In this CPC Together podcast, Kevin, Brandon, and Nico reminisce about Sunday school songs before discussing Orwell’s 1984 versus Huxley’s Brave New World, contrasting control through restricted information with control through distraction and shaped desires. They explore how the mind as “directed attention” can create beauty through imagination yet also become bondage when lies (like being unlovable) embed themselves and distort loves, leading to sin and unhealthy substitutes such as pornography or AI companionship. The conversation emphasizes that information alone doesn’t form people; discipleship involves replacing lies with truth through practices like fasting, scripture intake and memorization, prayer, music, and embodied habits such as generosity. Using metaphors like biking focus, neural pathways as forest trails, and abiding in the vine (John 15), they connect spiritual formation to ordinary life—budgeting, rest, and bedtime—inviting God into everything.

On CPC Together from Central Peninsula Church, the hosts joke about disc golf, inventing “non games,” and settle a debate by testing whether naan or a baguette can be thrown farther—naan wins decisively—before pivoting to a conversation about “limitless” living. They explore how the Bay Area’s drive for efficiency and innovation can fuel restlessness, pride, and fatigue, contrasting modern freedom as freedom from limits with the New Testament idea of freedom as the ability to say no to what harms us. Drawing from Genesis 3 and Psalm 131, they discuss moving from a need-based faith to becoming like a weaned child who finds comfort in God’s presence rather than provision, and they suggest deciding to trust through community, remembering God’s past faithfulness via milestones, and practicing small rhythms of silence, solitude, and attentiveness over time. Check out the video!

On today's episode of the CPC Together Podcast, Kevin, Brandon, Nico, and special guest Susan discuss hospitality through personal stories, including an unforgettable Michelin-level dining experience at Bouchon in Napa, a disappointing meal at Old Fisherman’s Grotto in Monterey, an Airbnb stay in Northern Ireland where hosts left a birthday spread and card, and contrasting memories of Brandon’s nana—both her harsh Red Lobster interaction with a waiter and her generous care during a difficult season. The conversation shifts to why hospitality matters for Christian witness in a post-Christian, polarized culture shaped by fear, suspicion, and algorithms, highlighting relational warmth as key to faith development and Jesus’ table as a model for holding opposites together (e.g., Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot). They explore practical barriers like not knowing neighbors, lack of time or money, fear of judgment about one’s home, and the need to “practice” hospitality as small, intentional steps.