Happy Hump Day Reader,

We are closer to Easter than we think. And Easter is not just a date on the calendar. Easter is an arrival. It is God showing up with resurrection power, fresh mercy, and a new chapter.

But here is the tension most of us avoid. We want God to release something new while we keep holding on to what is old. We want a clean heart, but we keep storing clutter in the rooms of our soul. Neglected prayer. Stored unforgiveness. Toxic thought patterns. Autopilot worship.

Today’s email is a simple invitation. Make room. Clear the clutter. Be ready when Easter arrives.

Overview of Sunday’s Message: “What You’re Holding Is Blocking What’s Coming”

Big Idea: Easter is an arrival. You cannot receive resurrection power in a cluttered house.

Scripture: Psalm 51:10–12 (NLT)

Key Takeaways:

⓵ What you are holding is not neutral. Clutter does not just take space. It blocks flow. It crowds out peace. It limits what God can pour in.

⓶ God does not release new in an unclean house. Not because God is petty. Because God is faithful. God prepares what God plans to pour.

⓷ Cleaning is a spiritual act. David did not ask for a better schedule. David asked for a clean heart and a steady spirit.

This Week’s Practice: Identify which room needs the most work (Prayer Closet, Relationship Room, Mind, or Worship Room) and spend 15 minutes asking: What am I holding here that is no longer serving my walk?

👉 Watch the Full Sermon Replay →

​

Featured Podcast: When Everything Collapses

Some collapses do not come with a warning. One phone call. One conversation. One moment where you realize what you trusted cannot hold you anymore.

In this episode, I want to help you keep your footing when life shakes. Collapse can feel like punishment, but sometimes it is exposure. It reveals what was built on performance, pressure, and fear. And it also reveals what God has been strengthening underneath the surface.

Here is why this matters right now. Many people are trying to walk toward Easter while carrying hidden weight. But what collapses is often what you were never meant to carry in the first place.

If you are in a season of change, loss, or hard truth, do not rush past it. Let God do a deep work. Let collapse become clarity.

🎧 Listen (Audio)​

📺 Watch (Video)​

⏰ NEW TIME: New episode drops every Tuesday, LIVE at 7:30 PM CST on YouTube and Facebook Live.

🗓️ Announcements

Life Groups

Life Groups are now in session. This is where real connection happens. If you want to go deeper, text LIFEGROUP to 33777 to join.Year-End Giving

This Sunday

📅 Sunday, March 8, 2026

⏰ 10:30 AM CST

📺 Live on YouTube and Facebook

This Sunday’s service is online only.

Where: Online at MarsHillChicago.org
​Watch on Facebook: @MarsHillChicago​
Watch on YouTube: ClarenceStowersTV​

SAVE THE DATE: In-Person Worship at Mars Hill Anywhere

Date: Sunday, March 15, 2026​
​Time: 10:30 AM Central
​Location: 7941 47th St., McCook, IL
​Online: Live on YouTube and Facebook

We’re gathering this Sunday, and you’ve got two ways to be part of it:

✅ Log on and worship with us live online from wherever you are

However you show up, don’t miss this moment. God is speaking, and faith is being rebuilt.

Bring your family. Invite a friend. Get in the room or tap in online.

Let’s go after God together.

How to Support Mars Hill

Your generosity fuels everything we do, from in-person gatherings to digital discipleship. If you’ve been encouraged by this ministry, here are a few simple ways to give and get involved:

Give:

Support the mission securely at marshillchicago.org/giving, in our mobile app, or by texting MHGIVE to 33777. You can also mail checks to:

Mars Hill Baptist Church
PO Box 6159
River Forest, IL 60305

Serve by using your gifts to make a difference online or in person, pray for our leaders, our church family, and the people we are reaching, and invite and share by forwarding this email, bringing someone to service, or reposting what encouraged you, because every action helps spread hope, truth, and love to people both near and far.

🔥 Your Move This Week

Until next week, remember: you are stronger together than they ever wanted you to know.

See you Sunday (online)!

Walking with you,

Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.

P.S. Easter is coming, and I do not want you to miss what God is trying to release because your life is too full to receive it.

Which “room” needs cleaning most right now: your prayer life, your relationships, your mind, or your worship?

What is one thing you know you need to let go of before Easter arrives?

I read every reply. This is a conversation, not a broadcast.

Hit reply. Let’s talk about it.

Happy Thursday Reader,

You did everything right.

Showed up. Clocked in. Kept your head down. And the number on your check still doesn’t cover the number on your table.

So they handed you a face to blame. An immigrant. A politician. A neighborhood.

But what if the real reason has nothing to do with any of them? What if it’s a 350-year-old strategy designed to make sure you never ask the right question?

That’s what we went after this Sunday. And it changed the room.

Overview of Sunday’s Message: “Your Enemy Was Assigned to You”

Series: A Feature, Not a Bug

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Galatians 3:28 (NLT)

Big Idea: Racial animosity was weaponized to destroy the power of organized labor. When workers lost their collective voice, everyone’s wages fell.

⓵ The system doesn’t fail. It performs exactly as designed.

⓶ A cord of three strands is not easily broken, but a cord that’s been cut on purpose will never hold.

⓷ Solidarity is not a political word. It’s a biblical principle.

This Week’s Practice: Have one honest conversation this week with someone across racial or political lines about wages, unions, and who benefits when workers are divided.

👉 Watch the Full Sermon Replay →

​

New This Week: Why I Wrote This Book Podcast

If Sunday’s message put a name on what you have been feeling, this week’s podcast episode helps you stay in it long enough to heal and move with wisdom.

Sometimes the hardest part is not “getting the information.” It is refusing the distraction. It is refusing the easy target. It refuses the fake enemy.

This episode is built for the person who is tired of working hard and still feeling stuck. We talk about what division does, who benefits from it, and what it looks like to rebuild real unity without pretending the pain is not real.

🎧 Listen (Audio)​

📺 Watch (Video)​

New episode drops every Tuesday, LIVE at 12 PM CST on YouTube and Facebook Live.

🗓️ Announcements

Life Groups

Life Groups are now in session. This is where real connection happens. If you want to go deeper, text LIFEGROUP to 33777 to join.Year-End Giving

This Sunday

📅 Sunday, March 1, 2026

⏰ 10:30 AM CST

📺 Live on YouTube and Facebook

This Sunday’s service is online only.

Where: Online at MarsHillChicago.org
​Watch on Facebook: @MarsHillChicago​
Watch on YouTube: ClarenceStowersTV​

SAVE THE DATE: In-Person Worship at Mars Hill Anywhere

Date: Sunday, March 15, 2026​
​Time: 10:30 AM Central
​Location: 7941 47th St., McCook, IL
​Online: Live on YouTube and Facebook

We’re gathering this Sunday, and you’ve got two ways to be part of it:

✅ Log on and worship with us live online from wherever you are

However you show up, don’t miss this moment. God is speaking, and faith is being rebuilt.

Bring your family. Invite a friend. Get in the room or tap in online.

Let’s go after God together.

How to Support Mars Hill

Your generosity fuels everything we do, from in-person gatherings to digital discipleship. If you’ve been encouraged by this ministry, here are a few simple ways to give and get involved:

Give:

Support the mission securely at marshillchicago.org/giving, in our mobile app, or by texting MHGIVE to 33777. You can also mail checks to:

Mars Hill Baptist Church
PO Box 6159
River Forest, IL 60305

Serve:

Use your gifts to make a difference online or in person. Visit our site to see current serving opportunities.

Pray:

Lift up our leaders, our church family, and the people we’re reaching. Prayer is a powerful form of participation.

Invite & Share:

Send this email to a friend, invite someone to service, or repost something that encouraged you. Every share matters.

You’re helping us reach people with hope, truth, and love, whether they’re across town or across the country.

🔥 Your Move This Week

Until next week, remember: you are stronger together than they ever wanted you to know.

See you Sunday (online)!

Walking with you,

Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.

P.S. I meant what I said Sunday. The rebuilding starts in a conversation. Not a debate. Not a social media argument. A real conversation with someone across a line you’ve been taught to protect.

So here’s my question: Who is the first person that comes to mind when you think about having that conversation? And what’s stopping you?

I read every reply. This is a conversation, not a broadcast.

Hit reply. Let’s talk about it.

Happy Tuesday Reader,

What a Sunday.

A full room. An engaged online audience. The Word hit, and the people received it.

This is what it looks like when a hybrid church moves as one body.

Whether you were in the building or watching from your living room, you were part of something real.

Honoring Rev. Jesse Jackson

Today we honor the life and legacy of Jesse Jackson.

Rev. Jackson was a towering voice for justice, dignity, and economic opportunity. For decades, he challenged systems, opened doors, and reminded America that faith must walk hand in hand with action. His leadership stretched across generations and movements, always rooted in the belief that every person deserves respect and a fair chance.

He was not perfect, but he was present. He showed up in the streets, in the pulpit, and on the world stage. His courage helped shape conversations that still matter today.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family and all who were impacted by his work. May we honor his memory not only with words, but with continued commitment to justice and service.

Rest well, Reverend. Your labor was not in vain.

Overview of Sunday’s Message: “The Unattainable Dream”

Big Idea: The racial wealth gap exists because federal policy actively built white wealth while systematically denying it to Black families. The effects compound to this day.

Scripture: Leviticus 25:23, Jeremiah 29:5 (NLT)

Three Takeaways:

⓵ The gap was designed. The FHA refused to insure mortgages in Black neighborhoods. They called it redlining. Between 1934 and 1968, 98% of government-backed home loans went to white families. The wealth gap is not a mystery. It is a receipt.

⓶ A denied loan is a denied inheritance. When the government blocked Black families from buying homes, they did not just block a purchase. They erased a timeline. Every generation after that denial starts further behind.

⓷ God’s economy has a reset. Leviticus 25 says land goes back every 50 years. No family was meant to be permanently locked out. God refuses to let one generation’s greed become the next generation’s ceiling.

This week’s practice: Find a redlining map of your city at the University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality project. Look up your neighborhood. See what grade the government gave it. Then ask: What is one thing I can do this week to build what they said I could not?

Watch the full sermon replay:

▶️ Missed it? Watch the Full Sermon Replay​

​

New Book: When Faith Feels Far

My new book just dropped on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

When Faith Feels Far: Finding Hope In Hard Seasons is for anyone who has ever wondered if God forgot their address. It is what happens when a pastor stops performing and starts being human.

Get your copy now: When Faith Feels Far on Amazon​

🗓️ Announcements

Life Groups

Life Groups are now in session. This is where real connection happens. If you want to go deeper, text LIFEGROUP to 33777 to join.Year-End Giving

This Sunday

Date: February 22, 2026

Time: 10:30 AM CT

Location: Online only

Series: A Feature, Not a Bug (Week 4: The Price of Admission)

This Sunday’s service is online only.

Where: Online at MarsHillChicago.org
​Watch on Facebook: @MarsHillChicago​
Watch on YouTube: ClarenceStowersTV​

You’re Invited: In-Person Worship at Mars Hill Anywhere

Date: Sunday, March 15, 2026​
​Time: 10:30 AM Central
​Location: 7941 47th St., McCook, IL
​Online: Live on YouTube and Facebook

We’re gathering this Sunday, and you’ve got two ways to be part of it:

✅ Log on and worship with us live online from wherever you are

However you show up, don’t miss this moment. God is speaking, and faith is being rebuilt.

Bring your family. Invite a friend. Get in the room or tap in online.

Let’s go after God together.

How to Support Mars Hill

Your generosity fuels everything we do, from in-person gatherings to digital discipleship. If you’ve been encouraged by this ministry, here are a few simple ways to give and get involved:

Give:

Support the mission securely at marshillchicago.org/giving, in our mobile app, or by texting MHGIVE to 33777. You can also mail checks to:

Mars Hill Baptist Church
PO Box 6159
River Forest, IL 60305

Serve:

Use your gifts to make a difference online or in person. Visit our site to see current serving opportunities.

Pray:

Lift up our leaders, our church family, and the people we’re reaching. Prayer is a powerful form of participation.

Invite & Share:

Send this email to a friend, invite someone to service, or repost something that encouraged you. Every share matters.

You’re helping us reach people with hope, truth, and love, whether they’re across town or across the country.

🔥 Your Move This Week

Until next time, keep building. Keep planting. Keep refusing to let the red lines define your family’s future. God did not design you to be locked out. God designed you to be the builder.

See you Sunday (online)!

With love and conviction,

Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.

P.S. I want to hear from you. After you look up your city’s redlining map this week, tell me what you found. What neighborhood did your family live in? What grade did the government give it? And what did it feel like to see that with your own eyes?

I read every reply. This is a conversation, not a broadcast.

Hit reply. Let’s talk about it.

Mars Hill Family,

You were there.

Some of you were in the room when we announced the building was gone.

Some of you watched from a screen, wondering if the church you loved was over.

Some of you joined after, never knowing the full weight of what this family walked through.

I’ve never told the complete story. Until now.

Two things in this email. Both of them are invitations to stop doing faith alone.

⓵ The Story We Never Fully Told

My new book, When Faith Feels Far, is the official account of what happened when Mars Hill sold our building and became Mars Hill Anywhere.

Not the highlights. Not the cleaned-up testimony. The real thing.

The night I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t know if the church would survive. The silence from God lasted longer than any sermon could cover.

The fear I never let you see. The loneliness of carrying something I couldn’t explain to anyone.

And the slow, stubborn, painful process of rebuilding my faith from the foundation.

This is our story. If you lived through it, you’ll finally see the parts that happened behind closed doors. If you’re new to Mars Hill Anywhere, this is where we come from. This is the fire that forged us.

​The book is available now on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

​Get the Book on Amazon →​

And we’re not just reading it. We’re walking through it together.

Life Groups are launching around all 16 chapters. A room full of people having the conversations most churches avoid. Not a lecture. Not a Bible study with easy answers. A space where you can say “I’m struggling” and someone across the table says “Me too.”

Life Group details, dates, times, and how to join, are coming soon. If you want in, stay close. This is going to be different.

This Sunday is Valentine’s Weekend Worship at Mars Hill Anywhere.

⓶ Valentine’s Day Weekend: Pull Up or Log On

This Sunday is Valentine’s weekend. And the best gift you can give yourself or someone you love is to be in a room where God is moving.

We want you with us.

Sunday, February 15, 2026

10:30 AM CST

Pull up in person:

7941 W. 47th St., McCook, IL

Bring your valentine. Bring your kids. Bring yourself. Come as you are.

Log on from anywhere:

• ​Watch on YouTube Live​
• ​Watch on Facebook Live​

Our series “A Feature, Not a Bug” continues with Week 3. Whether you’re in the building or on the stream, you belong here.

How to Support Mars Hill

Your generosity fuels everything we do, from in-person gatherings to digital discipleship. If you’ve been encouraged by this ministry, here are a few simple ways to give and get involved:

Give:

Support the mission securely at marshillchicago.org/giving, in our mobile app, or by texting MHGIVE to 33777. You can also mail checks to:

Mars Hill Baptist Church
PO Box 6159
River Forest, IL 60305

Serve:

Use your gifts to make a difference online or in person. Visit our site to see current serving opportunities.

Pray:

Lift up our leaders, our church family, and the people we’re reaching. Prayer is a powerful form of participation.

Invite & Share:

Send this email to a friend, invite someone to service, or repost something that encouraged you. Every share matters.

You’re helping us reach people with hope, truth, and love, whether they’re across town or across the country.

With love and expectation,

Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.

P.S. I held this story for years. Not because I was ashamed of it. Because I wasn’t ready to tell it right.

Now it’s written. Now it’s in your hands. And now we get to walk through it together.

So tell me: When was the last time your faith felt far? And what, if anything, brought you back?

I read every reply. This is a conversation, not a broadcast.

Hit reply. Let’s talk about it.

More From This Week:

• Substack: clarencestowers.substack.com​
• Podcast: Listen on Buzzsprout​
• Instagram: @clarence.stowers​
• Mars Hill: marshillchicago.org​

Happy Hump Day Reader,

This Sunday is Valentine’s Weekend Worship at Mars Hill Anywhere.

Bring your sweetheart. Or come as you are.

Either way, you belong here.

We are continuing Week 3 of our “A Feature, Not a Bug” series, and this message is one you will not want to miss. But more than that, this is a moment to gather. To be present. To worship together.

Valentine’s Weekend Worship

Sunday, February 15, 2026

10:30 AM Central

Mars Hill Church

7941 S 47th St, McCook, IL 60525

Whether you are married, dating, single, divorced, widowed, or complicated, this Sunday is for you. Love is not a relationship status. It is the heartbeat of who God is. And you are invited.

Pull up in person. This one is better live.

Can’t make it in person? Log on online.

Join Us This Sunday

What: Sunday Worship (In-Person & Online)

When: Sunday, February 15, 2026, at 10:30 AM CST

Where: Online at MarsHillChicago.org
​Watch on Facebook: @MarsHillChicago​
Watch on YouTube: ClarenceStowersTV​

We’re gathering this Sunday, and you’ve got two ways to be part of it:

✅ Pull up and join us in person at our McCook campus

✅ Log on and worship with us live online from wherever you are

However you show up, don’t miss this moment. God is speaking, and faith is being rebuilt.

Bring your family. Invite a friend. Get in the room or tap in online.

Let’s go after God together.

Last Sunday’s Message Rewind: Why America Has No Universal Healthcare

If you missed it, here’s what we unpacked:

Big Idea: Keeping Black people out of white hospitals was more important to Southern politicians than providing poor whites with the means to get medical treatment.

Scripture: Amos 5:24, Luke 10:25-37

Key Takeaways:

⓵ What feels like a healthcare crisis is actually a healthcare design.

⓶ God does not honor systems that protect privilege while people suffer.

⓷ The refusal to expand healthcare today is the direct descendant of the refusal to integrate hospitals yesterday.

This Week’s Practice: Text one person this question: “Did you know that Southern politicians blocked universal healthcare in 1945 because they refused to integrate hospitals?” Then send them this sermon link.

Missed Last Week? Catch the Replay

If you missed Week 2 or want to watch it again, the sermon-only version is live now:

📲 Catch the Replay & Devotional

I strongly encourage you to spend time with this timely message this week! You can catch the full replay and continue studying this theme:

• Study Deeper: We made a special 5-Day Devotional based on this message. It is available now on our church app, our website, and our YouTube channel.

▶️ Missed it? You can watch it here​

​

The Full Story: They Chose Segregation Over Saving Lives

After Sunday’s message, I wrote a deep dive into the timeline that connects 1945’s Hill-Burton Act to today’s Medicaid expansion refusals.

You will see the maps, the death counts, and the direct quotes from governors who had the money to save lives and said no anyway.

This is not theory. This is documented history.

​[Read on Substack →]​

How to Support Mars Hill

Your generosity fuels everything we do, from in-person gatherings to digital discipleship. If you’ve been encouraged by this ministry, here are a few simple ways to give and get involved:

Give:

Support the mission securely at marshillchicago.org/giving, in our mobile app, or by texting MHGIVE to 33777. You can also mail checks to:

Mars Hill Baptist Church
PO Box 6159
River Forest, IL 60305

Serve:

Use your gifts to make a difference online or in person. Visit our site to see current serving opportunities.

Pray:

Lift up our leaders, our church family, and the people we’re reaching. Prayer is a powerful form of participation.

Invite & Share:

Send this email to a friend, invite someone to service, or repost something that encouraged you. Every share matters.

You’re helping us reach people with hope, truth, and love, whether they’re across town or across the country.

🔥 Your Move This Week

⓵ Pick one podcast episode and listen during your commute or workout.

⓶ Read one Substack article and try the practice.

⓷ Write your one God-truth sentence and say it out loud every morning.

You cannot live a new life with the same old story running in your head. This week, we’re rewriting it.

See you Sunday (online)!

With love and expectation,

Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.

P.S. When was the last time a hospital bill or insurance denial made you feel powerless? Or maybe you have great coverage but watched someone you love struggle. Either way, you have seen this system up close.

Reply and tell me: What is one healthcare story you carry that finally makes sense now?

I read every response. This is a conversation, not a broadcast.

Hit reply. Let’s talk about it.

More From This Week:

• Latest Substack article: https://clarencestowers.substack.com
• Full sermon series info: https://www.youtube.com/@clarencestowersjr