repentance is the essential spiritual posture to carry into election season, and how filtering other people into political caricatures degrades our own humanity.

Grab your Reclaiming Journal, carry one question into every room this week—“Am I trying to be admired or known?”—and join us for the final conversation of a series that reframes repentance not as a weapon or a sentence, but as the daily, freedom-giving invitation to stop hiding and step into reality.

Next Steps
Looking to take your faith journey deeper? Here are some great next steps:

Need Prayer or Have Questions? Text us at (650) 600-0402.
Download this week’s sermon study guide: 

Support Hope for Everyone
Thank you for your generosity! Support Menlo Church’s mission to reach 3% of the Bay Area with the message of hope in Jesus. Learn more or give at: http://www.menlo.church/hope.

Get Connected
We’d love to connect with you and help you get plugged into Menlo Church. Visit http://menlo.church/connect and fill out a quick form so we can reach out.

Stay Connected with Menlo Church
Kids (Preschool–Grade 5): https://menlo.church/kids
Students (Grade 6–12): https://menlo.church/students
Explore All Ministries: https://www.menlo.church/ministries
Follow Us on Social Media

Instagram: @menlo.church
Facebook: Menlo Church
Website: http://www.menlo.church
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The final step of living out our identity is dropping the mask. This week focuses on being a Thoughtful Witness—someone who doesn't act like they have it all together, but who points to the One who does. We bring hope to others when they see our authentic, repenting lives.

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