Mercy Culture

Prayer is personal devotion, but it is also spiritual warfare. In this message from our Spiritual Warfare series, we look at the prayer of intercession: standing in the gap for others, extending the ministry of Jesus, and enforcing the victory He already won at Calvary.

From Isaiah 59 and Daniel 9, we see that a true intercessor doesn’t stand above a nation pointing a finger. He stands in it and says “we.” This is the year of encounters and visitations, and God is still looking for someone to stand in the gap.

The greatest battle in your life may not be against the people around you. It may be the desire within you to make your life about you. In this message from Mark 10, Pastor Matt Saville reveals how Jesus redefines greatness, not by how many people serve us but by how willing we are to serve others. Through four battles of self (identity, entitlement, self-preservation and the freedom of the Gospel), Pastor Matt calls us to surrender the throne to Jesus and let our lives become instruments of His service. We don’t serve to become great in the eyes of people. We serve because we have encountered the greatness of Jesus.

Pastor Sean Gleason preaches a direct call for the church in Waco to wake up from spiritual slumber, opening in Acts 9 with Saul’s encounter on the road to Damascus. He teaches on the spirit of stupor, a demonic numbness and apathy that blinds people to the truth of God, drawing from Romans 11, Isaiah 29, and 2 Corinthians 4 to explain how this spirit keeps believers comfortable, distracted, and disengaged from the things of God.

Pastor Sean shares personal stories, including a season of unexplainable exhaustion that the Lord revealed was tied to a spirit of slumber over the city, and challenges Mercy Culture to recover the hunger and grit he says has been replaced by comfort and domestication. He names four signs of being under a spirit of stupor, treating God’s presence as optional, knowing what is right without doing it, spiritual numbness, and apathy, and connects these patterns to the church at Sardis in Revelation 3 and the disciples falling asleep in the garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22.

He pushes the congregation to engage culture rather than retreat from it, pointing to examples like Baylor University and broader cultural compromise as evidence of a sleeping church, and calls for zeal, described through Jesus clearing the temple in John 2, as the only true antidote to apathy and tolerance. Pastor Sean closes by inviting the church into a 40 day Freedom Fast at the start of the new year and leads the congregation in prayer, asking God for a holy visitation that awakens hunger, repentance, and a renewed pursuit of His presence.

The vision of Mercy Culture is to take people from corporate encounters with God to daily personal encounters with God. At Mercy Culture, one of our unique characteristics is that we are a presence driven church. We are not built around any person or ministry. We are built around the presence of God. Each week, you will hear a teaching from our Lead Pastors, Sean and Natalie Gleason or another leader in our community. To learn more about Mercy Culture, visit https://mercyculturewaco.com

The Spirit of Python seeks to steal your passion for God, His house, and His purpose for your life. Through Acts 16, Senior Lead Pastor Landon Schott exposes the enemy’s strategies and teaches us how to recognize spiritual oppression, overcome deception, and reclaim our zeal for God through prayer, worship, and the power of Jesus Christ.

Worship is more than a song. It’s an act of war. Worship Pastor Brendan walks through 2 Chronicles 20 to show how Judah’s surrender and praise turned a battleground into a Valley of Blessing. Learn the four types of worship, what worship does in spiritual warfare, and why surrender is the starting point of victory. Part of our Spiritual Warfare series.

Vision Sunday is a look at where God is leading Mercy Culture and what He is calling us to build in the season ahead. As we look toward 2027, we are choosing to strengthen our foundation, prioritize health, deepen discipleship, and continue advancing the Kingdom through the visions God has entrusted to us.

You can bench press 300 pounds, but you can't fast three days. Something's off in your spiritual leadership.

 

In this episode, Pastor Landon Schott sits down with Mike Signorelli, founding pastor of V1 Church in New York City and director of The Domino Revival, for a conversation about the phrase both of them hate most in Christianity: "I'm Spirit-filled, with a seatbelt."

 

In Give Me Truth, or Give Me Death, Pastor Nate Schatzline challenges believers to stand boldly on the truth of God's Word, even when culture rejects it. Through Scripture, he reminds us that our allegiance belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven, not political parties or popular opinion.

We are called to be courageous truth tellers, allowing God's Word to transform our own hearts before confronting the darkness around us. Truth is worth standing for, no matter the cost!

In “Offense: The Trap Between You + Your Inheritance” Pastor Jasmine Weiler teaches that offense is a spiritual trap (skandalon) the enemy uses to keep believers stuck, deceived, and ultimately offended at God. Using Psalm 16:6 and the parable of the two sons in Luke 15, she shows that offense causes people to either walk away from the Father or settle for less than the inheritance He’s given. She closes with two strategies: let God challenge your flesh now so you don’t fall away later, and forgive often and quickly.