The Confessional Taco

The Family Table is where we're able to come together for conversation as we listen to one another, challenge one another, and find comfort in both our convictions and differences. Before you listen, we APOLOGIZE for the sound—this is the first time we have been together in a while and with three mics! Today is part two of our conversation with our friend and guest, Izzy Nogueira on change and reform within our community.

The Family Table is where we're able to come together for conversation as we listen to one another, challenge one another, and find comfort in both our convictions and differences. Before you listen, we APOLOGIZE for the sound—this is the first time we have been together in a while and with three mics! In today's episode, we have our first guest, Izzy Nogueira, who is a member at the church we all attend, a great to us and our family, and a political aficionado. Izzy joins us in the conversation regarding change and reform within our community.

The Family Table is where we're able to come together for conversation as we listen to one another, challenge one another, and find comfort in both our convictions and differences. In today's episode, we open this series with the murder of George Floyd and how he along with many events afterward have become a catalyst for conviction and community. Hope you enjoy.

And we're back! It's been a minute since we recorded and released an episode and today we're simply getting our groove back. While things aren't fully back to normal, today is an episode of banter, coffee, and a new series that we're releasing next week on justice. Enjoy and subscribe!

Depression and anxiety are real conditions that affect thousands of people. This morning, Serge and Marco tackle a couple of practical insights both from experience and academia and engage the questions and concerns on whether or not the church does a good job at engaging these conditions in regard to biblical care, counsel, discipleship, and understanding.

We want to begin by apologizing for not having an episode available for y'all last week. But we're back on schedule and looking ahead. Today, we're discussing what community will potentially look like post-quarantine and a couple of things during the midst of quarantine about community, intentionality, and the heart.

The terms “evangelical” and “evangelicalism” have had their credibly decrease over the last several decades and in light of how these terms are used and engaged with by politicians, the church, and those who don't know Jesus—do we, as Christians, strive in retrieving the term and culture of evangelicalism? Is reformation necessary or does this even matter? Serge and Marco tackle this heft topic in today's episode; another two-parter.

We finally are able to get together—virtually—to record properly! Both Serge and Marco are at it again this morning and opening a new chapter with the sensitive yet important discussion of What Is Machismo? What is it about machismo culture that makes so evident and domineering in Hispanic households? This is definitely a two-part conversation. Today is a momentum builder. Serge and Marco tackle machismo culture, the condition of the heart, and the example of Jesus for sinners. Hope you enjoy.

Stay at home orders are in place and Serge and Marco have been continually working in education and ministry so the grandest of apologies for the solo episodes, but we hope that you're still enjoying the content and we look forward to carving some time out to get ahead of all the things! This morning, we're joined and led by Serge on Creatives and the Church. Enjoy!

Well, we're still in quarantine and we're still working our jobs so it's been a minute since we've been able to get together to provide you with the same quality content. We hope you enjoy Serge's piece on Psalm 51 last week. This morning, we're visited by Marco as he talks about the effects of…the cochina virus. We hope you enjoy and be sure to share and subscribe!

We're quarantined and we're pretty sure that you are too. In an effort to respond to our current season creatively, we're actually headed back to the drawing board so that we can deliver the same level of material, laughs, and knowledge bombs for you during this cochina-virus. And in that light, today's episode involves a song that Serge wrote based on Psalm 51. It's one that he's been working on for the past few weeks and we hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts!

Hispanics are a complex people and the truth is that most Hispanics have some serious trust issues. Often, these trust issues are toward one another, but why? Is it because we're too proud? Is it because it's another reason to make fun of one another? Insecurity? On the fly, Serge and Marco tackle this mysterious issue with a few life experiences and then finally landing on an article publishing by the HuffPost on the context and topic of Hispanic leadership in cooperations, politics, and within the community. We'd love to hear your thoughts: why do we have trust issues?

Recently, we read several articles that surveyed many Hispanic Catholics leaving the church and beginning to find interest in protestant, evangelical churches. In those articles, we saw the top three reasons why many have left the Roman Catholic church and in today's episode, Serge and Marco evaluate what we as Christians can learn from the decline in Hispanics who identify or identified as Catholics since our context has a predominantly Roman Catholic population. What can we as Christians learn from this decline given that we are not immune to some of the reasons suggested by the articles we read?

The sign of the cross—in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—!! Can Christians perform the sign of the cross? Is it bad? Is it only a Catholic thing? If you grew up in the church, we're sure your grandma would bless you with the sign of the cross. So, where did it come from? Does it really serve a purpose? Does any of this matter? So many questions!

The season of Lent is kicked off with Ash Wednesday which is today. For a bonus episode, Serge and Marco briefly work through what Ash Wednesday and the season of lent are and why they observe this season in the church calendar. Ash Wednesday is simply an opportunity to teach on and magnify the person and work of Jesus. Enjoy!

Last year, Marco was invited to speak on and introduce the Rio Grande Valley to a group of pastors where he received a couple of follow up questions on how to engage the Hispanic culture and the Hispanic population as more individuals and families are beginning to move into larger urban contexts and attend protestant churches.

In the fall of 2019, Marco was interviewed by Christianity Today on the church's evangelistic approach to the minister of Latin Immigrants in the states. This morning, Serge and Marco discuss the interview and article and expand a little more on things like discipleship and assimilation and the significance of building relationships that focus on the heart of individuals rather than programmatic attempts that may undervalue relational values, particularly in the Hispanic community.

Last week, Serge and Marco walked through tattoos and they have decided to keep the taboo conversation going this week by discussing alcohol. And in a very similar fashion, does the Bible condemn it? The guys want to offer scriptural texts NOT to defend alcohol, but to point to redemption and extend help when needed.

Are tattoos taboo anymore and does the Bible condemn them? We have tattoos, love tattoos, and enjoy talking about tattoos—so, what does Scripture teach us about them? Today, Serge and Marco discuss tattoos and give a few practical points of consideration when looking to get a tattoo.

We all grew up with folklore, stories of the community passed down throughout the generations. Many of these stories still impact us today, many of them are simply terrible, and some are confusing yet entertaining. Regardless of what they are, how does the gospel inform our stories from the past?

Stories are significant to our culture. Whether it's a discipleship opportunity or leaving a legacy, stories provide a great deal of influence for who we are today. Serge and Marco walk through the significance, purpose, and necessity of story telling, both in the church and in our culture.

Today, Serge and Marco walk through some of the overlapping similarities between the Sunday morning church liturgy and the Sunday evening family gathering. Could they learn from one another? Both cultures strive to value Sunday, implement their own liturgy, their purpose for their liturgy, and aim to accomplish one goal: building the family. How could both of these cultures learn from one another?

Serge and Marco open up The Confessional Taco by discussing the tension of “living in the hyphen” as Mexican Americans. Today's discussion comes from a clip in the movie Selena, which everyone should have already watched by now where Edward James Olmos gives us a run-down of the exhaustion of being Mexican-American. The question we're trying to navigate through is how does the gospel first form who we are in Christ? And then how does the gospel form our cultural identity?