City Church OTR Messages

This week, Chris launched our new series, Wild Faith. As we step into 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, we are intentionally entering a season of discomfort—acknowledging the wilderness and trusting God to meet us there. We fast because we want more of God, and we believe He still moves in power. As we begin these 21 days, what are you seeking Him for? What are you setting aside to make room for Him to move?

This week, Jake Vayda, lead pastor of Crete Church in San Diego, shared a powerful message on prayer. No prayer is too raw, too honest, or too big for our God. He welcomes it all—and invites us to come to Him.

This week, Chris closed our Christmas series, Still Near, by pointing us back to the heart of Jesus’ message: good news for the poor. Throughout the Bible, Jesus calls His followers to care for those in need and to live with open hands. Generosity is one of the ways God moves through us—using our willingness to bring hope, dignity, and care to others.

This week, Rob continued our Still Near series by reminding us that Jesus came to set the captives free. Though many are still held by the weight of sin, true freedom is found in the truth of who Jesus is. When we invite Him into our hearts and choose to worship Him, we step into the freedom only He can give.

This week, we kicked off our Christmas series, Still Near. Chris began by unpacking some context in the story of the prophet Isaiah and giving us some context around our theme passage for the series, Isaiah 61:1–4. God sent His Son to bind up the brokenhearted — to draw near to us in our pain, our grief, and our moments of lament. He has always been close, and He is still near.

This week was our annual Sermon Slam—five five-minute messages from five different voices in our church body: Eric, Mackie, Lizz, Damian, and Donna. Each person taught on one of the women in the genealogy of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. After each teaching, we took a moment to pause and worship together. Their stories reminded us that God often works through unlikely people —just as He did through these women—to bring His Son, our Savior, into the world.

Chris challenges listeners to perform a 'generosity audit' to reflect on their giving. He shares inspiring stories of how others' generosity has made a significant impact. Diving into 2 Corinthians 8, he highlights the Macedonians' joy in giving despite poverty. With a focus on spontaneous, systematic, and sacrificial giving, Chris illustrates how generosity can transform lives. Personal anecdotes reveal his journey from greed to disciplined giving, emphasizing that true generosity often costs us something.

This week, Chris wrapped up Exponential, our series on discipleship. He invited us to imagine a Cincinnati shaped by generation after generation of people becoming more like Jesus — and reminded us that this kind of movement requires sacrifice: the way we spend our time, the way we spend our lives. City Church is just one part of the greater discipleship work God is stirring across our city.

This week, Chris continued our discipleship-focused series, Exponential, by asking: where in our lives does the standard need to be raised? Jesus demands more than we think—but offers more than we could ever imagine. He may ask us to surrender our dreams, the very things we believe will fulfill us, yet in the end, He alone is the one who truly can.

This week at City Church OTR, we celebrated a milestone in our story. After five years of being externally governed by a trusted board of experienced leaders, we established our very own board of elders—a group of leaders marked by integrity, honor, and deep investment in the life of our church. Chris and Katherine introduced each of them to our church family and cast vision for what this next season of leadership and shepherding will mean for City Church OTR.