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.

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.

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.

On this special follow-up episode, we're taking a break from our series to sit down with Lead Pastor Phil EuBank to discuss his message, Still. Set against the setting of Hope for Everyone, this conversation moves past campaign updates and tracking stats to reframe stewardship not as fundraising, but as the quiet formation of an unshakable, living faith. Together, Matt and Phil unpack what it actually means to stay faithful when the fruit doesn’t fit our forecast, exploring how to cultivate open-handed trust when our expectations don't match reality. Tune in as they break down: - Why nostalgia is a forecast built on dated data, and how longing for the past can blind us to what God is doing in the present. - The critical biblical order in Haggai 2, why God’s presence must always precede our performance, and grace must come before generosity. - How to shift the stewardship question from "What should I give?" to "What kind of person am I becoming?" - The four pastoral invitations: Begin, Come Back, Ask the Question, and Plant a Tree and how they meet us wherever we are without grading or pressure. - The "First and Best Week" practice and seven daily questions designed to transform financial anxiety into trust and freedom. Grab your journal, pick one question to sit with each day, and join us for an unhurried conversation on why stewardship isn't a transaction to complete it's a formational practice that sets us free.

In this episode, Matt Summers sits down with Banda Health co-founders Steve Letchford and Wes Brown to hear the story behind their work in Kenya. Banda Health equips resource-constrained clinics with practical technology that helps frontline healthcare teams provide better care to some of the world’s most vulnerable patients. Their conversation explores the development of BandaGo, the realities facing local clinics, and the importance of building solutions alongside the people who use them. They also discuss how faith shapes Banda’s approach, Menlo’s growing partnership with the organization, and what can happen when people bring their professional skills into meaningful global service.

On Week 1 of Repentance for the Rest of Us, hosts Matt Summers and Phil EuBank sit down with guest speaker and author Dr. Vince Vitale to confront a word most of us spend our lives avoiding: repentance. Kicking off our new series under our year-long focus, Reclaiming The Way of Jesus, this conversation moves past clinical definitions to reframing repentance not as punishment or shame, but as the daily exhale of a living faith. Together, Matt, Phil, and Vince dismantle the corporate project-management approach to apology and explore what it actually costs to step into horizontal, present-tense ownership of our lives and relationships. Tune in as they break down: Why "repent" and "believe" are two sides of the exact same coin and why we dropped one word while keeping the other. The critical difference between vertical confession with God and horizontal repair with people. How high-performing culture tempts us to project-manage our apologies instead of giving up control. Why forgiveness and consequences are not the same transaction, and how to keep grace from becoming a shield against accountability. The marital "ban" on I’m sorry and the four words that shift an apology from self-defense to genuine surrender. Grab your Reclaiming Journal, ask yourself whose face comes to mind when you close your eyes, and join us for a conversation on why repentance isn't a sentence to carry. It's a gift that sets us free.