The Rev. Dr. Jeremy Berg is the founding and lead pastor of MainStreet Covenant Church in Minnetonka Beach, MN, where he has served since 2010. He is an adjunct professor of Biblical and Theological Studies who has taught classes at Bethel University, University of Northwestern—St. Paul, North Central University, Crown College, and Solid Rock Discipleship School. Jeremy earned a doctorate in New Testament Context under Scot McKnight at Northern Seminary (Chicago). He and his wife, Kjerstin, have three kids, Peter, Isaak and Abigail.
Dear Church, It pains and sickens me to post this photo, but this is where we find our nation at this moment. The worst part of Wednesday, in my opinion, was all the people carrying Jesus signs and crosses and dragging Jesus’ name into this display of hatred and evil. Last Wednesday morning, I headed … More Correct, Rebuke and Encourage
This week we observe Epiphany and commemorate the Baptism of the Lord with a message on the song God placed in our heart at our own baptism, and the need for “godparent” figures in our lives (friends, mentors, pastors, parents) who will remind us of the song when we forget or lose our way. … More WATCH: God’s Song in Your Heart
The story of the wise men on camels bringing their gifts is intertwined with the story of an insecure, paranoid, narcissistic tyrant orchestrating terror and chaos from his palatial office. Listen to the familiar story again, this time with your eyes glued on the pathetic sociopath spinning lies and plotting peril in the Christmas story. … More Tyranny & the Wise Way Out
When radicalized Trump supporters, incited by the Presidents ongoing lies and toxic twitter, stormed the capitol yesterday and desecrated the temple of our democracy, many churches called an emergency prayer meeting last night. We called a parking lot prayer meeting as well, and I issued a pastoral letter in response to the day’s disturbing events. … More Trumpism and the Failure of Discipleship
Today we are watching our nation’s Capitol, the great symbol and center of our democracy, be stormed by protestors, while our Congressional leaders hide behind locked doors, and the sitting president hides behind his twitter account. These are unnerving sights to behold and a frightening moment for our democracy. As Christians, what are we to … More A Call to Prayer & Repentance for the Soul of our Nation
This weekend I stumbled upon a fun faith-building project as I sat down with each kid and wrote a custom bedtime prayer together. Check it out! … More Homemade Bedtime Prayers
Psalm 147:12-20 invites us to sing a new song in 2021 celebrating God’s protection, God’s peace, God’s provision, God’s presence and God’s promises to pave our paths in the New Year. … More WATCH: Sermon: New Year, New Song
If you’re like me, this New Year’s Eve you can’t decide if you feel like singing for joy as we put 2020 in the rearview, or whether you feel like crying alone in a corner, sucking your thumb, and loading up on comfort food to numb the pain and trauma of 2020. The wisdom of the Scriptures would suggest we probably need to sing most when we mostly feel like crying. … More A New Year, A New Song
Tonight we watch the clock tick-tock until we turn, turn, turn the page to a New Year and lay to rest a difficult one! I was inspired to adapt Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 made memorable by the 60’s hippy band “The Byrds.” Here’s my remix for Kingdom disciples. … More ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ – A Kingdom Remix
This Christmas we need more than a sermon, more than words, more than a heart-warming thought that will dissipate by Christmas morning. We need the gift of Christ’s peace to fill our hearts—not a sentimental idea of peace, but a lived and deeply felt reality of Christ’s abiding presence. … More Blessed is the Prince of Peacemakers
This Christmas Eve we gathered outside the chapel in subzero temps under the stars that decorated Christ’s birth. In the midst of a global pandemic, we could not gather inside the chapel together. Still we came, the few but faithful, to receive the Holy Eucharist while trembling in the cold, and perhaps trembling with anxiety in these uncertain days. … More Christmas Communion (in Subzero Temps)
On Christmas Eve we wrap up our “Beatitudes of Bethlehem” Advent series by looking at the Prince of Peacemakers. What if ‘peace’ was more than a sappy sentiment or pretty proposition? Take a journey back to a first century prison cell to discover a “peace that surpasses understanding” and Paul’s “secret to contentment” (Phil 4).
This is the idea Jesus has in mind when he says, “Blessed are the undivided in heart or single-minded in devotion, for they will have eyes to see God when he passes by in unexpected places and wearing strange disguises. … More Blessed are the Horoscope Readers
In our “Beatitudes of Bethlehem” Advent series, we’re looking at how the familiar characters in the Christmas story already foreshadow and embody the Beatitudes Jesus would launch his upside-down Kingdom ministry talking about. This message looks at Blessed are the Merciful and Zechariah’s speechlessness in the face of God’s tender mercy. … More WATCH: Blessed are the Speechless
We are only reading half the story if we focus only on the speechlessness of Zechariah. Before long the mute will become a minstrel, the silenced one will become a songbird, the castigated will become a crooner for Christ. And what will be the song on Zechariah’s lips? … More Blessed Are the Speechless
This week’s service features a talking camel, jumping jingle bells, a message on “Blessed are the Merciful” from Jonnie Goodmanson and music from our MainStreeters abroad – Jared & Shannon King – who live in Slovakia, as well as special music by Jonnie & Jeremy. … More Advent Service (Week 3)
In this fourth beatitude, Jesus gives a sympathetic nod to all those who are so hungry for a more just world that they have become angry at all that stands in the way. Blessed are all the irritable and bad-tempered perfectionists and battle-weary social activists who are ready to punch a hole through the wall or throw a brick at the television. … More Blessed are the Fed Up
Online service for the 2nd Sunday of Advent featuring a message in our “Beatitudes of Bethlehem” series by Pastor Mike Fox. … More Advent Service (Week 2)
Originally posted on Jeremy Berg:
Here’s a throwback “Roadside Reflection” from a few years back. What can a small-town misfit or local laughingstock teach us about Christmas? LISTEN. Jeremy Berg View original post
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” -C.S. Lewis … More When Moderation is the Enemy
“It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are … It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.” … More Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
This is from our “Beatitudes of Bethlehem” Advent series. This message speaks to the paradoxical truth that the saddest people on earth are those who haven’t learned how to mourn. … More Video: “Blessed are the Emotional Wrecks”
Online service for the 1st Sunday of Advent featuring a message on “The Beatitudes of Bethlehem” plus other cute silliness involving the Berg children. … More Advent Service (Week 1)
While the “Most Likely To Succeed” badge may come with a superstitious curse attached, the “Class Mooch” has a very real cultural curse attached to it. In America we celebrate self-made successful people, and look down on the moochers who are dependent on others. What do we make of Jesus’s 3rd Beatitude that seems to promise the farm to the underachieving brother? … More Blessed are the Underachievers
Jeremy Berg 