The UnSunday Show
The UnSunday Show asks honest questions about the origin and validity of institutional church rules, traditions, and practices. These religious rules and practices lead us away from the simplicity of the gospel and into an exhausting performance-based experience that is designed to perpetuate itself by placing ever increasing demands on its people and are of no value in Christ. If you're exhausted from trying to keep all the religious rules that have been placed on you, listen in to these conversations as we rediscover the freedom we've been given, apart from religion and empty religious obligation.
Episodes
This episode is available in video format here: https://youtu.be/vHH8tYyzNIE
Maybe the reason you don't fit in church… is because you were never meant to. In Part 1: Church and Ekklesia, I talk about the core reason there is tension between institutional religion and the living, breathing community Jesus called ekklesia. If you've ever wondered why church isn't a good fit for you anymore, and you find yourself not fitting in, this...
Amber Stephens (https://www.youtube.com/@breathin.godsgrace247) joined me live on Sunday, November 9th as we explored the topic of living life in a guilt-driven faith. Here's the Grace Cafe link to our conversation with Amber about her story. https://www.podpage.com/the-grace-cafe-podcast/breaking-point-with-amber-stephens-015/
Here's the link to the video version: https://youtube.com/live/PcyU3kdgvZU
Joel Brueseke from the Growing in Grace podcast joined me for this YouTube livestream as we talked about the strongholds of church and religion that have a grip on us and are so much a part of us and our thinking after spending decades in that environment. You can watch the video her...
When church leaders ascended and became prominent in the assembly, the body of Christ suffered and continues to suffer. This episode takes a look at how institutional leadership reshaped gatherings that were once spontaneous, relational, and Spirit-led.
The video version of this episode is available on the UnSunday YouTube page at https://youtu.be/LuZuQbrp8ck and was recorded outside.
Amber Stephens joins me in this episode of The UnSunday Show as we ask the question, "Is the gospel enough?" Does the gospel need our help? Why do we think it does and why do we add things to it that actually diminish it? Additionally, why do we get sidetracked from it become preoccupied with pet doctrines and teachings that have nothing to do with it? Let's explore that in this episode.
You'll find Amber here:
- Instagram at h...
Four believers (Joel Brueseke, Amber Stephens, Mike Kapler, and Mike Adams) sit down for a powerful and honest conversation about grace, the New Covenant, and why mixing Law with performance is hurting people in the church. No titles, no pulpits, no sermons—just real talk about what it means to live in the finished work of Christ.
We talk about:
- Grace apart from works
- The difference between the Old and New Covenants
- How church...
Is signing a formal church membership contract a necessary expression of loyalty? Has the institutional church traded the freedom of life in Christ for institutional control? In this episode I explore how formal membership contracts — often loaded with behavioral clauses, doctrinal checkpoints, and institutional loyalty — distort the gospel of grace and reduce free flowing community to a legal transaction with rewards for complianc...
What happens when church becomes a breeding ground for control, fear, and manipulation? This episode of The UnSunday Show exposes the patterns of church bullying, from toxic leadership to spiritual abuse that often occurs when the institutional church abandons the New Covenant gospel of grace in favor of a mixed-covenant version of a gospel of their own making. This mixed covenant gospel is no gospel at all.
I'm excited to have J...
I'm continuing the topic of women in the church and how historically, the church's view of woman has been harmful and abusive. It's not a good track record. This is the fourth of four episodes that I brought over from our Grace Cafe podcast to share with you here. In this episode we talk about headship and submission. We use 1 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5 as the backdrop for our conversation and why we believe Paul's use of the w...
This is part 3 of a 4-part series I'm doing on Women in the church that originally aired on the Grace Cafe podcast in 2023. In this episode we're going to take a careful look at 1 Corinthians 14:34-40. It's here that the passage says the law commanded women to be silent, therefore, women should not be allowed to speak when the body of Christ is assembled. The problem is, the law doesn't say that and even if it did, we (and the peop...
In this episode we continue talking about the topic of how the institutional box church misrepresents and misinterprets passages of scripture that mention women in the body of Christ. We take a look at the historical and cultural context of Paul's first letter to Timothy and specifically, 1 Timothy chapter 2. In giving his reasons for writing this letter to Timothy, Paul instructs him to dispel myths that had arisen in the assembly...
This is part one of four episodes I'm bringing over from the Grace Cafe podcast on the topic of women in the church and how institutional Christianity uses scripture out of context to silent women. Here's a breakdown of the episodes I'm bringing over:
- Twisting the Truth: How Church Uses Scripture to Silence Women - Part One (this episode).
- Twisting the Truth: How Church Uses Scripture to Silence Women - Part Two (next week).
- D...
Let's talk about what happens when we stop going to church. This is from the livestream that I did on May 4th, 2025 on YouTube. Here's the link in case you want to watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/live/CHWejf9tjwk?si=tQtWdw1Jzf3VubJe
You can follow the UnSunday Show on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
Other Places You'll Find Me
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com
TikTok https://www.t...
The video version of this episode is on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/H89bdlfkwHg
In this episode I share a quote from Michael C. Kapler's book, Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee. This is an excellent book that I recommend without hesitation. You can find it on Amazon at https://bit.ly/3Rump8V
I'm thinking of doing a live video next Sunday on YouTube. Is that something you woul...
The gospel isn't a group project. If grace is free, why do we try so hard to add to it? In this episode, I talk about how bringing nothing to the table isn't a burden but is ultimate freedom. Grace apart from works is a death sentence for institutional religion that can't be tolerated there.
Let's talk about grace!
Other Places You'll Find Me
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@...
Holiness Isn't a Hustle. Many believers feel trapped in a cycle of performance, thinking sanctification is about sweating for Jesus. Too often, we're taught that sanctification, or holiness, is about working harder, doing more, and proving ourselves to God. But what if it isn't about striving to do more but about resting in what's already been done?
Other Places You'll Find Me
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast....
"The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her." -Charles Spurgeon
The pulpit is in the way. Pulpits have a long history of being an obstacle that is in the way of the Body of Christ functioning as God intends for it to function. When the Body of Christ is gathered together are we limited to the voice of one person behind a pulpit telling us their opinion of what to believe, what to do, or scolding us ...
"I don't want to read my Bible anymore. Is there something wrong with me? I need to fix this!"
This is a common theme that happens when we leave the institutional box church. Many times, any desire to read the Bible disappears and we start to think there's something wrong with us that needs fixed. We tend to think that losing a desire to have a regular Bible reading schedule makes us disappointing to God and getting back to having...
Let's talk about Jeremiah 17:9 and his statement that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Is it true? Are our hearts deceitful and wicked and not to be trusted or is there more to that description that needs clarification? Let's talk.
Other Places You'll Find Me
The Grace Cafe Podcast: https://www.gracecafepodcast.com
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@unsunday.mike
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/uns...
Welcome to episode 100 of The UnSunday Show! I was so focused in this episode on what I wanted to say that I forgot to mention this is episode 100. Triple digits! Yay!!! This is the final episode on the subject of pastors, elders, and shepherds. In this episode I talked about how the word pastors, which only appears in Ephesians 4:11, was a result of church tradition. In every other occurrence of the Greek word translated pastors i...
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