South Hills Church - Costa Mesa

Everybody knows that just like a road trip isn’t complete without music, a church service isn’t complete without worship. We may not know how we know, or why it’s true, we just know it is. Obviously, there’s something powerful about music, but why do we need to sing (what amounts to) love songs to someone we can’t see, hear, or touch? Especially with other people. It’s kind of weird. Why has worship been essential to religious gath...

Life is busy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. For many of us, that means we do our best to maximize our time and minimize distractions. That isn’t always a bad thing, but it certainly can be a bad thing. Some parts of life aren’t meant to be rushed, skipped, or sped through. It might be convenient to drive-thru a favorite fast-food spot, or even Door Dash your meal, but it’s just not the same as sitting down at a table with ...

Making room for and compromising with other people can be uncomfortable and annoying. Which is why a lot of us would rather go it alone. We drive alone, eat alone, and binge our shows alone. The catch is: doing so much alone is…lonely. We all want to find people we just click with—people who share our interests, opinions, and preferences. In other words, people just like us. Is that so bad? Doesn’t God want us to have meaningful re...

So much of what we think we need is dictated by what those around us have. We feel the pressure to keep up with and occasionally one-up our neighbors. But social media has expanded our community of comparison to everyone in existence. Which is a little overwhelming. Why is so much of our self-worth tied to what we have, and why do even those who have a lot often feel worthless? How do we break our addiction to more? And how do we t...

Statistically, most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet regardless of how much they make. It’s easier to make money than to make a plan for your money. We tend to just spend what we get on whatever we need in the moment, not realizing that some of our needs may just be wants in disguise. How can you tell the difference? Is it the same for everybody? Is it even realistic to stick to a budget in a modern age?...

Most families don’t talk about money, especially to their kids. Which is a shame because money is a big part of life. A lot of us leave home without much of a financial compass. What we do know we’ve cobbled together from peers, commercials, and social media. Most of that advice leads us to crave what we don’t have and spend what we haven’t earned. Few people have taken time to think about their philosophy of money, but Jesus talke...

Whether you laugh or cringe, we’re all familiar with fictional NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby’s prayer to “Dear 8lb, 6oz newborn infant Jesus.” When he said “I like the Christmas-Jesus best,” he said out-loud what many of us think internally. Christmas-Jesus is adorable, cute, and easy to imagine. We keep the Jesus of our faith small and contained, like an ancient fairy-tale we recite to get warm feelings. While we should embrace the wo...

The gifts that the wisemen gave Jesus were deeply meaningful, symbolic and extravagant. Those gifts, according to many, were the impetus for the Christmas tradition of gift-giving. While there is nothing wrong with gift-giving, gift-buying has become an increasingly large focus for many. Christmas for many just means consumerism, debt, and wish-lists. Is it possible to spend less, but give more? Or will we spend every Christmas cli...

Every nativity play we’ve seen has the grumpy innkeeper who turns Mary & Joseph away. We imagine a heartless man slamming the door in the face of a pregnant woman. Scripture actually says almost nothing about who this person was, or why they turned the young couple away. But what we do know is that, whether it was intentional or not, there was an unwillingness to make space that first Christmas. Still today, many of us have no ...

Because of his murderous campaign to kill every boy child under 2 years old, Herod is the obvious villain of the Christmas story. He’s also the easiest villain to look down on, because his actions are so evil we can only compare them to something from a movie. But, while his actions are unimaginable, his motivations are much more familiar to us. King Herod’s grasping for power led him to commit one tragedy after another. For many o...

For the most part, our mindset is, “I should be able to do whatever I want, as long as I’m not hurting anyone.” And most of our indulgences don’t seem to be. Who cares if you add more clothes you don’t need to your closet, or sneak an extra piece of cake in the breakroom, or lose sight of your other obligations during NFL season? Although, if what we were doing was hurting someone, would we even notice? Is it possible that some of ...

Family members aren’t always going to get along. That’s a given. With different personalities come different preferences and perspectives. We’re bound to disagree and get on each other’s nerves. Obviously, we can overlook the small stuff, but what about the big stuff? What happens when someone says or does something deeply wounding that they can’t take back? The type of stuff you can’t undo, or fully make up for. What then? Are the...

We all know people who didn’t grow up in a great family but made their way through life leaning on their “chosen” family. These are people they’re not biologically related to, but who love, support, challenge, and encourage them to be their best selves. They needed these extra influences because they didn’t have access to a built-in family. But does that mean that those who do, don’t need additional help from the outside? If a fami...