What do a Canadian Bible scholar, a Hollywood actor, and a first-century mob in a small Roman colony city have in common? They all point to the same ancient, deeply human problem: we are hardwired to put a face on the things we worship.

Bible scholar Wesley Huff noticed it happening in his own life after watching The Chosen and gave it a name: The Jonathan Roumie Effect. After watching Roumie portray Jesus so many times, it was the actor's face Huff saw when reading his Bible. It sounds harmless — until you realize what's quietly happening. When we put a human face on something divine, we risk turning that person into a surrogate for the God we should be worshiping.

This isn't just a problem for TV viewers. It's a problem that has devastated some of the most influential churches in America.

This is an old problem in modern clothes. The Israelites begged God for a king because they needed a face on their faith. The church in Corinth was fracturing over "I follow Paul" versus "I follow Apollos." And in Acts 14, a pagan crowd in a city called Lystra watched Paul heal a man who had never walked a day in his life — and immediately declared that the gods had come down in human form. They showed up at the city gate with bulls and flower wreaths, ready to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.

What happened next is one of the most instructive moments in the entire book of Acts. Paul and Barnabas tore their robes — the Jewish gesture of absolute horror at blasphemy — and ran straight into the crowd shouting: "We are people also, just like you." Then they pointed every eye to the living God who made heaven, earth, sea, and everything in them.

And then the gut punch: the same crowd that minutes earlier wanted to crown Paul as a god stoned him, dragged him outside the city walls, and left him for dead. Theologians have debated for centuries whether Paul actually died in that moment. What we know is this: the man the crowd was about to worship as a god, they now assumed was a corpse in the dirt. One moment, Zeus. The next, a body at the gate. That is the celebrity lifecycle in two verses. Fame is fickle. Purpose is durable.

Paul got up, walked back into the city, and the next day left for Derbe — where he preached the gospel again. Then he turned around and revisited every city that had persecuted him, strengthening churches and appointing leaders. The mission never stopped. Because the mission was never about Paul.

Drawing on Will Mancini's framework from Future Church, Pastor Bart identifies the four things people most commonly attach themselves to in a local church — place, programs, people, and personality — and challenges the BC3 community to attach themselves to something none of those four things can threaten: the mission to help people find life with Jesus.

He closes with a personal challenge rooted in his own painful experience of planting a church, watching people attach to him rather than the mission, and watching the church dissolve after he left. His question for every person in the room is uncomfortable and specific: think about the churches you've loved most. What made you love them — the place, the people, the programs, the pastor? Are you hoping Bear Creek will give you the same thing? Because if the methods matter more than the mission, you'll eventually end up back on Google searching "churches near me."

An Unstoppable Church has only one celebrity. His name is Jesus.

Bear Creek Community Church (www.BC3.church) is a church plant launching in Lavon, Texas in September 2026. The Unstoppable Church series walks through the book of Acts, exploring how the first-century Jesus movement fuels a 21st-century church on mission in southeast Collin County.

Pastor Bart Blair opens by sharing how losing his son to suicide in 2021 opened his eyes to the reality of spiritual warfare, moving him from under-spiritualizing to recognizing the genuine battle between good and evil in our world. Teaching from Acts 12, he examines how King Herod Agrippa attacked the early church by executing James and imprisoning Peter during Passover, intending to make a public spectacle of Peter's execution. However, the church's response wasn't political activism or human strategy—they prayed fervently together.

The turning point comes with the simple word "but" in Acts 12:5: "Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him." This fervent prayer (the Greek word "ektenos" meaning stretched out, intense, unceasing) led to an angelic rescue that freed Peter from maximum security—16 guards, chains, and locked gates. Meanwhile, Herod, who had positioned himself as a God, was struck down and eaten by worms, while "the word of God spread and multiplied." Pastor Blair emphasizes that the enemy's playbook remains unchanged: attack leaders, create division, and distract from the gospel mission, but our response must be the same as the early church—unified, fervent prayer focused on the main thing: the gospel.

Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things: When Faithfulness Meets Opportunity

What if the most influential church in history was started by people whose names we don't even know?

In this message from Acts 11, we discover the incredible story of the Church of Antioch—a church that would go on to plant churches across the Roman Empire, send Paul and Barnabas on multiple missionary journeys, and become the headquarters of Christianity in the first century. But here's what makes this story so powerful: it was started by unnamed, ordinary believers who were simply staying faithful to Jesus' call to make disciples.

As Bear Creek Community Church in Lavon, TXsteps into 2026 with a focus on "building what matters," this sermon delivers three critical goals: to encourage us in our church planting journey, inspire us for the hard work ahead, and propel us into the next gear of mission.

Through the lens of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's "Miracle on Ice," we're reminded that ordinary people do extraordinary things all the time. These weren't professional athletes—they were college players and amateurs who defeated the seemingly invincible Soviet Union team and won the gold medal. They were no-names who made a major impact.

But here's the shift: this isn't really about what ordinary people CAN do—it's about what God has ALREADY placed before us. The real question isn't "Can God use ordinary people?" The Bible proves that over and over. The real question is: "Will we step into the extraordinary things God's already placed before us?"

Three keys to stepping into God's extraordinary plan:

Stay the Course - When Barnabas arrived in Antioch, he simply encouraged them to "remain true to the Lord with steadfast purpose." They were already doing what Jesus called them to do: making disciples. The encouragement was to keep going, to keep doing what matters.

Be Full of Faith - Church planting and starting something new is about hearing God's call and acting on it in faith. Not small faith that plays it safe, but big faith that believes God can do more than we ask, think, or imagine. Faith that puts action to direction.

Reap the Harvest - When ordinary people stay the course and step out in faith, God meets them there. Large numbers of people came to faith in Antioch—not because they had the perfect strategy or the best marketing plan, but because ordinary people were faithful and God's hand was upon them.

The harvest isn't just about getting people saved—it's about making disciples, teaching people to obey all that Jesus commanded, and experiencing life transformation. And in God's economy, "a great many" is simply one more person: one more friend, one more coworker, one more neighbor.

The most encouraging truth? You can do this. We can do this. The call of Jesus in Matthew 28 comes with a promise: "I will be with you to the end of the age." We don't need to be superstars or blue-checkmark celebrity Christians. We just need to be ordinary people who take God's call seriously and act on our faith.

Because extraordinary things lay before ordinary people who stay the course, walk in faith, and are willing to reap the harvest God has already prepared.

Perfect for: Church planters, ministry leaders, anyone who's ever felt "too ordinary" to be used by God, and every believer who wants to step into the mission Jesus has for them.