Oak Hill~Ep.3 — The Sermon

🎧 EPISODE 3 — THE SERMON
Some moments don’t break you.
They reveal what you believe about power.
This chapter of Oak Hill unfolds in the early 1990s—
before cell phones, before social media, before screens offered an escape.
In a world of landlines, face-to-face conversations, and handwritten notes,
conflict had to be faced head-on.
Fresh off his first youth group night, Chase Smith returns to the quiet halls of Oak Hill Community Church to retrieve a forgotten guitar—
and walks straight into his first test.
A respected church member.
A disappointed father.
A polite smile carrying sharp words.
In a brief hallway exchange, Chase is measured, questioned, and left shaken—
judged not by his calling, but by a bored teenager’s report.
The weight follows him home.
Doubt sets in.
And for the first time since arriving at Oak Hill, Chase considers walking away.
But Sunday brings something unexpected.
Pastor Reed Halvorsen takes the pulpit and opens to the parable of the prodigal son—
not as a story of rebellion and return,
but as a portrait of a Father whose love runs toward the broken, not away from them.
Through Scripture, quiet illustrations, and a message rooted in hope,
Chase is reminded of a truth deeper than criticism:
calling is not sustained by approval, but by love.
By the time the sermon ends, Chase knows something has shifted.
He is exactly where he is supposed to be.
Still, questions remain.
In a private meeting days later, Chase finally tells Reed everything—
the hallway, the words, the fear that he’s already failed.
And Reed’s response—
the one Chase is bracing himself for—
will change everything.
If you’ve ever feared that power would outweigh calling…
if you’ve ever wondered whether obedience is worth the cost…
this chapter is for you.
This is the test.
This is the tension.
This is Oak Hill.
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