Kentwood Community Church

Tea Time with Mick | 07.13.2026

Preparing Hearts and Churches for Revival: Practical Steps Toward Spiritual Awakening

This episode of The Devout Route podcast explores the practical aspects of preparing for revival, emphasizing that believers and churches have an active role in positioning themselves for God's movement. The discussion challenges the passive approach many churches take toward revival, arguing that while God sovereignly brings revival, believers must prepare through spiritual disciplines like corporate prayer, confession, and unity. The hosts stress that revival preparation requires desperation for God's presence, willingness to pay the cost of prayer, and maintaining unity within the body of Christ. They address the danger of seeking emotional experiences rather than genuine encounters with God's power, glory, and presence. The conversation emphasizes that revival isn't limited to dramatic manifestations but can begin in individual hearts and expand corporately when believers faithfully pursue God.

Pray Like This: The Lord's Prayer - Intercession

This powerful teaching takes us deep into the heart of Jesus' model prayer, specifically focusing on the revolutionary phrase 'Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' We discover that prayer isn't just a religious ritual—it's our lifeline to the supernatural power of God. The sermon challenges us to move beyond intellectual agreement into active participation as kingdom builders and intercessors. We learn that when we pray for God's kingdom to expand, we're declaring His sovereign rule is complete and eternal, unlike any earthly power or leader. The message illustrates this through compelling historical examples, from Nebuchadnezzar's temporary reign to modern dictators, showing that only Jesus' kingdom stands forever. What makes this teaching particularly convicting is its call to action: we're invited to pray specifically for salvations, for nations, for the church, and for deliverance from darkness. The prayer walk initiative challenges us to take our prayers beyond the building into our neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities. We're reminded that spiritual warfare is real, but we fight from a position of victory. The most transformative insight is understanding that God's kingdom expands through our prayers—when we intercede for others, we literally participate in bringing heaven's reality to earth. This isn't reserved for spiritual superstars; it's the calling of every believer who takes Jesus at His word.

Leading with Faith: A Mayor's Journey of Love, Service, and Kingdom Purpose

This conversation with Mayor Stephen Kepley of Kentwood, Michigan, reveals how authentic Christian faith can transform public service. Mayor Kepley shares his journey from engineer to four-term mayor, emphasizing that his identity is rooted in Christ rather than his position. He demonstrates that effective Christian leadership in the public sphere requires three core virtues: loving God, fearing God, and loving people. Throughout his testimony, he illustrates how seeking God's reality and kingdom first, maintaining integrity, and genuinely caring for all people—regardless of their religious or cultural background—can create lasting impact. His approach challenges the assumption that bold Christian faith is incompatible with political office, showing instead that authenticity, servant leadership, and dependence on God's guidance can be the very qualities that enable effective governance in a pluralistic society.

Pray Like This: The Lord's Prayer - Who Do You Think You're Talking To?

This powerful exploration of the Lord's Prayer begins with a question that stops us in our tracks: Who do we think we're talking to when we pray? We often rush past the opening words 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy' to get to what we consider the 'real' prayer—the requests for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance. But what if this first line is actually the key to everything else? By diving deep into what it means for God's name to be holy—separate, incomparable, majestic, and perfectly distinct from sin—we discover that our understanding of God's holiness fundamentally shapes how we approach Him in prayer. Through the honest struggles of Asaph in Psalm 73, we see ourselves reflected: wrestling with why the wicked seem to prosper while we face trials, questioning whether following God is truly worth it, and battling the temptation to air our doubts publicly rather than bringing them to God's throne. The journey from doubt to declaration that Asaph takes reminds us that God is big enough to handle our questions, wise enough to guide us through confusion, and loving enough to meet us with grace rather than condemnation. When we truly grasp God's holiness, our prayers transform from hesitant whispers to bold declarations, rooted not in our own strength but in the unchanging character of the One we're addressing.