The Central Peninsula Church Podcast

Episode 169: Believing Is Seeing

In this CPC Together podcast, Brandon, Rachel, Nico, and Josh trade “see it to believe it” stories before discussing Josh’s sermon on John 5 at the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus heals a man who couldn’t walk. They explore how the passage functions as a legal narrative in John, describing movements of crime, accusation, and deposition, and how the Jewish leaders’ fixation on Sabbath law blinds them to the miracle. Josh revisits Jesus’ warning to “stop sinning,” frames it as a call to repentance rather than blaming disability on sin, and reflects on how believers can miss God’s activity, using hindsight, daily reflection, and examples of believing before seeing throughout Scripture.

Episode 168: Trust Through Suffering

On this episode of the CPC Together Podcast, Kevin, Brandon, Rachel, and Nico debate whether a baguette or floppy naan can be thrown farther and plan to test it, then discuss feeling misled by “sugar-free” Tic Tacs due to labeling loopholes. They play a “Name That Gospel” trivia game using ChatGPT-sourced questions, with many “only gospel” answers pointing to John, and they talk about synoptic gospels and differences in the passion narratives. The conversation shifts to faith and doubt, noting how some church cultures treat doubt as taboo and portray faith as a currency tied to blessing, echoing prosperity-gospel themes. Kevin outlines faith as three “load-bearing walls”: it begins with reason, develops through trust and volition (chair/tightrope examples), and matures through suffering, with reflections on empiricism, presuppositions, and how hardship can deepen a relationship with God.

Episode 167: Living Water

Central Peninsula Church’s CPC Together podcast welcomes Kevin Sneed, Rachel, and mission partner Bobi (Boban) Jakimovski from North Macedonia to reflect on the recent team visit and the church’s ongoing partnership through an annual family camp that includes believers and spiritually open friends. Bobi explains how meeting Christians from another culture prompts honest conversations about Jesus, and the group discusses the woman at the well, emphasizing Jesus’ boundary-crossing welcome and how shame isolates people from God and community. Kevin unpacks the sermon theme that happiness isn’t found in realizing desires, citing Tolstoy, David Foster Wallace, Camus, and C.S. Lewis to argue that misordered desires and worship of anything but God “eat you alive.” They close with Bobi describing how his family and church practice open-door hospitality as a witness in a shame-influenced culture.

Nicodemus, Tree Nuts, and Chompers

In this CPC Together episode from Central Peninsula Church, Kevin and Brandon banter about favorite nuts, then discuss one host’s appendicitis surgery experience and a detailed “Chomper” dental update involving a difficult root canal, an extra tooth canal, and a buildup after a crown wouldn’t fit. The conversation shifts to spiritual health, using dental avoidance as an analogy for ignoring deeper issues, and explores what “born again” means by letting Jesus define it in John 3 with Nicodemus. They explain the Greek anothen as both “again” and “from above,” connect being born again with repentance and surrender, note the American cultural and political connotations of the term, and consider how Jesus’ teachings confront false visions of the good life, calling for transformed loves and longings through prayer and renewed attention to God.

Episode 165: Camel Hair

On this episode of the CPC Together Podcast, Brandon, Rachel, and Sandy share experiences of being invited into things they wouldn’t have chosen. The conversation then shifts to Sandy’s sermon theme that people both desire and fear being fully known, tracing how insecurity and the need to fit in often start in junior high and show up through bullying, achievement, or hiding perceived flaws. They discuss finding rest in being known and loved by God, releasing pressure to be everything, bringing hardship to church, practicing confession, and living from Christ’s verdict rather than performance, using John the Baptist and Jesus’ interactions with Nathanael and Peter as examples.

Episode 164: Who Are You

On CPC Together, Brandon, Rachelm and Josh—dubbed the “mystery man”—talk about his ideal 24-hour day: waking at 4 a.m. in London with Tif, spending quiet time praying and reading, taking a long walk, sailing or fishing, enjoying great meals (minus blood sausage), and even watching a dramatic Oakland A’s win before dinner and late-night hanging out. The conversation turns to why the question “Who are you?” matters, arguing that identity is often wrongly built on accomplishments, roles, or vices rather than on being a child of God, which can lead to aimlessness and destructive substitutes. They discuss John’s Gospel as distinct from the synoptics due to its broader audience in Asia Minor, its use of Greek concepts like logos, and its emphasis on belief as trust and relationship, concluding with practical “come and see” steps toward deeper trust in God.

 

 

Episode 163: The Truth Shall Make You Odd

Odd Truths, Exile, and Faithful Presence (Separatism vs. Syncretism) | CPC Together

 

In this CPC Together episode from Central Peninsula Church, the Kevin, Brandon, and Rachel share light updates and odd personal habits: root canal recovery, eating condensed chicken noodle soup straight from the can, taking multiple “recreational” showers a day, bringing an open coffee mug in the car, and reheating In-N-Out after showering, before shifting to a discussion about living as Christians in “exile.”

 

They unpack two unhealthy responses to culture: separatism (withdrawing into an insular Christian subculture) and syncretism (blending in and losing distinctiveness), and argue for faithful presence rooted in Jeremiah 29 and exemplified by Daniel: maintain practices that shape identity while contributing to the flourishing of the city. They emphasize seeking shalom and praying for the city, bearing witness through ordinary work, hospitality, and non-performative faith rather than treating people as projects.

Episode 162: Napping With Your Eyes Open

In this CPC Together podcast episode, Kevin, Brandon, and Rachel talk about root canals, then swap light Sunday-night “detox” habits like watching SB Mowing lawn-cleanup videos and discuss small life changes such as making the bed, cleanliness, top sheets, and starting a simple skincare routine. The conversation shifts to David Brooks’ “Two Mountains” framework: the first mountain centers on achievement and consumption, while the second focuses on inner transformation, character, and a life of contribution rooted in Jesus’ way of love. They explore knowing God beyond head knowledge, how inner work fuels outer work, and three obstacles to growth—distraction, fragmentation, and avoidance—ending with reflections on becoming the kind of person who can live in God’s presence.

Episode 161: The Final Lament

In this CPC Together episode from Central Peninsula Church, the Brandon, Kevin, Rachel, and Nico banter about “podcast voice,” family game nights, and games like Categories, Balderdash, and a Christmas Story Monopoly, before shifting to reflections on a six-week church series through Lamentations leading into Easter. They discuss whether lament is harder for some personalities, how pop culture and some churches avoid lament, and how preaching Lamentations felt weighty but provided people permission and language for grief, including a family whose husband died as the series began. The conversation explores how lament applies to both catastrophic and everyday suffering, how grief can deepen faith, and why pastoral care often means presence rather than fixing. They explain the temple’s destruction as devastating in the Old Testament imagination and close by revisiting three communal prayers from Lamentations 5: “Remember, Lord,” “You, Lord, reign forever,” and “Restore us to yourself, Lord,” emphasizing community support through suffering.

Episode 160: Hope In The Ruins

On this week's CPC Together Podcast, Brandon and Sandy welcome Sandy’s longtime friend Alexandra, who’s from New Zealand and recently spent two years in the Philippines running an orphanage with 31 kids. The conversation shifts to the sermon on Lamentations, contrasting communal lament with the personal lament of chapter three, where the writer remembers both grief and God, finding hope without pretending pain is fixed. They discuss how suffering can cause people to step back from faith, why churches often discourage hard questions, and how prayer and lament invite raw honesty, surrender, waiting, and deeper relationship with God.